Weihnachtsoratorium

Groceries: €19.20
Program: €2.70

Today was a holiday (the celebration of the assumption of Mary....I guess it's when you decide to assume that Mary was a virgin! ha ha ha....I know it's not funny, but I try....) so we didn't technically have any classes....although the instrumental performance workshop had class in the morning (since the concert is on Friday) and I had to be there to do the Bach with Allison and the three flutes....it went well, but I still choked up a couple of times. It was helpful to go through it in front of people (despite the fact that there weren't that many people there) but the comments we got from Ulrike and Russel weren't that helpful. (side note: apparently his name is spelled Russel....how embarrassing that I've been spelling it wrong this whole time!) After the workshop I went home and dilly-dallied for a while, and then went down to the Belvedere for an AA&A tour...I was a little late (since the bus didn't deliver me as close to the palace as I had expected) but they hadn't left yet. The museum is fantastic...I'll have to go again (since it's free with my museum card) and see the rooms we didn't cover in the tour...plus to see the Klimts again. We saw the Klimts that are trying to be recovered by the descendants of Adelaide Bloch-Bauer, a woman whose portrait was painted twice by Klimt (both hanging in the Belvedere) and whose assets were seized during the war (because she was Jewish). After the war the Belvedere (re-?)acquired them and they've been hanging ever since. Now the descendants of Bloch-Bauer in California (of all places) want the paintings back. It would seem open-and-shut, since courts have been pretty good about returning property seized during the Third Reich to its rightful owners: however, in Adelaide's will it expressly states that after her death she wanted the paintings to hang in the Belvedere. The catch with that is that technically her husband paid for them, so her estate has no claim over them. It's a complicated issue that'll be resolved eventually, but I'm glad I got to see them before they (possibly) leave Vienna. We saw a lot of Biedermeier stuff, which although pretty is kinda boring. I don't know....I enjoyed it, but we just spent too much time talking about it. How much can you say about peasants playing dice? Sure, it's pretty and exceptionally painted, but to get into this huge political discussion seems strange....save it for Klimt or Schiele....people about whom you could make a more clear political thesis. Whatever. The museum was fantastic, and I simply must go again soon.

Unfortunately I couldn't stay in the museum after the tour was over, as I had to get back to IES for a coaching with Russel with my duet with Allison: the Jägerlied by Brahms. It went quite well, and I feel good about doing it at the recital (not tomorrow, but Tuesday) After the coaching I went home, prepared a humble meal, and then went down to the Musikverein to see Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium...it was the Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Soloists, and Orchestra under the direction of Ton Koopman, who I'm familiar with as a famous organist. It was a fantastic concert, and due to the fact that I got in line an hour early I managed to get decent spots on the rail.....standing room was PACKED....I couldn't believe how many people were there....anyway everything was fantastic, especially the orchestra and the soloists. The choir was also amazing, but the tenor and soprano soloists really shone that evening....also the orchestra was really great, and Koopman looks like a great conductor. (he also played what must have been a portative organ during the non-choral movements, although someone was clearly another portative on stage right....maybe he wanted two? or maybe it wasn't an organ? it was certainly a keyboard instrument....) The tenor soloist was great....all the Bach stuff for tenor Evangelists (especially in this piece and the St. John Passion) make me want to be a tenor SO BAD.....it's just the greatest music ever. Anyway, the soprano soloist also had some amazing arias to sing, and the 20-piece choir showed an amazing versatility of tone and color considering their size...their blend was also incredible, but not in the weird smarmy American way where everyone sounds mushy: it was decidedly clear and every section had a different sound (helpful to make sense of the quasi-fugal passages) but the overall effect was of profound unity. The whole experience was great, and the audience went NUTS at the end. Counting the two encores we were there for another 20 minutes after the final movement of the oratorio. As their second encore they did one of the final choruses, which featured an extremely difficult obbligato line for the three trumpet parts, which were being played on natural horns (i.e. no valves, slides, or pistons, just your embouchure and your breath to control the overtones and a few little holes in the shaft for trills and the like....I can't even imagine how hard that must be...jeez)......when Koopman turned to the orchestra (after his 10th or 11th ovation) and told the orchestra what to play, a noticeable look of bemusement spread across the faces of the trumpet players. Despite their fortune, they played extremely well, the second time as well as the first. People (including me) were clapping until after he had motioned for the orchestra to leave and almost half of them had left the stage. Say what you will about the Viennese, they know good music, and when they like it they show it.