A beautiful day today, hot and sunny, concert this morning with Les Arts Florissants with Paul Agnew. An excellent group who through the years have amassed a large following under William Christie who is now retiring slowly. Les Arts Florissants is known for its early Music repertoire and Baroque music of the 1600 and 1700.
This morning was Neapolitan music and as Paul Agnew explained to the audience, this was the period when Neapolitan music and genre was dominating the world stage. The concert was devoted to music of the Roman Catholic Church played during the Passion period and entitled Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah. The music is written in the antique style, meaning that as church music it is not accompanied by an orchestra. The stile moderno on the other hand is secular music and is with orchestra but would not be performed in a church.
Here we had cello, theorbe and organ continuo and the choir of Les Arts Florissants. The concert last about one hour and 40 minutes all together. The pieces span the period 1660 to 1757, by authors Alessandro Scarlatti, Leonardo Leo and Antonio Caldara.
Afterwards we went to Herzl the restaurant of the Goldener Hirsch Hotel (www.goldenerhirschsalzburg.at)
They have nice Austrian food and it is beautifully presented. We had Zander, which is a white fish with green asparagus and mashed potatoes. Since Will is not feeling well, a slight cold, he went to bed after lunch and I went walking about town. Today is quiet, tonight no concert, so we will have dinner in the hotel restaurant.
One thing about this Music Festival, first when you come to one of the concert halls, no one checks your ticket, you simply walk in. The ushers may take a cursory look at your ticket but they are there to help you find your seat. The whole thing is an honour system, it is assume that if you do not have a ticket, you would not try to sneak into an event. Same thing at intermission, in the Karl Böhm hall, they will often have champagne on offer and an area for the special guests, again it is assume that if you are not a special guests of the sponsor, you will not try to barge in and take something that is not yours. The idea is that if you are caught the shame of it would make you loose face in public. You know it works here.
This morning a non-European tourist in an expensive rented car tried to drive the wrong way down a one way street passing in front of the Festival hall, the police stopped him and asked for ID.
The officer then told the driver that he could go no further. The driver argued with the officer that he only wanted to go to the next intersection about 600 meters away. The officer told him NO turn around or park right here. Tourist was having none of it but at the same time realize that the stern look on the officer’s face meant NO and that is it. He finally turned around.
At the festival people dress well, you will not see casual wear, it’s not done. Women are very well dressed and so are men, for an 11am concert men wear tie and jacket and women have nice outfits, nothing loud but in good taste. I find that women here look feminine, dress in an under stated way but with elegance, even ladies who do not attend the festival dress well.
The other thing Will and I noticed is the number of wealthy looking older gentlemen with younger companions. There are quite a few here, nephews no doubt.
Also people attending the Festival will not be seen between concerts, where do they do? I have no idea.
It seems that people simply visiting Salzburg belong to one group and people at the Festival are another distinct group, a bit like groupies or conventioneers.
I think you would be horrified if you see how people dress in Vancouver :) They call it the Land of Yoga for a reason. Everything is casual, athletic, comfortable, and free. I don't have strong feelings about how people dress (as long as clean), but your comment about "feminine" also makes me think that we automatically put people into boxes. Why must a woman dress femininely? My sister is often considered a tom boy and she hates feminine clothing. I say, more power to her! Life is all about breaking rules! :) From living in Europe, I think ideas of gender roles are far more progressive in N.America. Europeans might be more lax about sex and sexuality, but I think they are still very traditional when it comes to gender roles in society.
ReplyDeleteThis is what I find so discouraging about North America and Canada in particular there is no sense of occasion, sort of carelessness mentality.
ReplyDeleteEach thing in its place and time. Breaking all the rules, not so sure I agree with that, it is fine to break rules as long as you do not do it to attract an audience and attention to yourself. Often people who say they break all the rules seek attention a bit like a child. I find that annoying and have no time for it. My feminine attire I meant more about elegance and sense of style, which goes with Salzburg. I do not like again the look of ''I drive a truck and can punch any man in the face attitude, bitter, bitchy man hater attitude''. All too common in North America. Being a Tom boy is another thing all together. As for gender roles in Canada and USA I think there is a lot of confusion out there and enforced attitudes and P.C. which only leads to conflict.