“In the evening the dove returnedAnd carried an olive leaf in its beak.O beautiful time! O evening hour!We now make our peace with GodFor Jesus’s sufferings are ended.” From St. Matthew Passion no. 64 (an excerpt) In this short text of the recitative “Am Abend, da es kühle war” from J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, …
Have you ever had a beautiful dream and somehow lost it somewhere. Schubert’s Nacht und Träume is about bringing back this fair dream from above to us. If it is a beautiful dream, be courageous to dream again, and never let it go. Some dreams are messages from heaven about our purposes on earth. Only …
Time continues to play its organ diligently,Its little song sings to you every day,Mixed with sounds that are not cheerful,That no one wants to hear. The sounds continue. And as the years go byIt becomes a full singing society.It makes you go through the roof.You’d like to be somewhere else. Well, all right. You do …
At Easter 2022, I left my previous occupation as a church musician and started new life as a self-employed musician. Shortly before the Easter, I still have many vacation days available, so I travelled to Freiburg, Dresden, Postdam and Berlin for spinett shopping plus visiting my favourite concerts (Schubert’s Winterreise, Bach’s family). I remembered it …
Who were the guests staying in Hotel du Lac?“It seems to be permanently reserved for women. And for a certain kind of woman. Cast-off or abandoned, paid to stay away, or to do harmless womanly things, like spending money on clothes.” These were the hotel guests that the novelist Edith Hope spent time with in …
Ring, ring …“Hello?”“Hi, good morning, your organ is ready, I am calling to organize the delivery date with you.” I could not believe my ears, I could not believe what I’ve heard, I could not believe this day is actually coming and in the foreseeable future. I still vividly remember a month ago, how my …
“No one who was there will ever be able to forget the poignant effect of the St. Thomas Boys Choir singing Bach’s St John Passion on Good Friday in 1945, the first year of peace, performed in the beautiful old St Thomas Church, which had been largely spared from the war, but the windows were …
“At what point did one’s youth become part of history?” Peter Hunter, the Cambridge alumnus revisit his university and felt he belonged to the past. But have he and Eleanor grew up since they left Cambridge? One becomes a best seller author, another one becomes a TV celebrity, both are Cambridge graduates, beyond dazzling and …
The first week in January, I was planning to get my own organ. Second week in January, more jobs coming in. Third week in January, I went to Augsburg for organ shopping and ordered one. Yesterday, a friend helped me remove some of my old furniture. The day after tomorrow, a new shelf is arriving. …
Hollandsche Schouwburg in Amsterdam, October 1942. The Jews were locked up in Hollandsche Schouwburg until they were deported to concentration and extermination camps. Their children were sent to the nursery opposite the Hollandsche Schouwburg. In the nursery, a secret rescue operation was happening, this book describes the underground rescue network. Sadly, out of 10 children, …