Who can imagine Salzburg without Mozart? Weeell, I can! :-) But, as I have no reason of doing it :-) , I am going to start these lines reminding that the great musical genius, baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was born at Salzburg on January the 27th 1756. His home, Geburtshaus, was kept, it is placed in the town centre and it is a museum, of course. The historians don’t know if little Amadeus owned a violin or a cello when he was residing floting in his mother’s belly, but, given what followed, he did have at least a harmonica. :-)

Salzburg is in the centre of Austria, it has 150.000 inhabitants and is the fourth biggest town in Österreich (after Vienna, Graz and Linz), but the second most visited (after Vienna, of course), due to its beautiful appearance and, of course, to Mozart. The appeareance is given by its being placed between the hills - even the centre is flanked by two close hills - and also by the human accomplishments, castles, buildings, squares, streets. Among them all, the most successful is the positioning of the Mirabell gardens - themselves a beauty - which, seen from the side facing the train station, have behind them a castle, and behind it the river Salzach (from which the name of the town comes), then a hill on which there is another castle! The scenery is fairytale-like.

The town is full of Mozarts and I wouldn’t raise an eyebrow if all the children, cats, and dogs were nicknamed Wolfgang or Amadeus. :-) Anyway, the town should be renamed Mozartburg, that prezent is the brilliant composer’s spirit everywhere, in the entire town, in chocolates, candy, postcards, indicators, dummies...
And when one thinks of how Mozart left Salzburg especially because he was not appreciated there...

Speaking of human dummies, Mozart is a Romanian from Bucharest! :-) As I was walking through Mirabellgarten, I saw a pop dressed in period clothes, colours only white and black, inclusively flour on his face. :-) I didn’t take him very seriously, but he, seeing me with my tricolor cap, invited me to have my photo taken with him, also saying what I’ve mentioned a little earlier, that without Mozart this town doesn’t exist.

The town is also known for Salzburger Festspiele, the annual opera Festival which takes place during the summer, known as one of the most prestigious in the world. The first edition took place in 1920, so 95 years ago, with attempts to organise it since 1877. The repertory presented this year comprised the operas "Die Eroberung von Mexiko" ("The Conquest of Mexico") by Wolfgang Rihm, "Le nozze di Figaro" ("Figaro’s Wedding") by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, "Fidelio" by Ludwig van Beethoven, "Norma" by Vicenzo Bellini, "Iphigenie en Tauride" ("Ifigenia in Tauride") by Christoph Willibald Gluck, "Der Rosenkavalier" ("The knight of the roses") by Richard Strauss and, of course, "Il Trovatore" ("The Menstrel") by Giuseppe Verdi.

Personally, I had only two memories related to the town, "acquired" in a single day, but... at a 400 km distance between the moments! I visited the town last year... at six in the morning! I had two hours between my trains and I didn’t want to spend them in the train station, so I "did a circle", a tour of the town centre (tour that actually lasted four hours). It was mid-March, the trees were barren after the winter, and I decided to come back on a summer day to see the town in all its splendor, occasion that appeared now.

Matej (read "Matei") is a cellist at the Zagreb Opera. He is a Croatian, but... born in Salzburg, in an accidental, movie or story-like manner. His mother, pregnant with him, was travelling by train and, close to Salzburg, Matei started to kick saying that he wanted to get off and take his cello from Mozart’s town. :-) So the train master made a phone call and the mother was waited by the Ambulance in the train station, took her to hospital and there is where Matei reached out for the first time to grab the instrument that would become his friend and soul over the years! :-)

What is interesting is that I met Matei in the same day when I first arrived in Salzburg! In the morning I visited the town, then I left by train to Croatia, in the evening I saw "Tosca" at Zagreb, then I met Matei, and afterwards I found out the story of his first visit in Salzburg, a much more interesting one than mine, even if he doesn’t remember anything out of it! :-)

Before my performance, I visited the town, also going through the square situated at the bottom of the hill, on which the Hohensalzburg is, the one placed at the highest altitude. The square was full of chairs in front of which there was a huge screen. I asked, there are presented operas from the previous editions of the Festival, at about the same hour as the ongoing performances. My luck was that that evening the show presented was the 2012 "Boema", which I had already seen at a cinema in Bucharest and about which I wrote in the article "Boema at Salzburg, via Cinema Baneasa".

