A report extracted from WattsApp messages to friends
Day -1 Hitchin
All is well.
The journey by several trains from Bridlington to Hitchin has been unremarkable. Tomorrow will be more of a challenge. 05:00 train to St Pancras, negotiate being allowed to leave the country then Eurostar to Brussels then south to Leipzig.
I discovered to my surprise and pleasure that I have a ticket for a 20:00 performance in one of Bach’s 2 churches. Getting there will entail navigating from Leipzig central station to my hotel about 5 miles out of town, dumping my luggage and then getting back into the centre again. The whole enterprise will be undertaken with customary meticulous planning.
When we went to Vienna 18 years ago, we booked to see/hear Parsifal at the Opera House. Judy slept deeply. And loudly. No chance of a repeat performance.
I am childishly excited by the whole enterprise.
I am staying with Judy’s best friend Kath. It is apparent that other people have all kinds of dreadful problems to live with. My sense of thankfulness is reinforced by the hour.
In spite of Circumstances Phil may be able to dash across from Berlin to see me. Ooh that will be good.
My psychiatrist tells me I must expand my social contacts. This is reinforced by meeting a young man of 71 last Friday who is desperately lonely. I do have a lot of people in my head, though
7th June, 10:24 – Into each life a little rain must fall.
I reached Brussels late, missed the connection to Frankfurt where I will catch a connection to Leipzig 2 hours behind schedule
You queue for ages to get a stamped confirmation of delay which will allow you to travel on a train for which you have not booked.
It also provides an opportunity to talk to a lady professor at the Courtauld Institute of Fine Art.
Rather than engaging me in a vigorous exchange of views about her speciality -17th century Fine Art, which would leave me at a loss to contribute, she spoke with great authority about the ingrained prejudice about women in aesthetics. Unless, presumably they would take their clothes off. I thought it best not to pursue this line of “making the best of a bad job“.
But we talked. Well, she did.
She asked me where I came from. “Totnes”. I couldn’t have done better. She got all enthusiastic about the Dartington art college. This was an institution peopled by non-real poseurs who almost certainly had never worked in the bacon factory. Like real people did.
But we still got on well. She was very keen to get me up to speed on the difficulty of combining the two professions of academic excellence and being a woman.
Well, it’s interesting. There seems to be a massive failure in the railway system. And in my personal natural coordination system.
Trains are comprehensively delayed. I will miss this evening’s concert.
Later: I had a serious brain problem stepping on the escalator. I couldn’t work out how you could jump (?) on to a moving escalator and keep your balance. I gave in and went up the steps. Lots of them.
When I needed to go back down I asked a young man if he would carry my case and I could hold on to the moving rail at the side. It was probably over 70 years since I last had that problem. It makes you wonder how they ever invented them. Perhaps they were young and carefree. Hmmm.
16:31 – It gets even more fun.
There has just been a public announcement on the penultimate leg “We do not know yet where this train is going”. The driver is waiting for further information”.
I have met up with a group of 15(?) year old students who attend a language school. They are full of life and do us all good.
Message from Robin With a train service like that you should feel right at home! I once witnessed an elderly woman struggling with an escalator in London. Unlike you, she didn’t give up, stepped on, staggered and collapsed backwards into a big heap on the floor. Of course, being London, she received very little sympathy from the huge backlog of people that immediately developed: “Just shovel her up and slide her down the banister.”
23:30: That was all very exciting. After getting a taxi to Hitchin station at 05:00 I arrived by taxi at my hotel.
London transport was excellent. On time. Unlike all the other bits of the journey.
But those young people lightened it all up. They were only present for the last 4½ hour leg (scheduled 2 hours). Whenever the next disaster was announced they cheered enthusiastically.
8th June: But today all is fresh and new. I slept well and didn’t wake up until after 7. That doesn’t normally happen. The breakfast was OK.
I am now in the University GDR chapel. It is a compromise between sound Marxist materialist principles and the economic advantages of tourism
13:19 – Well that did us all good.
The whole event was exhilarating.
