Esterháza Palace, a sprawling Rococo edifice loosely modeled upon the Palace of Versailles, was built by Miklós Esterházy in the 1760s. The palace is located in the town of Fertőd, which is a mere four kilometers from my village of Fertőendréd. My family and I discovered Esterháza Palace three years ago after we moved to Fertőendréd from Sopron. Since then, we make a point of visiting the palace at least once a month to marvel at the ornate architecture and enjoy the tranquility of the sprawling French garden. My son was a little more than four years old the first time we visited, and he loved the vast landscaped garden, which he was free to explore as he saw fit.
Esterháza Palace - Fertőd, Hungary During our initial walk through the gardens at Esterháza Palace, we came upon a life-sized bronze statue of a man carrying a violin. My son paused before the statue and asked me who the figure was. I read the short inscription on the statue’s base and informed him it was Joseph Haydn. I then went on to explain who Joseph Haydn had been and why there was a statue of him in the gardens of Esterháza Palace. My son listened intently, but kept his eyes focused on the looming statue before him the whole time. When I had finished telling him about Haydn and his patron Miklós Esterhazy, my son pointed up at the statue’s right hand and asked,
“Why is Haydn carrying a hot dog?”
The question caught me off-guard, and I turned my attention to the statue’s left hand. This is what we were looking at:
“Why is Haydn carrying a hot dog?”
The question caught me off-guard, and I turned my attention to the statue’s left hand. This is what we were looking at:
As you can see, the statue carries a violin tucked under its left arm and what is meant to be a curled batch of completed sheet music in its right, but in my son’s eyes, the completed compositions Haydn holds aloft in his right hand are a hot dog.
I started chuckling immediately. It didn’t take too much imagination at all to see the curled sheet music could indeed be mistaken for a hot dog.
“He’s probably going back the palace because he forgot to put ketchup on it,” I said jokingly.
“Maybe he forgot the mustard, too!” my son chimed in.
My son and I named the statue “Hot Dog Haydn” that day, and we stop before it every time we go to the gardens of Esterháza Palace. No matter how many times I see the statue, I cannot “unsee” my son’s original “hot dog” interpretation.
Though I know the object in Haydn’s right hand is sheet music, my eyes acknowledge only a hot dog, and my mind playfully conjures up an impossible scene from 1765 – one of the esteemed composer scurrying back toward the magnificent palace in order to put some ketchup on the hot dog he had been given.
I started chuckling immediately. It didn’t take too much imagination at all to see the curled sheet music could indeed be mistaken for a hot dog.
“He’s probably going back the palace because he forgot to put ketchup on it,” I said jokingly.
“Maybe he forgot the mustard, too!” my son chimed in.
My son and I named the statue “Hot Dog Haydn” that day, and we stop before it every time we go to the gardens of Esterháza Palace. No matter how many times I see the statue, I cannot “unsee” my son’s original “hot dog” interpretation.
Though I know the object in Haydn’s right hand is sheet music, my eyes acknowledge only a hot dog, and my mind playfully conjures up an impossible scene from 1765 – one of the esteemed composer scurrying back toward the magnificent palace in order to put some ketchup on the hot dog he had been given.
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