Forty-Two Days of Opera

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MUSOCHAT 1/24: Writing Opera & Vocal Music

OSSIA: AN INTRODUCTION TO MY NEUROSES

I’ve met very, very few composers who don’t want to try their hand at an opera, even just for funsies – and that’s understandable, because it’s a very particular form that can yield very visible, very visceral results.  If there’s one thing that I’ve learned over two vocal performance degrees and a subsequent (fledgling) career writing operas & vocal music, it’s this:

Writing vocal music is pretty damn hard.

Imagine that you write primarily soloistic music for a certain kind of string instrument – except that there are distinct differences of internal construction between every single one of those individual instruments based literally on virtue of birth and life consequences; and their ranges are all minutely unique, and they all have specific notes that shimmer and some that have very little shimmer; and they all have a little passage of three-to-four half steps where you have to be mega careful or else they’ll squawk like a flightless bird; some are good at runs, some are good at leaps, some have extra long line, some are loud as all get out (and can’t help it,) some can reach up into the stratosphere 5 minutes after they wake up; and you have to write them an equitable and intelligent amount of challengingly-idiomatic music, but not enough that they can’t perform it a few times over the course of a week without long-term damage or fatigue; and also these instruments are delicate enough that if the weather is funny or the room is dry or the player lost or gained weight or the player drank too little water or too much milk (or too much something else the night before,) the instruments may be noticeably less predictable than it otherwise might; oh, and also the structure of these instruments changes slightly (but constantly) over time until the instrumentalist is in their late 30′s (.. and then they begin to change again later in their life.)

That’s what writing for vocalists is like – and writing an opera is like writing a really long concerto for four-to-six of these (often backed up by a chorus of these.)

AND – this says nothing of the intricacies of setting text – aligning syllabic stress(es), aligning happy vowels with the correct sections of your singer’s (or singers’) range(s), not swallowing them with an accompaniment, etcetera – let alone where to find the right texts, or who to ask to write texts, or how you go about editing texts when you feel that they need slight alterations –

NOR – does it even begin to scratch the surface of the very in-depth field of the emotional and technical aspects of How to Make Good Theater – how to build a satisfying plot, how to convey multi-dimensional characters, how to instruct while entertaining, how to build a show that doesn’t make its producers want to leap from a moving car, ad infinitum –

AND – I love it to death.  I honestly can’t help it.

I don’t bring up these many, many hoops to dissuade you from trying to jump through them – I bring them up to say that I have only begun to jump through them (and I’ve biffed on some hoops already,) but it’s an extremely satisfying run. 

As an opera composer, I get to work with a big group of people who are all enthusiastic about telling a good story.  (Who doesn’t love a good story?)  I get to see characters that were once only in the minds of myself and a librettist come to life in the minds and bodies of many other people – and those characters become even better and more nuanced when people get a hold of them and put them on stage.   It is a tremendous privilege that takes weeks and weeks, months, years of effort and planning and dot-putting and trial & error and fundraising – but the result is something I can’t describe.

Honestly, a single session of #musochat isn’t going to be able to delve into all of this, and I certainly do not hold myself up as a master of this form – but I’ll try to ask questions that were pertinent ones for me to address when I first began this process.  I hope that the result is for you all to dip a toe into the voice/opera world – or, to stick in a foot, or wade through – or to belly flop right in.

[bepeu-deactivated20171202]

you ever been so stressed that youre calm

[gordacrybaby-deactivated2017090]

this is my constant state

[mrllarchive]

my chill is fake

[pungent-petrichor]

“How are you so calm?!” “I’ve passed beyond stressed, beyond hysteria, into the grey misty indifference of complete shutdown of all but emergency services in my brain.”

[42daysofopera]

That's called stage management

[crossconnectmag]

“Grow Up” - Miniature Houses by Katarina Pridavkova

Katarina Pridavkova is a Slovakia-born artist, currently living and working in Spain. Her installation “Grow up” features 26 handmade house inspired by Mallorca and the idea of newly known surroundings.

The thesis “Grow up“ focuses on the perception of a newly known surroundings. Theemphasis is predominantly on the impression of surroundings. The aim of the thesis is to invite people to my imaginary world and to introduce them the atmosphere of installation.The main topic of this work is phenomenon of being especially an analysis of basic ontological notions.

You can follow Katarína on Instagram or Facebook.

Our blog is on many platforms - keep up with us on FB.

posted by Margaret

[never-fear-supertonic-is-here]

A friendly reminder that Shostakovich’s crazy ass once wrote an opera about a disembodied nose that grows to human size and sings

[squiddlybop]

No joke Die Nase is one of my FAVORITE OPERAS. It was one of the first operas I ever saw and I was completely mesmerized. It’s completely absurd. It’s hilarious. It takes itself seriously when literally no one else does. Not the cast. Not the audience. There’s a scene with a soprano who sings nothing but “BAGELS! BAGELS! BAGELS! BAGELS!” and I think that’s just beautiful.