We/they sang and performed 3 cantatas – complete with choir, soloists, orchestra, organ and audience
We all joined in the chorales. For some of us our eyes sweated.
We all left better than we arrived.
Another member of the audience engaged me in earnest conversation. He comes from North Carolina, sings in a Church choir and is here for the week.
I forgot to say that yesterday on the train was a couple from Paris who are taking part in a side-show at the Bachfest. The wife is in a Bach choir. They are performing some time in the week at an authentic Bach service which will include a good 40 minute sermon in the middle of all the singing. I will rely on her recognising me and will find out where and when in order to join in.
The congregational singing today was excellent. People joined in singing all 4 parts and more.
The GDR was the German Democratic Republic (DDR), East Germany to you. It was not at all keen on Luther’s resistance to revolution and his cruel reaction to the Peasants’ Revolt. (They weren’t Peasants – they were displaced gentry). It always seemed to me ironical that when the E. German political system was collapsing a lot of the resistance was centered on one of the Lutheran churches in Leipzig.
But Luther had been good for tourists and foreign currency, so it made sense to cash in, given the opportunity.
Email to: Martin Wigglesworth: I have lost my mobile in Leipzig If you search EE lost mobile they will give you a number to ring,
My numbers is +44 7939 537616
There is no one in the hotel and the lady in the Chinese restaurant doesn’t want to phone abroad
Apart from that, the concerts are wonderful
9th June, 09:31: Almost all problems are solved.
I left the phone in an ice-cream shop. They have given it back.
That is better than good.
11:56 Now where was I?
Ah, yes.
Yesterday evening was good- and made even better by the discovery that they give away 76 page booklets containing all the words and music (4 parts) of all the chorales. A bit of class, that.
Leipzig is full of Bach events all week. I stumbled across a morning service in a square near Thomaskirche which was Bach’s other church and which is home to his famous choir school. They sang in their distinctive uniforms. The choir school was maintained throughout the DDR period in order to demonstrate that the government was very open minded, and recognised excellence when they saw it.
The sermon can only have lasted 5 minutes. Not at all authentic. Hardly worth coming.
But we all sang together from the words and music hymn sheets we were given. And said “Amen” every so often. In a very restrained manner.
I forgot to say, the general theme of yesterday’s hymns was “Don’t fuss“. “Don’t think you are more important than you really are.” These sentiments came in very handy later.
On a more pedestrian level I have always thought that of all the dreadful things that are wrong with the world, your annoyances don’t count.
All I have to do now is find my small rucksack
17:17 And that was extraordinary. We sang between us 4 separate cantatas. I fell asleep part way through the third one. Just for about 10 minutes. I don’t think anyone noticed.
But at the end…
I have never been to an up-tight service where at the end the congregation whooped, stamped and cheered. It was all positively US Southern Baptist in its enthusiasm.
Most of the cantatas have a script with poetical bits in them. Musing on the world and its sorrows and joys. This one was simply an arrangement of the hymn “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation“. Full of joy. Much of the music was for soloists as well as choir.
It does contain the verse admitting that there are times when “darkness of sin is abounding” but this is of little consequence since He “sheddeth His light, chaseth the horrors of night“. So it’s all alright then.
Here’s the background to the concerts:
Bach composed a complete cantata for choir soloists and orchestra and an organ prelude for almost each Sunday for a full year.
He wrote them, someone copied all the parts, they practiced them and performed them the next Sunday
And he taught at the school.
A few whoops and cheers aren’t entirely out of order, but were a bit of a surprise.
And I forgot.
Yesterday I spent over an hour negotiating a return journey to London next Monday.
The lady insisted it couldn’t be done. I insisted it had to be done. All seats on all trains are already booked. Unless you travel first class which is cheaper than second class but still expensive. I didn’t understand that.
“OK, go for it“.
“No, it can’t be done“
“What about via Paris or Amsterdam?”
“I can do Paris“.
So I now have a ticket next Monday Leipzig to Paris, and will have to sort out Paris to London separately. Leipzig to Paris is much cheaper than Leipzig to Brussels.