The festival building doesn’t look spactacular. Its exterior is rectangular, cream coloured mustard yellow, it looks like a bigger high-school and has two high storeys. Its interior is "upholstered" with wood, alternating two shades of brown, it is big, over 2000 seats, and the acoustics is very good.
But in the vicinity of the building there is a nice art work, five green vertical cucumbers. No, they don’t go well with tomatoes, cheese and onion, they have about two metres and they are made of metal. :-)

The courtain rises and reveals a... museum-like interior. The walls are grena - this colour will be predominant over the show - and have on them 3+4+3 big paintings (3 to the left, 4 in the centre, 3 to the right), each being 4-5 metres high, most of them portraits. Of course, I notice the one in the middle, with a madam standing naked. :-) In the middle there are small upholstered benches, without backrests. To the left and to the right, two female warders in dark bleu guard the lateral entrances of the scene. The ceiling is made of white frosted glass, divided in equal not very big rectangles.

A group of visitors dressed in XXIst century street clothes. Jeans, bermuda pants, jackets, T-shirts, cloth trousers, snickers... I already think that I will see some nonsensical modern stuff... Leading them, the guide has a long stick with a small Italian flag at the end. The guide gathers his group, and...
"Alleeerta! Alleeerta! "
The guide is Ferrando! And he is Romanian, Transylvanian, from Cluj-Napoca, Adrian Sâmpetrean!

"E il cooonnteee? "
The guide points towards the count’s portrait. The same when he speaks about "zingara".
The choir is the group of tourists, of course.

"Hört! Hört! " - "Listen! Listen! "
The translation dispalyed on the screen above the scene is in German to the left and in English to the right. Not that I need it. :-)

"Das ist wahr! Das ist wahr! " - "It is true! It is true! "
Everybody gets out frightened, except Ferrando, who remains alone and laughs balefully.

Leonora shows up. Wrong! She was there all the time! The two warders are Leonora and Ines, her servant!

"Tacea la notte placida" - the walls start to walk! Actually, they are large panels, as high as the scene, about 4-5 metres wide and with the thickness of a normal wall, maybe even more. Afterwards I was going to discover the driving force, of zoological origins - they have people behind them who push or pull. Then, a part of the ceiling is lowered, too, a white frosted glass panel, on a system like an attic entrance hatch. On it there are projected medieval paintings.
At the front paintings with Leonora and Manrico are brought in.

A watchman comes with a flash and looks for the thiefs under the benches. :-) Then he sings, yes, he is De Luna watchman!
"Oh, Leonora! " - he lights her painting with the flash.
"Mich schaudert! " - "Io fremo! " - "I shudder! "

Leonora comes back, but she is dressed in a long dark grena velvet dress! Manrico has a similar look - he has a dark grena coat-cloak - but also... De Luna watchman, who disapeared for a couple of moments behind a wall and has come out as Count De Luna, also dressed in a dark grena cloak, not very different from Manrico’s! They also have similar hairdos - black shoulder long hair - you could swear they are brothers! :-)

While Manrico and De Luna are disputing Leonora’s love, at the front two paintings are brought, each with a horse ride in full action in a tournament, with Leonora’s painting between them!

I already like the mounting, there are not modernisms only for the sake of doing differently, as I was affraid when I saw the first actions, but thought over and meaningful. About the voices, there’s no doubt about it, all are of the best quality, starting, of course, with Adrian Sâmpetrean. :-) The way Bucharest-Salzburg, 1400 km (one way) by trains (including a RailJet that reached 230 km per hour ;-) ), is starting to be worthwhile.