[koga-obsessed]

[take-me-to-your-lieder-deactiva]

^ I saw the above version on live broadcast, and it was amazing, designed by one of my favourite artists, William Kentridge. Ah Shosty, you’re the only one whose operas are as weird as Britten’s.

[never-fear-supertonic-is-here]

Someone found a picture. I can’t believe it. BLESS YOU KIND SOUL

[42daysofopera]

Way stranger than Britten

[sanders4prez]

In 180 Seconds You Will Be Voting For Bernie Sanders 

[sapphicholtzmanns-blog]

We need to give this man the media attention he deserves because he does not have the funds that the other potential candidates have.

[shitigiveafuckabout]

I’m over it with elected officials being backed by big money and using our votes to get the top 1% more money. Bernie has said NO to a SuperPAC and to billionaire funding, so we need to throw our votes behind him and show THE ENTIRE WORLD, including our own corporations and financial institutions that AMERICA IS NOT FOR SALE!!!!

[lillyoftheally]

like i rly wanna start volunteering for his campaign tho

[sanders4prez]

Here’s a link to volunteer for the campaign. 

https://go.berniesanders.com/page/s/volunteer-for-bernie?source=web_main_nav

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DID HE SAY PUBLIC COLLEGE AND TUITION FREE

[teenagemutantnegroturtle]

Yes, yes he did. 

[feiwynne]

We can’t stress enough the importance of circulating Bernie Sanders’ message through social media. Everyone with money doesn’t want his message to get out. The mainstream media doesn’t want his message to get out, the political establishment doesn’t want his message to get out. It only gets out if we make it get out.

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I made it 20 seconds before reblogging.

[archatlas]

Pop-Up Vienna Héctor Serrano

Pop-up Vienna is a collection of Vienna landmarks made of thin brass sheet metal with a silver finish. The souvenir comes packed flat; once opened, it is simple and fun to build the landmarks by lifting the walls. This makes the product not only a souvenir, but an experience too.

[poems-and-words]

[42daysofopera]

Day 42

I woke up with light streaming in through the large windows of my hostel room. I lay in bed for awhile on my phone, browsing the internet, and saying hi to people at home. Eventually got up to have a shower. Those dedicated readers will remember a few days ago when I was saying I wanted to shower in Vienna before I got crappy showers in hostels… You may also remember that the shower in Vienna was busted. This is in direct opposition to the ceiling mounted rain shower here. I may not admit I’m wrong all that often, but here, I have no choice. I got really lucky finding this hostel. The place is beautiful, very well located, and the staff are wonderful. I would totally recommend it for anyone staying in Nürmberg. After showering, I walked towards the old town to get breakfast, quickly I found a bakery. I got some pastry, and a tea. I sat outside under an umbrella and people watched in a square. After breakfast I began by trying to follow a self guided tour from my book, but quickly gave it up in favour of moving at my own pace. I meandered up to the castle and found the gardens. I sat under a large tree and  read my Miles Davis biography, occasionally stopping for more people watching. The gardens and the view are both so beautiful. 

I walked down from the gardens only when I got hungry. I found lunch in a place nearby, and tried the local specialty of Nürmberger-Bratwurst. I walked around the town, peeking into churches, or around buildings when I could. I eventually made my way to the German National Museum, which was excellent.  The rooms seemingly went on for ever and ever. They were packed with wonderful things, and devoid of people.  I came back to my room, relaxed and checked in for my flight. I studied my music for Bard for awhile, and then went back out for some dinner. After eating, and getting more lemon ice cream, I walked in the setting sun back to my hostel. I printed my boarding pass off at the front desk thanks to amazing staff here, and they didn’t even charge me for it. Finally, I just sat down on my bed and listened to music.  So dear reader, here we are at the end. I can’t believe it’s been six weeks. I’ve moved around so much it doesn’t feel that long, but I feel it's been long enough now. It's been a while since I’ve had my own bed, a while since I’ve lived in my own part of the world. It’s been forty-two days of opera. Time to leave.

[42daysofopera]

Day 41

I woke up and quietly got out of bed. This is not to say that typically I am particularly loud when waking up, but when sleeping in a room of 12, every creak, every twitch, every step is taking with incredible cautiousness. I caught a train to Nürnberg, which took only an hour. I walked along to the cobbled streets to my hostel.

The place is really wonderful, and I couldn't think of a nicer place to spend my last two days here. 

I left my suitcase there, and then caught the tram to the former rally grounds. 

Unlike Dachau, the rally grounds were something I had planned on seeing before leaving Vancouver. My uncle was here last year, and spoke incredibly highly about the museum there. The museum, or Dokumentationszentrum is built inside the former Congress Hall. The converted space is only a tiny portion of what was designed to be a 50,000 seat building. The museum is excellent, and really covers the history of both the Nazi’s but also of the actual rally ground space. 