Don’t ask me.
10th June, 07:56
And one other thing…
When I stayed the night with Kath last week she mentioned to me, unbidden, that she had lied twice in her life. Both times to her now late husband. He was becoming less than 100% rational. It was easier to comprehensively lie than to explain. She had told me about this a few years ago. It must have been weighing on her conscience ever since.
The household containing both her and Judy must have been very uncomplicated.
There are times when it helps to only listen to people who agree with you.
14:36 Oh dear.
I am in an Italian restaurant and asked for a menu in English. The man showed me one of those squares with blobs on.
Me: “Can’t be done“
Him: “Yes it can“. He took my phone, called up Google and immediately infected it.
Who knows where it will all end?
When you next see me, sort me out.
From Robin: In what way infected?
* Has he actually stopped something from working?
* Has he installed some translation software?
* Has he changed the layout of your home page?
* Did he have a disease and had literally infected it?
* Do you just hate Google that much?
15:04 Who knows?
Rob always used to refer to the Salford Compiler as “The Salford Virus”. Don’t you all realise that the objective of Google is to control the world? People start off innocently enough and find they are all bound. It’s a bit like cocaine. Harmless enough at first and then addictive.
Stay clear.
I fear it’s too late for me.
15:13 You get a better class of street entertainment in Leipzig. Perhaps I have failed to record the sound. They were singing “Jesu meine Freude“. I have other soundless videos of singing taken in the last few days.
From Karol: You recorded it fine. I don’t know the piece though. But you do use WhatsApp. Avril doesn’t, because it is owned by Facebook.
I love Avril for that. It is just too useful for my immediate purposes.
However “We must be abstainers if we want to rise” as the old Band of Hope song so well ran. When I discover why I can’t hear my recordings I may post some more.
Have you got sound turned down?
I did have but now it’s on maximum after I held down the button on the side they are all still silent.
Is your phone on mute (do not disturb)? Can you hear anything else, eg YouTube? (Ooh, that’s another Google thing.) Or BBC Sounds?
Curious questions. BBC Sounds is/are fine. Replaying other videos from the camera are still silent. I gave up trying but thought that I’d have a go at recording the visiting choir. Just in case.
I will investigate further once I am back home later. There are all kinds of street musicians around. Some pretty good. And others.
16:02 The musicians are all from a number of different Bach organisations all over the civilised world. An extraordinary Japanese choir sang on Sunday. One of the instrumental groups included a curious horn. It looked like an old fashioned posthorn with a slidey thing at the bottom. Like a prototype trombones
From Anne When I was in Rock Choir the soloists were not always very good but I admired them for getting up and giving it a try
20:04, And this evening the Bethlehem Bach choir sang. I assume Bethlehem is in Israel, but have just thought there might be other ones. They (and we) were good.
After all this intensive Chorale singing I must be very virtuous. That is a dreadfully un-Lutheran thing to say.
I can hear this OK. I may very well record other singing/playing. Dancing? It would have to be extraordinary.
Other recordings are rubbish
And the Bethlehem Bach choir is from Pennsylvania. Its members didn’t look very Semitic and didn’t seem to be carrying guns
11th June: It is 07:00 local time. The world is fresh and new. One further report from yesterday:
Once again the performance ended in whoops and cheers, clapping and stomping. It all feels unseemly. I am getting better at finding my way back to the hotel. So far I have walked about 2 miles from the train station having failed to find a bus stop.
Once back near my accommodation I realised that the bus route takes a detour from the main road which it only rejoins near the train station. I will pay close attention to what happens when it gets near the station.
Today starts with an arrangement of the best hymn in the hymn book. Martin Luther’s arrangement of the 130th psalm Out of the depths – Aus tiefer Not. I wrote an appreciation of it for the Rector at Bridlington ex-Priory just before leaving. Catherine Winkworth’s translation could not be bettered. The hymn contains all forms of pronouns 1st 2nd and 3rd, singular and plural. (OK, no feminine.) Most of the tenses of verbs are present and future with the odd past tense thrown in.
