The Final Day

So, I am tired, and must get up early. But I wanted you all to know  that we finished our last
 concert in Bad Tatzmanndorf today, that it was well received, and that Austria is a really pretty country.  No pictures tonight- much to late.   See you all soon.

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OK, so now I am sitting for 7 hours in Heathrow, so I will tell you more.  As I said in yesterday's post, I went a-walking before breakfast, and found my way to Cafe Landtmann for breakfast.  Food was good, coffee was better and the ambiance was the best of all.  I sat and blogged, looked up to shoo away the finch who was going for my croissant.  Watching the truckers strike go by, I was struck by the way in which the tram was moving in synchrony with the slow moving trucks.  Then it struck me-  I am watching union solidarity in action.  We had moved up ourdeparture time from noon to 10:30 AM in order to leave time for the delays caused by the truckers, but it turned out not to be a problem.  I'm glad that I finally spent some time sitting in a cafe, although I kind of wish that I had done more of that.

It was literally only 10 minutes back to the Hotel by subway (1.70Euro), so I had plenty of time to collect my things and get on the bus to head Southwest.  We followed a contorted route that basically skirts the Hungarian border on the way dow, visiting Rohrau (Hayden's birthplace), Rust (home of the storks on the Neusiedl am See), Eisenstadt (burial place of Haydn) and Bad Tatzmanndorf (see map).  Lots of time on the bus, but there was a wonderful concert at the end.  So it was worth it.  Let's see what I remember of our travels.

1)  Rohrau:  Haydn was born there is simple farmhouse.  The house is closed to the public on Mondays.  We took our picture outside of it-  I posted that on the other blog.

2)  Rust:  Cute town  on the shore of Neusiedl am See that seems really pleasant, in which the storks routinely nest on the chimneys.  We walked about, looking at the birds and marvelling at the symbiotic relationship they have formed with the town.  Pretty place.  (Rust probably means "Storks nest here" rather than oxidized iron.)

3)  Oslip:  A little town that would not be mentioned except for the Storchmuhle Restaurant, an out of the way old time place that is worth wandering to visit.  Ulrike (our guide) called and asked if they could accommodate 60 people and they said "Of course".  We feasted on schnitzel and wurst and all of that other stuff.  Dark, wooden and very Austrian.   Would have been great, if our table weren't the last ones served.  Or if the storm had held off a bit.

4)  Eisenstadt:  Seat of the Esterhazy family which seems to have owned most of this part of the world, including the contract for Papa Haydn.  There is a long and involved story regarding Haydn's death, phrenologist cutting off his head, the Musikverein and a desire to rebury his body in Eisenstadt that you can probably find in Wikipedia (or Urban Legends).  Anyway, we wanted to visit his grave, but we were greeted by the mother of all hailstorms when we arrived.  So all  I got was a shot of the church through the hail.  The water ran down the streets in rivers-overflowed the sewers.  Impressive.

5)  Bad Tatzmannsdorf:  This is a old spa town, now home to a bunch of fancy resorts/ health clinics that emphasize baths, massages and good nutrition.  The local church sponsors "cultural" events- preceding us was the Children's Orchestra of the Phillipines.  

Modern Church, built in 1968 or 69, will the Vatican II architecture- much wood, less formal, "alter in the round".  Nice acoustics.  The town has 300 people and many medical tourists.  At least 200 people came to the concert.  Program was all of the things we had done before,  plus the Haydn "Six Psalms" (we did three) and  a Schubert "Kyrie".  All of the pieces went well, except of  "Roll Jordan Roll"-  we sang in pods and some of the repetitive lines got out of sync in the middle of the pieces.  They listened politely to "Bach Again", but went wild for the spirituals at the end.  Applauded fiercely and stood up as well- an unexpected response.

We had dinner at a local place with more Austrian cuisine in the evening- toasts were made and nice words were spoken.  We returned to the hotel at midnight- I got about 1.5 hrs sleep on the bus, so couldn't fall asleep until 3 PM, and then woke with the wake up call at 4:45 to get to the airport in Austria.