"Chiii deeel gitaa-aano i gioo-orni abeee-lla?"
"La zingareee-eela! "
A group of dancers at the front in red vaporous dresses. Behind them the choir, which comes slowly towards the front, then withdraws a little to the left side, and at the end of the aria freezes. From the opposite part comes a group of tourists, and the guide, in a blue dress with a long light blue pullover over it, looking like a nerd, tell them her mother’s story, who was burned at the stake: "Striiii-deee la vaa-a-a-ampa! " Manrico is there, too, (in medieval clothes), the two of them are in the middle of the scene, the Gypsies from the choir have surrounded them.
"Räche mich! " - "Mi vendica! " - "Avenge me! "
The guide Azucena faints on the museum bench, the Gypsy women surround her and dress her according to their epoch! The painting in the centre is a mother with two children.
"O, sciaguraaata! "

Leonora wants to enter a monastery. The count comes with his grena army. The soldiers search through the museum, then each one remain at an entrance (there were about eight).
"Il baaalen del suo sooorriso" - the left and right thirds of the ceiling are lowered vertically and they become screens again. Succesive angelic faces from old paintings are slowly projected on them.
"The turmoil in my heart" - "La tempesta del mio cuor" - the central third has also come down between the other two, creating a huge screen-painting, about the size of the whole scene, showing a woman with white open wings, on her head with a crown held from each side by two suitors. The count, together with his army, sings to the left, while from the right come Leonora and the nuns. A painting with Jesus’ crucifixion is projected, then the ceiling rises and resumes its initial role, the scene widening. From the back enters Manrico, and from the right his army, walking slowly, at the same time the group of women retreating towards the back. The end of the act is weird, for, instead of fighting, Manrico’s soldiers turn their backs and run our, the Count’s army try to follow them, but they are inexplicably stopped be the Count himself!

The third act. The tourists get dressed (on the scene) over the street clothes with the grena period costumes.
"Der Angriff auf Castellor" - "The attack over Castellor"

"In braccio al mio rivaaaal! " - "In der Armem Rivalen! " - "In my rival’s arms! "
"Ah, Leonora! " - The count looks towards her painting.

Azucena is brought by two soldiers, her hands tied up.
"Aus der Byscaia! " - "Da Byscaia! " - "From Byscaia! "
"Fratello del rapito! " - "Der Bonden der Gaubern! " - "The brother of the kidnapped! "

"Il suo volto! " - "Dieses Gesicht! " - "Her face! "
Adrian Ferrando proves that Romanians have visual memory :-) and recognises after so much time the woman who had kidnapped the count’s child.
"E dessa! " - "Sie ist es! " - "It’s her! "
The walls wals at the back with greater speed.

Manrico and Leonora sit on a small bench. On a nearby one, a group of tourists, only girls, watch them intently.
"Io son suo figlio! " - "Ich bin ihr Sohn! " - "I am her son! "
When Manrico’s army enter from the back ("Di quella pira! "), Leonora stands in front of them with her arms widely open and tries to stop them, but the soldiers ignor her and avoid her, running towards their commander.

The fourth act. Quiet. The curtain rises. The museum staff, in cloth trousers and black T-hirts, arange the paintings. Better said, they take them off the walls. Most of them are taken outside, but some are put in the middle of the scene on a bench in a "scrum".
Leonora is in the dark blue guide costume, and is lying at the front. "Siam giunti! " - "I’ve arrived! " A watchman comes, takes Manrico’s painting and puts it very inclined forwards, close to Leonora. The watchman Ruiz finishes his aria and leaves.
"D`amor sull`alli rosee" - Leonora sings behind Manrico’s painting, seeming to be holding it. At the back, four walls with four paintings move a little from a side to another. All represent mohers with child.
"Miserere". The walls move aside and where they have been remain some girls in grena with black sholder long veil on their faces. Leonora takes off the jaket from her dark bleu guide costume and puts an arm into the sleeve of the grena period coat, but gets scared and runs from a girl to another holding her dress, only half put on. The walls with paintings have disapeared, those who have entered sureptitiously are naked, only the mark of the paintings on them remain visible.
"Di quel prezzo di mia vitta! "

