Since eight days, it's been here. Tonight, Rebekka couldn't resist and shot a short video. Herer it is:



Here's a better sound file:

Gehema_1_Allem.wav

No time to post online, so here comes with delay.


First, we were



Later we were having a



but that didn't exactly improve



There were hilarious moments:



and beautiful moments like



and news (who needs a renaissance guitar if you can do the same on a uke):



You can watch it all on YouTube

Finally, some pictures:

14 hours to go until we'll be on our way to Cottbus.

Saw Claas yesterday night. I'm happy that our friendship lasts although we don't meet on a regular basis. Also, he's such a marvelous musician.


Recording Bach's Goldberg variations on two viols has been his recent project:



I do warmly recommend it!

That was the last time I went with them for a journey. Can't further elaborate, it's a thing among friends. Sad.

Work isn't going forward as much as I wish it would go.

Looking forward to the players' assembly in Cottbus. This year, I wrote two chorale arrangements for lute accompaniment. One is for renaissance lute, the other for baroque lutes in French style. Both will be performed during the service on Sunday. I'm thrilled.

Rebekka will come with me. We'll have a good time.

The netbook has by now been sufficiently equipped with antivirus software. Which means I will take it with me and the cam. Online-reports from the scene possible...

The weather is much brighter now, and so is our mood.


Heavy rainfalls destroyed small bays here, washing away sands. People go swimming nevertheless.

Not exactly the kind of holidays I fancy but, hey, even this was fun

A colleague sent me a picture that she shot during the inaugural service for the Room of Silence. I was playing the theorbo, and I do confess that I enjoyed it.


That little church offers marvelous acoustics. I started with de Visée, but in the end I played arrangements of harpsichord music for the theorbo by my wee self: Niolas Lebègue, Daniel Purcell and Anonymous (Panmure 5, actually lute music in transitional tunings).

Going to leave for Spain in 150 minutes. Let's hope the weather forecast is wrong this time.

Hi everybody,

I've survived it once again! No idea why this is so, but each time I'm scared the night before B-Day. The very day then proves to be harmless. Hmm, food for thoughts.

Had a nice breakfast with all of my colleagues, then lots of talks during the day, some counselling. In the evening I went to a special advanced training. Finally, some two or three beers with Ralli. Really good friend of mine. Glad it is so.

In other news, things are getting arrreal:

Such a lot to get done with last week. I had to do something really weird. So I did. Wrote my first Latin article on Wikipedia. Took about a week to collate, now it's done and may be corrected and/or improved by others. I'm a geek, really.

I wonder where shrike_15 and nightlight_42 are by now. Actually, we had planned to join once again for making music. Well, planned may be a bit much to say. We had loosely planned to do so.

B-day coming up next week. Fortunately, I'll have to work that day.

Oh, and btw...





Isn't she hot...?

It hasn't yet been finished, it's scheduled for November.

The local music school invited me to play during a recital. Children and teens playing, me the only adult. I'm not even a student (will always be, of course, but that's another matter). I was invited because the lute belongs to the offers of the music school, yet no student was currently prepared to play. So it was me again >8)

The organizer informed me that there would be a harp. I suggested we could do a couple of lute duets together. I have transcribed duets for renaissance lutes as well as for baroque lutes into staff notation, done for another occasion. She said time was too short for proper preparation, but we could try them in autumn. So we will. I'm grateful to shrike_15 for the experience that harps of lute-size are likewise still instruments.

I seriously suffered from stage-fright in advance, but onstage it was fun. I had been requested to tell the audience a bit about the lute. So I moved close to the first row, explaining that the lute comes from a time when chamber instruments were not expected to sound in huge opera houses. Added bits of history.

At the end, when I had finally placed the sheets on the stand and put the stool right, I finally had to tune the lute a bit. Couldn't resist the old joke, "you know what they said? They said, a lute player of 80 years of age has certainly spent 60 years tuning the instrument." Their laughter told me they were entirely new to the lute, otherwise they would have heard it before.
I must admit, I pretty much enjoyed myself, playing most movements of an F major suite by Weiss.
"Now, almost at the end of my part, I shall present you something completely different. It's some 50 years earlier than Weiss, and it's French." Which was Gaultier's Belle Homicide with double by Mouton and another courante by Mouton. I do not pretend I didn't make mistakes (I always do when I'm nervous), but I received the impression that the audience enjoyed it as much as I did.

Now I'm looking forward to a vernissage (on Thursday) of a friend of mine, Joachim Domning. He is a painter, lute player, and editor of manuscripts in facsimile containing Franconian baroque and rococo music for the lute. Of course, I shall play from his editions. One suite by Kühnel (otherwise known as viol composer), two arias by Kleinknecht, several anonymous pieces, one of them probably by Steinmetz. Names long forgotten, but their music still sounds sweet.

Phew, Kirchentag is over. Some more 20 hours to go on the alert (emergency counselling), and I'll be done with that, too.

