Letters from Madrid – Semana Santa Musical Misas

March 24, 2016March 23, 2016 Timothy Price13 Comments

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The celebration of Semana Santa (Easter Week) was much different in Madrid than it was growing up in New Mexico — there were many masses and processions during Easter week in Madrid, whereas, we never did more than go to services on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday and attend a Holy Thursday or Good Friday service some years. There is a walk to El Santuario de Chimayo in northern New Mexico that many people take part in, some people walk 90 miles from Albuquerque to Chimayo, but I had never seen processions with the large paso (floats with statues of the Virgin Mary and Christ on them), and we had not been to musical masses in 16th century cathedrals until we lived in Madrid.

27 May 1996

Musical Misas
We have gone to three musical Misas. Two were Misa Solemnis held in a Gothic cathedral behind the Prado. These Misas where played by the chamber orchestra. The church was built in 1502, and looks like it on the outside. The inside is in good condition. The chamber orchestra was superb, and the acoustics in the old church were perfect for the music and voices, The Hallelujah Chorus was particularly moving, and the priest gave a special dispensation for the congregation to applaud, at which they did for some 5 minutes or longer, this was a bit moving also. The conductor was a woman, which is a little out of the ordinary, but obviously she is very good. Laurie noted that the music seemed to make the retablos, stained glass and sculptures come alive. I was to absorbed by the music and great acoustics to take notice of those subtleties, but between the music I did gaze upon the art, stained glass, and sculptures. The sound is very rich, full and spiritual sounding in the old cathedral. I realized that we were really hearing the music performed in its natural environment (since I would believe the music was written to be performed in a cathedral) and the natural reverb and echo from the massive open spaces gave the voices and instruments a really beautiful, mystical quality we never hear in an auditorium.

The third musical misa was a misa flamenca in a church originally built in the 1200s and then moved and rebuilt in the 1600s using some of the rock work and stained glass from the original building. The misa was very loose and spontaneous which made it very authentic. It was a special celebration for the church’s Virgin. The priest sang a good portion of the misa and was accompanied by an old guitarist who was very good. There were two singers besides the priest and three other guitarists. The priest sang a companilleros, granadinos, and fandango grandes. The first two were a real treat as you don’t hear them often. One singer did caña, soleares, seguiriyas, and fandangos grandes, while the other singer did fandangos por provencias and tangos. The misa flamenca was long at one hour and 30 minutes, but it was really great.

Merry Christmas T – 7 Days

December 25, 2015December 24, 2015 Timothy Price3 Comments

http://photos.tandlphotos.com/blog/2015/12/merry-christmas-t-7-days

France Day 7 Aix Art in the Rain

May 19, 2013May 19, 2013 Timothy Price21 Comments

We left the house at 9:00 am in pouring rain, walked around Aix all day in the pouring rain, visited a museum, a couple of artists, a bridge, a garden, a spa built over old Roman baths, photographed Death at a wedding, and got food and coffee in the pouring rain. We went to a Mass with confirmation of adults by the Archbishop at the Aix Cathedral the evening, and finally got home at 11:00 pm, cold and wet. The photos are in order of the day, with the exception of the Tapestry Museum where I couldn’t take photos.

The tapestries were of scenes from Don Quijote, and they had a show of photographs by Roland Leboye, a French photographer who has taken Cartier Bresson’s “the decisive moment” to the extreme! Leboye’s street photography was wonderful and often very funny.

The giant insects are by a local artist from Aix.

The piles of paper and paper skull are part of a Paper Art installation we ran across by chance, and the arch Laurie is standing under is at the end of the courtyard were the Paper Art was.

We stayed in the tapestry museum until around noon, so by the time we got done looking at the insects and paper art, we got some food and hung out and ate and drank coffee until it was time to go to the art installation to meet the artist.

We got to the studio and installation of artwork by Nicole Catannéo about 2:15, met Nicole and Laurie discussed art and life with her and another older woman, in French, for over an hour. Nicole has quite a story as she had an illness when she was in her 40’s which left her partially paralyzed, and then her husband died when she was in her 50’s. She got herself together and went to art classes, and now creates wonderful paintings. She and Laurie really hit it off.

After the studio, we got another coffee for some warmth and energy, and headed toward the gardens at the northwestern edge of Aix. We walked through the modern shopping area on the western side of Aix, but when we got to the planted bridge, we were too far west and had to backtrack. We finally got to the gardens and found a bathroom on the grounds which had one of the “hole in the floor” fixtures. The garden was formal with mostly grass, but it had a nice rose garden behind the main garden. It also has a mansion with a museum, but they were closing when we got up to it. The mansion has a interesting entrance.

We stopped by a spa the is built over some old Roman baths to see what it cost to do the spa and get a message — about 100€ for both and 60€ for a 30 minute message.

On our way back to the center of Aix to find some food before we went to Mass, we walked by the cathedral and there was a VW and an Audi decorated for a wedding. Sophie told me that the Saturday before Pentecost was a big day for weddings in Aix, and we saw cars from 3 different weddings. While we waited for the bride and groom to come out, death walked by the VW.

After getting a bite to eat, we got to the cathedral at 7:30, an hour before the service to get good seats. We ended up siting more in the middle because the seats in front were occupied by the folks being confirmed, which looked to be well over 100 people plus their parents, bothers, sisters, husbands, wives; whoever was presenting them to the priest and Archbishop. The service was good, and the music was fantastic with the pipe organ and choral music. Laurie and I saw Matilda, the Brasilian who told us about it after the service, and we shook hands with the Archbishop on the way out. The boy in the last photo was cutting up during most of the service with a couple other boys. He looked quite shocked when the Archbishop stopped, put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, and blessed him at the end of the service.