On Sunday the weather is beautiful and I take a drive through the countryside. I drive through Heidelberg and along the Neckar River to Neckargemund, a pretty little river-town with an old castle some lovely old buildings. Then head inland through woods and farmland to Mauer and Meckesheim where I see a signpost for Anglasterhausen, I like the sound of that and drive along narrow country roads and through tiny villages till I get there and find that the name is the most attractive thing there! Then on to Sinsheim for a bite of lunch and home on the Autobahn. Lovely!
In the evening I go to Mannheim for “Lucia di Lammermoor” by Donizetti. It’s a Festlicher Opernabend (Festive Evening of Opera) meaning there are special guest singers and everybody gets dressed up. This is one of the best dressed audiences I’ve seen; most men are wearing suits and ties and I see several where the man’s tie is an exact match to his lady’s gown! The music and singing are spectacular. Iride Martinez from Argentina sings Lucia, Franco Vassallo, who has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Vienna State Opera sings her brother Enrico. Salvatore Cordella sings her lover Edgardo. This is another modern interpretation. The setting is Scotland at an indeterminate time with the men in tartan kilts that look more like sarongs. There’s a choir of 25 men in kilts and bright red tam-o‘shanters and a woman’s choir of an equal number wearing tartan skirts, white blouses and beehive hairdos! Arturo, the man Lucia is being forced to marry is dressed as Idi Amin. The scenery is very modern; on stage there is a small pond in which Lucia dangles her fingers and in the third act she dies on stage in a much larger pond!
The European Soccer Cup matches started yesterday and luckily Germany beat Poland in the first round. 23 year-old Podolski kicked in both goals. The whole country would have gone into a large-scale funk if they had lost! Evidently all team members must be citizens and several of the German players had played for Arsenal and Chelsea (British teams).
Monday night, at the Stadthalle, I go to a piano concert by students of Mannheim University; of the six students five have Asian names. I speak to two of the students, a woman from Korea who had played an obviously very difficult Prokoffiev sonata and a young man from Bulgaria who had played an extremely complicated piece by Ginastera, an Argentinean composer. These students play without a score, are very talented and I believe are the future “Van Cliburns ”.
In the evening I go to Mannheim for “Lucia di Lammermoor” by Donizetti. It’s a Festlicher Opernabend (Festive Evening of Opera) meaning there are special guest singers and everybody gets dressed up. This is one of the best dressed audiences I’ve seen; most men are wearing suits and ties and I see several where the man’s tie is an exact match to his lady’s gown! The music and singing are spectacular. Iride Martinez from Argentina sings Lucia, Franco Vassallo, who has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Vienna State Opera sings her brother Enrico. Salvatore Cordella sings her lover Edgardo. This is another modern interpretation. The setting is Scotland at an indeterminate time with the men in tartan kilts that look more like sarongs. There’s a choir of 25 men in kilts and bright red tam-o‘shanters and a woman’s choir of an equal number wearing tartan skirts, white blouses and beehive hairdos! Arturo, the man Lucia is being forced to marry is dressed as Idi Amin. The scenery is very modern; on stage there is a small pond in which Lucia dangles her fingers and in the third act she dies on stage in a much larger pond!
The European Soccer Cup matches started yesterday and luckily Germany beat Poland in the first round. 23 year-old Podolski kicked in both goals. The whole country would have gone into a large-scale funk if they had lost! Evidently all team members must be citizens and several of the German players had played for Arsenal and Chelsea (British teams).
Monday night, at the Stadthalle, I go to a piano concert by students of Mannheim University; of the six students five have Asian names. I speak to two of the students, a woman from Korea who had played an obviously very difficult Prokoffiev sonata and a young man from Bulgaria who had played an extremely complicated piece by Ginastera, an Argentinean composer. These students play without a score, are very talented and I believe are the future “Van Cliburns ”.
Photos:
Neckargemund 5#007
Neckargemund 5#008
Stadthalle, Heidelberg 5#012
Die Comedian Harmonists 5#011
Neckargemund 5#007
Neckargemund 5#008
Stadthalle, Heidelberg 5#012
Die Comedian Harmonists 5#011
No comments:
Post a Comment