Here comes the Count. Leonora hides behind the pile of paintings and reapears in the grena period costume, as I have been expecting. ;-)
"Verschwinde! " - "Va! Va! Va! " - "Leave! "
"Mich selbst! " - "Io stessa! " - "Myself! "
"Schwöre es! " - "Lo giura! " - "I swear! "
The lateral thirds of the ceiling are lowered and on them are presented female nudes. The count takes off Leonora’s period costume and kisses her.
"Mein wort ist mehr heilig! " - "E sacra la mia fe`! " - "My word is scared! "

The end. The jail. A long wall, made from the museum’s walls, closes the scene. It is parallel with the edge of the scene and it leaves a small space at the front. The walls are empty, only the marks left from the paintings can be seen. In the middle are Manrico and Azucena, on the sides, soldiers, sometimes fallen sprawled ones over the others, giving the impression of being dead.

"Il rogo! Il rogo! "
"Der Scheiterhaufen! " - "The stake! "

On the empty walls three paintings appear, in sepia grena, and bas-relief-like! A big one in the centre, the lateral ones smaller, all representing mothers with child.
"Her hair is on fire! "
The "dead" soldiers move, crawl towards the walls, raise their hands stuck to the walls, then get up on their knees, then stand up, all the time with their arms up and the open palms feeling the walls!
"Riposa, o, madre! " - "Rest, mother! "
The central grena sepia painting is Jesus dead in his mother’s arms.

From the right side, through a door from the wall, Leonora shows up. The soldiers "die" again.
"Ooo, quest`infame l`amoor venduuuto! " - "This infamous has sold her love! "
"Io moro, Manrico! " - "I die, Manrico! "
The count, who has appeared in the meantime, comes next to the two knelt ones, and grabs Leonora’s right hand, with Manrico already holding her left one.
When dying Leonora says "Manrico! ", de Luna drops her hand as if electrocuted.
"Richtet ihn! " - "Execute him! "
Ferrando pulls Manrico to the right side of the scene and cuts his throat. Manrico collapses, Azucena reveals the awful secret. Ferrando, arrogant until now, loses his grin instantly and kneels, carressing Manrico’s face.
"Sei vendicata, o, madre! " - "You are avenged, oh, mother! "

I liked the mounting. It was smart and I like smart things. The voices, smart, too. :-)

Leonora was interpreted by Anna Netrebko, one of the best voices in the world at the moment. The best? I don’t know! Maybe! I think Angela Gheorghiu is the best. When I talked to others, many agreed, others didn’t. What I can say is that both have voices and interpretations that reach perfection, but Angela’s voice seems to me warmer, friendlier... Of course, I don’t deny I could be subjective, being Romanian, like Angela, but what I always wanted to say is... what is the meaning of a quarrel on this clasification? I’ll see Angela Gheorghiu whenever I can and I don’t miss the opportunity of seeing Anna Netrebko if it’s at hand. Of course, I’ll see Angela with more pleasure and enthousiasm, being "one of us"! ;-)

Walking towards the checkroom to take my trolley suitcase ;-) , I hear three ladies speaking Romanian. We exchange a few words, we get there, the ladies take their trolley suitcases - I’m joking :-) -, and the checkroom lady, who had heard us talking, tells me "Veniti aici! " ("Come here! ") Yes, she is Romanian! The same as the Mozart from the park, and as Ferrando...

At my departure, I have only one question: why, when I first came, there wasn’t anybody on the streets that now, at 6 in the evening, were full of people? Salzburg is beautiful at 6 in the morning, too! :-)

Distribution:
Francesco Meli - Manrico
Anna Netrebko - Leonora
Artur Ruciński - Il Conte di Luna
Ekaterina Semenchuk - Azucena
Adrian Sâmpetrean - Ferrando
Diana Haller - Ines
Bror Magnus Tødenes - Ruiz

Nota actuala: 9 (din 1 note acordate) - Acorda o nota!

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