Nuremberg has a complicated history when it comes to the Nazis. Not only did it serve as a strong point for the party, and the place where the annual rally was held, but at the end of the war it served as the home of the Nuremberg trials. I’ve always been fascinated by the trails, but I have to admit that before today, I didn’t know much about the rally grounds other than the zeppelin field. After the museum I walked the grounds. The former rally space has been converted into a park. Couples on dates, families there on saturday afternoon activities. This ultimately calls into the question of what to do with the spaces. All over the country, all over Europe, there are parts of the last 100 years that no one really wants to pay to preserve.

It's one thing to maintain Dachau as a memorial to the victims, but preserving the rally grounds is a different matter. Do we really want to preserve buildings ultimately used as a giant form of propaganda.

  The large green park is growing in-between listed buildings that no one knows what to do with. After walking around a lake, with a carnival set up next door, I made it to the zeppelin field. 

As I walked towards it I read a sign that explained the risks of the structure 10,000 Euros are put into maintaining the structure annually. But this is barely enough to keep the fence standing. It would cost 30 million euros to renovate, and as a result it’s falling down. 

Just like in Dachau, all the space is owned by the government. This is in an effort to control any possibility of shrines being erected by neo-nazis. The large field has been subdivided and split-up leaving only the grand stand. 

I sat on the very edge of the grand stand, and stayed pretty much there. There were others walking right up to the space where Hitler used to stand, but I had no desire to go anywhere near it.

After I finished on the grounds, I took the tram back to town. I checked into the hostel and relaxed for a bit.  Eventually, feeling a little peckish, I walked to the centre of town for some food. I found some pizza, and sat outside and people watched. I grabbed an ice cream cone, and walked the streets.  When you live so far removed from European culture, it’s easy to start categorizing cities and places in their most basic function. What surprises me about Nuremberg is that it is a real city. it’s not just Nazi rally grounds on one side, and a old cobbled street city on the other. There is very cool modern architecture, good food, and good people. It’s been a very complicated two days for me. Emotionally trying, intellectually challenging, and physically taxing. After Dachau yesterday, and the rally grounds today, by this evening I was ready for some lighter thoughts. As the sun was setting, I leisurely and lazily walked through the streets, eating lemon sorbet so sour it stung the back of my throat, which just the way I like it. As I meandered it finally dawned on me that I really was on vacation. Only took me 41 days... I came back to the hostel, and have spent the rest of the time writing while sitting on the floor.

Tomorrow in the morning I'm going to rest, and then explore the old town.

[42daysofopera]

Day 40

Today I went to the Dachau concentration camp. As I walked out of the gates of the camp, I turned to Gen, my Australian companion, and said “I have no idea what I’m going to fucking write about today”. I wish it could be like the 20 other days of sight seeing. A post where I list what I saw, and what I thought was cool. For obvious reasons, it just can’t be like that. In the four hours I was there I took no photos or notes. This will not be a post about details of the camp. If you want to know those details there are plenty of better written, and better educated sources on the topic. The best I can do is to talk about my personal experience of being there. I want to preface this by saying that I did not come to Munich to see Dachau. It was not a goal when I left Vancouver to go see a camp. As the course of the trip went on, and I read a little about the camp just 20 minutes by train from Munich, I became interested in going. However, I was told by a few people, in no uncertain terms, that I should not go alone. When I met Gen in my hostel and she expressed an interest in also not wanting to go alone, I saw a good opportunity. I am very glad I had someone there with me. Our guide for the tour was a englishman named Tom. He’s been doing this tour for over a year, and while he carried himself in a jovial manner, it was well tempered by good sense and no nonsense touring. I was also comforted to discovered we were joined by another Canadian on the tour. The memorial is very well set up. There is plenty of information, even an overwhelmingly large amount of info. Something that surprised me was the sense of calmness around the site. There is nothing naturally austere about the grounds. Were it just the large poplar trees and green grass it would be peaceful, almost serene. Yet as I walked through the utilities building, there were a few moments where I almost lost it. I need not depict the details of torture, or brutality, it is enough to say that it was not an enjoyable sight. Part of me didn’t want to be there. A big part of me wanted to walk away. I persisted through the building only because I felt like I would regret it if I didn’t.  As we stopped at the end of the building tour, Tom made a point of saying that he feels the exhibit is incredibly important, because it gives strong evidence for fighting against holocaust deniers.  However, in the next building we were given the option of not touring through the prison cells in the gestapo building, and I immediately followed the tour guide the other way. I just couldn’t stomach it.  By the end, standing beside a mass grave, the 15 young, energetic students were all silent. We walked calmly back through the poplars and out to the bus. Again, I was very glad to have Gen there.  It will not be an experience I will soon forget, neither one I would want to repeat. But it is one that I strongly believe will remain surreal in my mind.  We took the train back into town, and walked back to the hostel. Gen is off to Budapest, so we said our goodbyes, and I came upstairs to write. Tonight I’m joining the Canadian I met on the tour and her friend for a drink, which will be a nice taste of the Munich beer culture. Although, admittedly, all I need is a taste.  Tomorrow I leave for Nuremberg. 

