SUPER SUNDAY

A few days to recover and we are ready for the biggest day of the year, the Sunday before Christmas or thereabouts. Start in St Aidan's Cathedral with a sung mass. Fr Lawless is very sharp and pushes on at the Sanctus leaving us fumbling in his wake. Very few noticed.
In the afternoon a good turnout for St John's where we sang around the wards and met many old friends. We got to see the wonderfull new Hospital. All very smart and modern. Tea and Cakes very kindly supplied by the Matron and Staff.
The candlelit Advent Service in St Mary's was very enjoyable and we were happy to produce a joyfull noise. The Church of Ireland does not stint on the number of verses in each Carol. Just as well, as we all knew the melody well by the time we reached the end of each one.
A long and tiring day but very rewarding.

The rest of the Trip

The next two days have merged into a sort of blur once the pressure was off and we didn't have a performance to focus us. On Sunday morning lots of people went to the Stephandom to hear a sung High Mass. (Is there any other kind?) Smells, bells and a lovely Choir. They even had a ferocious organist who snarled at the gawping tourists who wandered within scowling range. Lunch in the Hofburg Cafe was a laugh with strategic envelopments and tactical advances and retreats all employed to get a table that 8 people could sit at. One lady, the Emperor's grandmother I suspect, showed the slighest inclination to move from her large table and was almost bodily removed in a perfect pincer movement which gained the place for us at the same time keeping the other foraging groups away.

So much to see and so little time to see it.
The Picasso Exhibition at the Alberina kept some of us amused. A very large representative Exhibition of his later opus which is known as his Kunststruck period. He was producing this when he was in his eighies and nineties. His energy and humour and interest in humanity are wondrous to see. I read that you must look at each feature in a picture seperately and not to try to relate it to the portrait as a hole. This made a lot of sense and was an entertaining way of looking at the pictures.
In the evening there was a large turnout back at the Stephandom for a String Quartet with an occasional flute addition. All very low key and "refined" as the Nobs had it. Too f***ing refined for me. Home via a bottle of Prosecco.
We were amazed that everyone was gone off the streets by 11.30 and they just left their shops with trees and lights in front open to the elements. Obviously no petty vandalism or crime.On the other hand , from what I saw of the Polizie armory, I wouldn't like to tangle with them over a Christmas tree.

Next morning I went to see the War Museum in the Arsenal and was surprised to find Franz Ferdinand's Car in pride of place with the actual bullet hole that started the First World War. Everyone else went shopping and we were all present and correct for our return trip.

Just before we set off home a small presentation was organised by Bernie Kennedy Rob Rowe and Mary Nagle. It was made on behalf of the Choir to Annette and Deirdre as the main organisers of such a marvellous trip, to John as our inspiring Chairman and to Donagh for bringing us so far along the musical journey which we are all enjoying so much and which we hope will continue on and on. These trips get better and better. I have rarely seen the Group so pleased. It was great credit to all involved, singers and groupies alike, that so much fun and enjoyment was had and hardly a blow struck.

Lets do it again soon.

Wine Women( and Men) And Song

That was what Vienna was famous for in the good old days. In fact, I think one of the innumerable Strausses wrote a piece of music , had to be a waltz, called "Wein, Weib und Gesang". Yes, I've just checked wikipedia and it was Strauss II in 1869. Well , times have changed since that patriarchal time and nowadays we men know our place. Which in our case was the back of the bus taking us off to one of the famous wine restaurants in the Vienna Woods and Hills. Took about an hour to get there and we arrived ready to rock and roll. After the excitement of the performance we needed to come down.

The Heurigen
We entered a place reminiscent of a bomb shelter and were fed wine and large chunks of meat from various animals. And Saurkraut of course. And potatos.

Fairly rough and ready but saurprisingly good. Lots of wine and beer and pork later we were surrounded by exhibitionists from other choirs all singing German or maybe Austrian drinking songs. Soon they sounded like they were singing the same song again and again, sometimes swaying in time with the music and sometimes not.


There was a gypsy fiddler and his accordianist who played absolutely marvellous music, csardas to get the head spinning and then Danny Boy ala Fritz Kreisler and then more dancing.

The Basques arrive

Things were beginning to warm up when suddenly a train of people entered the bunker. Amidst great language difficulties, they announced, using a mixture of mime, dance and various unrecognisable tongues, that they were a Basque Choir from near Bilbao and wished to dedicate a song to us. They entertained us with some Basque music both sung and played on the quaint one handed flute. ( Talk about making life difficult for yourself).


