St Anne's or the Golden Hall?

The two evenings

Both evenings are Mozart in Vienna, and both can be booked a few days ahead. They are different kinds of night. St Anne's is a small Baroque church and a string ensemble playing complete works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven or Schubert on period instruments for about 70 minutes. The Golden Hall concert, as its booking page describes it, is about two hours of Mozart and Strauss by the Vienna Mozart Orchestra, with soloists, opera singers and period costumes, in the Musikverein. For either one you choose a date, a language and a currency on the booking page, and the start time appears on the next screen.

The room: church or hall

St Anne's was rebuilt in the Baroque style between 1629 and 1634, and Wikipedia gives the church a length of 35 metres and a width of 10. The Musikverein opened on 6 January 1870 to a design by Theophil Hansen. Wikipedia gives its Golden Hall 1,744 seats and standing room for 300, says the Vienna Philharmonic has been based there since the opening and names it as the venue of the annual New Year's Concert. One room is a church with a painted ceiling by Daniel Gran and a carved figure of St Anne from about 1510; the other is among the best-known concert halls in the world. The difference in scale is the first thing to weigh.

The players: a few strings or an orchestra

A small string ensemble gives you the music at close range, with each line easy to follow. The Golden Hall's booking page describes an orchestra of Viennese musicians with two soloists and two opera singers, so the sound is larger and the programme more varied. A string quartet, by comparison, has four players, and a church ensemble might be about that size. The church page does not say how many players appear, and the hall page does not name the pieces for a given night. Treat both as formats, and look at the details for your own date first. Neither page names an individual performer, which is normal for concerts of this kind.

The music: chamber works or orchestral favourites

The church concert names Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven or Schubert and plays complete works. Wikipedia counts 23 string quartets by Mozart, 16 by Beethoven and 15 by Schubert, which gives a sense of the repertoire a quartet can draw on. The Golden Hall page lists overtures, arias and duets from famous Mozart operas, plus The Blue Danube and the Radetzky March by Johann Strauss. If you want a waltz and an aria, the hall is the likelier fit; if you want a quartet, the church is.

Period instruments or period costume

This is the difference most people miss. Period instruments change the sound: gut strings, lighter bows and a lower tuning, which Wikipedia gives as 427 or 430 Hz for Classical-period instruments against 440 Hz today. Period costume changes only what you see. The Golden Hall booking page mentions costumes and wigs from the Baroque period and does not say the instruments are period ones. The church booking page says the music is played on period instruments, which is the reason to choose it.

Read next: Period instruments, explained

Sound and sightlines

The church booking page calls the building an architectural masterpiece with splendid acoustics, and the room is small. Wikipedia describes the Golden Hall's shoebox shape and reflective surfaces as creating a warm, rich and clear sound. With 1,744 seats in the hall, distance from the stage is part of the choice, while in a church of 35 by 10 metres nobody is far from the players. Sightlines differ more than sound. Church seating is free, so you choose a place by arriving early. In the hall you book a seating category, and one visitor wrote that a gallery seat gave an obscured view of the stage, so check what your category offers.

Length, timing and cost

About 70 minutes against about two hours changes how the evening fits around dinner. The church concert fits around a dinner on either side, while the hall concert takes most of an evening. The booking calendars show the current price for each, and the church concert is the lower of the two. Because both are short-notice bookings, the practical test is simple: pick the one whose length and price suit the night you actually have free, and book the other for a different evening if you want both. Neither ticket is tied to a particular performer, so the choice comes down to format.

Booking terms compared

The church page gives a 24-hour cancellation window and a pay-later option; the ticket is free seating with a free programme. The hall page states free cancellation up to 12 hours before, a smart casual dress code, and a ticket you exchange at the orchestra's office or collect at the evening box office. Child and student discounts need valid photo identification, and the page says only an ISIC card is accepted for students. Read the terms on the page you choose.

Which suits a first visit

A first-time visitor who wants one Vienna evening with a clear idea of what to hear should think about scale. A small church and a short concert is the lighter commitment and gives chamber music in a room of the right size. The Golden Hall gives a famous room and a longer, more varied programme, which can suit a couple marking an occasion or a group that wants singers. If the building matters most to you, pick the hall; if the sound of the instruments matters most, pick the church. Visitors who are unsure can think of the church as the concert about the music and the hall as the concert about the occasion.

Who this isn't for

Do not pick the church if you want singers, a big sound or a reserved seat. Do not pick the Golden Hall if what you want is the sound of period instruments, a short evening or a small room, because its booking page describes costumes rather than instruments. And do not choose either on a hunch about one famous name: neither booking page names the performers or the pieces for your date.

Doing both

They are not rivals so much as two halves of a Vienna visit. A short church concert suits an arrival evening or a night with a late dinner, and the hall concert suits the evening you have set aside for a bigger occasion. If you can only book one, ask what you want to hear: Haydn or Schubert at close range points to the church, and an opera aria with a waltz to follow points to the hall.

Read next: Is St Anne's concert worth it?