I have just completed my midterm for Music History (401). At 7:30 in the morning when I began my "day-of-test study rush", I was definitely freaking out. Then I went to a rehearsal of the Vienna Philharmonic playing Bruckner 7. That calmed my nerves quite a bit because it just made me so incredibly happy. :) I then had 2 1/2 hours to study (which I used all of) and sat down and finished the test in under 45 minutes. It was the easiest test I've taken since.. probably middle school. Nailed it. Now all I have to finish are my three page long papers for my philosophy midterm. almost done!!!!!
So, back to the life in Vienna. There is so much to be said for this past week and weekend.
On wednesday, we had a dress rehearsal for performance workshop, and then immediately after playing, I made a run for the Staatsoper to see my very first opera in Vienna! (finally!) It was Die Zauberflöte (Magic Flute) and it was wonderful. Papageno was incredible, great singing and great acting. Sarastro had the most amazing voice and Pamina was phenomenal as well. The Queen of the Night was not the best I had heard, but everything else was wonderful. It was a great experience. I was in the standing room, so there are these railings that you can lean on, but unfortunately for me, the man in front of me was leaning back and the girls behind me were leaning forward, so I was kind of forced to just stand. The translators are also on the railings, so you have to look down to read and then up to watch.. it's a little confusing, but I'm glad I had the English to read! I had never actually seen Magic Flute, I've only played in the pit at IU! So, it was really nice to be able to see a production live.
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| The Cast :) Yes, that is a giraffe in the corner. |
Thursday, we had our first IES concert of the semester, which was lovely. I only played one piece, but it was very fun. I led the ensemble of 5 horns and 3 trombones in Wagner's Pilgerchor from Tannhäuser.
Then
immediately after playing, Blair (on my left) and I ran to the
Musikverein to see Daniel Barenboim give a recital of all Schubert. I
believe he played Schubert's 4 impromptus (not sure which one maybe
Op.142) and Schubert Sonata. It may have been the most amazing concert
I've seen in Vienna, or maybe ever? I can't even describe how it feels
to see someone who I've watched on youtube and videos and adored from
afar, live on stage, in the same hall as me. The entire time I couldn't
get over the fact that Daniel Barenboim was right in front of me. It
was just as I had imagined and then some. It was the smoothest playing I
had ever heard from a piano. He plays everything so evenly, nothing
pops out of the texture that isn't meant to. His balancing of all the
voices was perfect, it's no wonder his orchestras are always perfectly
balanced! He obviously pays very close attention to that. It was also
just the most music making I've heard from anyone in a long time. His
phrases never ended (in a good way), they just kept flowing and certain
notes were accented, but the line kept going and remained interesting
and never bumpy or flat. I was just amazed. I was also kind of bummed
that he didn't do an encore!! He walked back onstage 5 times and still
no encore. :( But it was a wonderful night.
Friday=study.
Saturday
was my german midterm, which kicked me in the butt. hard. So, we'll
see how that turned out. But then my day was revived by Wolfgang!
Wolfgang invited me to sit in the pit of the Staatsoper for Strauß's
Salome! It was amazing!!!!! This is one of those experiences that you
can't have anywhere else!!!
This
was my view :) I sat behind the harps, who sat behind the horns. It
was gloriously loud. Ross and Ryan actually said the orchestra was a
little overpowering for the singers, but I thought it was marvelous.
hahaha. The horns sounded amazing. Wolfgang played 3rd, as usual, and
he was great. The low horn were super solid too. The first horn
cracked a few high notes, but not a whole lot. They play almost the
entire 2 hours!!! It was insane!!! They also have a really strange set up in the pit. the order of horns was (L-R) 4,3,2,1,5,6. It was odd, but I guess it works!
So, it's been
quite an amazing week. I need to get a LOT of practice in this week
because I'm going to Switzerland this weekend!!!! :D
Maybe it seems
like a really obvious realization, but I really like living in Vienna. I
can't get enough of what I'm getting to do here! Sure, I don't mind
taking my IU classes again and I can't wait to play in IU ensembles and
see see my studio and all my friends again. But on the other hand, I
really don't want to leave behind these opportunities. I want to
continue sitting in the pit for operas! I want to stand in the standing
room for concerts of orchestras from a different country every night
and see amazingly famous conductors and soloists playing incredible
music!!!!! I don't want to leave this ever. I want to have lessons in
the Staatsoper and walk out into a city filled with incredible musical
opportunities! I never want to give up the feeling I have here.. it's
just a combination of gratitude towards my parents and my life for
getting this opportuniy, motivation to work way harder than ever before
so that I can make it, gratification that I'm getting as much out of
this as I can, and just pure utter joy. Truly indescribable though.. I
know now that it's going to be hard to leave Vienna.
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