[42daysofopera]

Day 39

Finally back in Germany. For the past two years I’ve dreamed about being here.  And, I made a rookie mistake. But more on that later. I woke up in Salzburg, and in a few short hours, I was in Munich. As someone from a country as big as Canada, the speed of travel to totally different world class cities will never cease to amazing. I went to the hostel, checked in, and realized I had the freedom to see absolutely anything I wanted to. A liberating and terrifying thought.  In a flash of insight that would make my dad proud, I remembered that my guide book had a walking tour of the old town in it.  I saw so so much that it is really hard for me to encapsulate it in a post without it sounding like a grocery list. The city is an example of the acceptance of old and new. During WWII 1 in 10 buildings were destroyed. Most were rebuilt, in the years that followed, either as a restoration of the old building, or a renovation using a new idea. Clean line modernism sits next to classic Bavarian stucco walls. it’s a city that has excepted the future, while maintaining the past.

In my two and a half hour walk I got to see so many astounding things. A full garden built inside a church took my breath away. With trees and plants all around, and origami cranes lining the ceilings. 

I got to see giant beer halls, and old theatres. So much of it that it’s totally overwhelming.  To process what I had seen I spent much of the late afternoon in the garden, thinking and reading.  Although I had recently eaten I figured I should eat before I settle in for the night. I sat down at an outdoor cafe just outside of the garden. As I was settling down the wind picked up. Leaves flying everywhere, and waiters running to tie things down.  I looked up at the sky, and it was then that I realized my mistake. For in all my attempts to pack as quickly and quietly back in Salzburg, I had decided to put my umbrella in my suitcase, rather than my day pack. My suitcase, that was at that moment, in the storage locker at my hostel.  With grey sky looming, I decided it was time to walk, and walk fast, back to my hostel. I was about 2/3 of the way when the rain hit. I walked through it a bit, but quickly decided that I needed cover. I stood waiting for the rain to abate. I found my window to move, and as I was going by a shop window, I noticed a rack of umbrellas. I quickly bought one, which came in very useful for the rest of the walk.  I came into my hostel, got a bed, and unpacked my stuff. As I was sitting on my bed about to start writing, the girl in a top bunk across from mine introduced herself. We chatted for a bit, and she asked if I wanted to go grab food. We went to a place down the street, and chatted about our respective lives. We found shared interest in languages, her a language major, and my studies for opera. As we talked we discovered we both had a strong interested in going to see Dachau, the concentration camp outside Munich. I had been very hesitant about going on my own, and it turned out so was she. We agreed we would be better going together. We finished our meal, and walked some of the old town in the dark all light up. 

It’s a beautiful city, and I regret only being able to spend two days here, although that is the price of many stops on a short trip.  Tomorrow I go and see Dachau with Jen, and then I will continue to explore the city in the evening. 

[42daysofopera]

Day 38

I was up early again this morning so I could see my parents off today. They left around 7 to go catch a plane back to Amsterdam. I was up anyways, so I made some calls, and got ready for the day.  I stepped into the bathroom looking forward to a lovely relaxing shower before I spend the next five days in hostels. My shower, had other plans. The shower head, it turned out, was broken. Not the slight dribble kind of broken either. The kind of broken straight out of a movie. Water flying against the ceiling and across the room broken. I improvised to get the shampoo out of my hair, but a relaxing shower it was not. 

After grabbing some food from downstairs, I finished packing, got on the ubahn, and went to Westbanhoff.

Once again, train travel proves superior to over airlines. ÖBB has free on train WiFi, plenty of leg room, and it only took me two and a half hours to get from Vienna to Salzburg. I sat, went online, listened to music, and read. After getting off the train, I took the wonderfully short walk to my hostel. It's a nice place. Not too expensive, clean rooms, en suite bathroom, and every night in a common room, they show The Sound of Music. I checked in, unloaded my stuff, and then hit the town. 

It’s really beautiful here. The cobbled streets look up into tall sharp cliffs. Thick trees created blankets of green on the mountains, with mist swirling around them.  I walked through a couple of gardens, and around the new city seeing what I could find. I took one turn down a street and suddenly I was looking at the Mozarteum.

I walked a little further and found the theatre, and the newer part of the university. It was at this point I realized what I had been hearing all along. Music. Every few steps a different sound. A singer warming up, a early music duet, a flute, a clarinet, a piano. I walked through the streets and the whole city came alive with music. 

I walked across a bridge, and came into the altstadt. The architecture is amazing, although the narrow streets are jam packed with tourists. 

