Vivaldi Concert

 

This morning I felt really awful, and Travalon was happy to be able to stay home and watch the Wolverhampton match in real time, so we went to Mass at 10:30 at the big church north of here. While two of the hymns were set to old Irish tunes (Wild Mountain Thyme and Star of the County Down), most of the music wasn't that good, and the young priest kind of threw me because he did announcements right before the homily, not at the end of Mass. There sure were a lot of cute kids at that Mass.

Travalon left to go visit his mom, and Tiffy arrived, so she and I got lunch at the Mexican restaurant near my house, and then we went to the Madison Bach Musicians concert at Holy Wisdom. We usually go to the ones on Saturday night which are well-attended but nothing crazy, so we had no idea that Sunday afternoon would be packed. We barely found a parking spot and seats! Plus the woman selling the tickets asked me if I wanted the senior discount after she hadn't asked Tiffy. I am suffering from allergies and have puffy eyes, but do I really look that old?? Maybe I should have just said yes - it was a pricy concert. Not like a rock concert, but a lot for a local group. The first half were Italian (and one German) composers associated with Venice that we had not really heard of, other than Albinoni, but they weren't bad. At intermission Tiffy bought two chocolates for herself (vanilla and sea salt caramel) and two for me, and they were almost out of them. They had completely run out of the third flavor, raspberry cardamom. 

The second half of the concert was Vivaldi, including three concerti from L'Estro Armonico, which I listened to obsessively back in college. Vivaldi was a priest, and his music was part of what brought me into the Catholic church. To my delight, this concert included my two favorites from the collection: the Concerto in B Minor for Four Violins, and the Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins and Cello. Most of the people in the crowd were older, and I assumed well-versed in the ways of early music, but to my annoyance they began to applaud thunderously right after the first movement in the concerto for four violins. The performers were annoyed too, and launched into the second movement, so the audience stopped clapping. They hadn't been clapping between movements in the earlier pieces, but in retrospect I think they were so stunned by the beauty of the piece, and the amazing way the melody travels from violin to violin to violin to violin, that they just couldn't help themselves. I will say there's something in Vivaldi's music, and in Bach's, that feels like they are calling my name, like they are talking to me personally. The author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying says great works of art reveal "The Buddha Mind" to us, which is the only real thing, and it knows us and loves us completely. Sounds like God to me. The author says that is why a lot of modern art doesn't touch people, because it isn't revealing the Buddha Mind. I can't argue with that, either - most of it does not seem divinely inspired. 

Tiffy had to leave right after the concert. I did lend her The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, so I'll let you know if she has anything to add on the subject. Obviously I missed Irish class, since it was right during the concert, and I also emailed my bandmates and said I probably wouldn't make it to band practice, and Hardingfele said, "Keep your germs to yourself!" I'm not sure this is a cold; it might just be bad allergies, since my eyes feel itchy. They were goopy this morning, and I woke up in the middle of the night not able to breathe. Oddly, during the concert I felt fine. Am I allergic to our house?

Famous Hat