Heute auf Wien--Today in Vienna

Heute auf Wien
Today in Vienna
This morning was my first chance to really sleep in since I've been here. The sky outside my light floral drapes begins to lighten before 4 AM, so "sleeping in" means I made it past my usual 5 AM

 startle awake time (that's when it's light enough that I think I've missed my alarm) clear until 6:20. And then I went BACK TO BED. Heavenly. My alarm went off at 7:15 and I wrote and read emails, washed my hair finally, and ate a delicious breakfast of chocolate Muesli (we really, really need this cereal in the US--dark semi-sweet chocolate with nice healthy raw oats), an egg, mango juice, and tangy miniature bananas. After a nice conversation with my "house Mom" aka fellow Grossmutter aka new friend for life, Frau Miller, I rode the bus and the subway to the center of Vienna, arriving at 10:00.

Today is a holiday, the Catholic celebration called Corpus Christi, where everyone marches slowly in a procession from plaza to plaza, chanting about their gratitude for Christ's sacrifice. At various outdoor spots they halt for a few minutes before an altar decked with flowers, singing hymns and listening to short sermons in between. The procession is amazing. Their are many groups in various church robes, gorgeous native costumes, guards with swords, a brass band in 19th century uniforms, priests with incense, little girls and boys in white spreading flower petals, even a Bishop with his entourage. Or maybe a cardinal. Many of the crowd wore traditional German dress, dirndl dresses for the women, leiderhosen for the men. As e procession nears the church plaza ("Platz"), the church bells begin ringing, continuing until all is in place. Then the band strikes up a hymn, and everyone on the square sings. I heard "Lob Auf Den Herren" (Praise to The Lord) in Grabensplatz.

I entered the city looking for the procession, and I only had to walk about two blocks to find it. I even found a chair from a sidewalk cafe to sit in as it went by. I recorded the bells of Augustinerkirche, then went to the city center to begin a recorded historic walk of Vienna prepared by the BYU German department. On the way I went into the subway station one more time to look at the ruins of the Medieval church they excavated there while building the subway.

15 minutes into my walk I ran into the procession again, this time grouped around the plague monument erected in the 17th century by the Emperor in gratitude for the city's deliverance from the plague. After listening to a couple of hymns I turned aside just a partial block and entered my favorite church so far, a beautiful Baroque cathedral called Peterskirche.

A few moments after I entered St Peter's, a gorgeous alto voice began singing "Panus Angelicus" with organ accompaniment. I looked around and saw that High Mass in Latin was about to begin, performing Jean Langlais' Missa Simplistica for alto and organ. It was beautiful music, superbly performed, and lasted about an hour.

Yesterday I heard my own Mendelssohn organ sonata performed by an organist during the daily free 3 PM organ recital at St Peter's. The long reverberation time of the cathedral lends an entirely new character to the piece, which I usually perform so precisely. It was a glorious swarm of notes in spots, and I loved it.

After the Langlais Mass I found some lunch (always a challenge) and a bathroom (even a greater challenge, since the Institute where we study is closed today for the holiday). On the way to lunch I was passing through an arch covering the sidewalk next to Augustinerplatz when suddenly a gate opened--a gate into a BUILDING, mind you--and out came a procession of elegant horses. The Lipizzaner Stallions were crossing the street to a stone courtyard across the way.

After a sandwich and some gelato I spent the afternoon in the Albertina, an art museum housed in the palace next door to the Opera and the Institute. I saw some amazing works by: Durer, Renoir, Rembrandt, Monet, Chagall, and Picasso. Not just a single work--whole collections of them. Then there was the palace section of the museum. Did you know that Maria Theresa was the mother of Marie Antionette?

Now I am sitting in the plaza outside the Opera on a nice chair, waiting for a performance of Das Rheingold. I'm going to hear the Vienna Philharmonic play Shostakovich on Saturday, and I have an actual ticket for Die Walkyrie on Sunday (please don't ask how much I paid for it).

The thing is, this has been another amazing day in Vienna--but all the days in Vienna seem to be amazing. Incredibly well-performed, glorious music for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with a side of gelato und Schokolade. Other than that, I'm living on sandwiches. And my feet always hurt. But, really, who cares?