At last night’s concert at the Nicolaikirche, one of Bach’s church jobs here in Leipzig, our son Stephen decided that their pews were so uncomfortable that they must have been a device for medieval torture! Seriously, they were selling (and we bought) Bachfest logo-imprinted pew cushions at the St. Matthew, but we forgot them in the hotel for last night’s concert. The Nikolai surely is a pretty church, though.

We were sitting in the prime seats, in row 6, but we still were sitting behind a pillar. The program was Bach Cantatas 51, 199 and 202, for soprano and obbligato instruments, all works Carl has conducted at LCH. (In case you have forgotten, Karin Brown and Georgine Stark sang Cantata 51; Sissal Sødal sang Cantata 199 and Georgine sang Cantata 202–in her wedding dress!) Dorothee Mields was an excellent soprano but her voice sounded small in this large room. Ton Koopman conducted the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra–we have many of their recordings and they are just wonderful.

I am afraid we are still not adjusted to the 12 hour time zone difference and all three of us were nodding off during the concert. Yet when we got back to the hotel, we couldn’t sleep. Go figure.