What a trip.  Cosmic meaning will await the newsletter, but I think that I learned something about performance, something about Central Europe, something about bicycles and that the glow of Stephansdom will be with me for a long time.  See you on the western side of the Atlantic.

Sunday: A day of rest and singing.

So, on our last day, I decided to forgo the prepaid breakfast at the hotel and head over to Café Landtmann before leave for our next choral engagement at 10 AM. A short time to linger in a timeless café, but I realized that I had yet to do so on this trip. I’m typing this on the Underground, which is a very efficient way to get around Vienna. So efficient, in fact, that I am certain that I won’t finish before I get there. Still, kind of cool thing to do.
Sunday was our day of rest, and we were asked to serve as the parish choir at St. Michael's Church in Vienna. An old church, the one where Mozart premiered the Requiem, with an organist who is a published composer. But no pressure. We were to sing 5 pieces, two of which we had yet to perform, and the dress rehearsal, at 9 AM was rushed, and frankly worrisome. But when the service started, the priest was so warm and welcoming that we could hardly do a bad job. The organist borrowed my music and riffed on "Oh Lord What a Morning" for the opening, after which we sang it as well. (I was fine with that one off book) "Saints Bound for Heaven" went well and "Daniel" rocked in that space. But it was the Lauritsen that soared. "O Nata Lux" seems especially appropriate in a beautiful old church. The last piece, "O Sacrum Convivium", a modern work by a Texan composer, went well and I think that the merging of the threads of American spirituality in a sacred space of centuries duration worked really well. Andy seemed happier after the concert than before.
The afternoon was free: Brian Smith and I rented biked at the Danube and biked the "Neue Danube Loop"- 30 km around a section of the river and an island that has turned half of the Danube into a swimming lake. Everyone was at the beach- we ate at a cafe overlooking the beach, road through family cookout and nude sunbathers (the Austrians are a bit more liberal about these things) and got tired riding against the wind. In the evening, a group of us went to the Arbat (I think) restaurant, to far from our hotel for the best meal that I have had in Vienna. All in all, a satisfying day.

The truckers are striking to protest fuel prices today, blocking highways. I just saw them block Rigstrasse. Should be interesting.

After Stephansdom

This tour is divided in half by the wonderful performance on the 4th of July.   On Saturday,  we bid farewell to the rest of the Robert Page Festival Singers while we waited to be transferred to Hotel Ananas-  closer to town, but it would have been easier to stay in one place for our whole time in Vienna.  After stepping into a nearby phone booth,  we instantly transformed into the  the Blackstone Valley Chorale, with an urgent rehearsal at the Universitat of Music-  wonderful rehearsal space that included a piano that Andy wants to sneak home on the plane. Our goal was to prepare for a concert in Berndorf on Saturday night with a completely new repertoire, heavy on the spirituals and "new music" that characterize American choral music:  “Hard Times”,”O Nata Lux”, “Roll Jordan Roll”, “Bach Again” and “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel” alone, and “Locus Iste” and “My Lord, What a Morning” with an Austrian choir  (Chorgemeinschaft Berndorf-Veitsau, a local group had coordinate activities for us)  We did OK in the rehearsal, but we had forgotten some of the work we had done back in Whitinsville.  Andy worked us hard, then we hopped on the bus, to visit a few places  before hotel check in.

First stop was the Hundertwasser houses;  a cluster of houses and streets based on  the idea that the human mind dislikes straight lines, and that you can design spaces that encourage people to talk to each other.  Cool place.  Reminded me of South St. in Philadelphia.

Second stop was the square next to the Albertina, to let us off for lunch. Now, I have only a $100Euro note in my pocket, which I “broke” on another gift for my Julie (not don’t get your hopes up, dear, remember who is buying). Then, I grabbed some pizza and ice cream in the shopping district- we really didn’t have time to do nore than that. Back to the bus and on to the check in!