Surprisingly to some the Psalmist was a thorough going Lutheran: “Therefore my hope is in the Lord, my works I count as dust, my dum di dum di dum di dee and in His mercy trust”. Anglicans don’t sing it, presumably on account of Luther’s stout opposition to Henry VIII. He once wrote (in Latin of course) “From Dr Martin Luther by the grace of God Professor of Theology to Henry by the disgrace of God king of England“. They never got on well.
But no matter, Back wrote several compositions based on Luther’s (I think) original tune and we will all sing the Chorale this morning. Worth coming for that.
Later, It was Bach who wrote the compositions. Back may have done as well, but I don’t know them.
Karol I thought as much!
07:08 Anyone who has lost all sense of propriety can find it and sing along on Utube. It will do you good.
09:12 I am a bit slow but maybe understand the significance of the booklet containing the words and music of the chorales. Its snappy title is Coräle des Choralkantatenjahrgangs which might very well mean “Chorales for the year’s worth of cantatas“.
A lady has just come up to me and welcomed me warmly. “Are you OK?“. “But of course“. “I have been worrying about you“. I’m not entirely sure why. There may be reasons that you don’t know about yet. I have one more shake of the die and will let you know.
09:38: And now you can all be told. On Sunday I lost my little rucksack which contained nothing of any consequence. Except my passport.
All I have to do now is nip across to the British embassy in Berlin and get a temporary stand-in. With a bit of luck Phil will negotiate with them that I can turn up, fill in forms and get a document that will get me back to England in a single day. I had the rucksack with me in the market place on Sunday. Half an hour later I noticed it had gone.
Yesterday I reported it at the local police station as a theft. It might well have been. Today I checked at the train station and the ice-cream shop where I had previously left my mobile. You never know.
On the scale of disasters it doesn’t rate as highly as being on a rubber boat crossing the channel but it’s a nuisance.
This may be the event that finally persuades me not to cycle to a ferry to cross the Baltic.
We shall see.
09:42 Karol: You could do with a travel minder David.
09:49 I will prepare some application forms. Must be easily amused, not fuss and be cheerful at all times. The successful applicant may be offered a permanent position after a trial period
11:16: Lesley: When David’s (my husband)passport was stolen in Athens it took a week to get a temporary one so good luck
Ann: Keep fingers crossed the Germans are more efficient
12:21 Me: Surely they can’t do that to a confused old man. Can they?
12:40 Lesley: I think the embassy was only open 3 days a week
13:31 Me: It’s a lot easier cycling than going by train.
But today’s exciting events. So we/they sang Aus tiefer Not and then, as a special extra Ein Feste Burg. Some of you may remember that when I was 2 days into intensive care 20 years ago Judy brought me in a CD containing 2 Bach Cantatas – Wachet Auf and Ein Feste Burg. Wachet Auf in English translates a bit as Sleepers Wake. I asked her after I got home whether that was a joke. Sort of. More a cry of desperation I guess.
But we all sang well this morning..
More later after I have eaten.
14:29 I was welcomed at the door by the lady who had been concerned about me earlier. I hadn’t told anyone about the missing passport. Perhaps it was the mobile.
Today’s choir were from Portland USA. One of the wind instruments looked to me like a 2′ long oboe with a bent stem. What’s that going to be, Robin? It’s owner was very good
I had some difficulty filling in the application form for a replacement passport. It included the requirement to send a recent photo with no glasses or background details. This is not one of my strengths. I managed some sort of attempt but am not confident. “Taking a selfie” will be on the list of things to do. It will be there with “disinfecting your mobile”.
The last concert today is at 17:00. I now confidently find the stop to get back to the hotel.
15:13 Robin: A two foot long oboe with a bent stem sounds like a cor anglais to me.
19:16 I had a look at some pictures of cor anglaises and they none of them had a bent stem. My friend from North Carolina asked his friend and he said it was a tenor shawm. The stem is bent in order to get more holes for your fingers. Well, that’s what he said, but it doesn’t look like any shawms depicted on Wikipedia. Anyway the young woman playing it was excellent.
