Part 15 (1/2)
The return to Salzburg through the fields at sunset is a delightful experience. To the back and to the left of one are the towering mountain summits tinged with the Alpine glow which turns their rocky peaks almost blood red, and their snow-fields a deep rose pink. And right ahead stands up, mystic-looking as some fairy fortress in the waning light, Hohen-Salzburg, its roofs and walls reddened and given the tints of nacre, and its windows s.h.i.+ning like the open doors of furnaces. A never-to-be-forgotten picture.
Both the Gaisberg, up which there is now a funicular railway, and at whose foot Aigen, with its interesting Church and Castle acquired by the family of Prince Schwarzenberg in 1804, lies, and the Kapuzingerberg should be visited by all who have the time, and for whom a wide and pleasant prospect of mountain ranges, valleys, and the Salzach, threading its silvery way dividing the city and flowing northward and southward through the valley, has attractions.
The Gaisberg is ascended from the little village of Parsch, reached by tram from the city. The railway takes one through beautiful scenery in about an hour to the summit of the mountain, which is so favourite an excursion with the well-to-do Salzburgers, and from which such a beautiful prospect is spread out at one's feet. To the north one can catch glimpses of the undulating foreground of the Alps and s.h.i.+ning lakes; whilst Salzburg now more than 4000 feet below looks almost insignificant, and like a toy town set in the midst of a green plain through which winds a thin, silver line, the Salzach. In the far distance is the magnificent range of the Alps, in which stand the Watzmann, 9050 feet; the Dachstein, 9990 feet, with its rocky pinnacles catching the suns.h.i.+ne, and its glaciers and snow-fields gleaming white, whilst in the further distance through the deep-cut gap formed by the Lueg Pa.s.s one sees the fields of eternal snow on the Hohen Tauern glinting at one, and on a quite clear day one can catch glimpses of the white peaks of the Grossglockner, 12,660 feet and the Wiesbachhorn, 11,900 feet, across the desolate-looking Steinerne Meer.
The prospect has been compared, but somewhat loosely we think, to that from the Rigi. But, whether we think it finer or less fine, we can agree that in one respect the view and interest of the scene is not exceeded by its Swiss rival--the wonderful changes of light and shade which come and go over the landscape between the hours of sunrise and sunset, during which Nature seems to work with a brush full of the most delicate colours and uses them as no human artist could hope to do.
From the Kapuzingerberg, which is only half the height of the Gaisberg, the view is not so extensive, but it is well worth climbing to see. On the way up one obtains most beautiful peeps of the city from two distinct points; whilst from the summit one gets a panorama which will satisfy all save those who have made the Gaisberg ascent first. The way up is, after a long flight of steps about two hundred in number, through a most delightful beech wood, where one is tempted often to stop to rest or to admire some vista of the valley or town seen through a framework of feathery, green branches. There are, too, on the Kapuzingerberg several interesting buildings. The first to be reached is the Church of the Capuchin Monastery built in the last year of the sixteenth century by Archbishop Wolf Dietrich. A beautiful old garden is attached to the Monastery, from which one has a fine prospect of the town and surroundings. Alas! it is only open to men, and thus by monkish custom women are shut out of one more ”earthly paradise.”
[Sidenote: THE MOZART MEMORIAL]
But to music lovers and many others who ascend the Kapuzingerberg the Mozart-Hauschen, situated in a charming little garden near the Monastery, will be the chief object of interest. This memorial to the master was presented to the city by Prince Camillo zu Starhemberg, and was completed in June, 1877, being thrown open to the public six weeks later, on July 18th, on the occasion of the first musical festival.
This cottage, which formerly stood in the courtyard of the so-called old ”Freihaus” in Vienna, has an added interest from the fact that in it was composed the opera ”Die Zauberflote.”