To avoid the crowd, I walked all the way up the hill to the castle, and got some amazing views. 

I came down the from the castle, and noticed that in one of the squares was a big screen, and a program announcing that tonight Marriage of Figaro would be playing. It was the 2006 production from Salzburg with Netrebko, but I like that production enough, so I figured I would come back later.  I came back to the hostel to rest for a bit, and then went out for dinner at an Italian place near by. 

The place was fantastic. The wait staff all spoke German, Italian, and English, and screamed at each other in all three. Pedro, the manager, is quite the character. Everyone knows him. He gets yelled at from across the street, or people come in just to say hi to him.  The food was excellent, but the people watching was even better.  I finished my meal, and walked over the the square to watch the first act of Figaro.  It was lovely sitting in such a beautiful location, and watching the opera.  I came back to the hostel, and now it’s time for some much needed sleep. Tomorrow I travel to Munich. 

[42daysofopera]

Day 37

Note: I accidentally posted this on my other blog last night, here is the right one this morning. Back to posting at nights. We had a very long day today, although that not action packed. We started by waking up a 7 to get our laundry done and pack up the apartment. After getting the laundry in, we had breakfast, and then sat and read for awhile. We cleaned the apartment, had lunch, and then finished packing, and went to the hotel.  The hotel is certainly a different scene from the apartment, although it has none of the same character.  After we checked in we took the train to Schönbrunn palace. Now I know I have been comparing a lot of things to versailles recently, and so this really has lost it’s meaning, but Schönbrunn really is like versailles. The palace is 1.2 square km total, and is a real feat of architecture.  We walked through the palace, but it was incredibly busy. So after braving the crowds, we moved outside and explored the massive gardens. After the palace, we picked up the laundry, dropped it off at the apartment, and left our cute apartment for the final time. We got dinner in a lovely little italian place near the cathedral. We walked back the hotel, and now I’m writing as my parents watch a movie.  As amazing as this trip as been, I am really starting to feel like I need a vacation. I hope to take a few days off in Vancouver before all the craziness starts up again.  Tomorrow I get on a train to Salzburg, and my parents fly to Amsterdam. 

[42daysofopera]

Day 36

Caitlin pointed out to me today that classes begin in less than a month. Quite a startling fact since I am over 8,000km away from UBC right now. In fact this small fourth floor Vienna apartment couldn’t feel much further away from campus.  We started off the day be going to the post office so my mom could mail some post cards. It turns out that stamps here are giant, so my mom had to cover up some of her writing on the card. On a side note, Humourless Viennese Postal Clerk would be an awesome name for an album.    We walked from the post office to Praterstadt, and then caught the train into Karlsplatz. We got our wireless fix outside the staatsoper on public Wifi. After checking email or looking up questions we have had over the past day, we walked to the Albertina. The Albertina is a palace turned museum, holding works from the romantic period to the present. On the top floor is an exhibit titled “Monet bis Picasso”. The exhibit was excellent, and I got to see the original water lilies Monet painted in preparation for his commission from the French government. Next to the exhibit were state rooms refurbished and used to display art, including Michaelangelo sketches and Reubens portraits. In the lower floor was an exhibit of Alex Katz, a Manhattan artist who uses screen printing to create large colourful portraits. In the basement was an exhibit on the '60s english movie Blow Up and its use of photography.  After the museum my dad and I got some Grillwurst, and the three of us walked to the Naschmarkt. This stretch of food stalls and restaurants sits in the middle of a board boulevard. All the food looked fantastic, especially the olives, although I am a sucker for any olives.  From the market we walked to the Belvederegarten. This palace is similar in opulence to Versailles, although the grounds are a little smaller. We walked from one end to the other, passing by fountains and perfectly trimmed shrubbery. We walked out of the garden and, in "the blazing heat” says my mom, we marched to the U-bahn and went to the museumquartier. My mom went to get pillows for the apartment (as a thank you gift for Dave for the use of his apartment), and my dad and I went into the modern art museum. The permanent exhibit in the museum was excellent, and had some amazing pieces. Including a piece where a video played showing nude older men dancing to Dance of the Adolescents from Rite of Spring, strange, but wonderful.  The installation piece in the gallery however was not to our taste, so we met up with my mom, and all three of us sat outside, drinking tea, and eating cake.  We came back to the apartment to make dinner, and then went back out to see the first part of Salome at city hall Film Festival. We got some food, and sat and watched the opera. Once again we were amazed by the size of the festival, which drew at least 4,000 people. Not 4,000 people for a special once off event. This festival happens for two full months every night, and draws a crowd, every single night. I wish something like this could happen in Vancouver, but alas I fear it never will, especially since the event would have to be alcohol free…  I’ve had a blast here in Vienna, and I really hope I can come back and spend more time.  Tomorrow is our last full day in Vienna. We are going to check out yet another palace, as well as clean the apartment, and head to a hotel for our final night. My parents fly out super early on Wednesday, and then I’ll be all on my own for the last five days of my trip. 

