some work

How about I write about some of the work that I'm doing, for a change.

I've said I am working on the oboe concerti.  I have received pdf files of four concerti (Graun, Heinichen, Reichenauer, and Ristori) that have been input from the MSS (manuscripts).  And just a few days ago, the Professor gave me (finally!) copies of the MSS from which the pdfs were produced, so I can check for errors and make suggestions where I feel there are discrepancies or "typos" in the originals.  The pdfs I have are copies from when they were input on Finale, a music program that we're actually not using.  We're using Sibelius now, and I hope to get the experts in such things to transfer the oboe concerti (not to mention the bassoon concerti) to Sibelius so I can directly edit them if need be.

So I'm sitting at the piano, playing through the pieces slowly and repeatedly, and seeing what I think.  In the case of one of the Reichenauer concerti, for example, I don't think it's as good a piece as the other one by him that is included in the collection of MSS.  So here, I plan to suggest that the better one (F major) replace the less good one (B-flat major) in the set of four concerti to be published.  I am inputting the F major into Sibelius, and have done two of the three movements so far.  I'm getting better and faster at using the program, and it's not that hard.  The fine points of things like formatting and producing individual instrumental parts are harder to learn.  The program is phenomenally complete -- you can do anything with it.  Want to write a duet for whistler and quintfagott?  It will set up the score and make sure you keep within the limitations of both "instruments," then play the piece back with appropriate synthesized sound.

The Professor is showing up at school more and more often as his broken ankle is improving.  That has slowed him down a lot and delayed much of my collaboration with him.  I'm trying to do helpful work without much direction and guidance.  He promises to sit down with me soon as things get back to normal, so we can discuss details.  One thing I need to be doing, with a March 1 deadline, is to write an article for the Journal of the International Double Reed Society on the subject of Dresden double reed concerti of the late baroque, and the new publications we're working on.  Did I mention that the "publication" is intended to be online only?  As I understand, the music will be available to everyone at no cost on line.  I guess one would need to print it as needed for practice and performance.

Another question I have brought up once, and need to follow up on, is the idea of producing piano reductions of the orchestra parts.  All soloists need to be able to run through the music with piano, and expect a piano reduction to be available.  When one buys the music to a concerto, it always comes with a solo part and a piano part.  As far as I know, this has not yet been a part of the project, and I will argue for it.  Once more, Sibelius to the rescue.  It is apparently possible to produce a reduction of orchestra music using the program, though I haven't yet learned how.  And fortunately, the orchestral scores are for the most part quite simple -- two violin parts, viola, and continuo.  Only one concerto that I have seen has any orchestral winds at all.

Schloss Albrechtsberg

The biggest news in the non-musical side of my life here is my acquisition of a bicycle.  For 100 EUR, I got me a used mountain bike, and I'm loving it.  I ride everywhere, in all kinds of weather (though it has not been overly snowy since I got the bike).  Haven't ridden public transit since.  Rode up to the Albrechtsberg Castle to see a chamber concert the other night -- octets by Schubert and others played by members of the Dresden Philharmonic.  Here's the hall where they played, and a close-up of the unusual bass the guy used.  If you look carefully at the stage, you can see tall music stands and no chairs.  All but the cellist played standing up.  (Get an American group to do that!)

Till next time.

what do you expect when you arrive in mid-December?

My building at night.  Top left two pairs of windows are mine -- bedroom on left, living room on right.


.....Things take time, especially if you've got major holidays right after you arrive.  German comic strip:  angel congratulates God on the birth of his new son, and God says, "Couldn't she have waited to give birth until after the holidays?"

I'm in the apartment and it's pretty nice, with some problems here and there.  One was just resolved yesterday:  I finally got them to sell me some tokens for the washer, and now I can do laundry (including comforters and mattress pads that were in the furnished apartment).   More pictures to come, but here's the side of the building with mural.  I put an red arrow on right where you'd have to drill through to hit my bed.

Internet connections, too, take their time.  Before they can install my wired connection (why it takes 2 weeks to flip a switch, I don't know), they gave me a wireless USB stick to connect with.  That's what I'm using now.  It's pretty slow, and it also doesn't seem to like my email.  (Receives, but I can't send.)  I do have an alternate that I can use for the time being.  I hope with the more permanent connection, email will be up to speed.

Sibelius.  That's the name of the musical score writing and editing program that is being used here for the project.  It's probably the predominant such program anywhere.  It's in its sixth edition, so guess what music plays when you open it?  Got it installed through the university here around December 21, and when my computer had a minor crash a couple days later, Sibelius decided it wanted the code number re-entered.  Unfortunately, that was available only in the music building, which was closed -- for the holidays.  Finally got it again on January 5, and am just now working on figuring out how to use it.  It's unbelievably thorough and complex (can even score accurately for Quintfagott), and is said to be quite easy to use.  Once you master it.  I'm getting there, if belatedly.

It's still pretty icy here, though we might be getting a short spell of above-freezing weather.  Here's what can happen to a bicycle:
(Icicle bicycle?)

Had a nice chat with a friendly grad student who helped me with Sibelius, and who knows the scene here pretty well.  Good to get another angle on things.  Also spent a little time with an assistant professor who is teaching a Wagner course -- Parsifal, now.  I sat in on their class, and guess what?  Most of the students hadn't done the reading!

Now maybe I'll actually sit down with the oboe concerti and dig in.

biding my time, patiently

My long wait will be over tomorrow, Thursday the 30th, when I finally get to move into my apartment.  All didn't exactly well with moving in.  They claimed they couldn't get the cleaning done any sooner (including carpet shampooing and wall painting).  Meanwhile, I've been in a small but pretty pension near my host family, as Grandpa came to spend the holidays, and wanted his bedroom back.

