Bach en Drôme

I have freckles and my hair is a little lighter. This is what comes of spending a few days in the South of France in 30+ degree heat!  Marvellous!  Drôme is a département of South-East France and I had a brilliant time with my friends doing a concert of some gorgeous music by Bach. 

But first I must show you where we rehearsed in the East of France before we went down south...

The Ancient Post House of the village.

Okay, so you know me well enough by now to expect a few more photos. I did, after all, come back with over a hundred...

Above is the family home of the conductor of the group and I've been coming here for nearly 10 years of rehearsals, concerts and fun, but never, until now, have I taken any photos - VERY lax on my part.  The garden was blooming, we had lunch under the mimosa tree and rehearsed in the music room, (complete with numerous harpsichords) the window of which can be found at the top left of the house as you face it... Ah... Bliss!

 I can't remember for the life of me what this is called...

 grapes nearing ripeness

 um, don't know what this is, either, but it was pretty

 déjeuner sous l'arbre de mimosa

The concert was in the pretty little town of St Donat in Drôme and the church was beautiful (but the interior refused to be photographed well), as were the ancient and carved cloisters and... ah...

 floral motif stained glass windows

 cloister arches with neo-classical waste-paper bin

 more carved pillars

 vielle player

And just to prove to me that there is still life in the old camera yet, it pulled this little number out of the hat...

 chrysanthemums

I am pooped but very pleased the concert went well (even more so because I was singing the alto solo and I could be HEARD! Oh YEAH!)  If you ever get a chance to hear a concert or recording of Bach's 'Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden' (based on Pergolesi's 'Stabat Mater') I'd thoroughly recommend a listen...