At check in, they had forgotten my single room, and I ended up spending a night in a fairly crowded triple room with two great Worcester chorus members before moving to a small and crowded single. Hotel Ananas seems to pride itself on how many people it can fit into a single room. By the time we had sorted this out, we had barely enough time to get into our performance tuxes before the concert. But we did so, making it onto the bus for the performance.

The ride was north and east, to the town of Berndorf, named for a bear that did something with chain mail and a sword- our hosts did not know the story, but it was commemorated in the bear stature that we dutifully visited. The church had a beautiful, reverberant sound, that was very forgiving. We decided that it would be fun to sing there. This was sort of an exchange concert- first them, than us, than them, then all of us together and then a dinner with “dancing”. Full evening. 

The singing was good. Their group did a mixture of Americian and Austrian sacred works with arranged “pop” tunes that were clearly their favorites. I get the sense that the barrier

 between the classical and the pop world is less rigid than in the States. Our performance was good, not great. “Hard Times” we have down. “Roll Jordan” was exceptional, I thought, and “O Nata Lux” reverborated nicely within the dome. The joint pieces were worth waiting for- the song was rich and full, and made “Locus Iste” really fit into that time and place. There were lovely speeches of greeting and Fellowship, all and all adding up to an almost 2 hour program, with no intermission. The people were very happy with us- many joined us for the after show entertainment.

The entertainment was disappointing; we had bier (Dank Gott im Himmel), but food was bread with spreads of various kinds- not enough. Then they brought in the native dancers- Austrians in cowboy hats doing line dances to old country and western songs. Long and not all all what I had expected. I did, however, have a chance to speak with a lovely Austrian couple (he worked in technology, she an accountant) who enjoy concerts like ours and travel about to find them. When we got home a midnight, however, I was still tired and hungry, so several of us had dinner at an Italian place around the corner that was open until midnight. Pizza twice in one day? Ah, yes. But it was good pizza. Then we went to bed- early morning tomorrow, and did not want to oversleep church.

Looking at the Creation by the light of day

My instant reaction to last night's concert at Stephansdom was recording on the BVC blog last night-  I was hoping for a more sober reflection by light of day.  It seems that it takes longer than that for the glow to wear off-  I slept soundly and woke still filled with the glow of having been part of a beautiful thing, so you all will have to bear with me.   For the record, last night's performance was one for the ages.  We rocked.  But I digress...4th of July in Vienna began with no bang- I woke up at dawn, read for a bit, blogged some and ate a leisurely pace.  Read the Declaration aloud to no one in particular, and prepared for a late departure into town.  Everyone was clearly on edge about the impending 

performance; it's an interesting time to be a tourist.  I wandered southwest, and found myself in Judenplatz, the center of the former ghetto.  Vienna purged its Jews in 1421, razing the temple and purifying the city.  After 

the Holocaust, they built their memorial their to remind themselves that they had done this before.  They have excavated the ruins of the former temple, and you can visit them underneath the ground.  I did.  This was coupled with a "50 years of Israel" photo exhibit, that was nicely done- not glossing over the bad stuff, but being somewhat optimistic about the future of Israel.  Then I wandered down to the canal, looked in some stores and found my way to the lunch with the group at the Augustine Keller-  nice decor, fair food.  More wandering after lunch, a latte on 

Stephansplatz and then into the Cathedral.

The Stephansdom is big,  and they had us singing in the SE (I  think) 

corner of the nave, up close and personal with the altar.  We barely fit into the space, and, once the chorus was in position, the orchestra would block our exit.  After much fidgeting, were were allowed to make musical sounds at 3:30 PM.  To our surprise, the acoustic was not overly reverberant.  Sound transmitted throughout the cathedral so that you would be heard, but did not come back to you easily.  In fact, initially, we had some trouble hearing each other, soloist to orchestra and so forth.  The cure was the stick- as long as we had our eyes on the stick, we were fine.  After our alloted hour, we packed up and headed to the hotel to change, and then back on the bus without much time for dinner, which was OK- I was too full of excitement to eat.  We waited in a church house across the plaza for the concert to begin, filed in, and it began.

