Mozart's home town is thronged for his 250th birthday - and the visitors won't leave empty-handed, writes Jamie Smyth from Salzburg
I was a bit disappointed when I couldn't get a flight to take me to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Airport in Salzburg, Austria, for the composer's 250th birthday bash. After all, what an appropriate place to begin a trip paying homage to the 18th-century musical genius who composed more than 650 pieces of music in just 35 years of life.
I needn't have worried, though. On arrival at Munich Station I clamber aboard the EC 69 only to discover that the train is called the "Mozart Express" in honour of the composer. It is my first indication of the Mozart mania that is sweeping through Europe to celebrate his birth, and nowhere more so than in his home town of Salzburg.
Two hours later and I'm buried up to my elbows in a dazzling array of kitsch Mozart memorabilia in the souvenir shops that line the back streets of Salzburg's old town.
"We've run out of fridge magnets, I'm afraid," says Elke, the shop assistant in Zum Mozart, a souvenir shop strategically located close to the Dom cathedral where the composer was baptised. "They are selling very well but I have new Mozart ties that only came into the shop last week. Would you like one?"
There are, of course, the standard Mozart souvenirs: T-shirts, pens, key-rings, Mirabell chocolates, cups, saucers and the like. Then there are the slightly more adventurous tourist trinkets: cherry liqueur, a miniature musical piano that plays opera, and busts of the composer. But there is also a range of more bizarre Mozart-branded products that line the shelves of every kind of shop, from supermarkets to lingerie stores.
Mozart sausages in the shape of violins, Mozart beer, Mozart Christmas decorations, Mozart yoghurt, Mozart knickers and even a bra - which reportedly plays a Mozart tune when unfastened (I couldn't find one to try out) - are all on sale for the tourists.
"Because Mozart died a long time ago and with no relatives, anyone can use his image or name to sell products," says Herbert Brugger, managing director of the Salzburg Tourist Authority. "The Austrian tourist board estimates the brand is worth €5 billion in music and merchandising sales. It is one of the top 50 global brands."
Salzburg estimates that 300,000 to 500,000 extra visitors will come to the city this year to celebrate the anniversary of Mozart's birth. They will spend at least €30 million, says Brugger, who admits Mozart is big business.
The rampant commercialism in Salzburg would probably have come as something of a shock to Mozart, who died in poverty unable to afford a proper grave. Yet even the composer's bones have been called into action to build up the hype in Mozart year.
EARLIER THIS MONTH the Austrian TV station ORF pledged to reveal whether a skull kept in Salzburg, and long associated with the composer, was in fact that of Mozart. In a project dubbed "CSI Mozart" after the US TV series that uses forensic techniques to solve crimes, ORF commissioned researchers from the University of Innsbruck and the US armed forces to undertake a series of genetic tests. Samples of the skull were compared with remains found in a grave believed to belong to Mozart's niece and grandmother. The documentary got a prime-time slot and generated huge worldwide publicity, only for the researchers to say they couldn't tell whether or not it belonged to Mozart.
"People were a little bit disappointed by the TV programme," says Peter Staudinger, a guide on the Mozart tour of Salzburg, who serenades his guests with Edelweiss from The Sound of Music. "We are extremely busy this year. Usually most of our tours are for The Sound of Music but this is Mozart year."
Bernd misske, chief executive of the advertising company McCann Erickson, who worked on the Vive Mozart exhibition poster campaign this year, admits there could be a case of "Mozart fatigue" among the public by the end of the anniversary year.
"The more there is of a brand, the less unique it becomes," he says. "The classical brands, such as the Mirabell chocolates that have been around for 100 years or more, should not be damaged by the large amount of Mozart products. New ones may be."
Even the bureaucrats at the EU are tapping into the Mozart theme by hosting a conference to discuss the future of Europe in Salzburg this weekend.
"Mozart, in his brief time of life, changed our European world. He changed sound and made people happier," says Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel who, by invoking the spirit of the composer, hopes to encourage citizens to have a more positive view of the EU.
Yet all the kitsch souvenirs and politicking cannot take away from Mozart's music, which is booming out from every concert hall, church and shop in the city. There are 260 Mozart concerts planned this year and the world-famous Salzburg festival in late July will stage all 22 of Mozart's operas. A ticket to watch all of them is available at €4,995, although you will need two months to spare.
So if you think you can handle all the Mozart mania and fancy a summer of classical music, Salzburg is the place. If not, there are only nine years until the 50th anniversary of The Sound of Music when the marketing men and the hype are sure to be back in town.