Vienna's Musikverein: Haydn's Skull and a Nazi-Era Secret

Vienna's Musikverein: Where Haydn's Skull Rested and the New Year's Concert Echoes. Vienna, Austria – The Musikverein, a renowned concert hall, holds a fascinating history beyond its musical legacy. Recently, a video surfaced detailing two intriguing facts about the building. The first concerns the composer Joseph Haydn. His skull was, for a time, housed within the Musikverein building itself. This unusual fact is linked to the practice of phrenology in the 19th century. The second fact highlights the building's world-famous New Year's concert. This annual event is a significant cultural happening, watched by millions globally. However, the concert's history also reflects a darker period in Austrian history. The first concert in 1939 was organized by the Nazi Gauleiter to raise funds for German troops, a detail often overlooked. The video concludes by mentioning that the final encore at the Musikverein's New Year's concert is the Radetzky March, a tradition that serves as a polite way to signal the end of the event to guests. The juxtaposition of these facts—the quirky tale of Haydn's skull and the politically charged history of the New Year's concert—makes the Musikverein a building rich in both musical and historical significance.