Salzburg is a fairy-tale city, though not—or at least not only—in the usual sense of being merely preserved, lacquered, and offered up to tourists like a confection behind glass. It feels, rather, as if it exists outside time altogether: not so much frozen in history as suspended above it. Here, history presents itself aesthetically. Music does not simply inhabit the city; it circulates in its bloodstream. Nowhere is this more palpable than during the great festivals of Easter and Summer, when the place assumes its truest form. By day, Salzburg cheerfully commercialises the image of its most famous son, Mozart:…
Christian Gerhaher (Wotan) & Brenton Ryan (Loge) in Salzburg Easter Festival’s Das Rheingold. Photo: Frol Podlesnyi
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