Eisenstadt is Burgenland’s capital and the place where Joseph Haydn spent most of his working life, composing for the Esterházy princely court from 1761 to 1804. The Haydnsaal in Schloss Esterházy, where he conducted his own symphonies and string quartets, is still used for concerts. Haydn is buried in the Bergkirche above the town, in a mausoleum that holds his body and a skull that was only reunited with it in 1954 after being stolen by phrenologists in 1809. The town is compact and walks in 2-3 hours. About 45 minutes from Vienna by car. Pairs naturally with a Neusiedler See day on the Burgenland wine circuit.
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Eisenstadt
Joseph Haydn worked for the Esterházy family in Eisenstadt from 1761 to 1804, composing in the palace's concert hall for a court that was among the wealthiest in the Habsburg world. During those four decades, he wrote most of his 104 symphonies and 68 string quartets, essentially inventing the symphony as a genre.