The Christmas Season, for me, means attending Christmas concerts. They are one of my favorite things. I was in luck that it is almost a guarantee that every church will host a concert on one of the Advent Sundays, or at least during the Advent season. The church next door to my apartment played Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium on the First Sunday of Advent. The place was packed (and it is a really big church)! I was amazed at the sound the small orchestra produced. They were quite good.
Second Sunday of Advent I met up with Beth, Lori, and Emily in Frankfurt to see the Messiah at the Alte Oper. We stopped by the Weihnachtsmarkt first, of course, for some Glühwein (another mug, check!), then found our way to the opera house. The Messiah is one of my favorite Christmas services. I've played it in some sort of orchestra every year since the tenth grade. I can sing along. And I did (ok, I mouthed along... and I mostly just ran the music line in my head and not the words :) ). The singers were amazing and every note was just as I remembered. But the concert wasn't miked! In an opera house! Everything was muffled and difficult to understand. It was a bit disappointing, but I still enjoyed it.
My favorite concert of the season actually brought on a bit of homesickness. It was that good. My friend Stephan's friend Florian is in a choir that gave a concert in Augistinerkirche, a huge baroque church in the middle of the Altstadt. The church is really stunning. The organist began the concert, giving the unmistakable first line of Once in Royal David's City, and I couldn't believe my ears. I quickly flipped through the program (which I hadn't read) to discover it was A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in the tradition of Kings College in Cambridge -- just like Hendrix Candlelight. My heart began to pitter patter when the choir proceeded down the center aisle, in the same white robes (but with no candles, sadly). Hendrix Candlelight is my favorite Hendrix tradition. Every year I attended with my family and friends, watching my best friends perform. Candlelight brings be an indescribable sense of joy and peace. And there I was, 5000 miles away, and experiencing it again. And as luck would have it, the program was going to have the readings in English. I even shed a few tears as the audience joined in for the last verses. I couldn't believe it.
The concert was brilliant. It wasn't my friends singing, it wasn't Hendrix Chapel, and it wasn't Ansley on the organ, but it was beautiful. I left in a confused mix of giddiness and homesickness. I really miss Hendrix, but I am so happy to have had a piece of it here with me in Mainz.
My school also gave a Christmas concert, where all the choirs and orchestras performed. It was so cute. I think I'm moving up in the world with how much my student like me. I got a few smiles and even a few waves at the concert, and even met a parent (in contrast to their reactions at the Wine Festival, this is a big step!). On the last day of classes, my eleventh graders gave me a gift. I was so touched. I finally feel that I've settled in to my school. It really is a perfect fit.
lg, Lauren
PS -- Final Glühwein Mug Count: 9