Our urge to respond was overwhelming and we answered with "Saoitheo" and Maureen Walsh singing the solo beautifully. We had them on the run at this stage and finished them off by lilting a Basque song "Gabona Beri" which they admitted they had never heard of. They are great people and we have a merger in hand as we have their contact details. So now we have two Choirs wanting to sing with us. I hope they arn't those holiday romances which fade when you go home.

The Romantic Injection

We were well warmed up by this stage. Someone, I can't remember who, asked for a "Romantic Injection" (of music I presume) and an extended period of singing and dancing ensued.





























It could well have gone on all night if little Astrid (or Schatzi as we now called her) had not appeared frighteningly sober and said the bus was leaving in 20 minutes. Some panic attacks later we were all out and mounted and delivered back home very pleased with ourselves.

If it's Saturday, it must be the Rathaus

Sightseeing

The morning was filled with shopping, sightseeing and sachertorte. We were met by unsmiling Viennese saying "Bitte Schon" ,"Danke Schon" "Gross Gott". It was all very schon.The wonderful tram sysytem allowed us to spread out in all directions and cover the centre of the city in such a way that it was almost impossible to turn around without seeing some Irish person somewhere in the distance. In the back of all our minds was the Concert in the Rathaus that evening. We had seen it and it was BIG.

Many people got to see the Treasury or Schatzkammer in the course of the weekend. A truly mystical and magical collection of objects at the exact centre of the Empire, all designed to emphasise and re-inforce the divine right of these kings to reign. From the True Cross to the Biggest Emerald in the World to the Holy Grail to Charlemange's Sword, all proved that God had given them the special right to be his representative on earth. If he hadn't, why would they have all these wonderful objects ? Marvellous! Surprisingly, this was the second Holy Grail I have seen this year. The other one belonged to the Spanish Hapsburgs and was kept in the Cathedral in Valencia. But it's not quite as impressive as the Austrian Hapsburg's one.

Getting Ready for the Gig

A rehearsal had been called for 4.00 and we all dragged back exausted. But we met a ball of fire, Donagh. Firing on all cylinders, he revved us all up with his energy and got what turned out to be a very good run thru. I was amazed because I had come back from the Belvedere with him 10 minutes before and he was as tired as anyone. As I said before, must find out what he's on.

Astrid ( or Schatzi,as she was called) our little guide was all we could expect from a guide. She marshalled us all onto the bus on time and delivered us to the Great Hall in plenty of time. Complaints of " We've over an hour to wait ! etc" quickly died as we took in the opulence of our surroundings. The place was built just before the Empire took a nose dive into oblivion. It was as if they realised the game was up and they wanted to go out on a high note. They truly wanted to impress. And they did.

An opportunity arose to have a warm up and we were ushered to a smaller reception room with a piano in a corner. The room was warm and comfortable and the sound was great and then Donagh said " It's a Boesendorfer". Luckily he was referring to the piano. Even more luckily, we knew what he meant. He had been telling us earlier that his favourite piano was a Boesendorfer and here it was, perfectly in tune and ready to go. Gemutlichkeit!

THE CONCERT

This is the great Hall of the Town Hall of Vienna where we performed a Concert of Christmas Music on the 10th December 2006 as part of the 26th International Advent Festival.

This was a venue that we could get used to, vast and as long as 2 football pitches but with a perfect acouistic. Made us sound great. The MC was a Ukrainian who told us that he was specially moved by the way we had sung the "BogaroDitse". He also said that it was UKRAINIAN and NOT Russian

I had noticed him earlier, during our performance looking a little anxious..

Accepting that he had sat thru a lot of Choral Music by the time we started, there is some excuse for his slightly wandering attention. I, personally, have no objection to members of the audience consulting their watches frequently. However I do draw the line when they start shaking them as if they are afraid they have stopped. This can cause loss of concentration which, as we all know , is not a good thing.

After the Concert we had the pleasure of talking to Michael Ladic who runs a Choir in the 13th District of Viennaand who called around to compliment us on our performance. His kind words were all the more appreciated as he certainly knew what he was talking about. He listed off all our good qualities, our blend, our discipline, our dog like devotion to our conductor. This WAS A MAN WHO KNEW HIS ONIONS. Michael suggested a sort of twinning between our two Choirs. This was met with interest and delight and we hope will be followed up. As well as Michael, we made contact with a group from the Basque region of N. Spain who were keen on singing with us again. But that was later, in the Heurigen and that requires a whole post to itself.

