The weather has been absolutely spectacular here in Erfurt where we have spent the last three nights. We’ve come here because Martin Luther lived here as an Augustinian monk from 1505 to 1511. We walked here from our hotel, the Radisson Blu, to the old part of the city, and visited the monastery church with its… Read More Luther in Erfurt
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing. Well, what else would you expect a bunch of Lutherans to sing after visiting the Wartburg Castle where Martin Luther spent translating the Bible into German? Our tour leader, Dr. Michael Krentz, argued that this beloved hymn could have been a song of comfort, rather… Read More A mighty fortress
It just wouldn’t be Germany without a Bratwurst from Thuringia, which hit the spot as we visited Weimar today. The weather changed drastically this morning and for once, I’m glad I had both my jacket and my coat. Unfortunately the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, where two of Bach’s sons were baptized,… Read More Weimar and Buchenwald
22,285 steps or 9.73 miles–that is how far we walked in the city of Leipzig today! We started out spending 3 1/2 hours traversing the Leipzig Zoo which I had visited with my husband Carl and son Stephen three years ago. I convinced my sister, Margo and husband, Ken, that this was a zoo worth… Read More Oh, my aching feet!
My shuttle to Logan airport came 15 minutes early so in my haste to pick up my luggage, I left my fleece jacket at Edith Ho’s. In the lost and found department I have been hopeless on this trip. After leaving my glasses in the Newark Airport last week, I was overjoyed to have a… Read More Mecca for Bach pilgrims
Last night’s performance of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 capped off a spectacular day and was for me the perfect end of the Boston Early Music Festival. (The Festival does not end until Sunday but it is the end for me because I am traveling to Germany today.) There were just 10 singers (of which there were only 3 women and… Read More Spectacular Vespers!
I always look forward to the Exhibition of musical instruments and music at the Boston Early Music Festival which opened today. Vreni Griffith and I decided to go there after hearing the Peabody Conservatory, and look who we found in the lobby of the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel! We then looked through the displays of… Read More Love at first sight
Two years ago I made the observation that there were so many (ahem) mature people at the Boston Early Music Festival, especially in the audience. So it is particularly gratifying that Early Music America sponsors the Young Performers Festival here at BEMF. Yesterday’s concert by the University of North Texas was part of that,… Read More The Young like the Old (music)!
I am here in Boston at the Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) and so far in three days I have seen two Monteverdi operas, heard two concerts and been to the Church of the Advent for their Sunday service. But that is a piece of cake compared to what the performers, especially in the opera,… Read More BEMF: Boston Marathon
One if by land, two if by sea was the phrase coined by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his famous poem about the American revolutionaries. It described the signal Paul Revere was to give to indicate the means by which the British were coming. One lantern hanging in the Old North Church meant they were… Read More One if by land, two if by sea