COVER N. 767 - AUSTRIA

Postmark: Bregenzer Festspiele 6900 Bregenz 19.08.2026

Posted on the19th August September;  Received on the 14th September 2026

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Vielen Dank Günter for a lovely cover from Austria.

I think I have already mentioned in these posts of mine  a 33rpm, a Long Play, or an LP, as we used to call the object that is now a must for all the "dedicated followers of fashion" out there expertly referred to as "a  vinyl" (come on, show us some class.... calling an LP “a vinyl is just as uncouth   as calling a condom "a latex"...) put out by Reader's Digest in the 70s that was one of my introductions to Classic Music.

Nested amidst the 1st movement of Beethoven's Pastoral symphony, Purcell's Funeral March for Queen Mary in the then totally surprising version of Wendy Carlos (who, at the time, still signed his works as Walter Carlos), Mozart's Andante from the Elvira Madigan piano concerto, one  of Brahms' Hungarian dances and other all time favourites of western classical music, was a track that I couldn’t stop playing again and again.

It started with a low pedal note coming out of the pipe of an  organ which caused so much tension that it alone was enough to put you on alert; then came first a simple soft trumpet phrase, expressing uncertainty, almost fear, doubt, to which the metallic, sharp, cutting cry of the full brass fanfare responded, adding to the mystery and slowly pushing that tension up, guided by the brutal command of the timpani,  like a merciless hortator setting the rhythm  of the rowers in a roman trireme. Finally  that absolutely emotionally devastating climax, drowned in a last monumental clash of the cymbals.

No matter how many times I hear it, the intro section of Also Sprach Zaratustra, written by Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949) in 1896, will always make the hairs on my arms jump to attention.

I was  ten years old when I first heard it. Not in a record but in the opening sequence of Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey. I was underage but I managed to enter the theatre.... after watching the film and almost throwing up during the stargate sequence, totally overwhelmed that I was by the tunnel of colours and the disturbing soundtrack,  I would not sleep for the next three nights.... 

How was I here?

Where would I go from here?

What was I to do here?

Is there a reason for it all?

I still don't know the answers. The monolith still crosses my path, with every forward step I take...

Still, on that last night, I made a decision. I solved my questions with religion and God. 

To this day; more than half a century later.

I owe it to Kubrick.

I owe it to Strauss.

Stamps:

- The 0.62 Euro stamp illustrated with the photo portrait of the Austrian Composer  Richard Strauss was issued on the precise date of  the 150th anniversary of his birth, 11JUN2014.

The composer and conductor is considered one of the central pivots in western classical music, for the transition between the romantic and the modernist eras.

Strauss body of work contains several operas and tone poems, as well as lieder and symphonies.

- Loyalty Bonus Stamps are stamps issued annually, since 2008, by the Austrian Post which are only available to registered stamp subscribers. To this date they have been illustrated with lovely depictions of  flower species.

Günter was extremely kind in using two of these on the cover, that of 2015, dated of 07MAR2015, illustrated with the European pasqueflower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) and that of 2016, issued on 05MAR2016, featuring the Orange Lily (Lilium bulbiferum).

The stamps are cancelled with a commemorative postmark celebrating the 80th edition of the Bregenzer Festspiele,  a performing arts festival which has been held since 1946, every July and August in Bregenz, on the shore of  Lake Constance.