Salzburg is a city that lives and breathes music. The spirit of the Mozart family is everywhere. The Salzburg Festival continues to delight. And then there are those “cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels, doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles…”
Representatives from 31 countries gathered in Salzburg for the the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres Annual Congress, including Ray Heigemeir (yours truly) and Kevin Kishimoto from the Stanford University Libraries. A whirlwind week commenced with the opening reception at the Mozarteum University, featuring a family musical group setting the mood with traditional Austrian Ländler. Stanford was well-represented in the conference presentations (of which there were so many!) including “Rare Music at Stanford: a Final Report on Stanford Libraries’ Manuscripts Digitization Project” (Ray Heigemeir) and “Bridging Musical Metadata: Creating a Multilingual Musical Instrument Vocabulary with Wikidata” (Kevin Kishimoto). Additionally, Katharine Hogg (The Foundling Museum, Gerald Coke Handel Collection, London) presented “Elizabeth Legh: the First Collector of Handel’s Music” which included an image of Stanford’s Handel leaf (Va speme infida, MLM 466) in Legh’s hand. And Dr. Benedikt Lodes (Director of the Music Collection at the Austrian National Library) presented “Estates of Female Composers at the Austrian National Library.” Happily, Dr. Lodes is about to join us at Stanford as a Research Fellow for the upcoming academic year.
Several concerts were arranged for congress attendees, including a performance of Michael Haydn’s Requiem in C minor in the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter. Haydn’s first large composition for the Salzburg court, the premiere performance in 1771 was notable for having both Leopold and Amadeus Mozart in the orchestra, and may have influenced young Amadeus’s Requiem, as you can hear similarities in the opening measures of both. Our performance included a full orchestra with period brass instruments, full chorus, and soloists. To hear the solemn, stately music played in the exquisite gilded splendor of the cathedral, where the Salzburgers would have heard it two centuries earlier, and with the knowledge that the composer himself was buried in the churchyard, was truly transcendental.
Sponsored tours allowed us to visit the baroque assemblage that is the DomQuartier, including the prince-archbishop’s residence and art gallery. The state rooms were the setting for seven-year old Mozart’s first performance for the prince-archbishop (as seen in the movie Amadeus). This of course followed his European tour, undertaken at the ripe age of six. Fun fact: Mozart was neither Austrian nor German, but a true Salzburger, having been born in the independent principality ruled by the prince-archbishop.
Speaking of births, when in Salzburg you can visit both the Mozart Birthplace and the Mozart Residence. The birthplace is a somewhat narrow townhouse in the old quarter, and includes Mozart’s violin and clavichord, along with numerous documents and portraits. The Mozart Residence, where the family lived later on, is a short walk across a footbridge over the River Salzach. The larger proportions of the home reflect the family’s increasing success in the musical world. Between the two, there are a number of musical instruments, personal effects, manuscripts, artwork, and stage dioramas to examine. The manuscript vault in the Residence basement holds several hundred letters and over 100 autograph score sketches.
Another point of interest, high on the mountain top, was the Fortress Hohensalzburg, one of the largest castle-complexes in Europe. I found a musical curiosity in the form of the Salzburg Bull, the last surviving gothic hornwork, a signaling instrument made up of bellows and organ pipes dating to 1502 and later transformed into a rustic barrel organ. This was a reward for the many, many, many stairs to climb.
Post-congress travel took me to Augsburg, Germany to visit family, and the first evening provided a refreshingly contrapuntal musical experience. The setting, a beer garden in the forest. My fabulous cousins, good food and drink, and a classic funk/R&B band for the evening’s entertainment on hand. Then the moment when we were engulfed by a crowd of (maybe slightly tipsy?) Bavarians dancing with abandon to Elmore James's “Shake your Money Maker.” Really, what could be better?