Salt and Souls
Salzburg is just as I remember it at Christmas time. There is no Thanksgiving barrier, so Christmas markets are in full swing, even in late November. Salzburg was the site of many people throughout history, Celts, Romans, you know, the usual suspects. It was reborn in the 8th century with a series of Prince-Archbishops as rulers, and salt as the main currency. Salt and souls. Salzburg enjoyed the status as an independent city-state for centuries, and chose to remain neutral in the 30 years’ war. This was an odd stance to take for a catholic principality ruled by a bishop, but this bishop understood that behind the guise of religious war, it was just war and destruction, and he refused to join the melée. This was a Godsend to the population, since the rest of Europe was decimated, though the black death that followed observed no neutrality. World War 1 was a misadventure with the Austro-Hungarian Empire focused on the Eastern Front and then the Italian Alpine front. World War 2 was just as disastrous.
The cathedral was built in 774. A fire destroyed it twice. It was rebuilt in 1628 in its current footprint and early Baroque splendor. In 1944, a US Army Air Corps 500lb bomb impacted the dome and transept of the Cathedral causing substantial damage. The local train station was the target, and even with the Norden bombsight, it seems that bombs intended for the railroad junction (Munich-Salzburg-Vienna) landed wide of the target. No one was hurt, but one major casualty was Mozart’s organ where he played and composed in the service of the Archbishop. The church renovation was not completed until 1959. The three front gates display the three dates in gold: 774, 1628 and 1959, as well as statues of St. Rupert with his scepter and salt barrel, St. Peter with his keys and St. Paul with his sword. I thought Peter was the disciple with the sword, but the catholic symbology refers to Paul’s death by beheading.
We were fortunate to meet the Domorganist/professor, and he agreed to brief us on the technology and tuning of each organ, the size and number of pipes and the tuning scheme for each. There are 5 organs in the cathedral, all mechanical linkage systems built by German and Italian workshops, 3 with “equal temperament” tuning and 2 with “Valotti” temperament- an attempt to create more nearly pure thirds in the home key of F, C and G major, and their respective relative minors (of course). You have to be careful of key choice for your music in this case, the other keys’ thirds can be quite distant giving rise to the term “angry thirds.” John cringed at these demonstrations! No matter the instrument, tuning is always a compromise. Especially with an organ, apparently. We really enjoyed his enthusiasm for the instruments and their history.
Father Joseph Mohr composed the words to Silent Night (Stille Nacht) in 1816 and the melody was written by Franz Gruber in 1818, all in a small town near Salzburg. Next year is the 200th anniversary of this Christmas favorite. By chance, when John and I were taking a study break, we walked by a Korean Church Choir that was singing Christmas Carols. They were arranged in a semi-circle in front of Mozart’s birth house (and diagonal from Starbucks!). Their version of Silent Night was beautiful!
We spent much of a day walking through Salzburg and visited two Mozart houses, studying his life and listening to the music of this prolific genius. He left us way too early (age 35), but as our guide said, he was exhausted. Had he lived longer, we still might not have gotten any more music. As many know, Mozart and his father had a difficult relationship. Our guide asked John what he would think about having his father as a full-time instructor instead of attending school...without knowing our current arrangement. John artfully dodged answering!
Salzburg as seen from the Prince-Archbishop's castle on the hilltop. The Danube was the autobahn of the day, they would send salt downriver in three boats, break up and sell two, then bring wine and silver back up river in the one boat by horse power (literally). The cathedral in the foreground is surrounded by church administrative buildings and borders St. Peter's monastery, found by St. Rupert. We walked through the ancient, yet still active graveyard.
John prepares to play the copy of Mozart's organ at the original pillar station in the cathedral, under the guidance of Herr Professor Domorganist.
Herr Professor treats us to a magnificent mini-concert on the Salzburg Cathedral main organ-- 3 manuals, 58 stops and over 4000 pipes. Amazing sounds, felt and heard.
John and I celebrated Thanksgiving at the Christmas market in the cathedral square. We had an oreo waffle for an afternoon snack before playing the organ (dessert first), then wings and potato chips afterwards. Perfect!