Today we commemorated Poppy Day. We talked about WWI and WWII from the English perspective and then studied "In Flander's Field", V. Williams "Dona Nobis Pacem", and Britten's "Requiem Mass". Our discussion of the wars really informed our study of this music. "Requiem Mass" in particular required some heavy coaching to walk us through the thickness of the piece. There is just so much to take in. I know I felt as if we had just scratched the surface of this piece. I thought of something else also. I've noticed that at many of the larger concert halls the conductors and sometimes composers give free lectures about the music. I don't know if this is nearly as common in the US. I gather that the English are anxious to enrich their understanding of the art they are consuming and I find that inspirational. Every day people, not choral scholars, but just people who love music can come and buy a ticket to a concert and then have a brief study of that music. Neat.
-we were supposed to go see the war museum, we did write out thoughts about war as an assignment
-lecture first about the war and second about music that had to do with war
-went to the flats for a really yummy lunch (that chicken dish Taylor taught me how to make)
-took some left overs and snacks out with us
-walked to the theatre for tix
-stopped in Trafalgar square to "swim" in the fountains
-tried to go to so ho square and sit in the park to just relax and kick it for a few hours
-found another square instead...a private park actually
-gate was open but locked afterwords behind us so we had to hop the fence
-we got twenty pound tix
-show totally sucked. I couldn't have liked it less.
-walked around Picadilli stoped at KFC for icecream and ate our left overs
-searched for a place to party but gave up and decided to go the next day
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