Prague

Prague is the city where music is a civic constitution. The Prague Spring festival opens every May with Smetana's Má vlast on the anniversary of his death; Mozart premiered Don Giovanni here in 1787 at the Estates Theatre — still standing, still playing his operas — after declaring that his Praguers understood him; and the two palaces of the tradition face each other across the river's bend: the Rudolfinum, whose Dvořák Hall heard the composer himself conduct the Czech Philharmonic's first concert in 1896, and the Municipal House, whose Smetana Hall glows in Secession gold beneath Mucha's decorations. The concert record documents the full set — Rudolfinum and Dvořák Hall, Municipal House and Smetana Hall (each pair one building, hall within house, flagged for the workbook) — together with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, one of the capital's busiest ensembles.

Around the halls stands the hundred-spired city that survived the century intact: the castle and cathedral above, Charles Bridge's stone saints across the Vltava, the Old Town Square's astronomical clock performing its hourly apostles since 1410, Josefov's synagogues keeping their memory, Kafka's windows overlooking it all. Beer as birthright, Baroque as background: Prague is Europe's best-preserved argument that a city can be a musical instrument — and it is played nightly.