Today is a religious holiday; however, even as a good Catholic Manuela could not tell me what Fronleichnam was. With the help of Wikipedia, it’s Corpus Christi. Manuela invited me to a big parade featuring pictures made of flower petals at her local church in Handschuhsheim.
Note: Corpus Christi is a Catholic feast in honor of the Holy Eucharist; it is customary, after Mass, to hold processions, often outdoors, with the Host followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
On Saturday I go to the opera again, to see “La Bohéme ” at the Staatliche Buhne (City Theater) Before the performance there is another lecture about the production, which, I find fascinating. Afterwards I ask the lecturer (in English) about the current trend of doing operas in modern dress. He replies that it costs much less, since period costumes and scenery are very expensive; also it allows for more up-to-date interpretations. “Idomeneo” was in modern dress, the upcoming ‘Eugene Onegin” is modern, as is tonight’s “La Bohéme.” My fourth row center seat is €31 or about $50; the San Francisco opera is at least four times that!
The action of this “La Bohéme” starts before the music begins. The curtain is up as the audience comes in, and while the orchestra tunes and before the conductor takes the stand, the four bohemians are rearranging furniture, watching TV and one is taking a nap! There is no overture, once the music starts the singers sing. The four young singers are wearing Jeans and Rodolfo is stripped to the waist. Mimi enters and asks for a light; not for her candle but for her cigarette! Act 2 takes place in a shopping center and the Café Momus is a take-out food stand. The singers are young with terrific voices that soar and fill the theater. In acts 3 and 4 the Bohemians have grown older and successful, they look back on their previous life with nostalgia. Mimi is sung by a 34 year old Russian with the voice of an angel and dies, stage front center as the curtain falls. The full-house audience is ecstatic, they clap in unison and won’t let the cast leave!
Yesterday the roof of the Berlin Philharmonic caught fire and much to her consternation Pamela Rosenberg, late of the San Francisco Opera, had to cancel all concerts for the next week!
This Sunday is a day to do things Jewish! In the morning I drive into town and go on a walking tour of Jewish Heidelberg. About 20 or 30 people meet at Alta Synagoge Platz (Old Synagogue Place) and listen to a historian from the City of Heidelberg talk about the Jewish history of the city. The good professor tells us that there have been Jews in Heidelberg since 1275 and this Platz is actually the site of Heidelberg’s third synagogue, which was destroyed on Kristallnacht. We then move to Heumarkt, the old hay market and the building on the corner was the first Jewish and Kosher hotel in Heidelberg. Next stop along Unter Strasse (Under Street) being the first street below Hauptstrasse (Main Street) and the building on the corner of Dreikonigstrasse (Street of the Three Kings) was the former home of one of the town’s leading Jewish merchants and a few houses away was another much older synagogue of which nothing remains. I don’t think that the Professor mentions that Heidelberg was the first city in Germany to declare itself Judenrein (clear of Jews) in 1938!
In the afternoon I hear a recital by Druschba-Cheverut, a Jewish-Ukrainian men’s chorus from Munich at the Heidelberg Jewish Community Center next to the new synagogue. They sing “O Sey Shalom”, several Russian songs and a selection from “Fiddler on the Roof”. Most of the audience is Russian and Ukrainian and are very enthusiastic. The Master of Ceremonies tells us that the combined age of the chorus is 1,400 years! I also get a chance to look at the sanctuary; it’s orthodox with a bema (desk for reading the Torah) in the center and the women’s section is upstairs in the balcony.
Photos:
Tour of Jewish Heidelberg 3#047
First Jewish Hotel in Heidelberg 3#056
Dreikonigstrasse, Heidelberg 3#049
Jewish-Ukrainian men’s chorus 3#057
Note: Corpus Christi is a Catholic feast in honor of the Holy Eucharist; it is customary, after Mass, to hold processions, often outdoors, with the Host followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
On Saturday I go to the opera again, to see “La Bohéme ” at the Staatliche Buhne (City Theater) Before the performance there is another lecture about the production, which, I find fascinating. Afterwards I ask the lecturer (in English) about the current trend of doing operas in modern dress. He replies that it costs much less, since period costumes and scenery are very expensive; also it allows for more up-to-date interpretations. “Idomeneo” was in modern dress, the upcoming ‘Eugene Onegin” is modern, as is tonight’s “La Bohéme.” My fourth row center seat is €31 or about $50; the San Francisco opera is at least four times that!
The action of this “La Bohéme” starts before the music begins. The curtain is up as the audience comes in, and while the orchestra tunes and before the conductor takes the stand, the four bohemians are rearranging furniture, watching TV and one is taking a nap! There is no overture, once the music starts the singers sing. The four young singers are wearing Jeans and Rodolfo is stripped to the waist. Mimi enters and asks for a light; not for her candle but for her cigarette! Act 2 takes place in a shopping center and the Café Momus is a take-out food stand. The singers are young with terrific voices that soar and fill the theater. In acts 3 and 4 the Bohemians have grown older and successful, they look back on their previous life with nostalgia. Mimi is sung by a 34 year old Russian with the voice of an angel and dies, stage front center as the curtain falls. The full-house audience is ecstatic, they clap in unison and won’t let the cast leave!
Yesterday the roof of the Berlin Philharmonic caught fire and much to her consternation Pamela Rosenberg, late of the San Francisco Opera, had to cancel all concerts for the next week!
This Sunday is a day to do things Jewish! In the morning I drive into town and go on a walking tour of Jewish Heidelberg. About 20 or 30 people meet at Alta Synagoge Platz (Old Synagogue Place) and listen to a historian from the City of Heidelberg talk about the Jewish history of the city. The good professor tells us that there have been Jews in Heidelberg since 1275 and this Platz is actually the site of Heidelberg’s third synagogue, which was destroyed on Kristallnacht. We then move to Heumarkt, the old hay market and the building on the corner was the first Jewish and Kosher hotel in Heidelberg. Next stop along Unter Strasse (Under Street) being the first street below Hauptstrasse (Main Street) and the building on the corner of Dreikonigstrasse (Street of the Three Kings) was the former home of one of the town’s leading Jewish merchants and a few houses away was another much older synagogue of which nothing remains. I don’t think that the Professor mentions that Heidelberg was the first city in Germany to declare itself Judenrein (clear of Jews) in 1938!
In the afternoon I hear a recital by Druschba-Cheverut, a Jewish-Ukrainian men’s chorus from Munich at the Heidelberg Jewish Community Center next to the new synagogue. They sing “O Sey Shalom”, several Russian songs and a selection from “Fiddler on the Roof”. Most of the audience is Russian and Ukrainian and are very enthusiastic. The Master of Ceremonies tells us that the combined age of the chorus is 1,400 years! I also get a chance to look at the sanctuary; it’s orthodox with a bema (desk for reading the Torah) in the center and the women’s section is upstairs in the balcony.
Photos:
Tour of Jewish Heidelberg 3#047
First Jewish Hotel in Heidelberg 3#056
Dreikonigstrasse, Heidelberg 3#049
Jewish-Ukrainian men’s chorus 3#057
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