Sunday in Autumn

This is the first day of Autumn and today starting at 7am we had the Canadian Army Marathon all over Ottawa and Gatineau. Upwards of 22,000 runners, we saw them running up and down the Rideau Canal towards the finish line which is near the Governor General's Guards Drill Hall.

It is a fall day, cold and grey, the trees have started to change colour and leaves are falling in droves. By the end of the afternoon, the sun came out and gave this strange effect over wet streets and damp leaves a bit like a painting by Turner.

Last night we had friends over for dinner and I had asked our favourite florist Minou at BelFiore on Elgin street, if she could do something for our table centre, www.belfiore.ca. She has such talent, here are the photos of what she did. The orange flowers are called Star of Bethlehem, usually white. We had Maigret de Canard and roasted potatoes. For dessert peaches in white wine, though the season for peaches ended 2 weeks ago. The Appetizer was a salad of greens with a slice of watermelon sprinkled with cracked pepper and goat cheese.

So on this first day of Fall, a bit of music by Johann Melchior Molter, Concerto for trumpet

Le mercredi des cendres, Ash Wednesday

For me today has always been a day of reflection on the meaning of life and death and the afterlife.
It is the beginning of Lent or Le Carême as we call it in French and in 46 days we will celebrate Easter and the promise of the afterlife.

I always like the opéra Dialogue des Carmélites by Francis Poulenc. The story is set during the French Revolution and tells the story of the Carmelite nuns in Paris who fall victims of the fury of the French Civil War and of the street mob. The final act of the Opera takes place on Place de la Révolution today Place de la Concorde.

These women are facing execution in public, the mob roars, the sinister guillotine looms large over them. At this grave hour they are carried by Faith and Faith alone and the promise of the Afterlife. Poulenc uses the Salve Regina as the backdrop music to make his point and to illustrate the courage of the nuns. At the very end Sister Constance is the last to walk to the guillotine, she falters and Sister Blanche who ran away from the Order when the revolution started comes out of the crowd and joins her, having found Faith and Courage.

In our world this is a forgotten message. Poulenc wrote this opéra 60 years ago but it could have been 300 years ago, the world today is so very different. Difficult to find people motivated by Faith or by Courage today. Such themes take us into a different reality which requires a deeper understanding of who we are and of the world around us, hopefully Ash Wednesday is such a day.

The finale of the Dialogue of the Carmelites, Canadian Robert Carsen created this production that we saw at the Scala Milan a few years ago.

Francis Poulenc and Christmas

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) is one of my favourite composer of the XXth century. I find that his music has a certain signature, meaning that when you hear it you know it is Poulenc. His opera Le dialogue des Carmélites is also amongst my favourites. In the Christmas Motet, Poulenc gives us music that leads to quiet reflection on the meaning of Christmas, it is not about shopping or other commercial aspects or even about people or that false family sentimental approach or focusing about the children or what ever other modern meaning we like to invent for this holiday. It is about leading the individual to listen to the words as they are sung in Latin and reflect on their meaning and that of the events inspired by Faith at this time of the year.

Rome under snow with the top of the dome of the Church of Santa Maria di Loretto (1507)
by the Forum of Trajan.

Here is the Hodie Christus Natus Est. The voices of the Choir are very clear and love the pronunciation, I am also happy that I have some knowledge or understanding of Latin. Sung this way it adds mystery and dignity to the text.

Big snow flakes falling and our neighbour walking his pug. The Canal is frozen now and I saw someone walking on the ice yesterday.

Here is the Videntes Stellam also from the Poulenc Christmas Motet.



The voices are beautiful.

My three favourite composers and remembering 2011

There are pieces of music which I can hear over and over again and always love because they evoke memories of my childhood. Not to say that I do not have other favourite composers, Shostakovich, Eric Satie, Mahler, Bach and Cécile Chaminade.
But my three favourites are French, Claude Debussy (1862-1918) who composed Peleas and Melisande, my favourite opera, Maurice Ravel (1875-1935) for Le Tombeau de Couperin and Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) for Le Dialogue des Carmélites and his piano concerto.

They are all modern composers and I simply like their musical style, it makes be dream. Which brings me to reminiscing.

A few more days and we will be into 2012. Certainly 2011 was a year of change for us. We did go in January to Padova and visited this great Italian city, full of incredible art treasures not to mention St-Anthony, my mother's favourite Saint, then to Innsbruck and Salzburg, we stayed at the Hotel Bristol while we attended the Mozart Week and a short visit to Vienna. We also managed to attend the Venice Carnival, well worth seeing, though it can be cold in February, but we were lucky and had lots of bright winter Sun. Then in March I celebrated by 55 birthday and my 30 year of service with a wonderful dinner party in Rome and my friends Cathy and Collette travelled from abroad to attend the party. We visited Siena in early May, a not to be missed city in Italy. We then toured by car Sicily in May from Palermo to Catania, discovered many wonderful dishes and wines in every city we visited. We saw the Royal Canadian Air Force in Trapani. In Marsala we discovered more wonderful Sicilian specialties and we also visited some wonderful sites. Saw magnificent ancient Greek temples in Agrigento. We were very impressed with the beauty of Sicily and its wonders. Then in early June we went to Ravena and saw such wondrous mosaics, the city is renowned for it. On the 22 June we packed up and spent the next 4 months living in suitcases in what can only be politely described as a very stressful time which could have been averted had management been a little more thoughtful of its employees.

Then in June we attended the season closing of the Canadian Club in Rome at a wonderful cocktail party of the roof of the Hotel Minerva by the Pantheon to say goodbye to our friends. Not to forget the delicious dinner party Linda and Nazareno gave us at their home in Capena. Linda was so worried we might not like what she had prepared, everything was great and both of them are great company.

Just before we left we went just for one day to Spoleto to see a tribute to our friend Professor Alberto Testa, one of the great Italian choreographers, with whom we spent our Christmases and Easters at the home of dear Simonetta and her family in Rome.

We were very lucky to find an apartment in Ottawa which suited our needs and met our expectations. By September it was time to reacquaint ourselves with a changed Capital on the verge of becoming a big city. Our old Friends have been wonderful and very helpful in so many ways. One of our first weekends back in Canada, JAG invited us to the cottage, an old tradition re-instated with our return, then in September with visited Wakefield and the Grannies, in October Merrickville for Thanksgiving. In December our friend Cathy arranged for us to have dessert and coffee with Angela Hewitt and found her to be as charming as can be on top of being a great pianist. Also in December was a very special Birthday for Will with a special gluten free cake from Thimble. The puppies had to adapt to a new environment, Eleonora (Nora) discovered squirrels, Nicholas (Nicky) all kinds of new smells and grass everywhere to roll in and lots of dogs to growl at to our despair. With the fall being uncommonly warm up to mid-december and snow coming only at Christmas time, the puppies discovered they need boots and coats to go out. No, Rome was never this cold.

Yes 2011 was a charmed year, now the new Year and its new challenges, at least we are staying put this year, no transatlantic moves, at least that I know of so far.