a good word for the baroque

So yesterday was the big Advent concert. We had been rehearsing for weeks, both at the Music School (converted from an older public school building, done very nicely, very busy with after-school classes) and at the chapel of the local Calvinist church. Five or so local voice groups joining in to do stuff by Buxtehude, Schutz, Gounod, Saint-Saens, and the like. All in Hungarian, except for one piece in Latin. I soldiered on gamefully, wrapping my tongue around unfamiliar (to me) consonant clusters, tried carefully do distinguish between á and a, beween ö and ő, e and é, i and í, u ú and ű, as well as ü. It got better with practice. I still didn't know exactly what i was singing, but it was all about god and prophet and straight the path, and messiah, and holy spirit with lots of rejoices and praises thrown in.

Kata invited me for lunch at noon. We started with soup, and I (silly me) thought that we were having just a light lunch before the concert. So I ate extra soup. Hah. then followed the main course, a kind of open face chicken cordon bleu. baked potatoes, and then dessert, which was baked apples stuffed with nuts and raisins and marmelade covered with a custard which had bits of meringue floating in it (hence the Hungarian name, madár tej? Bird Custard, because the white bits of meringue look like birds flying around).

The concert was a municipal Event, the mayor was there to wish all a merry etc, and then there were readings of poetry for the season, we sang a few pieces, then there was a children's choir, and then a brass quintet, and then a piece for recorder, then one for string ensemble with flute (they were quite good), and we finished up with five more pieces. It pulled together well, most of our pieces were better in performance than in rehearsal, except for the last number, which got started too slow and kind of dragged.

Big building, seating about 350 in present configuration, could hold 500 if seating were changed. VERY baroque, but restrained and still light for all the heaviness of decor. It helps that the building is tall, even though it does mess with the reverb in the space, probably 3 to 4 seconds of it. It doesn't help that the ceilings are decorated with 1970's stylized frescoes... bare bones grape wheat motivs that jar in a space as obviously historical as this one. For once I found myself wishing that a modernizing touch be removed.... plain white or cream ceiling would be much preferable.

The architect was in the employ of the Eszterhazys... he did a fair number of buildings around the local scene, and I am starting to appreciate him more and more. The high altar and the pulpit in this church seem integral, not just decorative add-ons.

I didn't get the frisson that usually happens for me in a big Anglican musical thingy. Possibly it is because the texts did not (could not) resonate for me, possibly because there is too much unfamiliarity for me in this setting so that I am constantly on guard and not able to let go psychologically and just let things sink in. Like much of this entire experience: It was work, it was good, I am glad I did it, the people were nice, but I was just simply not at home with it.

Advent is a time of darkness and death. I am very much aware of this now, stranger that I am in this strange land. It is grey and gloomy during the day; it gets dark very early, and the solstice is still nearly a month away. I know I have to wait for a new year. I hope I can get through this winter without a major disaster. If there is to be a disaster, I would rather it happen in the US. Just because.