The Sound of Salzburg

Christmas in Salzburg

The holy trinity of Salzburg according to our walking tour guide, Leo: Mozart, The Sound of Music, and salt.

Mozart was born in Salzburg but didn’t like it very much and moved to Vienna once he reached adulthood. Salzburg is very proud of him: there are multiple Mozart statues, a Mozartplatz (Mozart Square), a Mozartstraße (Mozart Street), two Mozart museums, Mozart chocolate liqueur (I did not try this), and Mozartkugels (delicious chocolates made of marzipan and nougat). You can buy knockoff Mozartkugels in any grocery store or souvenir shop in Austria, but you can only buy the originals in Salzburg. Tristan and I each bought two and ate them on the train on the way back to Vienna.

Salzburg's tourism industry really capitalizes on Mozart. Alcohol must taste better if you drink it out of a teeny violin. I did not test this.

I am not a huge fan of Mozart’s music. It’s not angsty enough. I went out last week with a guy who vehemently disagreed with me on this. He liked Mozart but didn’t like Tchaikovsky; he called Tchaikovsky’s music “kitschy.” Mozart’s music is MUCH kitschier than Tchaikovsky’s—nobody is playing Tchaikovsky while dressed up in period costumes for tourists—and I told him so. He said “maybe.” I told him to send me some of his favorite Mozart pieces if he wanted to change my mind. We had a nice afternoon together. Then he ghosted me.

Mozartplatz

The Sound of Music was filmed in Salzburg, and I saw a couple of spots that I recognized from the movie. When the Von Trapp children sing the first big “Do, Re, Mi” sequence, they’re in Mirabell Gardens. It wasn’t quite as pretty in November.

Mirabell Gardens

I rewatched The Sound of Music the night before our trip to Salzburg in preparation. It’s famous around the world—a lady from Singapore and a guy from the U.K. knew just as much about the movie as I did—but ironically, it’s almost completely unknown in Austria and Germany. It never caught on there for two reasons: it was released too close to the end of WWII and people were still feeling touchy about the Anschluss thing, and it doesn’t really get most of the cultural references right, because it was written by and stars Americans and Brits. You do not eat schnitzel with noodles. You eat it with potatoes and sauerkraut. But that doesn’t work in the song.

I wrote a more accurate version of “My Favorite Things” for you based on my actual experience in Austria. You have to stretch some of the syllables to make it work; bear with me.

Speedy U-Bahn trains and much slower trams

Mugs full of gluhwein and krapfen with jam

Intersections with the crosswalks that ping

These are a few of my favorite things.

People in peacoats who are rarely late

Sitting for hours with coffee and cake

Touristy carts pulled by horses that stink

These are a few of my favorite things

Telling your German teacher “danke schön!”

Snowflakes that melt on the tracks of the S-Bahn

Pigeons that fly with some bread in their beaks

These are a few of my favorite things.

Sharp-eyed readers will recognize these statues frrom the movie

Needless to say, the Germans in our tour group had never heard of The Sound of Music. Leo said, “that just means you’re good Germans!” Leo also proceeded to sing “Edelweiss” for us…all the way through…alone. I think he thought we’d join in at some point, but I wasn’t about to be the first. It was very awkward.

Christopher Plummer also found it awkward, because he was allegedly drunk when he filmed the scene at the end of the movie where he sings “Edelweiss” and then the crowd joins in. And that’s not really him singing—it’s an opera singer. The movie was originally filmed with his voice, but Julie Andrews made him sound pretty awful by comparison. So, they called in an opera singer and dubbed in his vocals. Christopher Plummer actually had a complicated relationship with this movie…he hated filming it and he thought it was stupid and trite.

inside Salzburg's biggest cathedral

And the final component of the trinity: salt. Salz means salt in German. Modern Salzburg was founded in the 8th century as a seat from which the Bishop Rupert could evangelize Bavaria. Salt—in some eras as valuable as gold—was an important part of the local economy. Salzburg would also remain an ecclesiastical city, ruled by “bishop-counts” and “bishop-princes” until Napoleon’s invasion and then Salzburg’s annexation to the Austrian Empire.

As a result, Salzburg has twenty-two churches, abbeys, monasteries, you name it for a modern population of around 160,000 people.

So, the real sound of Salzburg is church bells. Or Leo singing.