Day 055: A Haydn Mass, Chicago II
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day 55
— A Haydn Mass, Chicago II
26-September-1971
(Sun.)
TRANSCRIPT
Another musical day.
Haydn
Mass in Augustinerkirche.
Pretty nice.
Couldn’t get in to see Vienna Choir Boys [the Vienna
Boys Choir]. Difficult.
Extremely frustrated in practicing the horn. My
embouchure seems to be getting worse. I never play
the same way twice and when I can play well high, I
can’t play in the middle register and vice-versa, and
in other combinations.
I honestly feel like giving up. ??
Chicago [Symphony] concert. Extremely good again.
Haydn, Berlioz, and Stravinsky. You can tell how
musical Vienna is by the reception and applause given
to a good concert—unbelievable. Sat in my
“orgel-balkon” [organ balcony] seat—rather I stood,
because I couldn’t see anything. When standing in one
spot, I could see (from a good angle) the conductor
from the front. What a difference it makes (in
listening to music) when you watch the conductor as
if you were in the orchestra. Carlo Guiliani was the
conductor. I like his style—from slightly subtle, to
very expressionistic.
Afterwards, went backstage and met Herr G. [my horn
teacher] and a couple of “hornists” in the symphony.
One was a young man (or boy) who seemed to be younger
than me. My God! Now I know I should give up.
REFLECTIONS
The opening photo on this page is not of this
concert, but it does show the concert hall, the
Vienna Musikverein, and my balcony seats mentioned
below.
Horn.
A good day
for concerts. I’ll ignore my frustration on the horn.
Just keep in mind that trying to change a physical
habit is not easy and leads to frustration. It’s hard
to be un-frustrated when you are frustrated.
Haydn
Mass. I didn’t
say much about the Haydn
Mass in
Augustinerkirche. I know that I enjoyed it. The fact
that I have already seen in Austria two
classically-composed Masses in actual church mass
settings is amazing.
Augustinerkirche. I can’t
remember how this church looked, but my DK book has a
picture of the 14th-century Gothic interior. It looks
incredibly ornate and quite beautiful. I wonder if
there are any video-guides of Vienna that I can
purchase that might show all the tourist sites and
attractions. Television shows generally only give a
few examples of sites.
Chicago
Symphony II. A second
concert by the Chicago Symphony with music by Haydn,
Berlioz, and Stravinsky. I regret not saving the
concert programs. I suspect that I perhaps saved them
for a while and then probably threw them out over
time. Regardless, I’m enjoying all of this music in
Vienna and the enthusiasm of the Viennese audiences.
I wonder if it’s the same today. Any Viennese out
there?
Backstage. The kicker—I now go backstage to meet some of the orchestra players because of my Viennese horn teacher, Herr G. I’ve never gone backstage at a U.S. professional concert—I don’t know anyone. Backstage, I see that one of the Chicago horn players is really young. I tender my horn-playing resignation. Only kidding, I loved playing the horn in ensembles, and I knew that I was never going to be a professional horn player. No mistakes, remember?
Is this turning out to be an incredible year of experiences, or what?
John
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