So at 14:00 the choir was from Chicago, and at 17:00 from San Diego.
Meanwhile in the background I filled in an application for a replacement passport. At 19:00 it was rejected as I wasn’t looking straight at the camera. Of course I wasn’t. I was taking a selfie. I approached 2 17(?) year old girls and asked if they would take my photograph. They were amused but did. I sent this back with the comment that I am an old man with an unblemished record and am finding all this online stuff very difficult. I hope they will understand.
But that’s all wibble wibble. In the real world we sang with a will. I sat between 2 effortless tenors. We were good. And were this world all devils o’er and waiting to devour us, we lay it not to heart so sore, not they can overpower us.
With that in mind we can look this wicked world in the eye and say “Ha!“.
And one last thing. I have definitely found growing up difficult. Perhaps it is child-like simplicity. Perhaps it is just being immature. But I decided to get a tram to Wahren which is where the railway station to Leipzig runs from. It was very exciting. Getting to Wahren is a bit like getting to Queensbury. There’s a lot of it. I asked. Different people told me contradictory things. In the end a young man walked me to the right general area. Eventually the teenage girls sorted me out.
Ah. And one really last thing. While I was waiting for a bus this morning a lady saw my Choralkantatenjahrgangs book, came alive and asked me about it. She spoke no English. We chattered away. She had been in a choir when she was younger and had loved it. She is thinking of joining again.
The photo that the girks took. Nothing wrong with that, is there?
12th June: 04:49 The orchestral accompaniment has all been with period instruments apart presumably organs where you have to do with what’s around. HMGOV has just sent me a message to say they have processed my application and will send me an email to say how I can pick up my documents.
My hours of sleep are back to normal for the first time for 6 days. Bed at 10 pm up at 5 am. That’s better
12:59 There is so much to tell but my memory is not as good as you might suppose.
First – you were not far wrong, Lesley. The British representative will see me on Monday at 15:30. Don’t know why. Perhaps he/she thinks I am an Afghan and wants to check. So my return journey will not be as planned. We will look on the bright side. There must be one.
I mentioned to my acquaintance from the USA how good it was yesterday sitting between him and the other tenor. He is apparently an opera singer from Zurich. So none of your rubbish, then.
This morning’s cantatas were all from the Christmas season and were relatively low key. The musicians had all been preoccupied performing the Christmas Oratorio, so the singing on the Sundays was modest. Nothing too difficult. Sounded pretty good to me. The ensemble was from Leipzig itself as is this afternoon’s. Once again people are practicing on what look like fearfully difficult instruments – trumpets and the like.
I am in Nikolaikirche again. This was where the opposition to the DDR gathered week after week just before it collapsed in 1990. I have been here before and half remember that there were no pews – just a large empty space. Apparently street music was not tolerated in the DDR. There was a famous event in 1989 when an organised spontaneous demonstration took place involving musicians from all over the country and beyond. Such outrageous behaviour was met with brutal repression. The Thomaschor from Thomaskirche joined in. That must have been dangerous for them as they lived from the permission and money from the state.
That’s what it says on various information boards.
13: 00
Photo to be supplied
“Are these difficult?”. “Yes”14:33 – IMG-20240612-WA0004.jpg (file attached)
This is an important work of art for me
Photo to be supplies
14:45 Once I have seen this I know where I am. It is between Nikolaikirche and Thomaskirche. The University is down the road.
