Long Saturday
Six-hour shift at Library: €30 income
Groceries: exactly €14.99 (damn I'm good!)
Mozart Requiem at Augistinerkirche: €17.50
Post-Requiem Drinks and Food at 1516: €14
Experiencing such profound emotions at a concert: Priceless
The day was longer usual because I had to get up at 9:00 to get to work on time...I was a bit late, truth be told, because I stopped at Anker to get their delicious pizza bread thing.....oh, SO good....anyway I moseyed on up to IES and prepared for my extra-long shift.....I wasn't scheduled to work this Saturday, but I switched Saturdays with Gretel to help her out, which worked out better because I think there's a concert I want to go to on the night of the Saturday in Novemeber that I was originally scheduled to work....I can't remember. In any case, it was nice to get the Saturday shift out of the way, and the best part is that I got absolutely nothing accomplished during work....it was a bit more labor-intensive than I had anticipated, because although not many people come to the center on Saturday, lots of people check out reserve books overnight on Friday, and so they have to lug them back to the library before 11:00 on Saturday....consequently, the first hour was a bit busy, and after that it got better....Mike came to visit before he practiced and we listened to music and watched South Park. (not at the same time!) After we work Mike and I went to the Merkur to do some grocery shopping (he had never been, you see...) and I got some staples and things to last me for the next week or so....after shopping I took him to the good gelato place by the Mariahilferkirche, which was delicious despite the cold, rainy weather outside. I went back home and cooked a little pasta for myself, as well as getting a bit of R&R after carrying all those damn groceries so far in the rain.....I also also tried to call the organist whose name Frau Schachermeier had given me, but he wasn't home, and I was too nervous to leave a message. I left for the church early and took a bit of a circuitous route through the Hofburg.....I waited outside for Mike for a while, and then went inside thinking he might have already gone to his seat....he hadn't, but I went to my seat anyway. The inside of the church was breathtaking....it was almost entirely white with beautiful chandeliers and beautiful statues everywhere....the altar was also gorgeous, and the chapel organ (or whatever the small one is called) was off to the left and stood out a bit from the somewhat stark feel of the white and carefully arranged statuary.....it wasn't like Stephansdom where there are intricate little decorations and statues and ridiculous things everywhere. There seemed to be an aura of simplicity about the church's design, which I suppose is typical of the style that it is.....I honestly don't know how old the church is......
In any case, the performance was pretty good.....the concert started by the orchestra, and then the choir followed by the conductor walking onto the 'stage' in complete silence: no applause. It must be a thing here: every concert I've been to at a church (except for Ruprechtskirche, which doesn't feel like a church in the same way because it's so small) people don't clap at all until the very very end of the concert. Anyway, before the Requiem they played Ave Verum Corpus, which is almost as beautiful as choral music can get, really.....the first D major sonorities that sounded from the string section as the piece began were some of the beautiful music I've ever heard....my heart flipped over three times as I stared at the conductor, not believing what I was hearing.....the church is almost too good acoustically....every sound becomes part of this beautiful gauzy mass of sound which envelops you even as it caresses......perfect for the Ave Verum. Even after the long pause between the Ave Verum and the start of Requiem (which seemed longer because of both the absence of applause and the 8 seconds that the last chord lingered audibly in the air) the change from D major at the end of the Ave Verum and the D minor at the very beginning of the Requiem was bone-chilling in its effect. The first three movements of the Requiem always get me....no matter what, and to hear them in such a great space transported me in a way I thought impossible. I'm reminded of what a friend of mine once said about opera: when Tosca dies, every diva dies, but when Violetta dies, EVERYONE dies. I think this is entirely true, but unlike either of those moments, during the first three movements of the Requiem, everyone I love is dying, and I am left alive and alone. That's literally the sadness I felt during those movements.....I was crying, of course, and I think the French woman that I was sitting next to thought I was