Salzburg – the city that gave birth to the creator of eternal melodies

With war raging again in Europe, William Cook looks to Mozart and the Salzburger Festspiele as representing a shared ideal of beauty and humanity, just as they did in the aftermath of the two world wars

The Hofstallgasse and the Festival Quarter in Salzburg (Salzburg Festspiele/Kolarik)

Here in Salzburg, an implausibly pretty city in the foothills of the Austrian Alps, musicians from all across the world are arriving for the world’s most prestigious music festival. Forget Glyndebourne. Forget Bayreuth. For fans of opera and orchestral music, the Salzburger Festspiele is the high point of the cultural calendar. Only the Edinburgh Festival – which Salzburg inspired – comes close.

What makes it so special? Partly it’s the beauty of the setting, partly it’s the quality of the programme (this year’s star turns include the Vienna Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic, widely regarded as the world’s two greatest orchestras), but above all, it’s the festival’s illustrious heritage which sets it apart. From Georg Solti to Herbert von Karajan, from Yehudi Menuhin to Daniel Barenboim, its list of alumni reads like a who’s who of classical music.

However, there’s one name that eclipses all of them. Mozart looms over every Salzburger Festspiele, the ghost at each year’s feast. The Marriage of Figaro, arguably his greatest opera, is the highlight of this summer’s programme, but even if Salzburg removed him from the repertoire he’d still overshadow every festival. Why? Because everything about the Salzburg Festival can be traced back to him.