A beautiful visit to Mahler's resting place in vienna

Whenever I’m in beautiful Vienna I try to visit the Wiener Zentralfriedhof, which is the massive cemetery where Beethoven, Brahms, Ligeti, Mozart, Schoenberg, Schubert, some of my favorite composers are buried.  They all died long before I entered this world yet have had a profound impact on my life, so much so that sometimes I think the living are dead and the dead are living. 😉 Yesterday I decided to visit Vienna’s Grinzinger Friedhof, which is where Gustav Mahler is buried.  (I didn’t have time to visit both cemeteries on this tour, unfortunately). Mahler is one of my all-time favorite composers so it was very special for me to be able to visit his grave and spend some time there.

It also got me thinking about some friends/loved ones of mine who have passed away over the past few years, including the great Jack Wilkins, a dear friend of mine for 27 years before he passed.  (Jack loved Mahler’s 4th Symphony.)  Jack liked to tell me the story that one time when he visited Beethoven’s grave, he saw a light coming out of Beethoven’s tombstone, so he moved the tombstone over a bit to see what was happening and there was Beethoven with his Symphony No. 9 score and a big eraser!  Beethoven immediately turned to Jack and said, “hey, buddy, do you mind?!?  I’m decomposing here!!” 🤠 Miss you, Jack...save me a seat at the Mead Hall in Valhalla next to you, Gustav, Ludwig, Arnold, Amadeus and Co…