The furniture, it should be noted, is not the original but a clever and exact copy of the articles comprising it. The former is in the collection of Prince Starhemberg. The top step of the cottage is, however, said to be ”veritable.” In the cottage are kept a great number of wreaths with ribbon streamers, embroideries, etc., which have been sent by admirers of Mozart's genius. Also some beautiful tablets of embossed metal commemorating the first musical festival held in 1877. There is also hung in the cottage the picture ”Mozart at the Spinet” by the Italian artist Romaco, a photograph of the only portrait of the composer painted from life which is known to exist, which was the work of Doris Stock of Dresden in 1787; and the pictures of the various performers in the operas given at Ca.s.sel. The bust, which stands outside the cottage, is the work of the well-known sculptor Edmund h.e.l.lmer, of Vienna, and was the gift of Baron Schwarz.
As one stands in the garden, with its pleasant prospect, quietude, and beautiful flowers, one cannot but feel that few more suitable spots could have been selected for a memorial to a musical genius of Mozart's nature. Far better is it, indeed, than some more pretentious place nearer the haunts of men.
[Sidenote: ON THE MoNCHSBERG]
The Monchsberg and a walk along its ridge should not be missed by any one who has a little time to spare whilst at Salzburg. The explorer will be well rewarded for his toil. One is apt to estimate the Monchsberg by its Hohen-Salzburg end, which so dominates the city. It is difficult, indeed, from down below in the narrow streets to believe that some 300 feet above one lie not only woods and tree-shaded walks, but even green, flower-bedecked fields. The most direct and interesting way up the Monchsberg is by the Sigmund Haffnerga.s.se and Hofstallga.s.se bearing to the left of the Fischbrunnen, and thence over the Monchsbergstiege. On reaching the top of the flight of steps the way lies in the direction of Hohen-Salzburg as far as the pa.s.sage leading into the Nonnthal and to Leopoldskron, then one climbs to the left, and after a little distance reaches the beautiful view point known as Konig Ludwig-Fernsicht, or King Ludvig's Lookout.
The prospect from here is wonderfully wide and beautiful, embracing as it does the villas on the other side of the town, and the villages and farms of the valley with their picturesque background of mountain ranges, including nearer in the Goll and Untersberg.
[Ill.u.s.tration: HOHEN-SALZBURG AND THE NONNBERG]
To the left and on the way along the ridge to the fortress is situated the beautiful villa of the famous singer Bianca Bianchi, and from the projecting bastion in the same direction one obtains a fine view of the town below, and valley of the Salzach. Both in the direction of Mulln to the right, and of Hohen-Salzburg to the left, there are many fine views as one takes one's way either by shaded paths or through the fields which lead to the Burgerwehrsoller, where there is an ancient watch-tower on the slope of the hill from whence one has a wonderful panoramic view of the city and its environs. From the opposite end of the rampart one obtains a widely extended prospect towards Reichenhall, Marzoll, Maxglan, and the Bavarian plain, which is not easily surpa.s.sed from the neighbourhood of any other town of the size in western Austria.
One can then either descend to the Marketenderschlossl through the beautiful woods by one of the well-kept paths, and thence reach Mulln, or retrace one's steps, and walk right along to the Hohen-Salzburg end of the Monchsberg, from whence by entering the fortress and descending by way of the Nonnberg one obtains a fine view of the other portion of the Salzach valley in the direction of the Gaisberg, h.e.l.lbrunn, and Anif.
On the Nonnberg, so called from the Benedictine Convent built upon it, stands the fine Gothic Chapel founded in the first year of the eleventh century and beautifully restored in the fifteenth. In it is much fine stained gla.s.s, a winged altar piece of great interest; and there are also some interesting frescoes in the old tower.
Unfortunately the cloisters are seldom if ever shown to visitors; they are the oldest now existent in the princ.i.p.ality, and it is said even in the Austrian empire, dating as they do from the commencement of the eleventh century. They are charming and picturesque, and well worth the trouble which it is generally necessary to take in order to obtain permission to see them.
In Salzburg there is such a wealth of interesting buildings and places that to describe all one has seen or can see there is no s.p.a.ce.