Perhaps the reason for the extraordinary reaction to the singing on Sunday and Monday was from the US supporters club. Today we were delighted but restrained. We listened to another Leipzig ensemble this afternoon. New Year cantatas. Full of hope for the future. With a noticeable touch of “but if things go wrong we will have to look forward to the long term“
The concert at 17:00 is at Nikolaikirche as well. The music is so varied that I haven’t been able to tire of it yet. And being able to join in at the beginning and end of each cantata helps. Being in the middle of a congregation which sings effortlessly in 4 parts is life-enhancing
17:41 Got the time of the next concert wrong. So I went back to the hotel to try to sort out travel from Berlin to Bridlington. Train to Wahren this time. A lady stopped me and asked in your native German where the bus to Lindenthal went from. She did not speak English. And at last I could shine. “Komm mit mir”. For the first time since arriving here I could take her to the right bus stop. It did me no end of good. We didn’t extend my conversational skills much farther although she did try to say other things to me. Children are amazing the way they chatter away with a very limited vocabulary and grammar.
21:23 No stamina is his problem. The final concert didn’t start until 20:00; that’s 8 o’clock to you. 4 cantatas were on the programme. I left after the third one – it was already after 9:30 pm when all good Christians should be getting ready for bed. They and we were good, though. They were the Amsterdam Baroque ensemble. We included a Swiss lady who sat next to me. She had sung since childhood which was quite a time ago. Her grandmother was from a family of 7 children who all sang together each evening. Song/hymn after song/hymn. And the Scouts all sang. And she was getting sentimental. Judy’s family all sang round the piano on Sunday evenings but that was for a Sunday treat.
The 3 cantatas that I did listen to were all from the section “Perseverance”. Life may be tough but he that endureth to the end will be saved. All the chorales were by Martin Luther (as are most of the others).
I have just deleted paragraphs of stuff about Luther, probably of little or no interest to anyone else.
Enough to say that he became puzzled that not everyone saw the world as he did. He became bitter, cruelly antisemitic, and intolerant.
But he composed wonderful music, wrote breathtakingly rich hymns and was funny. Unless you were a Jew or a woman or King of England.
Way after bed time
21:29 Or the Pope.
13th June 07:18 I have just re-read yesterday’s posts. The DDR collapsed in 1990 and led to the reunification of Germany. But perhaps no one is remotely interested in all this chuntering.
Whatever you think, my memory is so unreliable that it’s useful to have a report to read through later if only to get things in order.
Yesterday I was so preoccupied entering a report on the afternoon’s activities that I nearly missed my stop. “Ist diese Wahren?” (Never mind the grammar). “Yes. Do you know where you need to go?“. “How did you know I was English? And how do you speak English so well?“. “Playing video games“. Not as good as singing with your family each evening before going to bed, but quite handy.
So a new fresh day. Not awake until 05:30 but happy after a good night’s sleep.
Breakfasts are excellent. A huge problem for vegans and not straightforward for vegetarians, but omnivores are amply supplied. It started to rain quite a bit, but there are plenty of covered area to hide until it is clear.
I decided to extend my range of achievements by going all the way into Leipzig by bus/tram, taking note of where the stops are in relation to each other. Easy.
Be Prepared. I looked for the place the Flixbus go from. On my way someone hailed me. He was about to get on a coach to Prague with his choir. He had seen my Choralkantatenjahrgangs book. He was Manager of the choir from Portland who had sung on Monday. The orchestral accompaniment had been provided by a local ensemble. He was delighted about how good they were. They have performed in Berlin and somewhere else and were about to sing in Prague.
I told him about my surprise at the enthusiastic response to their performance. Apparently they half expected it. Nothing unusual there.
Waiting to go in to this morning’s performance I met a Malaysian choir with the conductor of the Malaysia Bach festival chorus and their bishop. The Chorus performed the programme. They were all enthusiastic and pleased to speak English.
And presumably sing German.
13:30 The Malaysians were good. They had chosen (?) to sing a funeral motet and 2 funeral cantatas. Not so much joyful as resigned. But for an encore they cheerfully sang something I started to try to record 2 minutes in. Other people are much better at this than me. It was apparent that other people could focus in on the choir.
I am about to go in to the next concert which is being given by the Barcelona Bach Collegium. Maybe they have come for the football. It looks as though Leipzig is hosting some football event.
The bad news is that the last concert tomorrow doesn’t start until 20:00
17:18 Not as bad as I thought. It is the only concert on offer tomorrow so I can have my normal 13:00 sleep.