[42daysofopera]

Day 35

We slept in today, and took no efforts to pretend to be leaving any earlier than we did. In theory this was supposed to inspire some sort of slower paced day than we have been going at for the last ten days, but that was an utter failure, as you will soon see.  We caught the Ubahn 2 to Karlsplatz. As we walked underground towards the Staatsoper, we crossed paths with the stars of Schnitke, Smetana, and Bartok, just another example of the engrained musical culture in this city. We emerged from the tube station looking at the beautiful Staatsoper. Once again we were lead by one of my father’s walking tours, this time around the first district of Veinna.  Along our way to our first stop we saw the home of the original Sacher-Torte. The book cynically proclaimed that the cake is often declared by tourists to be “a bit dry”. Past the Sacher we walked into Albertinaplatz. We will be visiting here tomorrow to see the museum. From there we walked along the Karnterstraße, a pedestrian mall.  Usually it’s filled with vendors and shops, however, on Sunday most of the shops close, so it was mostly full of tourists. We took a short stop to see the Capuchin church. My father has proclaimed he has enough church photos to last him a lifetime, and although that might have more to do with how many photos he takes, than how many churches we’ve been in. Next to the church in the basement is a crypt that holds all the royalty of Vienna. We skipped past it partly for time, but mostly for the 6 euros we didn’t want to spend seeing all the royalty of Vienna. Kitty-corner to the church is the four rivers fountain. A standard fare fountain on first glance, and wouldn’t be worth mentioning except for a beautiful comment from the guide book. As the book proclaims, we can use the bare left breast of the goddess at the centre of the fountain to point our way back to Karnterstraße. If this is a new trend in orienteering, I’m sure we can get a lot of people behind it. We walked along the Karnterstraße to Stephanplatz, and looked up at Saint Stephan's cathedral. This massive cathedral was built in 1300-1450. At the time Vienna was a town of only 10,000 people, but its exceptional size is attributed to the desire to be bigger than Saint Vitus in Prague. The larger church meant it garnered more respect and allowed Vienna to become the seat of the Holy Roman Empire.  After a small lunch, my dad and I walked up all 343 stairs of the south towner. In fact the 343 stairs only get you 2/3 of the way up, but even only climbing that high, you still get a wonderful view of the city. We came back down, met with my mom, and circled around the church. As we were coming around the other side my mom and I almost got run over by a horse drawn carriage. There is little as off-putting as a horse drawn carriage with a family of tourists sitting in the cab, filming the entire event on their DV cameras to never be watched again. We sidestepped the throng of tourists at the entrance of the church, and explored the forward portion of the church.  The sheer size of the church is staggering. The ceilings expand high above, as buttresses support the ornate ceiling. The detail of the church does not meet somewhere like Westminster abby (although few do with every inch of the building embellished and adorned with detail). However, the scale well makes up for that. Along with many elaborate decorations, the church also contains a plaque dedicated to Mozart. He and his wife were married in the church, and two of his children were baptized there.  After we came out of the church, we walked down Graben, a chic shopping district of the city. There the guide told us all about the Holy Trinity Plague Column. The sculpture commemorates the 75,000 Viennese who died of plague in 1679. The column also features an effigy of Empire Leopold the I, identified by his unmistakable underbite. The book notes that this is because he was royal. I can’t make this shit up. From there we walked to Kohlmarkt as my parents wanted to check out Demel, a famous chocolate and bakery shop. Rather than salivating over cakes I couldn’t own, I decided to go window shopping. In retrospect I realized that rather than salivating over cakes, I was salivating over clothing… I’m not sure which is preferable. Once again the guide book provided us with humour as it described the daily ritual of discarding of the unsold cakes at Demel as the “greatest tragedy of the european union”. Claire and Neal, you two may agree with the book on that one.  From Kohlmarkt to Michealerplatz and from there to the Hofburg. The best way to describe the Hofburg palace is by asking one to imagine Versailles, but in a city. It’s massive, and it’s grandeur is beyond anything I’ve ever seen in a metropolitan city. We meandered through the palace grounds over to the Maria-Theresa monument. With an approaching rainstorm, we ducked into a Cafe in the Mueseumquartier. After some cake and tea, and the passing of the rain, we headed out for the Staatsoper museum.  The small museum is fantastic. It contains photos or drawings from almost every great production. The walls are lined with photos of singers, directors, and conductors. It gave a lot of wonderful detail about how the house has evolved.  Just as we were leaving the museum I spotted the picture of a singer I had seen in Vancouver in recital last year. I was telling my parents about her fantastic rendition of an aria from the Barber of Seville, when I realized I couldn’t for the life of me remember the name of the aria. Yes, by now I am well aware it’s Una Voce, but at that moment I just couldn’t grasp the name. I knew that it was going to drive me nuts if I couldn’t remember, especially since I had no way of looking it up when I got back to the apartment. I figured since I was in an opera museum, I might as well just ask. I walked up to the women who took our tickets, and asked if she knew opera well. She pointed me in the direction of another woman at the front desk. I asked her if she could remember the name of the aria and she gave me a look not unlike what I’m sure my face looked like a few seconds earlier. She told me she couldn’t remember it, but that she would google it for me. After a few minutes of her typing away, she looked at me and said she couldn’t find it, but, she could call one of their opera experts and ask them. She dialled the phone, and told the expert that there was a young man looking for the name of the aria from Barber of Seville that isn’t Figaro’s aria. After a short pause she said okay, and hung up the phone. It seems that no-one could remember the name, since even the opera expert couldn’t remember it off hand, but that they would look it up, and call her back. While waiting for the expert to call, the woman at the desk went back to the computer, and after a few seconds, turned to me and said “Una Voce?”. Elated, I said thank you, and left the museum humming the aria to myself. From the opera museum, we went to the Globe Museum and the Esperanto museum. A weird combination of museums in the same building, but both wonderful. The globe museum had some amazing pieces, including a globe that was taller than me. We walked downstairs, and my parents agreed to indulge my love of the obscure by going into the Esperanto museum. There I learnt many amazing facts about the invented language, such as that it was mocked by critics for trying to unify countries, and detested by both Hitler and Stalin, even punishable by execution. It also had a section on other modern languages, including Klingon where I got to listen to “To be or not to be-“ in the Star-trek language. I will restrain myself from memorizing it. I don’t need to be that nerdy... After our long day of museums we went and had dinner at Bettelstudent, a lovely restaurant that had it’s own beer, and most of the items on the menu were fired. It was the perfect meal for the day we had. Especially since it wasn’t over yet. From the restaurant we walked around the corner to the Haus Der Musik. This interactive music museum is a must see for anyone even slightly musically included. The four floors of exhibits are fantastic, and even as a music student, I learnt a lot of things I didn’t know before.  The first floor is dedicated to the Wienerphil. There we got to see batons from all the major conductors, Bernstein’s tails, a great video of the new years day concert, and you can even compose your own waltz using a dice game.  The second floor was a little tiny bit boring. It focuses on the science of sound, and any student of music 119 student can tell you exactly what I found on the second floor. Although there was one a very cool room where you could listen to isolated sounds, including the sounds of space, of different train stations in the world, or even of just household objects. The third floor was my favourite, and focused on local composers. Haydn (I skipped this room, due to my blinding hatred of the composer), Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mahler, Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. It has some amazing pieces such as death masks from composers and even Schubert’s glasses.  The fourth floor was, and still is a bit of a mystery to us. We know it was an interactive exhibit, but couldn’t get it to work… Regardless it looked cool with motion controls…. On the other side was the gift shop, where I got an music umbrella to replace my old one which disappeared somewhere. Finally, worn out, we walked back to the Ubahn, and caught the metro home.  It’s absolutely insane how much we did today, but it was so nice to finally get a feel for the city. Soon I’ll be heading to Salzburg, and in a week I will be sleeping in my own bed for the first time in way too long. However, I really will miss Vienna. I feel very strongly that this city still has a lot to offer me, and I sincerely wish I could have come here during concert season. I really hope I can come back in the season.  Tomorrow we check out even more of the city, and even more museums. Huzzah! 