Last Friday, the little concert went fairly well. I decided to confine myself to easy pieces, starting with Irish tunes by O'Carolan, repeating and improvising. Then I turned to some easy pieces by Weiss. After a break for a short address and prayer, spoken by m colleague, I resumed the instrument and played for another 30 minutes. People seemed to enjoy it, mostly the sound of the 11course baroque lute.

Got a sore throat, will hopefully get rid of it until Friday. Because on Friday, I'll pick up Rebekka after school.

She is going to turn 11 on Sunday after next. I called her piano teacher and asked her for scores that I could give Rebekka. Rebekka herself told me she'd be fond of a new Peter-Fox-CD. A buddy of mine, himself a father to an 11-year-old, told me that a chopper flight would be really cool for 'em kids. Still pondering...

Looking forward to visiting shrike_15 (harp) and nightlight_42 (guitar) on forthcoming Monday. I'll take the chitarrone with me.

Second time to invite all of my neighbours to my home tonight. We decided it's time for improvement of a few things at our house and in our contracts. Do rental agreements in Germany rightfully include fees for building insurance as well as for property and casualty insurance? Anyone?

After we were done with the announced topics, almost everybody stayed and continued to chat. We decided, too, that we must join for a garden party, supposedly in June. All of them nice people IMHO, together we could form a cool gang.

In other news, I injured my left hand today when colleagues and me were putting together our stand at the fairground of the Kirchentag. Not seriously wounded, it just badly hurts. And that is bad because I'm supposed to play the lute on Friday night for Evensong.

On another note I travelled to visit Bernd in Brussels last weekend. Had never been there before, so that was exciting. What's more, Bernd and his wife are such amiable people. I was having a really good time, Bernd and me playing through loads of duets for two baroque lutes, among them the recently published collection of 31 Duos français du XVIIe siècle (Le Secret des Muses, vol. 29).

Saturday night, Marcus and his wife joined us, both playing renaissance lutes. That was a night full of music. On Sunday, we toasted masaccio. Happy B-day, Roman!

Caught a cold, so it's update-time for LJ. Hai!

Two of my oldest friends turned up last week. I haven't seen them for years (yeah, I know, it's a shame).

The first is Doro.



She is a singer and has become kinda public person due to her business. We made music together some 15 years back. Dowland, Jones, and stuff.
Now she sings classical, baroque, renaissance, in short Early Music. You can listen to her, but as far as I find out, there are no movies of her available in the net.

The second was my old schoolmate Carsten. We went to school together from the 2nd form on, finally sharing music as our majpr field of study at highschool. He focussed on contemporary music and composition, while was into Early Music, rather. Friendly rivalry, back then.

I have tried to make appointments with each of them. I'm so curious who they are now.

The old man has died on Nov 7th. The next day, his wife came to the hospital so as to get his belongings and see him one last time for a final good-bye kiss. I accompanied her down to the cellar. Four days later, I got an emergency call. Staff told me that she had come every day since in order to visit him. Mind you, him alive. She had been cautiously reminded that he had died. But by the next morning, she had forgotten. His funeral is scheduled for tomorrow. So, she came to the funeral home today to see him one last time for a final good-bye kiss. Mind you, he has been dead for twelve days. She was startled that he had died, discovering that she seemed not to have noticed. Tomorrow she will be picked up to make sure she attends the funeral.

I have no words for what I feel.

Lothar just now informed me that our friend Holger has passed away today. Holger had suffered from cancer since two years. He was 54. We've lost a dear friend. He's the second close friend of mine to die within half a year. I feel kinda numb.

May not be a proper horror movie, but I haven't ever been scared more than by Anthony Perkins, starring in Hitchcock's "Psycho"

YES. There should always be a certain line never to cross. Officers of state should never be clerks of Churches and vice versa. God protect us from theocraties, be they of the Calvinist Geneva kind or of Afghan taleban.
Nevertheless, states should protect religious communities of a certain minimal quorum and of checked and balanced structures, that are not opposed to the states' constitution, as means and places of free speech.

Went through a strange row of changes of moods during the last days. First, I felt confident enough so as to apply for a new post. Which I did just in time. Takes guts to do that.
Friends and colleaugues advised me to take action, go and see if it actually is the right thing for me. Some calls and visits still to be done. - Wish me good luck, everybody!

One important thing is, if I discover it's not the right thing for me, I'll still be free to withdraw my application before someone else is elected.

Then the old inner demons returned, heralding Murphy's Law (anything that can go wrong will go wrong). I just can't help going through the valley shadows from time to time, feeling week and vulnerable.

Now Rebekka has spent two days with me, I've almost regained tranquility. When she is here, I feel whole.

Yesterday, we went to watch Wall-E. We both went ROFL. It's just lovely.

The only one I know of was Ludwig van Beethoven. His musical work certainly made for my musical education and that of innumerable others.