P is for...

Pianto di Maria

 Tears of Mary

'Il Pianto di Maria' is a marvellous sacred cantata by Giovanni Battista Ferrandini (although the piece itself was attributed to Handel for many years) and is one of my all-time favourite pieces of music, and I've just come back from performing it in Germany.  YEEHAH!  The concert was 2 years in preparation, but the director of the ensemble and I have been dreaming about doing this for much longer...

The concert and rehearsals were in the catholic cloister church residing in the tiny wee town of Pfaffen-Schwabenheim in Germany. I know. Catholic? Germany? And there goes another of my presumptions... WHEEEEEEEEEE  It was a charming church, with a not-too-boomy acoustic which was perfect for this kind of music.

choir screen of the Cloister-Kirk

I was particularly drawn to one of the statues on the choir screen. We adopted him as our mascot although were never sure if we were making him cry with the beauty of the music, or by my coughing all the way through the rehearsals.

39゜ fever or just some amazing music?

Yes, coughing. I was (still) sick all last week, and only now am I able to pass more than half an hour without the need to go searching for bits of lung.  Ick!  Such is the lot of a singer - you are your own instrument and if you're ill, then you're... well, you're rather unfortunate, to put things politely.  My speaking voice was VERY husky due to all the coughing, and that meant that my lower range was also husky and it really hard to produce the sound. Man, I am oh so glad that my concert as an alto was last week and not this one. Funnily enough though, my high notes were easy and pingy. Cool? Well, sort of, in a Murphy's Law kind of way...

I did manage to soothe my throat a couple of times with the local beer, an arty-farty photo of which I shall now present unto you:

 mmm bier

Unfortunately I didn't get much chance to do some major sampling, as most of my free time was taken up by trying to sleep off the lurgy.  I think I knitted (hmm, knat? OO! I like the look of that!  Heh!) 3 lines of a super secret square project, and that was it. Meh.  I have a LOT to catch up on as there are some deadlines looming like thunder clouds on the horizon.  Ach well, I work better when there's a to-do-by date close to throttling distance...  My next post WILL have some stealth objects revealed.  This I promise!  And I'm absolutely gagging to show them off!

P is also for 'Patience is a virtue', I guess...