[42daysofopera]

Day 34

With a strong desire to get out of the city today, we headed for the hills. Not only is it stinking hot, but also Saturdays can be unpleasantly busy, We got on the train, and went to Melk. Melk is a small town about an hour away from Vienna. After a short ride on a international train heading to Germany, we transferred onto a two car local train to get to Melk. The small little train chugged through local stops at a slow speed, but provided ample time to gaze at the scenery. We stepped off the train in the bright sun and were met with the sight of the Melk monastery. The monastery, built originally in the 11th century, sits on a large hill above the quaint little town. We walked up the hill, and got to look inside the monastery. After a period of disarray, the monastery was rebuilt in the 20th century. The cathedral hosts the usual ornate and opulent style, and everything is leafed with gold. At one my point my dad turned to me and said “you know, the baroque style is all a little much”. Along with the church, the monastery has a 12 room library. Now, when a building advertises a 12 room library, you would expect to see more than two rooms. But after two two exquisitely decorated rooms of amazing books, we were shuffled away. But, my disappointment aside, the monastery also has the amazing views of Melk and surrounding country side. Because I am trying to tackle so many cities in the last five days of my trip, I won’t get much of a chance to see anything rural other than today, so I was very happy to see at least a little of the Austrian countryside.  After the monastery we got some groceries for lunch, and walked towards the Danube. There, we bought tickets for a boat that went along the river giving us a scenic tour along the water and of the Wachau. The boat was lovely.  It would stop every 30 minutes at a different small town and switch in and out passengers,. After a few hours on the boat, we reached our destination of Krems. From there we caught a train, and headed back into the city. We got some groceries for dinner, and went back to the apartment. A small note for anyone shopping at Billa, although I don’t know how I didn’t realize this is Teplice. If you’re buying bananas, make sure you weigh them. There is nothing worse than having the clerk at the checkout go to weigh your bananas for you, while a line of tired, hungry, angry commuters waits behind you…. After dinner we walked to a park close to our apartment. As we neared the other end of the park we noticed a large concrete tower. My dad remembered that these are flak towers, left over from the war. Built by the Germans, the structures are so massive, and so well fortified, that to take them down would cause significant damage to the surrounding buildings. These days it looks as though it’s mostly used as a roost for crows and as an austere reminder that history is inescapable.   Tomorrow we tour more of the centre of the city. 