Creation begins in Chaos- every instrument plays a long, loud C, from which the Chaos then emanates.  It is always dramatic;  sometimes it is magic.  I don't know what was different this time, but this time it transcended drama- it was magic.  The 6 minutes of classical Chaos that followed has to be one of the great moments in human music.  Then, the baritone intones the words "Im Anfang", and it begins, following a text so old that it was first spoken in languages that we have probably forgotten.  Then the chorus enters, in the character of God, softly chanting "Und Gott Sprach, es werde Licht", writing Maxwell's equation on the face of the Deep.  The "LICHT" that comes out is a fortissimo chord, orchestra and chorus, a triumph of order over Chaos, for a little while.  In this venue, in this space, magic happened.

It was wonderful.

There were other wonderful things as well-  we made plants to cloth the Earth, we praised Gott with great praise, and Adam and Eve brought love into the world (interesting that Man was valued not for intellect, but for his/her capacity for love).  In the end, though, it all came from that opening C.  What an extraordinary privilege to be able to sing this piece in this time at this place.

When the concert ended, Dr. Page shouted his approval to us over the applause.  We knew that we had pleased the only audience that mattered.  At the reception, the Cathedral presented him with the banner that had hung outside on the Cathedral wall.  Nice.

Then, back to the hotel, when we were all too wired to go to sleep.  Pity, since we had to be up and checking out the next day, moving into the next phase of the tour.  Even looking back from 48 hours, though, the glow is still there.  This was a very special day.

4th of July

Don't forget to read the Declaration.  Aloud.  With friends.  Jefferson and Adams really did set the highest standards that any nation has ever failed to live up to.  To our credit, we keep trying.

Transfer Day: Recreating the Creation

It is a very weird thing, to be in Vienna twice within a 10 month period. Certainly not a bad thing, but it a little weird, in a good way. Technically, of course, I am currently outside of Vienna- but I digress.
I woke up early, packed and was downstairs by 7:30, packed and ready for the bus. We packed amid confusion; one of us left her luggage in the foyer of the hotel, but in general we made a reasonable getaway. We passed through the Buda Hills east of Budapest onto the plain between Vienna and Budapest.. Felt like we were crossing Ohio, what with the corn and wheat and such. We stopped at a gas station to spend out our last Flonints (I got a candy bar) and we drove across the old iron curtain without a care. No passports, no Cold War. No stopping. The European Union is a wonderful thing. Eventually, we found ourselves entering the large sprawling urban landmass that is Vienna.
Our guide is Viennese and love music history, and music history trivia (who slept with who, which composer lived where when composing which work, all of that sort of thing). She filled us in on the 2000 year history of Roman, Holy Roman, Ottoman and Ausro-Hungarian empires that have overrun these parts, and fit the musicians into that context. Turns out that one of the early Hapsburgs was a fairly talented composer, and that the State has subsidized music for hundreds of years because of that. Also seems that composers lived in every house that we drove by. Eventually we stopping in the old part of the city, inside the Ringstrasse, the old city wall, and got out near the Opera House (and the Sacher Hotel). The President of Greece is staying at the Sacher- apparently one can tell because of the military guard placed outside. Anyway, we were glad to get out of the bus for a bit of a walk- we were to have an hour for lunch and an hour for the a little walking tour of the city.
The streets were familiar, but with a difference: we were here not to shop, but to perform. There is a banner on the side of the Stefansdom, announcing our concert on the 4th of July. Our concert is listed in the July events book. There is a brochure with our name on it in the Cathedral. The church that Julie and I visited last fall, and in which we heard a wonderful organ concert is going to be the site ouf our Sunday morning singing. And so on. Vienna is a big, mature city with an incredible musical tradition, and we are about to become part of it. Along with many other groups of foreign travelers- we saw a group of high schoolers from New Zealand, and concerts are constantly being advertised. But we are definitely going to be a part of it.
Changed money, grabbed a sandwich, looked at the various parts of the Palace. The president’s window was open, which apparently means that he is in town. Then we hopped a bus for our hotel, stopped at the City graveyard to pay our respects to the remains of Beethovan, Brahms, several Schuberts and Schoenberg. The hotel for today and tomorrow is WAY out of town- it was apparently originally a swimming pool. Big place, modern, overrun with high school groups. Apparently the International Youth Leadership Conference will be here tomorrow. 45 minute run into town by bus, so apparently we are being encouraged to limit the frequency with which we return to the hotel- it will be challenging to do a “sound check” at Stefansdom at 3:30, come back here to change into performance garb, and then go back to the city. At least the internet is good.
For dinner, we drove into the Vienna Woods, to a little Weingarten in a town nestled among Vinyard, that really reminded me of our travels through Wachau. The wine was the “Heuewein”, made from grapes harvested last summer- the “Sturm” that Julie and I drank here in September. Picnic tables, family style food, heavy on the meats and root vegetables and anaccompanied by the usual touristy things- roses, pictures and wandering musicians were available . Talked to Julie via internet last night. Was good to hear her voice.
Concerts start up again tomorrow, and build relentlessly before we leave. Weather turned cooler and stormier last night. Life is good.

