Day 059: Two resolutions—exam completed and new apartment
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day
59 — Two resolutions—exam completed and new apartment
30-September-1971
(Thur.)
TRANSCRIPT
Day of composition exam.
Waited for 2 hrs [hours] to take the exam. Went in
and spoke to the gentlemen, played a little piano,
and sight-sang. Fairly easy. They said I was accepted
into a theory class—I was hoping composition, but
they also said that I could go as high as I was
qualified for. So, at least I’ll continue studying
harmony, and I’ll still be able to write music if I
want.
5 minutes after the exam, I moved to the new address.
John
bei Frau P.
Wickenburggasse xxxx
Wien 1018, Austria
I had so much luggage, and I had to move all by
myself, that I thought I was going to have a heart
attack. Well, I finally moved, and spent the rest of
the day getting settled. Even washed my own clothes.
(Frau P. showed me the ropes.)
REFLECTIONS
Today brings two resolutions to my life. I take the
composition exam. I move into my new apartment.
Composition
exam. I take the
composition exam, which includes sight-singing,
playing the piano, and speaking to the examiners. I
thought it was fairly easy. I am told that I am
enrolled in music theory and that at some future
point I can become involved in composition. I am not
certain if this is the standard route to composition,
or whether I was not at the appropriate level for
graduate study. After all, I am not certain if I
submitted any compositions, and I was not a prior
composition major. At the exam, they did not have me
write any fugues or anything. Well, I’m in school—and
I’m thankful for that.
Move
to new apartment. Yes, I
finally move to my new apartment on Wickenburggasse,
an inner-city street filled with apartment buildings
and a corner store. What a relief. (The resolution of
earlier, frustrating problems brings relief.) I
remember that I liked this apartment very much. I
don’t have any pictures of the inside of the
apartment, just one (I believe) of the outside. The
apartment was only a few blocks from Augustinekirche
and the Ringstrasse. I could either take the
streetcar, or even walk to school. It was a good
location. If you have time, check out Wickenburggasse
on Google Earth.
The
building. Going by
memory, my room was on one of the upper floors of an
old, traditional, apartment building. There was a
very small, open, gated elevator that would slowly go
up to your floor. This was a cool-looking elevator,
the kind that you see in movies. Often, I would
bypass the stairs and run up. In the picture above,
my apartment building was the dark one on the left.
The
room. I was in a
single very large room with a bed, closets and
drawers. Very clean. There was an oil heater at the
far end of the room. Large windows faced the street.
On either side of me were two rooms, one with the
daughter of the landlady, and one with my future
roommate, Pavel (my dorm roommate). The student
bathroom was off to the side and was only a toilet
and sink. The main bath of the house was shared, and
was where the bath and shower were situated. The
kitchen was shared. We were allowed to minimally
cook, and keep some food in the refrigerator. This
would be a nice New York City brownstone apartment.
My landlady, the lady of the house (hausfrau), was
Frau P. I remember that we got along fine all year
long and had no complaints about the living space.
I am happy. I’m in the theory/composition program. I
have a place to live.
John
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