[42daysofopera]

Day 33

Music is unifying, but it is often in daily life it is most useful as an icebreaker.  Today we were given a tour of Vienna by a friend of my mom’s. Katharine and my mother were introduced by a mutual friend of theirs  electronically. When my mom had mentioned that she was going to be in Vienna, her friend insisted that she contact Katharine. Ironically, Katharine spent a year in Vancouver last year, and even worked at the UBC school of music for a month. Yet, because of conflicting schedules, until today, we had never met.  Katharine and her partner Gerda are both administrators for the Music and Fine Arts university here in Vienna. After a certain about of direction trouble, we eventually made it to the university to meet Katharine. I want to state for the record that I love my campus. UBC is stunning and I am so privileged to perform in places like the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, or the recital hall at UBC. However, while the music building has a lot of… character…. It shows its age. The brand new buildings of the vienna university are amazing. The rooms still have that “new car smell” and are fully equipped to handle the 3000+ students of music, drama, and film and over 900 professors and teachers. After a short tour of the campus we hopped on the sbahn, and went to Musikverein, the major concert hall of Vienna. Run by Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien, this large concert hall complex is home to the Wierner Philharmonic. The building houses over 900 concerts in a ten month season in 4 theatres. The most famous, the Golden Hall, is an icon of the classical music world. Some of my favourite recordings and performances have happened here, and I was sitting just a few feet away from the stage!  After the concert hall we went for lunch and we were joined by Gerda. After an amazing lunch we walked to the staatsoper. Once again, a truly iconic institution. Some of the best operatic performances of all time happened on that stage. While the tour didn’t cover more than a 10th of the building, we were given the opportunity to walk through the intermission gallerias, to go on the side of the stage, to stand in the pit, and even look inside the prompters box. The stage is astoundingly big, and the lobby is beautiful. I restrained myself, and didn’t sing at any part of the tour, but damn I hope I can go back one day.  We walked from the opera to a cafe in the centre of town. We got to sit outside, drink coffee and tea, eat cake, and chat about Canada, and Vienna, Music and opera, and travel plans. After our pause, we headed to the MuseumQuatier to see a museum of architecture. The museums are amazing. A large open plaza with every type of museum just steps away. After a visit of the “Best Buildings in Europe”, we went and had dinner in a Heurige. A cross between bar and restaurant, these outdoor wineries sell their own home-brewed wine, and tapas like food. The wine was great, the company unbeatable, and the food was delicious. Not a tourist in sight, other than us. We were surround by locals, always the best place to be. After we finished our meal, we walked to the town hall to check out the Film Festival. Every year outside the town hall, the city constructs a massive screen, and a city of tents. They show either a movie, ballet, concert, or an opera, every night. You come around 8, get a drink, or get dinner from one of the 30 or more food vendors, and then around 9 go and watch the movie. after strolling around the festival, we walked to the ubahn, and said goodbye to our amazing tour guides. Almost 12 hours after we started our tour, we said arrived back at the apartment, exhausted, but thrilled.  We were incredibly lucky to have such wonderful tour guides today. Their enthusiasm for the city, for music, and for sharing their knowledge (and time) was incredible. It was so amazing to get to see a locals view of Vienna, a city which truly boggles my mind. The way the city funds and represents the arts is astounding, but it’s not in a obnoxious way. Universities are incredibly well funded. Tuition is free for anyone in the EU, and not expensive even for international students. This carries on to the long tradition of culture places like Vienna. Opera, dance, music, art, theatre, these things are just simply ingrained in the streets. You are not a snob for liking opera here. Tickets range from pricy to dirt cheap, and so everyone is given the opportunity to experience what the city has to offer. This by far stands out as one of my favourite days of my trip here. It has also only served to increase my love of this city. After today I can very easily see myself living, studying, or working here. The pace of the city is wonderful, and 5 euro tickets for one of the greatest orchestras in the world is pretty nice too.  Tomorrow we go on a day trip to Melk, just outside of the city.