The symphony was a great experience. Our seats were right in the middle of the rows so the view was perfect. I love the gold chandeliers that sparkle with so many colors. The performance was awesome, a once in a lifetime experience.
Papabear is so generous. He calls a cab to drive us downtown so we don't have to park and walk so far, 'so far' for me being not much more than half a block. I swear my leg is going to fall off someday. We asked the cab company to pick us up at 7:15 but it didn't show up until 7:45. You know the door of the performances are closed when the performance begins so we were getting very nervous. I was plotting a lawsuit for the expense and emotional damage being incurred as we waited for our coach. But a miracle occured and we made it barely on-time and people were flowing into the hall up until 8:30 when Maestro Lockhart made his entrance onstage. The doors were closed but re-opened after the first movement to let in a surprising number of latecomers. Maybe their taxi service was also late.
The first performance was Beethoven's Concerto No.4 for Piano in G Major, Op 58, a delightful, playful experience. I was delighted. Then, the one we were all waiting for - Beethoven's Ninth, the Ode to Joy. I have no expertise at all to describe this. It's beyond my capacity. So, I will just say I found it to be interesting, as various phrases were recognized throughout. Most of the time we were tickled and teased with this amazing composition of what we clumsily and simply call music. It's as if Mr. B took a lot of time deciding whether or not to develop his famous melody into what it eventually becomes. There was the full large chorus onstage ready to blast out the familiar music into the air who stood silently for such a long time. I held my breath thinking "this is it..here it comes".....but ah, not yet. Needless to say my fascination was spellbound. I expected the audience to rise to their feet and cheer when the moment finally arrived. But we all remained well behaved. We all quietly exclaimed "YES" in just our heads when the chorus burst into their amazing expression: Ode to Joy.
The programs handed out to each of us in the beginning has an insert inside with the words to this great piece in both German and English. Portions of Friedrich Schiller's An die Freude (Ode to Joy) include this:
Be embraced, Millions!
Take this kiss for all the world!
Brothers, surely a loving Father
Dwells above the canopy of stars.
Do you sink before him, Millions?
World, do you sense your Creator?
Seek him then beyond the stars!
He must dwell beyond the stars.
Indeed. In my own humble opinion, music is and must be Perfection. It truly is a gift of Divinity....so Awesome.
6 years ago
6 comments:
That is very cool. I'm glad you guys had such an awesome time.
THANK YOU FOR STOPPING BY....IT WOULD BE GREAT TO SEE YOU HERE MORE OFTEN
This sounds like such a good time! I absolutely love music of all kinds. And I am glad the taxi worked out and didn't make you miss anything. That would have been terrible. We all need a wonderful night out now and then and this one sounds perfect.
Amazing! I'm so glad you did this and thanks for sharing. It should make you feel good all week long!
Hi! You know what they say about weeds -- anything that is growing where you don't want it is a weed. I know what you mean about those trees in your yard. We have some that come up in the worst places. I rip those guys out post haste. I had one I ignored and it got to be about ten feet tall. Then we had to cut it down instead and deal with the stump! Not as easy as ripping the little blighters right out of the ground!
I have this to look forward to next week. Finally the big city pick-up is getting to our street. I'm glad it will be cooler... I hope. The roses need rejuvenation. I'm afraid they are all a bit out of control. With no pick-up and the very hot weather, sometimes things just have to wait, but I'm looking forward to haveing it all cleaned up and out of here.
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