Day of Rest: Bicycling the Danube

They gave us Wednesday off (I guess that there are a lot of doctors in the group). I woke at 7 or so, got dressed in my biking clothes and headed to breakfast before embarking on my bicycling adventure. My plan was simple: head North along the Danube until I got somewhere interesting. I had a vague notion of visiting the outdoor museum of Soviet-era sculpture, but it was only vague, as the tour books were a bit vague about where it was. The river, on the other hand, I could see. So, after breakfast, I took off.Beautiful day, no wind and the brown Danube (I really never have seen blue in it) to my right. The bike was a mountain bike with thick tires, but it rode well and I had a reasonably well marked path to follow through the city. There were lots of bike commuters. I mostly followed them, although that sometimes led me into uncharted territory away from the river. The good news was that, if I ever felt lost, I just turned right until I found the river again. There’s one stretch of path that is unfinished- perhaps 400 meters on a path through the woods. Otherwise, lovely.
As I went north, I passed a commuter rail station, which reminded me that I could have taken the train to Szentendre and then biked around. There were factories and the ubiquitous Soviet-era apartment blocks, which are in varying degrees of disrepair. Everyone on the trip disparages them, yet none remember that they were built in response to the destruction of World War II, and, white the State was providing them, homelessness was not a problem. I agree that they are eyesores, but then again, Budapest did not have folks sleeping on the streets in the bad old days. No cup is ever entirely empty. At the north end of Budapest, I entered a little towm square, that had not yet opened its shops and restaurants. The Budapest city limit is a small stream feeding the Danube. On the other side, I entered Hungarian vacationland.

Turns out that the river north of the city is where people want to go on vacation. There is a lovely little path running along the coast (to which I was directed by a friendly Hungarian cyclist) with resorts and vacation homes and bars and kayak rental agencies. It was shaded as well, which was really nice. Some burned out Soviet era stuff as well. After that, the trail moved to the top of a levee- good riding, but exposed. The little town of Budakalasz has a lovely little forest path that is narrow, but takes you through the sort of primeval Danubian forest- dense vegetation that is used to being flooded regularly. The trail ended in the aforementioned bit of dirt biking that brought us into the town of Szentendre. I knew that I had arrived somewhere because there was a lot of traffic on the main road, and when I turned up to path, my way was blocked by a bunch of art students who set up their easels on the bike path. After the artists, I found this cute little medieval town with shops and cafes. I decided to stop for a bit, which turned into a two hour ramble.

