CASTLES IN THE CLOUDS

Heat up here. [Music] Heat. Heat. Welcome aboard Lupansa flight 421, super constellation service to Shannon, New York. We will fly at an altitude of 18,000 ft. Our flying speed will be 300 mph. Just three deser. This has been one of the shortest trips on record in the pleasantest too. Seems as though I just got off the plane. You know, sometimes you'd think a musician would travel to get away from music, but that's well that's pretty difficult to do in a beautiful land like Germany. Right from that very first day in Hamburg, the three bees, Bach, Bethovven, and Brahms welcomed me. Johannes Brahms was born in this bustling city that boasts well not only some of the very finest cultural entertainment in Germany but or also the very liveliest nightife. [Music] You know, Hamburg is a well, it's a very good place to start a German tour here where the gracious past and the modern present blend in a constant reminder to relax and of course to enjoy yourself. It was to early 18th century Hamburgg that a young organist named Johan Sebastian Bach came to study and compose and 100 years later his all but forgotten music was resurrected by a 20-year-old Hamburgg musician named Felix Mendelson. Of all her composers, Bach probably best personifies the spirit of the German feeling for religion [Music] here in Cologne. Olm, Fryberg, Aken, Mahi Cathedrals, testimony to the skill and the piety of the German. All the shrines are not large, but piety is not measured by grandeur. The spirit personified by Johan Sebastian Bach, who on his deathbed used his last strength to compose the corral when in the hour of deepest need. This is the heart of Germany where religion fosters art and art is religion. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I love [Applause] you. [Music] [Applause] Today in Germany, wood carving is as much a living art as it was 400 years ago. That's when the master carver Tilman Ryman Schneider set the pattern still followed by those whose skill qualifies them for this exacting trade. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] At the center of the wood carving district is Oberamagago. As you may well know, this is a town dedicated to religion. And here once every seven years, everyone in this village takes part in the world famous Passion Play. I don't believe there's another place in the world with as many wonderful pageantss and festivals throughout the length and breadth of Germany and of course just across the border in Salsburg which was the birthplace of the slender silver flame that was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart vies with Bach in history for having written the greatest volume of first rate music and of course each year the great Salsburg festival is a lasting tribute to the two brief genius of this great man. Mozart is the 18th century. That's the era that comes to life in any German porcelain figurine shop. [Music] refreshments and evidence and of course the quality of German food is still as high as ever. It reminds me of dining in a small restaurant on a quiet street in Bourne which is the capital city. Dining only a few doors from this little house, a house which now belongs to the world. Here, Ludvig von Beethoven was born in 1770. In this house are kept the momentos of his unhappy childhood. And little did his father dream to what heights his son would rise. This is the birth room. Hour after hour, young Ludvig practiced. His feet barely reaching his organ pedals. His hands gaining strength on these organ keys. Music gradually claiming his life for her service as he worked on these organ stops. He crossed out his early mistakes on scores such as you see here. The boy grew older and the mantle of his greatness and the cloak of his deafness descended simultaneously. It was a great thrill for me to see the master's last piano with the very simple inscription Beethoven. Here in the capital of modern Germany is the shrine to the man who made the peace of rural Germany come to life in his music. [Music] My seat companion here is a girl from Munich. And while we're on the subject, certainly part of the beauty of Germany is Bavaria. wherein lies the beautiful city of Munich. In Munich breathe the spirit of Germany's two famous legendary characters, Baron Mudson and Tolen Spiegel. Here I'm doing a little window shopping like any good tourist [Music] [Applause] all over Germany. I spent my time reading opera and concert announcements. This is the opera list I'm looking at here. I see Aida. Rick Arch Strauss was born here and mid music is still the by word for the happy muner. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] The symbol of luck and prosperity in many European countries is a chimney sweep. Here I had the opportunity to talk to one of the younger and more handsome members of that profession in H Highleberg. [Music] There are times up in the air like this when you feel as though at any moment a winged valkir could emerge through the clouds bearing her burden to Valhalla. This feeling is always strongest after a visit to the Vagnerian Mecca, the beautiful Bavarian town of Broit. This is the town of Rickard Vagner, dedicated to music with its Baroque court opera house. And surely no picture could do justice to its interior. Happily, all roads in Broy lead to the Feshfield House, designed and built solely for the production of Vagnner's great music dramas. I was [Music] inside the vast stage hums with preparation for the coming season. Scenery transformed from the designer's blueprints to the final effect that you see when you attend the opera. Costumes that have just been completed. And here you see a galaxy of color. Shoes waiting to be fitted. Crops laid out all waiting for that time when those fortunate enough to obtain tickets will gather at the Fesfield House on a balmy July evening as the sun dips below the beautiful Bavarian hills and the spotlight swings to another Vagnerian masterpiece. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] Heat [Applause] [Music] up here. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] There is always the comment of the traveler returning from far distant lands that the natives were friendly. Now if ever a statement were literally true, it holds for Germany today. The heart of any country is its people and the warmth and friendliness of the German people is something I'll never forget. From Schlesvig Holstein to the Alps, the people welcome foreign visitors and the opportunity to show them their Germany. And also, of course, by meeting the visitor, they gain knowledge of his country and culture and to exchange ideas and information. and in so doing planting the seeds of international understanding. [Music] [Applause] All nations benefit when people know each other. Too brief a trip. The more one sees of this land, the deeper you realize just how much it has to offer. To a musician like myself, it is the soaring music of Bach and Brahms, Mozart and Beethoven, Bagner and Strauss. But there are so many other facets of this diamond sparkling land. A country of autobonds that carry you swiftly to your destination. Narrow side streets that lose you in the 15th century. Gothic spires pure as a bach mass and simple piety that has not changed in generations. The gay laughter of its children at play. The rockous sound of the Bavarian plot saw. Memories of old H Highidleberg [Music] and new Moonster of a window full of all kinds of verss and a small boy eating a pretzel. and all the wonderful street signs by day and by night. What is Germany today? Well, it's many things. It's Lindau on Lake Constance, playground of thousands. It's the magnificent black forest. It's the famous rest and cure bods like Boden Boden. and a little chancing at the wheel for the more adventurous soul. The frantic night life of Hamburgg and the Alps behind a Bavarian church or the Laurelai looming through the rine mist. [Music] A short trip, it's true, but a wonderful one. A chance to see this center jewel in the crown of Europe at work and play and to realize its great cultural gift to the world. And it makes a person much richer for the experience. [Music]