Music lovers find special delights in Austria. In Salzburg at my favorite hotel, I lie in bed a hundred meters from Mozart’s dad. He’s just outside my window in the graveyard of the St. Sebastian church. When in town, I like sleeping within easy earshot of its bells. The bells of Salzburg ring with a joyful exuberance. They wouldn’t if its citizens didn’t like it that way.
And by scheduling a Sunday in Salzburg, I enjoy a music-filled Mass in its cathedral—the first great Baroque church north of the Alps. And this is not just any church music. The morning Mass often comes with both a choir and an orchestra. They pack the loft, turning the church’s back wall into a wall of sound. On my last visit, I snared a dizzying perch high on the side to enjoy a bird’s-eye view of the musical action. Far below me, a thousand people faced the altar. I faced the loft where, for two years of Sundays, Mozart served as organist. I imagined Mozart on that keyboard surrounded by the same Baroque scrolls, Italianesque frescoes, and dancing cupids. The conductor’s furious baton churning out that day’s Mass completed the image. More than 200 years after his death, the musical genius of Mozart is still powering worship.