Perhaps of those remaining to which reference has not yet been made, most people visit the house in which Mozart was born, situated in the narrow, picturesque old Getreidega.s.se; the Franciscan, formerly the Parish Church; the Church of St. Peter, with its ancient and picturesque burial-ground beneath the shadow of the towering fern- and flower-clothed Monchsberg, and the Caroline Augustus Museum. There are, of course, also the Dreifaltigkeits Kirche, with fine frescoes and carvings, and the University Church, both worth a visit.
To Mozart's birthplace, along the quaint and narrow Getreidega.s.se with its beautiful old signs of wrought-iron work projecting from the shop fronts on either hand, come hundreds of English and American visitors annually. Now the house is also a Mozart Museum, with much of interest for admirers of the composer, antiquarians and students. In the birth-chamber itself one finds a most valuable series of family portraits, including some of Mozart's wife, Constance Weber; also those of his landlord and his wife, Lorenz Johann and Maria Theresa Hagenauer. There are also the ”scores” of many of his operas, and other compositions, records of the Mozart family; and perhaps most interesting of all the small clavichord or spinet, and the grand piano or reiseclavier, which was a present from his brother Karl, on which he used to play.
In the family sitting-room there are many interesting relics of the composer's father, mother, and other relatives, including Mozart's own pocket-book-diary, a large number of fragments of compositions, which from one cause or another were destined never to be completed, many letters of the family, copies of Mozart's three first published pieces printed in Paris, and several pictures of the house in the Rauhensteinga.s.se, Vienna, where the composer for some years lived and ultimately, on January 5, 1791, died. Salzburg has well-honoured her famous son's memory by the several memorials of him within her gates, including the fine though simply conceived bronze statue in the Mozart-Platz which cost nearly 2000, and was erected by voluntary subscriptions in 1842. By the foundation of the Mozarteum or ”Society for the Cultivation of Mozart,” not only is the memory of the great composer kept green, but the support of the School of Music of the same name is ensured. Thus the city of his birth, which did him (as is so frequently the case) but little honour during his lifetime, has nowadays become the centre of enthusiasm for his works. Festivals of his music take place during the summer months, at which not only the famous and beautiful Viennese Philharmonic Orchestra takes part, but also the most celebrated conductors and artistes.
Although Salzburg had been the residence of other famous musicians and composers, it is Mozart and his genius which dominates the ancient city's musical life, and proves so attractive an element to musicians and music lovers who visit it.
[Sidenote: SALZBURG MUSICIANS]
Michael Haydn, too, composer of much fine church music, was a resident in Salzburg and has a rather commonplace monument erected to his memory in St. Peter's Church. The latter is in the Romanesque style, founded in the middle of the twelfth century, and badly restored in the middle of the eighteenth, and is of great interest to the antiquarian and student of architecture. The portal consists of seven arches which gradually diminish in size, and are inlaid with strips of white and red marble. The very remarkable archings which strike one directly one has entered the building are portions of the original church. On a small altar near the vestry is a well-carved statue of the Virgin, said to be the work of one of the Archbishops, of about the end of the twelfth century, although there appears little real evidence in support of the suggestion.
The frescoes in the nave, representing scenes from the Crucifixion, painted in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, are worth study.
In Salzburg considerable store is set upon the monuments in the church, but few rank high as works of art, although marking the graves or being memorials of distinguished and historic persons connected with the city's life in the past.
The beautiful though ruinous cemetery of St. Peter, which, with its crumbling tombs of the great dead, interesting and quaint mural tablets, and arcaded vaults belonging to some of the most important and famous Salzburg families, lies at the foot of the Monchsberg, is, as well as the most picturesque, the oldest cemetery in Salzburg. It is difficult to exaggerate the interest and charm of the spot; always still, although set in the midst of a city, and within a few hundred yards of the princ.i.p.al and busiest thoroughfares. That it possesses a wonderful and mysterious attraction for tourists we can testify; and, indeed, we would almost go as far as to say that one meets more English and American visitors in this peaceful corner of the city than in any other spot on the southern side of the Salzach.