progress

I can report real progress in my affairs here.  I have chosen an apartment, and I finally met the professor.

The apartment is in the neighborhood of Johannstadt, and is just four blocks from the River Elbe.  On the fifth floor,and yes, there's an elevator.  On the ground floor below me is an apothecary, and the main university hospitals are three or four blocks away.  So healthwise, I'm covered.  I'll move in on December 27 (if all goes well), after they shampoo the carpeting and paint the walls.  It's in a pleasant building with shops on the ground floor, doctors' offices on the 2nd, and apartments on up to the top (six).  My apartment has two rooms (LR and BR), kitchen, and bath, and is furnished simply and functionally.  Nice building in a residential/commercial street, not too busy.  I have a grocery store across from me, and a number of businesses within a couple blocks --  for example, Greek, Vietnamese, and the ubiquitous Turkish restaurants, a watch repairer, cell phone place, a bakery, and a video store.  The rent is reasonable, and there are good public transit connections.  I sign the lease tomorrow.

And today, the professor, the doctor, and I had coffee and Stollen together in a cafe near the Semper Opera House.  The professor seemed almost as pleased to finally meet me as I was to meet him.  The doctor is the head of the whole publication project.  He is a musicologist who has worked for major publishing houses, such as Edition Peters in Leipzig during the communist years.  They spent a long time filling me in (verbally -- I should have taken notes) on what all the project encompasses.  Besides solo concerti, there are lots of vocal and choral works such as cantatas, all by dozens of composers who worked in Dresden in the 18th century.  There will be a lot of music when it's all done, and it will be entirely on-line and available to all at no cost.  I will now be working on editing a group of oboe concerti, as the bassoon concerti are essentially finished.  I'll be able to use facilities at the university, including pianos and office space.

Friedrich Wieck house

Dresden is quite the musical town.  There are whole areas with streets named after opera singers.  I stumbled across this street recently, and saw the place where its namesake lived until his death.  All sorts of composers have streets of their own.  Quite something.