COVER N. 248 - AUSTRIA  

Postmark: Leobersdorf 2544  26APR23

Posted on the 26th April; Received on the 5th May 2023

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Austria and a simple, clean and nice cover with two interesting stamps. Thanks a lot Manfred.

Stamps Left to right:

- Austria, we all know it, is a land of music. Well, many other places are lands of music, to the point of ... everywhere being a land of music, since Music, in itself, is as omnipresent as humanity. In fact, they have always gone hand in hand... but much the  same way I think of watches when someone mentions Switzerland, music immediately springs to mind when someone utters Austria, and especially Salzburg.....

Did I mention Salzburg? again, prompted by association, I instantly picture the opening scene of  the Sound of Music, on one side of the brain, and recall the greatness of Wolfgang Amadeus on the other. 

Drop a nice image of a puppet Papageno on it and.... I have to stop writing for a while, because I have to go on youtube to look for a good clip of the Finale of the Magic Flute... and I find one, ...with a special taste, coming from the National Opera House of Lviv, with Oksana Lyniv at the helm .

In 2013, Salzburg's Puppet Theatre - Salzburger Marionetten Theater - celebrated its first centenary. To mark the occasion Österreichische Post, issued on 27FEB2013 the single 0,62 € stamp with the image of Papageno that graces my cover. 

Out of curiosity I visited the Marionette Theatre website and the Magic Flute is on stage this coming Saturday, the 20th... so hurry up... there are still tickets available...

- Austria Post has the habit of issuing stamp series that run through the years. One such series is dedicated to Austrian wine regions. Having started in 2012 with the stamp on the cover, issued on 19OCT2012, highlighting the Lower Austria Wine district, the series was still running in 2022 and probably continuing this year, sometime in the future.

The stamp features the image of a glass of Grüner Veltliner wine, over the image of the corresponding grapes, this cast being characteristic of the northeast region of the country.

The letter was posted in Leobersdorf, a small town of about 5000 inhabitants located in the same Lower Austria region.