good friday thoughts

Today is the saddest day of the Catholic calendar, but it couldn't have been more beautiful. It's the 8th or 9th perfect day in a row, weather wise. The trees have taken note and are awakening, the birds are real loud, and love is in the air- yesterday in the Schlossgarten I kept being distracted form my reading by the wild amount of ladybug lovemaking going on next to me. Was it rude to watch?
But the beauty and romanticism of Heidelberg has literally reached fairy-tale levels. The only thing that snapped me out of the trance yesterday at the castle were the American jet-fighters zooming overhead, returning from the desert. But as it's silly beauty increases, so does its choking volume of annoying American and Japanese tourists, so I guess there's no real net gain in coolness. But I've found some quiet spots and am not doubting the possibilities for this semester.
I was lucky enough to attend a performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion today in the Heiliggeistkirche. I sang the piece with the Chicago Chorale last year, and it was by far the most rewarding and enjoyable choral work I've had the pleasure of performing. The piece is incredibly demanding, for everyone involved, including the audience- 3.5 hrs in uncomfortable church pews, being told arguably the most heartbreaking story every told. Luckily it is hauntingly beautiful and powerful. The performance today was good, but not great. Granted I payed only 8 euro for the super-nose-bleed seats, in the back of the church and at the very top, with only a view to the other side of the church. I thought a few times that the acoustics would be better in a cafe outside of the church, but you get what you pay for. My critique is short and unprofessional, as I really only know the piece from the choir stands. But it seemed that the director simply was not aware of its gravitas. I think the main strength of our Chorale performance (under the brilliant Bruce Tammen) was the fact that Bruce was fully aware of how beautiful the notes Bach wrote are, and that their beauty must be given air to breathe in and pauses in which to bloom. Today's performance seemed to rush through, trusting that its audience already knew its beauty and haunting story. We all know the story, and thats exactly why we enjoy the self-aware, almost egotistical dramatic pauses. It's comfortingly heartwrenching. For example, after Jesus dies the Evangelist (narrator) describes the curtain in the temple tearing in two and the storms raging above. The chorus, or the crowd, then exclaims: "Wahrlich, dieser ist Gottes Sohn gewesen." [Truly, this was the Son of God.] With Bruce, we took our time on this and truly dug into the regret and pain that this line entails, coming from the crowd which moments earlier cried for his execution. Today this seemed a sidenote- blink and you missed it. Let us have our moment of Catholic guilt!
Also lacking today was the absolutely sublime Bass aria, called "Komm, süßes Kreuz" [Come, sweet Cross. Starts at 1:38 in this clip]. Accompanied by a searching, swirling viola da gamba, the soloist begs Jesus to allow him to help him carry his cross. It was omitted today, sadly.
I hope to attend (or sing) a performance of the St Matthew Passion each year. I've got two in a row now.
Tomorrow I'm headed to Köln for Easter. It's always good to see the relatives- they're always so kind and generous, and home cooking sounds wonderful.

I wish everyone a happy and comfortable Easter weekend.

Love, Al.

first grades back

Writes Professor Dr. Rösch:

"Herr Meyer, Ihre Arbeit ist inspirierend und gut strukturiert. Sie zeigen die
Themen des Textes und die dahinter verborgenen Assoziationen. Die
Argumentation leuchtet ein. Besonders freut mich Ihre fluessige und
idiomatisch korrekte Darstellungsweise. Die Forschungsliteratur haben
Sie knapp, aber gut ausgewertet. An einigen Stellen fehlen die konkreten
Belege Ihrer Informationen, aber das mindert nicht die analytische
Leistung dieser Arbeit, die zu lesen ein Vergnuegen ist.
Daher eine sehr gute Leistung (1,0).
Ich gratuliere Ihnen zu Ihren hier sichtbaren Studienfortschritten."

booyah.

[Update: Translation:
Mr Meyer: Your essay is inspired and well structured. You clearly show the themes of the text as well as the associations hidden behind it. The argumentation is plausible and easily followed. I am especially pleased with your fluid and idiomatically correct manner of representation. The secondary literature is short, but well read and employed. At some points the specific sources of your ideas are missing, but that doesn't lessen the analytical accomplishments of the paper, which was a joy to read. Therefore your grade is 1.0 [The German scale is 1-5, 1 being the highest possible]. I congratulate you on the obvious progress in your studies.]

listening to: Wolfgang Amadeus Pheonix from Pheonix

thursday nights

It's a night at the desk tonight- I've got 350 pages to read for Monday. I missed this.
After spending half an hour wondering how to combine eggs and noodles, I've decided to leave the noodles uncooked for another evening. They won't go bad.

Listening to an iTunes library of 9500 songs on shuffle can be rewarding but dangerous:

1. If you're feeling sinister, Belle & Sebastian
2. A minor incident, Badly Drawn Boy
3. Driving in the dark, Saves the Day
4. Lowercase west thomas, The Get Up Kids
5. Cicatriz E.S.P, The Mars Volta
6. Italo, Anathallo
7. It's only love, the Beatles
8. Climbing texas, Belltower
9. Until I die, Ben Kweller
10. Last night I had the strangest dream, Simon & Garfunkel.

Actually, a shockingly rewarding session. It could've been worse.

Tomorrow we're playing soccer on the bank of the river, then barbecuing. Dreamy.

Hope all is well!

home for the last time

new song

speedbump #291: Der Schlüssel (the key)

The German word for 'the key' is 'der Schlüssel'. I don't have a problem with the word itself, but it's the article ahead of it that consistently trips me up. In English one would normally ask, "Do you have the keys?" Translated directly that is "Hast du die Schlüssel?" But Germans don't ask for the keys. They ask for the key. Singular. So the correct question would be "Hast du den Schlüssel?"

This has been quite a bother lately, as a friend of mine is homeless and is staying in my apartment for the week. She doesn't have a key, so we organize our days around our schedules and who has the key when. And so this turns into frequent screw ups.

Unlike other some other linguistic differences, I don't think this one demonstrates a key cultural divergence. Which makes it not very interesting or cool, just something thats been bugging me.

So to recap:
Correct: "Soll ich den Schlüssel mitnehmen, oder nimmst du ihn?"
False: "Verdammte Schlüssel, ich habe sie vergessen."
[To add another layer, that sentence isn't grammatically incorrect. It would just seem strange.]