Salzburg

There is something poetic about being at Mass conducted in an unfamiliar tongue on Whitsunday or Pentecost.

Pfingsten

(Question to English Wikipedia: why two articles for the same celebration? Answer of a sort on the Talk page for Whitsun).

‘Der Heilege Geißt‘ is at least a frequent recognisable phrase. The homily at Franziskaner Kirche at 9am has a visual aid involving a Kommunikation device with batterie and cable which makes some sense. At the 10am Festival Mass at the Dom the Archbishop of Salzburg’s homily gets many laughs and applause from the massive congregation including all ages attending from the Fest der Jugend Pfingsten rally seated on every available step or tile – but I make no sense of it.

Franziskaner Kirche

Luckily the music is perfectly recognisable. A full orchestral version of Haydn’s Nelson Messe is wonderful at Franziskaner Kirche and even better when I catch the end of it again at the Abbey later in the morning.

Pfingsten 2014 music list Salzburg

No Mozart at the Dom either but the Taizé Veni Sancte Spiritus works beautifully as the gradual with what was possibly a 10,000-strong congregation. Screens and microphones and speakers are essential to see or hear anything, and my suitcase wouldn’t be out of place with the prams, wheelchairs and picnic rugs on every inch of the floor and steps however I am very appreciative of my personal porters who I meet at Hbf for our trip to Zurich, via Innsbruck.

A lovely journey along the river most of the way with alps towering above us. On arrival in Zurich it is a climb from Zurich Hauptbahnhof to Weinbergstraße to refresh and then downhill again to find a classic Italian restaurant for a late dinner.

Zurich tram

Wiki notes
Wikimedia Commons has a set of images categorised as Holy Spirit.

Day 7 starts with a walk into Café Bazar on the river for quick breakfast and to collect tickets to our 11am concert – part of the Salzburg Whitsun Festival: Rossinissimo.

Mozart Stiftung, Salzburg

Is it sacrilegious to go to a concert at Stiftung Mozarteum without any Mozart on the programme?

Regardless, we enjoy an impressive performance of Bach, Rossini, Liszt and Schubert from David Fray, dynamic French pianist. A very pleasant interval is spent in the garden sipping champagne in the sunshine.

Mozart Stiftung interior

Over the bridge to Old Salzburg and through the Markt along the River Salzach with eis limone in hand to cool down on this 29 degree day. We continue exploring the various churches – lucking out at the Franziskanerkirche where a brass quartet and organist are rehearsing for the afternoon’s wedding.

Organ Franzischer Kirche, Salzburg

Many people are getting about in beautiful traditional wear and one group sitting beside us appear to be in Austrogoth gear – all black traditional dress with full arm tatts. We manage to avoid most Sound of Music hype but rendezvous late afternoon at St Peter’s Abbey to pay our homage to Mozart courtesy of two of his piano sonaten played by a Russian student.

Dinner of steak, Spargl, sour kirsch cream and schnapps and a stopover finale at our favourite and local Fuxn Biergarten ends a special day in Salzburg.