I deleted a recording of the encore. The sound was very poor. The question still arises – do I clog up my mobile by leaving video recordings around? And – is it possible to make a Google-free audio recording? Does this come with ambient sound messing it up?
You may find this hard to credit but I am looking forward to getting back to the election campaign. Some of you know that I am still actively engaged in a well known UK political party. Its other local members ridiculously expect to win the Bridlington constituency. It’s doing wonders for their morale.
18:41 One last question at the end of what feels like a long day…
I am eating in the restaurant of the hotel where I am staying. The walls contain pictures of what appear to be local features.
Pictures to be supplied
13/06/2024, 18:41 – Stan: IMG-20240613-WA0003.jpg (file attached)
The text says”Rittergut Breitenfeld
Hier wuerde frueher Schnapps gebrannt”
Which translates in my unexpert German as …”Here formerly Schnapps were burnt”. Burnt?
Some of you alcoholics must know what that’s all about.
21:34 Martin: It might mean in a glass and set light to (ie a blue flame) I’ve seen that done more than once.
14th June 11:33 It is raining outside but not in the hotel.
Karol’s remark about me needing a travel minder was only too appropriate. I received the following message from my DB (German Railway) app this morning: “The train from Brussels to Frankfurt is 6 minutes late”. It looked as if it thought I was traveling from Brussels to Leipzig. Now I am well known for my polytropon skills, but decided to check at the DB travel centre just in case. The man told me I must have booked a ticket online ( I never did) but it was OK as it was a flexi-ticket so I could book for another time. Then there was a major crisis at the travel centre. The DB server had gone down and no-one could do anything.
It may yet be possible to rescue something from this as I might be able to trade in the ticket to get from Berlin to Brussels on Monday. I guess that the collapse of the central server may have something to do with all this.
The other day when I negotiated a ticket from Leipzig to London Via Paris the woman at the travel centre gave me some forms to fill in. I am not a natural complainer but the service has been dreadful. I will ask Phil to sort me out when we meet. Take note, Phil.
It makes you feel at home, though.
And what about the real world that we have been singing about all week?
Yesterday’s text was surprising. We all of us sang with commitment in German the Chorale “Uphold us, Lord, by your word, and ward off the murdering Pope and Turk“. Ian Paisley would have been delighted.
And presumably Nigel Farage.
15th June, 07:49 It is Saturday morning.
In spite of going to bed and (nothing better than) snoozing yesterday afternoon I couldn’t stay the course yesterday evening and left after the most excellent 3 cantatas. This meant missing the final performance of “Sleepers Wake”. This was the cantata that Judy brought in for me to BRI when I had decided to check out on the world for a bit. Even though it is one of the best it was a most inappropriate choice of cantata at the end of the week. At that time of the day (21:30) it would have been better to find something with the title “Hyperactives go to sleep”.
As this was the final performance at the end of 8 days’ worth of singing. Nikolaikirche was packed full. The Amsterdam Baroque choir sang again. It was very noticeable that the community singing was nothing like as good as it had been earlier. No commitment.
I have also noticed the clothes people have been wearing. On Sunday I of course wore my white shirt and tie, but other days have just worn a white T shirt and respectable long trousers. It was noticeable that on Thursday there was a much better show of ties and suits. Perhaps it signifies something.
But about the performance:
60 years ago I noticed that professional concert goers have a miserable time attending concerts if you read their reviews. It was a bit like that yesterday evening. They were good – much better than Totnes Methodist choir – but not that good. It didn’t really matter since what they were singing was outstandingly good. “Christ lay in death’s strong bands”. One of Luther’s best with all kinds of imaginative orchestral accompaniment. Then “What God does is done well“. This of course is sometimes not easy to believe when you sing, and then one I didn’t know. For the first time since last Saturday my immediate neighbours barely mumbled. My head had to supply the missing joy. Luther’s introduction of committed congressional singing didn’t work.
But I got back to the locked hotel well after my bedtime.
