This morning was the last performance of the Festival, we heard the Oratorio Betulia Liberata by Niccolo Jommelli, composed in 1743 for orchestra and choir, in one sentence, beautiful music but too many notes, I fell asleep and even Monsieur fell asleep, it was boring, despite the excellent orchestra and conductor Riccardo Muti and the setting in the Felsenreitschule. Afterwards we went to the Cafe Bazaar for a light lunch and then a walk up the Möchsberg which is the mountain that separates the city in two parts. The Festival hall is built partly inside of it and a big tunnel Neu Tor was cut through the rock in 1767 to facilitate movement within the city. Beautiful views from up there on this sunny and warm day.
We have our train tickets for our return tomorrow to Vienna and Wednesday evening we fly back to Rome. Will's cold is a bit better and the weather now being warm and sunny should also help.
For 2011 we are seriously tempted to come to the Mozart Week Festival in January (21-30) instead of the May Whitsun Festival, the reason being that we looked at the program and in May nothing special is happening. So we will see, in May 2011 we may do this cruise of the Baltic we have been planning for years to do from Copenhagen to St-Petersburg.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteWhat was the audience's reaction to this music today and how good or bad was Muti?
Many people left at intermission. Muti of course is my favorite conductor and he is great, a Maestro. There is a reason why some work of music are obscure maybe they should stay that way.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Laurent. Who is at the piano in the photo you have posted above?
ReplyDelete