On the bus to Bad Ischl

Me in front of the Alps in Bad Ischl, near the Lehr Villa
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Today is our IES group non-optional ONE-DRINK maximum field trip. We are watching the Manhattan School of Music recording of Mahler’s 3^rd symphony, which we already listened to extensively for the listening quiz on Wednesday, so we’re all REALLY familiar with it. It’s a pretty interesting symphony– very steeped in philosophy, because of Mahler’s interests and extensive reading. Most of Mahler’s symphonies have vocal parts too, which I was not aware of. I’ll have to do some extensive listening when I get back to the States.

Kaiser Villa in Bad Ischl, Austria. The former summer home of Franz Joseph and his wife, Elisabeth
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I talked to my parents and Jon, Allison, and Little Shaun last night on the phone. I really don’t want to leave Vienna, in fact I almost feel destined to return here one day. However, it will be nice to go home and rest for a few days. Then I teach theatre camp and Opera Camp. Yay!

I really don’t want to leave Vienna, in fact I almost feel destined to return here one day.

We have two weeks and I’ve been accomplishing most of what I want to do, but I’ll probably have to up the ante this week. Also, I have to finish up shopping. I still have two major gifts to pick up, and some gifts for myself. The only thing I’ve well on is earrings!

Alpine splendor on the drive to Bad Ischl
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As I’ve been walking around Vienna, I’ve realized how close together everything is. Our center is only about a 5-minute walk from the back of Hofburg Palace. The Staatsoper and Sacher Hotel is just down the street, and our morning subway stop is Karlsplatz, right at the heart of the city. We’re located inside the Ringstrasse, the road that surrounds the city center. It used to be the city wall, but that was dismantled in the 1800's when the threat of Turkish invasion had passed. Before that, the majority of the city of Vienna was within. Now it’s just the first district of many. People always praise Vienna for its historic buildings. While they are historic, many were built in the 1860-1880's under Franz Joseph, making them not much older than historic buildings in America. However, I think there is a difference, laying in the rich history of architecture of Central Europe and the wealth to build breathtakingly magnificent buildings.

More mountains on the drive
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My German is steadily improving... I can read most signs; paragraphs still elude me. The main problem is vocab; sentence structure is pretty easy to figure out now that I know all of the cases. I would really like to continue to take it, but I already have 17 credit hours next semester. Besides, I think French might be more handy for my voice type. I’ve been told this by multiple teachers. The French Baroque period is great; the rep is extensive and illustrious. I did a set of Rameau ("rah-moh") on my recital and loved it. I’m thirsty for more Lully and Rameau. I’d like to look into some Renaissance rep as well. Oh, how I love early music. Late Romantic music is good, but boundless. There are no patterns or rules. I guess that’s what draws some people to it--its freedom. I like art within bounds though. The reason Shakespeare’s sonnets are great is because they bowed to higher form. They conformed to convention, but you always know where you’re going and why you’re going there. And occasionally, Bach or Handel or whoever it is will throw a surprise in there that’s absolutely breathtaking. In Late Romantic music, every note is a "surprise." It loses its novelty after a while. Baroque music sets the listener up for something. In Romantic music, you are an aimless wanderer. This is appealing to some, but not to me. As majestic as a Mahler symphony is, I can’t help but resent it for its destruction of form, harmony, etc. that led to/paralleled the creation of modern art music. Singers generally hate modern music, because it’s so hard to be expressive with. It’s, for the most part, meant to be "pure music," and adding words seems somewhat arbitrary. Adding the expressiveness required with words would often mean changing the music and then it’s not pure 12-tone music. And if you take that away, then there’s no form at all. Ok, enough music stuff.