Salzburg Jazz Festival & Goodbye Salzburg

Feeling buzzed after the amazing lunch at the Esszimmer, I took a stroll beside the Salzach river towards the old town, picking up fallen chestnuts along the way.

While I still had the Salzburg card for the day, I wanted to check out a few more museums, including the Salzburg Museum, which turned out rather unimpressive; And the Panoramic Museum that houses a circular painting by Johann Michael Sattler depicting Salzburg and its surrounding area around the year 1829.

It was fascinating to see the lie of the land and catch a glimpse of people’s lives at the time.

My phone camera could not capture the 26 metre long x 5 metre high paiting in its entirety, so here’s a video.

Johann Michael Sattler depicts the city of Salzburg and its surroundings in the cyclorama painted between 1826 and 1829. He chose a sunny autumn afternoon at 4 p.m., as all tower and sundial clocks show.

The representation is characterized by topographical accuracy, especially in the built-up area of ​​the city. All window axes, chimneys and roof shapes of the buildings are exactly right. On closer inspection, one also discovers a large number of people of different statuses and professions, in all kinds of activities. 

Johann Michael Sattler (1786–1847) first presented his panorama of the city of Salzburg to the astonished Salzburg public on Easter Sunday 1829 in a tent on what is now Makartplatz. The panorama painting was then the first major tourism advertisement for Salzburg: the family used it for ten years – until 1839 – on a European tour! For this purpose, the oil painting was packed on a houseboat and shown in many European cities in a makeshift wooden pavilion. Back in Salzburg, it was shown in a round building in today’s Mirabell Gardens until 1937, and in the former Café Winkler on the Mönchsberg from 1977 to 2001.

Source: salzburgmuseum.at

Back on Residenzplatz, stage were being set up.

It was the opening night of the Salzburg Jazz & the City Festival, featuring American artist Chanda Rule, whose works incorporate jazz, soul, blues and gospel.

Here’s her singing “Wild Is The Wind”, with the wonderful Kirk Lightsey on piano.

The song was written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington, performed by Jonny Mathis for the 1957 film of the same name. Almost a decade later, Nina Simone recorded the song in her 1966 album of the same name, which appeared on the trailer for the 2008 movie Revolutionary Road. Yet another decade passed, in 1976 David Bowie recorded the song as homage to Nina.

And here’s the complete adaptation by Chanda Rule:

Which one is your favourite?

Temperature dropped as the night fell. Out on the square people drank mulled wines and remained lively until the end.

This concludes my last day (of this trip) in Salzburg.

What a day it’s been! – starting with a visit to the trick fountrains at Hellbrunn, followed by a delicious lunch at a Michelin star restaurant, finished off with a world class concert.

Goodbye Salzburg. Thanks for the good time!

P.S I did go back to the café I visited on my first day in Salzburg and got the Mozart cake to go before they ran out.

It was moist, decadent. Sublime!

Coming up next: An unexpected – Because Life is a lot like jazz, it’s best when you improvise 😛 – trip to Hallstatt, Austria