So here's the interior of the Musikvarein where I went last night to hear Rudolf Buchbinder play not one, not two, but THREE Mozart piano concertos in a row. The most amazing thing (well, how do you rate what is more or less amazing than anything else) was that the previous night he had played another three completely different ones. Anyway, to see and hear the Vienna Philharmonic playing Mozart, and to see and hear this fun, lively, playful, energetic, brilliant pianist who was born in Vienna was pretty unbelievable.

For those of you who know these pieces (and I know at least one lucky reader who is sure to be interested) I will list the ones I heard: G major KV 453, then E flat KV 271, then B major KV 595. I don't know the actual numbers of the concertos but that should be enough information for you. The previous night he had played KV 414, 537, and 467. We were in the standing room and it was about 90 degrees and you had to stand up through the entire thing, but it didn't really matter because it was so awesome. Wednesday night I am either going to do the standing room at the Staatsoper for "The Italian Gal in Algiers" (a funny ha ha Rossini opera that Seattle is doing in October) or I am trying to get tickets to Idomeneo which is at the Volksoper.

Yesterday morning I went to mass at the Jesuit church again and heard Schubert's Mass in D major, which was fantastic. The beer-can homilist Jesuit was giving the sermon again but I couldn't understand anything this time.

This morning we had a lecture on women and the Enlightenment, and there was not much new information for me, although I did learn that evidently in Prussia during the Enlightenment many salons were run by Jewish women, which gave Jews and Christians some rare opportunities for interaction. I am going to try to follow up and learn more about this. Did you know that Mozart's librettist Lorenzo da Ponte was Jewish? There is a big exhibition going on here at the Jewish museum all about him. I should have gone there today but schlepped out to the Kunsthistoriche (which has been calling to me like a big siren ever since I arrived here but which I should have known would be closed Mondays) in 90 degree heat and now I have wilted.