Jedermann

The month of August is the time of the famous Salzburger Festspiel (Salzburg Festival) which showcases musicians from around the world. Tickets are pricey and hard to come by and dress to events is formal. One of the classic Festspiel pieces is a play called Jedermann (Everyman) which is performed outside in the plaza in front of the Salzburg cathedral.

Peter has told the tale of Jedermann to me and his students many times of Jedermann, a self serving man, who is visited by the death and ultimately meets his demise at which point he is taken away by the grim reaper. The play ends with spirits calling Jederman, actors stationed on the rooftops and top windows of the buildings surrounding the square. I have always imagined deep voices echoing throughout the cobblestoned streets of the Salzburg Altstadt with the haunting cry of “Jedermann!”

We timed a visit downtown with the ending of the 4:00 show of Jedermann. The plan was we would eat an early dinner and then meander so that we’d be near the square to hear the cries. We arrived downtown a little later than anticipated, but could hear the play in action and decided to eat at an outdoor café in the adjoining plaza. Six o’clock rolled neared. Spooky church bells rang. A canon fired. And then silence which was followed by four minutes (four minutes!) of loud applause. No echoes. No spooky cries. At least not that we could hear. I guess I need to have a ticket to really experience it.

All was not lost. After dinner we walked to the plaza on the other side of the cathedral where Nikolas rode his scooter around and around, chasing pigeons, terrorizing the chess players, and entertaining the walkers. It was one of those, “Isn’t this amazing?” moments with a castle overhead and sights and sounds that are so completely different from New Jersey, and yet here was Nikolas scootering around just like he would do in front of the dining hall having a grand old time.