Water Music

Abstract

Many of the most famous composers in classical music spent time in spa towns. At Baden bei Wein, Mozart wrote his Ave Verum Corpus, and Beethoven sketched out his Ninth Symphony. Johannes Brahms spent 17 summers in Baden-Baden, where he stayed in his own specially built composing cavern. Berlioz conducted in Baden-Baden for nine seasons, writing Beatrice and Benedict for the town's casino manager. Chopin, Liszt, and Dvorak were each regular visitors to Carlsbad and Marienbad. And it was in Carlsbad that Beethoven met Goethe. To this day, these spa towns continue to host major music festivals. This book explores the music making that went on in the spas and watering places in Europe and the United States between the early eighteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. Music was an important part of the experience of taking a spa cure. Bands played during the early morning and late afternoon while people took the waters and bathed. Spa orchestras and ensembles entertained those gathering socially or resting in assembly rooms, pump rooms, gardens, and parks. The author draws on original archival material and the diaries and letters of composers. The book begins with Bath in England and Baden near Vienna, which both flourished in the eighteenth century, continuing through Baden-Baden, the Bohemian spas, and Bad Ischl in the nineteenth century, and on to Buxton and Saratoga Springs in the early twentieth century. A concluding chapter features a review of the musical activities taking place in spa towns today.