insane....once the Tuba Mirum starts, the spell starts to break, and after I re-lapse into profound sadness during the first 16 bars of the Lacrymosa, I settle into listening into Mozart (/Süßmayer) and although it's gorgeous, it's not gut-wrenching in the same way. It was only after the Lacrymosa that I started to notice the things I liked and didn't like about the conductor's treatment of the piece. For one thing, his tempi seemed good to me in an absolute sense, (e.g. half-note=84 for Dies Irae) but some of them were just too fast for the hall.....a lot of the time, especially in movements like the Recordare or the Hosanna, the effect was less beautiful and ethereal and more of a muddle....the suspensions in the solo parts of the Recordare, for instance, sounded weird because you could barely hear how they were resolved. Despite this, however, both the choir and the orchestra had a tremendous sense of phrase....the violin line in the first two bars of the Lacrymosa, for instance, was exquisitely phrased and worked well with the acoustics of the hall, with the effect that the third eighth-note (always the resolution to the chordal tone) was perceived as much, much softer than the dissonant note before it, but it had just enough presence to speak through the echo of the dissonant note....this is a rather inefficient explanation to what, when I experienced it, was just surpassing beauty. There were times, however, when the conductor's sense of phrase was a bit....well, strange...I've been trying to remember when he got really choppy.....well, there was a big pause between the two syllables of the word "Irae," which made it sound like little punches instead of a tapered phrase. Oh yeah! It was the Rex Tremendae where it got all weird....the movement started completely normally in a decent tempo, but after the two exclamations of "Rex" by the choir, at the part where they come in for the first time with "Rex tremendae majestatis" homorhythmically with the orchestra he slowed WAY the heck down....it was kind of jarring how all of a sudden everyone was in a completely different tempo....he did it again at the other homorhythmic treatment of the same text. Other these couple of places, though, I thought his interpretation was darn good, and in the end it was all sounded gorgeous in the church.
After the concert I met Mike, Natalie, Carla, Mel, Naomi, and Bobby, who were all at the Requiem also (but I had purchased my tickets last week and splurged a bit to get tickets in the center aisle, so I was sitting alone) and we went to 1516, which is a pretty nice bar in the 1st district. (it's popular with the IES students because it's close, fairly cheap, and the wait staff speaks good English) We sat in this little back room on the second floor with little windows looking out on the hallway, which made for some interesting people-watching, and it was nice that it wasn't as loud or smoky as the rest of the place. We had two rounds of Cosmos without Triple Sec, (which they didn't have....just vodka and cranberry juice is called a Cape Cod or something), except Mike, who had Scotch, and Bobby, who had the house lager. I shared an order of potato wedges with Carla, which were delicious....I've been finding out that whenever I drink I get ridiculously hungry....it's a weird phenomenon which I'm not sure that I like. Hannas met up with us at 1516 and we stayed there for a few hours.
After drinks and much revelry we went back home....Hannas and Natalie were practicing their Bell Kicks, or whatever they're called, in the Opernpassage to the U4....it was just hi-larious, and I managed to get a great shot of them together in mid-air. After getting home, I remembered that I had told Becky that I would watch the Lemmiwinks episode of South Park with her after the Requiem....I rushed up to her apartment, and since both her and Jess were awake we decided to watch it even though it was late.....Jess told me all about going to the rugby game with Cabot and Todd, and it sounded like fun! I should try to go to one sporting event while I'm here.....in any case during Lemmiwinks Brad showed up, and we ended up watching four episodes before we went to bed. When I got back downstairs I decided to sleep on the futon, since I had kept Nick awake the night previous with my coughing and he had decided to sleep on the futon, I thought since it was so late I would just crash there, rather than risk keeping him up two nights in a row....I doubt I coughed much last night, but after two drinks and a sufficient amount of sleep deprivation, sleeping on the futon in the living room seemed like a fantastic idea. Seeing as how Sunday is half-over, I should probably do something with today and stop writing my journal about yesterday! ^_^ Oop! Laundry's done!
