i was on a choir trip to steiermark/burgenland last weekend – my first trip with the wiltener sängerknaben boy’s choir.

we arrived in gnas/steiermark [G] (you might want to zoom in) after an 8-hour bus ride with our friendly (…) bus driver and two looong and bad movies. try to avoid watching “like mike” (german speaking folk: also stay away from “7 zwerge”) – or at least protract for as long as you can.

we were staying at a supposed youth hostel in gnas , but the jugend- und familiengästehaus gnas (de) seemed more like a 3-star rated hotel: spacious, clean rooms, tv and a balcony. totally recommendable!

over night, temperatures dropped by at least 10 °C, down to 13 °C. nice. :neutral: of course, i soon caught a cold, and i wonder if that’s going to be a tradition (keyword: krems2002).

little side note here: taking three aspirin tablets in a 5-hour-timespan is a big “no-no!” if you’re falling ill and your stomach doesn’t feel so good.

 
anyway: more than ever, i enjoyed being in a choir and singing very frequently.
our concert program (2 concerts and one mass) consisted of tyrolean folk songs, clerical choir music, and three operatic choir pieces. my personal highlight was richard wagner’s “freudig begrüßen wir die halle” (from the opera “tannhäuser”) – it’s monumental.

and, on another side note, i’m still amazed at what children at that age can accomplish. :shock:
unbelievable!

 
here are some photos:

[view photos: choir trip to gnas]
(i’m also trying to get pictures of the concerts. if i get any, i’m going to add them here as well.)

ok. since apparently nobody ever put this on the web, i’m going to do it. ust in case someone else is looking for it like i was:

nachdem ich den text zu diesem lied selbst nicht im internet gefunden habe, als ich ihn gebraucht hätte, stelle ich ihn jetzt hier her:

I: Da Pfarrer hat g’sagt,
und hat dabei g’lacht,
unser Herrgott hat g’sunga, wie er ‘s Landl hat g’macht,
unser Herrgott hat g’sunga, wie er ‘s Landl hat g’macht.

Ref: Juche, du mei Moidl ha ha,
Juche, unser Pfarrer tanzt a,
Juche, in seim blitzblau’n Parapluie [paraplü; fr: Regenschirm]
Juche, schreit der Hahn Kikeriki.

II: Aber Herrgott i hätt’
no a oanzige Bitt’:
Wenn Tiroler Buam singen, bitte goaschen sing mit,
wenn Tiroler Buam singen, bitte goaschen sing mit.

Ref

 
falls noch fehler im text sind, dann bitte ich um eine kurze nachricht.

ich kenne dieses lied als überliefertes volkslied. sollte ich entgegen meiner annahme urheberrechte verletzen, bitte ich ebenfalls um einen hinweis!

 
this is a folklore song from tirol*, so the text varies from dialect to dialect:
* that’s it, from now on, i’m not writing tirol with a “y” again! austria never used the “y” anyway – except in “tyrolean”.

Der Pfarrer hat gsagt – Da Pfarrer hat gsagg – Da Pfarrer hat gsag – Da Pfarra hat gsagt – Da Pfarra hat gsag – Der Pfarrer hat gesagt…

are all valid versions of the first line.

***edit***
since google doesn’t ignore the apostrophes (like i originally thought), most people will probably be looking for this version:

Da Pfarrer hat gsag,
und hat dabei glacht,
unser Herrgott hat gsunga, wie er ‘s Landl hat gmacht,
unser Herrgott hat gsungen, wie er ‘s Landl hat gmacht.

yesterday was the first concert that i sang with the wiltener sängerknaben (wilten boy’s choir).

it was officially recorded (for a potential new cd), so i don’t think i’m allowed to post my own (crappy-quality) recordings… but some of yesterday’s songs are on the choir’s sound-sample page: try vollendet ist das große werk (haydn), or ave verum corpus (mozart).
other than that, we sang pieces of schütz, gerhold, more haydn, isaac’s innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen, and pie jesu of bernstein’s requiem (which is almost tacky. almost).

my personal highlight was the 6-bar-short soloist part in haydn’s “die himmel erzählen” (from “the creation”):

 
tired.
sleep.

today was joel and antonia’s confirmation day (the sacrament of confirmation has been postponed from 12 to the age of 17 in parts of austria), so we sang there. it went pretty well, i think.
unfortunately today’s recording is totally overdriven, because i forgot to make the proper settings…

afterwards, we were invited to join the feast.

the whole thing felt very familial, although i only knew two people (excluding the choir members).

 
my former art teacher, monsieur [french it up!] engele, was also involved in today’s happenings, and it was cool to meet him again.
back in the days, he always entered the room full of energy and was very enthusiastic. two hours later, he left the classroom as frustrated as can be…
his lessons are among the ones i remember most, because he always wanted to teach us something for life, not just for grades…
 

[view photos: antonia and joel's confirmation]

i haven’t uploaded any photos in some time.
the reason: i am SWAMPED.

i’ll see if i can get some online tonight…

 
little preview: you’ll find some photos of my dad’s concert (in the kulturhaus tirol on may 31st) over at his site.
the program consisted of J. Levy – Grand Russian Fantasia, J.N. Hummel – Concerto in Es, G.F. Händel – Suite in D and A. Corelli – Concerto grosso Op. 6 Nr. 9 (orchestra only)

what a concert! i think i was (unintentionally) smiling all the time.

noted down in early april, 2005

all that singing brought me back to a lot of pondering. and not the kind of “pinky, are you pondering what i’m pondering”…

i’m still of the opinion that my version of “the perfect choir” excludes me – which is kind-of tragic…
over the last few months i have hardly been singing at all, only at very rare occasions – and now i suck. i sort of degraded, vocally.

right now, i’m seriously contemplating joining a choir again, even though it isn’t perfect (because i can join…). but it’s close!

i’m not sure why i never published that post. probably forgot to…
so i DID join that choir in the beginning of may, and ever since, i sang at three masses. there’s a concert coming up on monday, and the schedule just keeps going…

still very enthusiastic!

here’s what’s new:

on whitsunday i was singing with the new choir that i recently joined. we sang w.a. mozart’s “missa solemnis” at a service.
it was a real delight! i can’t believe it took me so long to join a choir again.

i’ve been “almost really sick” over the weekend. i managed to …stay alive and keep my voice for sunday morning (see above), but other than that, i had either a bad cold or a light flu. so i (over-)slept most of the weekend.
luckily ( :???: :mad:) i got well just in time to go to work again after the holidays.

 
supersocial run is continued but flattening.