The Sound of Music

 I can remember talking to my mom, shortly after we announced our move, about the places we’d want to visit in Europe. And Salzburg was high on the list for one reason and one reason only…The Sound of Music. Today we did the Panoramic Sound of Music Tour and it was fantastic! My heart was so happy watching and hearing the girls sing along to the songs. Our tour guide did such a fantastic job sharing insights about the filming, the locations and the cast. He also shared great details about the history of the city. We all were so glad we decided to take the tour because it was fantastic to get out of the city into the hills…you know, the ones that are alive with the sound of music. The lake settings were breathtaking. Our guide made a statement that rings very true: “Salzburg wasn’t just the setting of the Von Trapp family story, it was one of the main characters.”

Things we learned on the tour:

Salzburg 

Founded in 696

1580-1660 was considered the golden era, Wolf Dietrich burned it down and created his vision using Italian architects. He went on an ego trip and started war with Bavaria over the salt mines. Eventually his people grew tired of him and he was imprisoned by his own people in the fortress for 6 years, until his death. His cousin Markus Sittikus took over and kept moving forward with the progress Wolf Dietrich had started building the city. This began the time period of the 30 year war between the Catholics and the Protestants, the reformation. Protestants began sharing the message that You don’t have to do good and give to the church to be a good Christian…, this stemmed from Luther!!! And the Catholics were very unhappy with dissent to their practice.

Markus Sittikus refused to join the “reformation” revolution and stayed neutral keeping Salzburg out of the war. Walls were built around the city because they didn’t believe the Protestants would respect Salzburgs neutrality. 

In the 1700’s Mozart was born…other salt became available and financial capacity for Salzburg was diminished. Mozart was being recruited by the archbishops but his dad was troubled by his sons behavior. Eventually the Hapsburg dynasty in Vienna recruited him to create musical pieces for the dynasty. He relocated to Vienna where he lived for the last ten years of his life.

In 1803 Napoleon conquered Salzburg and Vienna. This ended the reign of the catholic church for the region. 

At the Vienna congress in 1816 Salzburg was given to Austria. 

Castle Leopold was built in 1731 for Markus Sittikus, however he only ruled Salzburg for 6 years and never got to live in the palace. This is the location of the famous gazebo where Leisl sings “I am sixteen” and kisses Rolph. This is also the alleyway of lined trees where the children played in the trees, when the Captain returns with from Vienna with the baroness and Max.

The palace was used to film several of the indoor scenes for the movie. Today it belongs to the Moazartieum and houses students that come to attend classes. 

While filming the movie in 1964 they had to get permission to put the nazi flags in the square…it was very much not allowed, and they did not want the Nazi flag seen in Salzburg. They eventually received special permission for filming. Blocked off the square and no locals were permitted.

The Abbey was the second building built in Salzburg…1st was St Peters. Built in 714

And still a practicing Abbey.

Captain Von Trapp Born in Croatia (Austria-Hungary) in 1880 and a submarine captain at 34. He sunk 13 allied ships in WWI and was the  first to fire a torpedo.  Came to Salzburg to be a strategist. An outspoken anti-Nazi, he was an Austrian Liberal. During WWII 70% of Austrians eventually waved the Nazi flag. The Captain was 47 and Maria was 22 when they were married, they had three more children together. In 1938, when the Captain was being called into service my Hitler the family fled Austria by train (not through the Alps). They went to Eichhorn, and then on to Italy. From there they went to London and eventually landed at Ellis Island in New York. They made their home in Stowe Vermont, where the family still currently owns a lodge.