Groceries: exactly €14.99 (damn I'm good!)
Mozart Requiem at Augistinerkirche: €17.50
Post-Requiem Drinks and Food at 1516: €14
Experiencing such profound emotions at a concert: Priceless
The day was longer usual because I had to get up at 9:00 to get to work on time...I was a bit late, truth be told, because I stopped at Anker to get their delicious pizza bread thing.....oh, SO good....anyway I moseyed on up to IES and prepared for my extra-long shift.....I wasn't scheduled to work this Saturday, but I switched Saturdays with Gretel to help her out, which worked out better because I think there's a concert I want to go to on the night of the Saturday in Novemeber that I was originally scheduled to work....I can't remember. In any case, it was nice to get the Saturday shift out of the way, and the best part is that I got absolutely nothing accomplished during work....it was a bit more labor-intensive than I had anticipated, because although not many people come to the center on Saturday, lots of people check out reserve books overnight on Friday, and so they have to lug them back to the library before 11:00 on Saturday....consequently, the first hour was a bit busy, and after that it got better....Mike came to visit before he practiced and we listened to music and watched South Park. (not at the same time!) After we work Mike and I went to the Merkur to do some grocery shopping (he had never been, you see...) and I got some staples and things to last me for the next week or so....after shopping I took him to the good gelato place by the Mariahilferkirche, which was delicious despite the cold, rainy weather outside. I went back home and cooked a little pasta for myself, as well as getting a bit of R&R after carrying all those damn groceries so far in the rain.....I also also tried to call the organist whose name Frau Schachermeier had given me, but he wasn't home, and I was too nervous to leave a message. I left for the church early and took a bit of a circuitous route through the Hofburg.....I waited outside for Mike for a while, and then went inside thinking he might have already gone to his seat....he hadn't, but I went to my seat anyway. The inside of the church was breathtaking....it was almost entirely white with beautiful chandeliers and beautiful statues everywhere....the altar was also gorgeous, and the chapel organ (or whatever the small one is called) was off to the left and stood out a bit from the somewhat stark feel of the white and carefully arranged statuary.....it wasn't like Stephansdom where there are intricate little decorations and statues and ridiculous things everywhere. There seemed to be an aura of simplicity about the church's design, which I suppose is typical of the style that it is.....I honestly don't know how old the church is......
In any case, the performance was pretty good.....the concert started by the orchestra, and then the choir followed by the conductor walking onto the 'stage' in complete silence: no applause. It must be a thing here: every concert I've been to at a church (except for Ruprechtskirche, which doesn't feel like a church in the same way because it's so small) people don't clap at all until the very very end of the concert. Anyway, before the Requiem they played Ave Verum Corpus, which is almost as beautiful as choral music can get, really.....the first D major sonorities that sounded from the string section as the piece began were some of the beautiful music I've ever heard....my heart flipped over three times as I stared at the conductor, not believing what I was hearing.....the church is almost too good acoustically....every sound becomes part of this beautiful gauzy mass of sound which envelops you even as it caresses......perfect for the Ave Verum. Even after the long pause between the Ave Verum and the start of Requiem (which seemed longer because of both the absence of applause and the 8 seconds that the last chord lingered audibly in the air) the change from D major at the end of the Ave Verum and the D minor at the very beginning of the Requiem was bone-chilling in its effect. The first three movements of the Requiem always get me....no matter what, and to hear them in such a great space transported me in a way I thought impossible. I'm reminded of what a friend of mine once said about opera: when Tosca dies, every diva dies, but when Violetta dies, EVERYONE dies. I think this is entirely true, but unlike either of those moments, during the first three movements of the Requiem, everyone I love is dying, and I am left alive and alone. That's literally the sadness I felt during those movements.....I was crying, of course, and I think the French woman that I was sitting next to thought I was insane....once the Tuba Mirum starts, the spell starts to