Szentendre had tacky tourist art and some real craft work, I saw some neat pictures and design in a gallery, looked at handstitched linen tablecloths (almost bought one for our table, but I had no baskets on my bike) and eventually found ********* for Julie. (Sorry, she’s reading this online- no hints) I also had a milkshake for lunch, and visited the Orthodox Church (Serbian Orthodox, but it sounded like Russian chant in there, and the signs were in Cyrillic).  Sat in a café and read for a while, before I decided to head back to Budapest. Nice little town, and would be a good place from which to start a tour of that part of Hungary.

On the ride bike, I picked up parts of the path from which I had deviated on the way up- passed an Hungarian Defence installation complete with tanks, and stopped at a bar along the river for a beer. Also ended up on Elizabeth Island, entering from the north end this time, and exiting the south. The signs said that it was 25 km from Budapest to Szentendre.

The concert people threw us a nice banquet at an old castle on the top of Gellert hill, which has an amazing view of the city. Gypsy music, lights and castles- maybe Budapest is a fairyland. Perhaps.

On to Vienna!

Der Tag: Showtime

So, I have now sung a concert in one of the grand old halls of Europe. Sounds so easy, and, in a sense it was. We knew the piece cold, we had a great orchestra and soloists and Bob Page had spent two days drilling us in the piece. What could go wrong?  (Nice poster, eh?)
To listen to the audience, nothing (and this audience had only a few of our friends and family. They clapped, including the rhythmic clapping that indicated extreme e contentment in the Communist era. No standing ovation, but here they save that for the once in a millennium concert that shows that there is a God. Lots of clapping is good.

Its just that it was so darn hot.

Let me start at the beginning. I woke later, and made it to breakfast in plenty of time to go to the Liszt Institute for dress rehearsal. Old baroque hall, with load of character and gold scrollwork. And no ventilation. The risers rose into the back of the stage, and there was only air if we left the side dooor open and were fortunate enough to get a breeze. Dr. Page introduced the orchestra and got right to it. I love the first movement (the Void) and the Baritone movement when he creates the stars. We made our share of mistakes (to our credit, they were mostly new mistakes), but the big problem from our standpoint was our inability to create a true intense “piano” sound- we were fine when we were lound, but really had trouble dialing it down. We’re excited, all right? That makes it hard to sing. And it was hot, really hot.. By the end of rehearsal, I was able to drink a liter of water without needed to pee. It was hot! Fortunately, they allowed the men to leave off their jackets, and sing in white shirts.

After lunch, we split up. I walked over to Janos Utca, to the bike store to get my bike. They gave me a mountain bike, with helmet, and I was on bike for the day. Budapest has many bike lanes, and they interconnect, but it is sometimes tricky to figure out exactly how they connect. I went for a spin on Margarit Island, which is essentially and “exercise and spa” island in the middle of the Danube. Bike path/ running trail around the outside (about 5 km) Many people, many swimming pools and tennis courts, many ice cream trucks. On the way back, I stopped at the Sunny Corner Café on the river for some New Age Pork Chops, with onion grass garnish, and what I later realized was a dumpling cut up to look like rice. And beer, of course. All in all a pleasant afternoon.

Got home, posted some stuff (didn’t have time for pictures or writing this up) and got into my partial tuxedo. I looked great, and got on the bus with my fellow singers, ready to know ‘em dead. We got there an hour and half before the show, got warm (Andy is so good at it). It was, again, how on the stage. The first act was good, especially the soloists (I love the lady playing Gabriel’s voice), we were good,(but a bit rough around the edges) and we got lots of applause. But either the audience was two hot, or they didn’t know that there was a second act (no programs). So we played the first act to a 2/3 full house and the second act to a 1/3 full house.

What’s interesting was that, in the moment, it felt like any other concert. I had moments of great joy, and of great sadness. We did an acceptable job, and I find my thinking of all the ways that I should do better next time. Still, I can check that one off of the list of things to do before I die. We have a recording, that we are hopeful can be used. So, I am happy- at the after concert banquet, we raised a toast to Hungarian friendship (After all, Haydn was actually from Budapest, right?) We’ll see how Vienna goes.