A Truly Magical Day
Today was fantastic! I had so much fun! I woke up at 9:00 to meet Gretchen at IES to check mail, and afterwards we went to the Albertina, which is a big private museum with many moving exhibitions and a small permanent collection (very small) of Austrian art in some Hapsburg apartments....I have no idea what the history of the building is, but I guess the fact that there's Hapsburg apartments should be a clue....I don't know. Anyway, first we went to the Rubens exhibit, which was absolutely amazing! There were tons of paintings, and the exhibit was arranged not specifically chronologically, but more by theme....it was interesting. Next was the exhibit entitled "Michelangelo und seine Zeit," or "Michelangelo and his times".....the title was a bit misleading, seeing as how there were maybe three actual Michelangelos and the rest were his students, or students of students, or well-wishers, or people who had heard of him.....it was weird. Also, there were no paintings, only sketches, studies, and cartoons....and TONS of writing on the walls (in German and English, thank goodness) It was basically like walking through a doctoral thesis on how Michelangelo affected the artistic community of his time.....it was okay, but it was kind of disappointing. The next exhibit we saw was possibly my favorite....it was of a German painter whom I had never heard of named Neo Rauch. He was born in Leipzig in 1960, and according to the little blurb in the pamphlet, he's been "distinctively asserting himself as one of the most important contemporary German artists." All the paintings in the relatively small exhibition were large, powerful works. They were done around the same time, if my memory serves me. His style is sort of dreamlike, in that perspective was very skillfully toyed with, and although the situations and position of all the figures seem disturbingly familiar, many of the secondary objects are decidedly out of place. He also utilizes certain shapes, space-bending effects, and color schemes very often which gave all the paintings a sense of harmony with each other.....the exhibition was designed extremely well in that regard. I really loved his work, and so I looked for the book of the exhibition in the bookstore, and it was surprisingly cheap! I think it was €19 or something....I decided instead to get another book of his work, since it was only €26 and it had a whole bunch more of his stuff. It's a good book, and I still can't get over the fact that it wasn't ridiculously expensive.....the book for the Rubens exhibit was only €32, and it was HUGE......it was a fantastic museum all in all, and there's a Chagall exhibit in December which I'll have to see.
After a quick lunch of pasta Gretchen & I went to the Mariahilferstrasse to shop.....she picked up some awesome stuff at H&M....I got this sweater I've been eyeing which was marked down from €34.90 to €4.90! It's a large knitted wool sweater with a huge collar and really long sleeves....it looks like it'll be very warm indeed. After that we walked around and stopped in a couple of shops, then headed back home stopping for gelato on the way. (the same guy that I always see there was working again today.....he's so strange! he's nice and all, but he's just....very strange)
I tried to convince Gretchen to come to the opera with me, but she didn't want to. It was kind of fun going alone, since I got to read in the line, etc., but it is better to go with people. Tonight was Rigoletto, with José Bros as the Duke, Anthony Michaels-Moore in the title role, and a wonderful Stefania Bonfadelli as Gilda. (I'm listing these names in the thought that perhaps someone will recognize them....I certainly don't) I got in line at 5:00 and it was already outside the door. From now on I'm going to get there 2.5 hours before the performance instead of just 2. I actually got a spot in the 8th row, but I was shoved over to the side, so unless I leaned forward and over I couldn't see about 1/9 of the stage on the right....no big loss, really, since no one ever sings over there. Anyway, it was absolutely amazing!!! Every opera I see there is the best one I've ever seen....I wonder how long this'll keep up! Anyway, the production was pretty straightforward and not all weird and po-mo like Hoffmann and Zauberflöte....I realized that that's probably because Rigoletto, like most Verdi operas, has a clear and straightforward plot and isn't all abstract and interpretive....I mean, Hoffmann is an abstraction of abstract stories, and Zauberflöte is just a giant masonic allegory. Anyway, all the singers were really really good, especially the Duke (who is officially the only tenor at the Staatsoper who was perfect...never honky or annoying....not the best actor, but not much was required of him) Rigoletto was also very very good....I had forgotten that "La Donna e Mobile" was from this opera, so when the duke started to sing it I was sort of taken aback....also when he sings it from inside the house, alerting Rigoletto to the fact that the body in the sack is not, in fact, the duke, but actually his fatally wounded daughter. I'll never hear the song the same way again. All in all, it was fantastic, and although going alone was a very different and liberating experience, it's still better to go with friends.
Andrew called not too long after I got home, and we talked for a while....I laughed harder than I've laughed in a while.......I just am really really happy at the moment. Then I called Grandmother, but she didn't answer. She called me back in a few minutes, though, and we talked for a while. It was also great to hear from her....it's been far too long since we've talked. Now, it's off to bed to sleep in after my exciting day!!! YAY!
After a quick lunch of pasta Gretchen & I went to the Mariahilferstrasse to shop.....she picked up some awesome stuff at H&M....I got this sweater I've been eyeing which was marked down from €34.90 to €4.90! It's a large knitted wool sweater with a huge collar and really long sleeves....it looks like it'll be very warm indeed. After that we walked around and stopped in a couple of shops, then headed back home stopping for gelato on the way. (the same guy that I always see there was working again today.....he's so strange! he's nice and all, but he's just....very strange)
I tried to convince Gretchen to come to the opera with me, but she didn't want to. It was kind of fun going alone, since I got to read in the line, etc., but it is better to go with people. Tonight was Rigoletto, with José Bros as the Duke, Anthony Michaels-Moore in the title role, and a wonderful Stefania Bonfadelli as Gilda. (I'm listing these names in the thought that perhaps someone will recognize them....I certainly don't) I got in line at 5:00 and it was already outside the door. From now on I'm going to get there 2.5 hours before the performance instead of just 2. I actually got a spot in the 8th row, but I was shoved over to the side, so unless I leaned forward and over I couldn't see about 1/9 of the stage on the right....no big loss, really, since no one ever sings over there. Anyway, it was absolutely amazing!!! Every opera I see there is the best one I've ever seen....I wonder how long this'll keep up! Anyway, the production was pretty straightforward and not all weird and po-mo like Hoffmann and Zauberflöte....I realized that that's probably because Rigoletto, like most Verdi operas, has a clear and straightforward plot and isn't all abstract and interpretive....I mean, Hoffmann is an abstraction of abstract stories, and Zauberflöte is just a giant masonic allegory. Anyway, all the singers were really really good, especially the Duke (who is officially the only tenor at the Staatsoper who was perfect...never honky or annoying....not the best actor, but not much was required of him) Rigoletto was also very very good....I had forgotten that "La Donna e Mobile" was from this opera, so when the duke started to sing it I was sort of taken aback....also when he sings it from inside the house, alerting Rigoletto to the fact that the body in the sack is not, in fact, the duke, but actually his fatally wounded daughter. I'll never hear the song the same way again. All in all, it was fantastic, and although going alone was a very different and liberating experience, it's still better to go with friends.
Andrew called not too long after I got home, and we talked for a while....I laughed harder than I've laughed in a while.......I just am really really happy at the moment. Then I called Grandmother, but she didn't answer. She called me back in a few minutes, though, and we talked for a while. It was also great to hear from her....it's been far too long since we've talked. Now, it's off to bed to sleep in after my exciting day!!! YAY!
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