I was accompanied on the platform and train by a University aged young woman who spoke only a little English. She does not sing much but does play the piano a bit. We managed conversing in a language previously undiscovered
Today is going to be difficult. It is going to rain heavily soon. I will make a rational decision in the next half hour.
There are football matches going on. Not one tenth as important as you might think.
16th June: Sunday:
Nikolaikirche is the largest of the churches in Leipzig. Bach served as music director for both it and Thomaskirche.
The morning service was extraordinary. Of course.
When I got in, the choir and orchestra were still practicing. We were all given 8 page booklets listing what we would all sing, with the music printed. It started and ended with orchestral pieces complete with strings, woodwind and brass. Especially brass. A bit like an up-market Salvation Army performance.
So we sang. A lot. The singing was much better than the half-hearted Friday night effort. There were probably about 400 of us. The church when full will hold about 1000 so we were not over-crowded.
We sat for the singing and stood for the Gospel reading. The choir sang.
There was a notice in the service booklet that we were not to film or record the service, but I had a go at audio-recording part of the practice. It is not one of my strengths. I will try to edit it later.
The sermon barely lasted 20 minutes. So the sheep went home hungry, but I did hear several people singing on their way home.
I had intended to walk the 5 miles back to my hotel but it started to rain.
My use of my phone is pretty sparing at home, but I have been reading all sorts of things during the gaps in the daily schedule. I may have been eating unwisely.
At home I eat modestly. Since being here I have been eating all sorts of prepared food which probably breaks all the rules. It tastes as though it is all heavily seasoned. I can manage to order salads most of the time, but they come liberally supplemented with sauces. Do they do you any harm? If so, it didn’t ought to be allowed.
Martin: If it’s vegetarian, I’m sure it will be safe. Robin is our official meat advisor and expert.
16:00 Most of the time I have been eating fish-based salads, but have just discovered 100 Euros in a wallet. I had thought they were in the rucksack I lost.Perhaps I will lay off the “farmer salad” I was going to order.
18th June: Lesley Did you manage to get your passport sorted yesterday?
09:32: But of course. Phil took me in hand, found the British Embassy, gave me clear instructions about how to get back to the main station which I had forgotten once I needed them.
I am now in Brussels waiting for an outrageously expensive train to London.
Morale is ridiculously high as I must be back on known territory in 4 hours.
For the record, travelling in Europe by bike is massively easier than by train.
Bridlington to Athens by train is off. I will review Bridlington to Finland or Estonia in August.
I do need a manager, though.
But remember, No Fuss.
And Phil and I talked a lot.
Since confession is good for the soul you should know that yesterday I looked at the possibility of flying to Manchester (Boo boo)
It was possible just before I saw the man in the British Embassy. By the time he had finished wasting our time it was gone. So I went back to Plan A, booked a rail ticket to Aachen. The train was over an hour late. I was locked out of the hotel I had booked. Found another one, paid through the nose, had an excellent breakfast and confidently expect to be back home before the General Election.
None of my problems are as bad as having arthritis
Up the workers.
20th June 11:30 Ann: David are you home yet?
11:36 But of course. It was not an easy journey home. The German trains were unbelievably late and I ended up in Aachen too late to check in at my hotel
Sadly this whole experience has led me to believe that it’s much easier cycling than going by train. I will make no hasty decision, but am tempted to make for the Far East in the autumn – ferry-bike-ferry to lands never visited before. Like Finland or Estonia.
This may be unwise, so will be a fitting continuation of my life so far
12:30 And while you are all here…
I would like to travel to Leipzig next year for the annual Bachfest. Will not fly. Now do not trust the railway system.
Are there any approved sociably responsible means of transport? 60 years ago and more I would have hitch hiked. Is this a good idea?
20th June Karol: No!
12:41 John: Glad you are back. Can’t quite believe you are planning more trips except that everything is a learning experience and you will travel with more confidence in the idiosyncrasies of the continental railway system. Bravo for your adventurous spirit.
13:02 I could always only accept a lift from battery powered cars/lorries
jbrip 