If a tourist to Salzburg orders “Schnitzel with Noodles” or wants to eat “Applestrudels”, he or she has certainly seen the classic film that has shaped the image of the Alpine region for 60 years. He or she probably comes from the USA, Canada, Japan or India. In the USA, “The Sound of Music” is part of popular general education. In Austria, Germany and Switzerland, the film is still virtually unknown. The 1965 film is a real phenomenon. On a meadow in the small town of Werfen, filtered out of the large tourist stream of Salzburg travelers, we encounter the pure distillation of the Sound of Music set setters. We meet Terry from Los Angeles. For her, “Sound of Music” is one of her two favorite films alongside “The Wizard of Oz”. Ajala, who has traveled from London with her husband and young son, has inherited her passion for Sound of Music from her mother, who has seen the film over 100 times. But for all those from German-speaking countries who don’t know, here’s a brief introduction to the cinematic significance of The Sound of Music before we set off on the Sound of Music Trail.
5 Oscars for Maria
The musical romance about the Trapp family was released in US cinemas in 1965 and won five Oscars. More than one billion viewers worldwide made it one of the most successful films of all time. Julie Andrews played the musical convent nun and governess Maria in the leading role. Christopher Plummer played the widowed Baron von Trapp, who urgently needs a caregiver for his seven children after the death of his wife. The film is based on a musical, which in turn tells a true story: Salzburg, at the end of the 1930s. The governess Maria, who actually wants to become a nun, looks after the children of the widower Baron von Trapp. The children are delighted with her, and von Trapp soon falls in love with the talented singer and dancer. In the midst of this idyll, Austria is annexed by the German Reich. When von Trapp refuses to serve in the Wehrmacht, the Nazis persecute him. The family flees on foot over the mountains to Italy and moves to the USA.
A success in America, a flop at home
Almost every American knows “The Sound of Music”, even if they haven’t seen the movie. The musical movie is as cult in America at Christmas time as “The Little Lord” or “Three Nuts for Cinderella” are in Germany. If you enter “Sound of Music” on YouTube, countless videos appear in which Japanese women skip through the park at Schönbrunn Palace laughing, young Americans perform a flash mob to “DO-RE-MI” or mothers and daughters spin in circles with their arms outstretched on the Gschwandtanger viewing platform near Werfen.
“The Sound of Music” has shaped the cliché of Germany, Austria and Switzerland worldwide – only the inhabitants of the Alpine countries are not aware of this hype. In German-speaking countries, the romance was a failure. “Meine Lieder – meine Träume” (My Songs – My Dreams), as it was titled in German, had low viewer numbers and received poor reviews. In addition, the film competed with the successful home movies “Die Trapp-Familie” from 1956 and “Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika” from 1958. To this day, few people in German-speaking countries are familiar with the American version. For almost 50 years, Austria also failed to recognize the tourist potential of the original filming locations.
Salzburg gets on “Trapp”
In 2015, Robert Wise’s The Sound of Music turned 50 years old, and Lady Gaga sang a medley of the film’s songs at the Oscars in Hollywood. It is safe to assume that the stars in the audience sang along to the lyrics. It was around this time that the people of Salzburg completely gave up their ignorant attitude towards the shallow film from America. Film tourism went from being a niche product to a high-turnover segment in the global travel business, and Salzburg became one of the top international destinations for film fans. The film is cult, and the enthusiasm for Alpine panoramas with family drama is passed down from generation to generation in millions of families.
A meadow becomes a place of longing
Since 2015, you can hike along The Sound of Music Trail in Werfen to the Gschwandtanger viewing platform. It’s more of a walk than a hike: the trail leads from the town center along natural paths to one of the most beautiful viewing points in Werfen. One of the most famous scenes in the movie was filmed on the Gschwandtanger. Maria teaches the children the famous song “Do Re Mi” during a picnic. The 900-year-old Hohenwerfen Castle towers in the background. The path to the viewpoint is well signposted and equipped with information boards. With a route length of 1.4 kilometers, this outdoor activity is not particularly strenuous, but definitely heart-warming.
Film tourists in Salzburger Land
The Sound of Music beats the musical genius Mozart and the Salzburg Festival as a reason to visit Salzburg. Tourist offers such as souvenirs, bus tours, city tours, musical and dinner shows are now catering to the interest in the original film locations. The residents of Werfen are also feeling the effects: The small town in Pongau, around 40 kilometers south of Salzburg, has 3,000 inhabitants and 300,000 day tourists visit every year.
The set jetters from all over the world usually start their tour in the town center at Herbert Haas’ Burgschänke. He knows the cinema history of his region well, as numerous international productions such as The Man in the High Castle or Agents Die Lonely were filmed at Hohenwerfen Castle. Herbert Haas confirms the figures from Salzburg. In Werfen, too, around 10 percent of all film tourists come from America and Japan. For those who stay overnight, Herbert Haas offers night watchman tours. But most of them are drawn directly to their place of longing on the meadow at Gschwandtanger. Terry, the American from Los Angeles with whom we had such a good chat in German, then has to go back to her daughter, who is already reenacting the Trapp family’s dance scene with Hohenwerfen Castle behind her.
An overview of other filming locations for The Sound of Music in Salzburg can be found here. For all set setters, we recommend the travel blog filmtourismus.de by Andrea David. She has visited over 500 film locations worldwide. She always documents her search for clues with an original picture in the picture snapshot. Of course she was also in Salzburg.
Salzburg is also the city of Mozart. On a Mozart City Walk, you will come across historical and amusing things. Salzburg’s monasteries not only play a role in Sound of Music. Salzburg’s monastery worlds also include beer and tradition at Mülln Kloster and gourmet cuisine at Stiftskulinarium, and the most popular souvenir from Salzburg is the Mozartkugel.
The research was supported by the tourism association SalzburgerLand