break, and after I re-lapse into profound sadness during the first 16 bars of the Lacrymosa, I settle into listening into Mozart (/Süßmayer) and although it's gorgeous, it's not gut-wrenching in the same way. It was only after the Lacrymosa that I started to notice the things I liked and didn't like about the conductor's treatment of the piece. For one thing, his tempi seemed good to me in an absolute sense, (e.g. half-note=84 for Dies Irae) but some of them were just too fast for the hall.....a lot of the time, especially in movements like the Recordare or the Hosanna, the effect was less beautiful and ethereal and more of a muddle....the suspensions in the solo parts of the Recordare, for instance, sounded weird because you could barely hear how they were resolved. Despite this, however, both the choir and the orchestra had a tremendous sense of phrase....the violin line in the first two bars of the Lacrymosa, for instance, was exquisitely phrased and worked well with the acoustics of the hall, with the effect that the third eighth-note (always the resolution to the chordal tone) was perceived as much, much softer than the dissonant note before it, but it had just enough presence to speak through the echo of the dissonant note....this is a rather inefficient explanation to what, when I experienced it, was just surpassing beauty. There were times, however, when the conductor's sense of phrase was a bit....well, strange...I've been trying to remember when he got really choppy.....well, there was a big pause between the two syllables of the word "Irae," which made it sound like little punches instead of a tapered phrase. Oh yeah! It was the Rex Tremendae where it got all weird....the movement started completely normally in a decent tempo, but after the two exclamations of "Rex" by the choir, at the part where they come in for the first time with "Rex tremendae majestatis" homorhythmically with the orchestra he slowed WAY the heck down....it was kind of jarring how all of a sudden everyone was in a completely different tempo....he did it again at the other homorhythmic treatment of the same text. Other these couple of places, though, I thought his interpretation was darn good, and in the end it was all sounded gorgeous in the church.
After the concert I met Mike, Natalie, Carla, Mel, Naomi, and Bobby, who were all at the Requiem also (but I had purchased my tickets last week and splurged a bit to get tickets in the center aisle, so I was sitting alone) and we went to 1516, which is a pretty nice bar in the 1st district. (it's popular with the IES students because it's close, fairly cheap, and the wait staff speaks good English) We sat in this little back room on the second floor with little windows looking out on the hallway, which made for some interesting people-watching, and it was nice that it wasn't as loud or smoky as the rest of the place. We had two rounds of Cosmos without Triple Sec, (which they didn't have....just vodka and cranberry juice is called a Cape Cod or something), except Mike, who had Scotch, and Bobby, who had the house lager. I shared an order of potato wedges with Carla, which were delicious....I've been finding out that whenever I drink I get ridiculously hungry....it's a weird phenomenon which I'm not sure that I like. Hannas met up with us at 1516 and we stayed there for a few hours.
After drinks and much revelry we went back home....Hannas and Natalie were practicing their Bell Kicks, or whatever they're called, in the Opernpassage to the U4....it was just hi-larious, and I managed to get a great shot of them together in mid-air. After getting home, I remembered that I had told Becky that I would watch the Lemmiwinks episode of South Park with her after the Requiem....I rushed up to her apartment, and since both her and Jess were awake we decided to watch it even though it was late.....Jess told me all about going to the rugby game with Cabot and Todd, and it sounded like fun! I should try to go to one sporting event while I'm here.....in any case during Lemmiwinks Brad showed up, and we ended up watching four episodes before we went to bed. When I got back downstairs I decided to sleep on the futon, since I had kept Nick awake the night previous with my coughing and he had decided to sleep on the futon, I thought since it was so late I would just crash there, rather than risk keeping him up two nights in a row....I doubt I coughed much last night, but after two drinks and a sufficient amount of sleep deprivation, sleeping on the futon in the living room seemed like a fantastic idea. Seeing as how Sunday is half-over, I should probably do something with today and stop writing my journal about yesterday! ^_^ Oop! Laundry's done!
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