Gemutlichkeit

Gemutlichkeit is an Austrian word meaning niceness, cosyness, comfort, pleasantness. And that is what we found in Vienna both in the place and the people. Arriving in the Imperial City on Thursday night we prepared ourselves for the packed program ahead of us. The sensible ones went to bed while the rest celebrated our safe arrival in the City of Mozart, Scubert, Haydn, Strauss the elder, the younger, the nephew ,the other nephew. Never realised there were so many of them .

HUNDERTWASSER HALLE
Our orientation started with a sightseeing tour of Vienna, taking in the Danube Canal, The Old Danube, The New Danube and the Blue Danube. Never realised there were so many of them either. Around the Prater area with its big famous Ferris wheel and then a visit to the startling city housing development designed by Hundertwasser. This is a prime tourist venue and the number of camera toting Japanese is high. It also seems to be a retail opportunity of high intensity.





This is the entrance to the Art Toilets, a concept which was unfamiliar to us. They are part of the Hundertwasser Village. We are nothing if not competetive and we all had a go. Sean won with a score of a perfect 10 for artistic impression and 9.2 for technical ability. No prize was awarded.

Hunnertwasser was allowed to use only recycled material, a good idea as there was a lot of it about after the war, and he produced a fascinating mad hatter type building with different levels and uneven floors. A sort of Gaudiesque effort on a domestic scale. Great to look at and admire but I don't know if it would be comfortable to live in the place with hordes of tourists peering in thru every aperture. Certainly, nude callisthenics on the balcony would cause a stir.

OLD TOWN
Our guide took us for a walk thru the centre to Schottentur. The Imperial scale and pomposity of the place is mind blowingly grandious. Who did those Hapsburgs think they were ? Well, God, I suppose. Or the nearest thing to God. But they certainly knew how to build and collect lovely things, pictures, jewels, horses, countries. The whole place is overwhelming.
Business is conducted ceremoniously, without noise or fuss and very seriously as the Viennese are a quiet and dignified people. The loudest sound heard was the muzak in the shops. They do however respond to a bit of humour with great delight and friendliness.
Our tour took us thru the Hofburg and on to the majestic Rathaus where the municipality of Vienna sprung us a lunch while we were recorded and registered in the remembrance book.

This is a beautifully leather bound book containing pictures of all the Choirs who had been invited to partake this year, each signed by the Chairman and the Musical Director and stored in the historic annals of the City of Vienna. So we have finally made it into the annals, along with Rudolph's accession document, Napoleon's laundry list and a multitude of Franz-Joseph' grocery orders.

SCHONBRUNN
The highlight of Friday was the performance on the stage in front of the beautiful Summer Palace of Schonbrunn. Every year the main Christmas Fair is held here in the courtyard before the magnificent building with it's gigantic stairway up to the Grand Entrance. We hit the stage after a Ladie's Choir from Limerick and, as there was a huge area to cover, we really let it go. Everthing remained sunshine and lightand the gig went well. Richard arrived like a miracle just in time and all the way from Munich.After the gig we split up around the fair , drinking gluewein and punsch and admiring the stalls.

Suddenly we were literally brought to a halt by a haunting sound, a trumpet solo by GarryMcCauley from the Grand Ceremonial Stairway. A hush fell over the whole area as the Enniscorthy Carol rang out for what must be the very first time in the Schonnbrunn Palace. Garry was unfazed by the fact that that he was playing where Mozart had played or that many of the audience were professional musicians. He played superbly and got great applause from the whole assembly.

Garry on the Great Ceremomial Staircase of the Palace, playing The Enniscorthy Carol

More history being made

The Christmas Markt.
This is what we were singing to and Gar was playing to. This view is taken quite early in the day. Eventually the place was packed with people drinking punsch and eating worst. Some of them obviously the worst for the wear.

We even saw the angel Gabriel and had our picture taken with him

Later, much later
Vienna is a city of almost unlimited cultural events and concerts so the hardier culture vultures set off for a Mozart /Strauss Concert in the Centre. while the rest went off to relax after the gig.


.E

Last Chance Saloon

This is a picture of pure dedication in action. It shows the Basses desperately trying to learn their music before the last rehearsal before we set off to Vienna. Ex-Chairman Richard Doyle, sitting on the left, got Robert Rowe, Bass Enforcer (next to him) to arrange the extramural activity as he was unhappy with the performance last week ( whose performance ? ). Ian Jacob and Declan Groves are sitting quietly, pretending they know what they are doing while Sean O'Leary, smiling broadly, makes no pretence at all. The serious one in the front is Garry McCauley. The extra work paid off however as we were complimented highly not only by the Chairman but also the Big Enchilada himself.

Next Post from Vienna.