The temperature is a warm but dry 92 degrees on this sunny Monday afternoon in Salzburg, our final day before returning home to Pensacola. Salzburg is a city of approximately 150,000 and received its name from the local salt mines. Our visit correlated to the annual Salzburg Festival, an annual celebration of music and dance.
Early on Saturday morning, our group left the Crowne Plaza in two groups following tour guides on “The Sound of Music Tour.” We were also joined by Ulli, the adopted German daughter of James and Shirley Calloway. The Calloways and others from Pensacola met Ulli on a chapel choir tour here many years ago and Uli has visited Pensacola on several occasions since that time.
The tour began with a short walk to Mirabella Palace, where we took photos of the Pegasus fountain where Julie Andrews and the children sang “Do-re-mi.” After hearing a brief history of the palace we boarded buses where we visited various sites where the movie was filmed. Stops included Leopoldschon (the home fronting the lake where the boat turned over), Hellbrunn (the location of the gazebo where “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” was sung), and Mondsee (the village where the church is located where the wedding occurred). We also listened to the historical narrative of the actual Von Trapp family which inspired the movie.
On Saturday afternoon, about half of our group boarded the bus for a four hour tour to Eagle’s Nest, the site of Hitler’s mountain retreat. While the buildings were not impressive, many felt the alpine scenery of this tour was the most spectacular of our trip.
On Saturday evening our large group divided into small groups to visit the Old Town area, especially locating and previewing the sites The DOM and the Collegiate Church, the sites of our Sunday concerts.
Shortly after breakfast on Sunday morning, we boarded buses to travel to Old Town to The DOM, the largest cathedral in Salzburg. The DOM offers six different occasions for mass on Sundays, each service mostly filled to capacity. Our group was assigned to the 11:30 mass.
To be invited to The DOM was quite an honor for our choir and orchestra. However, our presentation was not without challenge. Because the masses run consecutively, we had a very brief set up time. We had “taxied” our orchestral instruments to the plaza and offloaded them into a storage area. We had approximately 6-8 minutes to enter the cathedral, set up instruments, and arrange the choir members on risers. Because the risers had no seats, and because we were singing 6 selections throughout the mass, our choir stood for the entire hour long service. The cathedral is not air conditioned and was packed with worshippers standing in the back and along the sides. There was no nursery and the natural acoustics amplified both our singing and the sounds accompanying infants.
Back home, the “inconvenience” of such a service would have given many an excuse to stay home. We were inspired, however, by the loyalty of these worshippers who attended services faithfully in spite of the distractions.
The mass was in German. Our eyes were glued to Bob, and Bob’s eyes were glued to a cathedral assistant who signaled to him each time we were to sing. Although we could not understand the priest, we could understand the 23rd Psalm and The Lord’s Prayer. When we sang “Amazing Grace,” voices from various languages joined in from around the cathedral. After the service, Ulli shared with us that the homily by the priest was an outstanding message about Jesus. Our participation in mass completed our tour of 3 of the most notable churches in Europe: St. Nicholas, St.Stephens, and The DOM.
After lunch on Sunday afternoon, many members of our group visited shops and vendors around the market square inviting others to join us for the evening concert at the Collegiate Church. The Collegiate Church serves as the chapel, the house of prayer, and a favorite concert location for university students. This interfaith church is the centerpiece of Old Town Salzburg. Our evening concert was unique because the choir was arranged in the round. The choir formed a single file circle around the orchestra which was seated underneath the central dome. Although the audience was primarily in rows of seats between our circle and the front door, many in the overflow crowd gathered around the walls and columns on all sides of the church.
This unique arrangement presented quite an unexpected challenge for our vocalists. Most of us could only hear our part but not the other voices in the choir. We were winging, I mean singing, by faith. However, the parts blended forming a natural stereophonic sound. At the conclusion of the concert, the audience responded with prolonged enthusiastic applause. Bob and the missioners affirmed the choir and orchestra for a great final concert. After the concert, we greeted attendees from Romania, Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, Boston, California, and New York. Many of the attendees heard our group at the morning mass and decided to attend the evening concert.
Today is Monday, a free day for touring Salzburg and preparing for the trip home. Approximately half of our group arose early and ventured by cable car up to the Salzburg Fortress, a prominent hilltop castle looming over Old Town Salzburg. The oldest parts of the castle are more than 1000 years old. The castle has never been penetrated by enemy forces. Now the castle is filled with museums, restaurants, scenic overlooks, and gift shops. The steep walkway down from the castle passes The Nunnery, the location where the Von Trapp family hid among the gravestones.
This afternoon our group members are packing, resting, or buying last minute souvenirs. Our luggage will be loaded onto our buses this evening and we will depart the hotel at 3:45 tomorrow for our departing flights out of Munich.
With great appreciation for the privilege of participating in this International Music Mission tour, most of us are more than ready to return home to Pensacola and rejoin our family and church family.
From my perspective, our tour group has represented First Baptist Church with Christian integrity and character. And our group has seized the opportunity to share the good news in concert and in casual conversation.
2 comments:
Thanks for the wonderful updates! Maybe we'll see you in an airport somewhere tomorrow as we, too, return to P'cola. C & J
Thank you so much for these postings. We feel like we have been there with you. We are praying for a safe trip home and we are anxious to have you all back in the church family...you were missed. We hope to see pictures later.
D
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