Composer Gravesites in Vienna | Jause, WoO 16
Join me as we visit the final resting places of some of your favorite classical music composers. You’ll see the gravesites/burial locations of Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Vivaldi, Mahler, Brahms, Schubert, Strauss, Czerny, Salieri, Gluck, Wolf, Schoenberg, Ligeti, Zemlinsky, Albrechtsberger, Süssmayr, Diabelli, and more.
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Where is Beethoven Buried? Zentralfriedhof — Central Cemetery
There's a special section for honored musicians close to the main entrance, and you'll find the graves of Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Christoph Willibald Gluck, and Hugo Wolf. Plus, several members of the Strauss family. You’ll also find Nannette Streicher, the famous fortepiano maker who was close friends with Beethoven.
This is still an active cemetery, so you can also visit the graves of later composers and musicians, such as Arnold Schoenberg, György Ligeti, Alexander Zemlinsky, and even jazz keyboardist Joe Zawinul.
There's also a monument to Mozart — not his grave, we'll get to that later — but, where's his esteemed contemporary Antonio Salieri? For him, we have to take a 10-minute walk to another side of the cemetery. I don't know why he's so separated from his contemporaries, but I hope more people learn about Salieri and his music. Salieri is in good company — Carl Czerny, student of Beethoven and famous pedagogue, is just 5 plots away.
Where is Mozart Buried? Sankt Marxer Friedhof — St. Marx Cemetery
Mozart is buried here. It is a myth that he was buried in a pauper’s grave. Mozart received a customary burial in a common grave meant for non-aristocratic people and we don't know his exact location. There is an honorary grave at an approximate spot.
Mozart's student, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, completed Mozart’s Requiem and was also buried in a common grave here.
Other graves include: Anton Diabelli — you might know his name from Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, Anna Gottlieb – the soprano who premiered Pamina in the Magic Flute, and composer Johann Georg Albrechtsberger who was one of Beethoven's teachers.
Grinzinger Friedhof — Grinzing Cemetery
You’ll find Gustav Mahler’s gravesite at Grinzinger Friedhof. Mahler's sister and brother-in-law, are also here. Arnold was the Vienna Philharmonic concertmaster for over 50 years. His daughter, violinist Alma Rosé, has an honorary listing. Tragically, Alma died at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Other Locations
Joseph Haydn’s original gravesite was in Vienna, but he was moved to the Bergkirche in Eisenstadt. Unfortunately, it took 145 years to reunite his skull with the rest of his body.
Antonio Vivaldi’s exact gravesite is lost, but there’s a plaque noting the general area where he was buried.
Vienna has been the center of Western classical music for hundreds of years. One is acutely aware of this by walking through Vienna’s cemeteries and it's humbling to pay respects to the great figures from music history here.