Some Dresden scenes:

It's still cold and snowy, still beautiful, and still hard to get around and see stuff.  Temps are cold -- down to the low single digits (F.) tonight.  And while most bigger streets are cleared, most public walkways are ignored and are thus snowy and icy.  So I'm not doing the long walks through town I would want to do to get to know the lay of the land.  At least I can get around by public transit and some walking, and am not stuck in an airport somewhere in western Europe (or eastern N. America).

In the middle of downtown Dresden every year since 1434 is a Christmas market called the Striezelmarkt, Striezel being local dialect for Stollen.  But by December 27, they dismantle the booths and it's over.

Here are the Ampelmännchen in action:

They are the pedestrian crossing lights left over from the old East Germany.  After reunification, there was apparently an outcry when the newly unified government tried to change them all to the western-style lights.  So the old ones are back, and everyone loves them.  They've even invented an Ampelmädchen to keep the old guy company.

If that wasn't enough German cuteness, try Sheepworld, and its signature motto that translates to "Without you, everything is dumb."

http://sheepworld.de/produktwelt/ohne-dich-ist-alles-doof/ 
All the rage here, with kids and adults.  

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.

getting organized, if not settled

I've now been living at the Weidner's for a week, getting organized and apartment hunting.  Today could be decisive, or perhaps semi-decisive, depending on what happens with a couple phone calls.  Anyway, I have to be out of here this weekend, as grandpa is arriving and wants the room.

Meeting with the professor was to have been yesterday at 10 am, but I arrived 6 hours late due to a fuck-up with the computer, which moved all my appointments, past and present, to European time when I reset the clock to the local time.  So I showed up 6 hours late.  Or on time, Pittsburgh time.  Spoke to the professor by phone from his office.  He took it in good humor, and told me it really makes no difference, since I will be in town for such a long time.  I then taught him a new English word (see above), which most amused him.  I did apologize, though, and told him I accepted responsibility.  Will see him Monday.

Meantime, got a bank account and my first cellphone -- a Blackberry.  I'm told it's the best choice for syncing my Outlook contacts and calendar between computer and phone.  So it will take the place of my old Palm PDA.  I don't plan to use it for internet or email, so I got a cheap plan.  

Moving backwards:  my journey to Dresden was delayed due to lots of snow in Germany.  Got to Frankfurt fine, but the flight to Dresden was canceled.  So Lufthansa handed me a train ticket and literally pointed the way to the train station, and said I was on my own.  But many trains were canceled, too.  It wasn't too bad, though.  The train trip is some 4+ hours, and I only ended up arriving in Dresden 7 or 8 hours late.  And the train stopped in some towns that were rather important in the life of J.S. Bach:  Eisenach where he was born, Weimar, and Leipzig.  (Wish we could have stopped in Köthen, though.)  Never would have been there if I had flown.  Though it doesn't quite count if you only stop at a train station for 90 seconds.

Baggage was another story:  it arrived 3-1/2 days later, but delivered to my doorstep.  Lufthansa promised to buy me some underwear and cosmetics.  We'll see if they actually do reimburse the receipts I sent them.

The weather here remains cold (upper teens and 20s) and very snowy.  Apparently the snowiest December on record.  Quite beautiful in the snow, though it's rather inconvenient.  I was smart to have packed my good rugged snowy weather shoes.  That's all I wear these days.  Shoe-wise.

Heard a performance of the complete Christmas Oratorio of Bach in the Frauenkirche, the big recently re-constructed church. Quite an event, and not often done in the complete 3-hour version.  (Usually one half at a time.)  Plan to hear the Staatskapelle Dresden this Tuesday with Andsnes doing the Mozart c-minor concerto, and Dvorak 7.  Under Blomstedt, their former boss.

The town is quite pretty with all the snow, and decked out for the Christmas season.  Lots of outdoor markets in spite of the weather, selling food, gifts, and above all, Glühwein (hot mulled wine).  Everywhere.  Tried it once, and it's quite tasty and potent.

Workwise, I translated into English, at great length, the foreword of the edition of 5 bassoon concerti to be published soon.  Of course, having missed the planning appointment, I don't yet have any further specific assignment, but that will come very soon.  By the way, the professor told me I can use his office at the university any time, and his secretary gave me the key.

little Nele setting the breakfast table

Off to see Michael Hurshell later today.  He's an American conductor I met last time I was in town, and knows the professor.  He's lived here forever, and runs a Jewish Chamber Philharmonic that plays music by Jewish composers (though the players are mostly or all gentile, I take it).  He may be a good contact to have.

Till next time.

The new blogg

To friends, family, colleagues, and other readers:

I have just left Pittsburgh for a sabbatical that will last (with one small interruption) until I go back to work at the Pittsburgh Symphony next August 15 or thereabouts.  I plan to write to all of you at once through sogg's blogg to keep you apprised as to what I'm up to.  Pictures, too.

I say "I plan," since I don't want to promise anything.  Like a lot of bloggers, I'll probably start more gung ho than I end.  We'll all see.

Anyway, I'm taking advantage of free wifi and a 3-hour layover in Charlotte to start my blog.  Flight to Frankfurt is in an hour and a half, and from there to Dresden.  There, I'll be staying with the Weidner family for a few days while I find my own apartment.  (They'll also pick me up.)

On December 16, I have my first meeting with Professor Ottenberg and Dr. Zimmermann, who are running the project I'll be working on.  I expect we will be planning the upcoming tasks and my part in them -- tasks regarding manuscripts in the Saxony State Library which are being edited and prepared for publication.  Besides the bassoon concerti in the cache, which I have already worked with, I really don't yet know what is in there.  More when I know.

Now, I'm off to Frankfurt.  But to show you some of what I left behind to do all this, I will now attempt to upload a couple pictures.

D

mousse au chocolat, Paris brasserie