See You Later Europe!

I'm now on a plane back home. I'm going to miss seeing the sights in Europe, being with great friends, and going to concerts every night, but I'm also excited to go home. I've learned so much on this trip and I will use this knowledge for the rest of my life. 

We had Monday morning to ourselves and a bunch of us went to this music store. Oh my gosh it was great! There is so much music there and so many scores! A bunch of us dropped a lot of money on scores! I got the full scores to both Mahler 3 and 4 because they were in the same book... And it wasn't too pricey either! That evening was the last day having things scheduled for our group and it consisted of a private tour of the Schonbrunn palace, dinner and a concert at the palace. The tour was a very private tour, we were the only people on the tour! We learned so much history about Vienna and Austria. This was the palace where Mozart proposed to Marie Antoinette when he was very little. The dinner was fantastic. We got really great food and then got to listen to a string quintet, painist, and clarinetist. This was kind of like the Mozart dinner we went to earlier. The instrumentalists played some pieces for themselves and then they had some for a couple opera singers doing arias (we heard Papageno again) and also a few pieces for ballet dancers. I really liked the more casual concert. They tried to engage the audience more than any other group, and that was nice. 

The next day was our last day in Europe and our free day. A few people went out to Budapest but a lot of us stayed in Vienna to hang out and have a relaxing last day. We went to this cafe that was recommended to us by our friend and she had told us to get something called chocolate magic. We had no idea what it was, was it a drink? Cake? Other type of dessert? We found it and ordered it and it did not disappoint! It was this chocolate and vanilla mousse covered in chocolate syrup with a tiny bit of gold on top. Very fancy and very delicious! After the cafe we went ice skating in this park that they turn into an ice rink for the winter. It was right next to the government building and it was the coolest ice skating rink ever! They had multiple rinks all connected by these pathways you could skate down and if you didn't want to skate you could go to the multiple food stands in the park as well. It was so much fun and a great way to spend the last day. After skating we went to dinner. Our last authentic Austrian dinner! We had great food and I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to spend the day with. 

After dinner we all went back to the hostel and stayed up all night so we could sleep in the plane and hopefully get back on Seattle time easier.... We'll see how that works out for us! I had the best trip and am so happy I could go on this adventure with all of my closest friends. It's truly amazing to see such historic sights and sights that mean so much to the music world. You truly have to experience somethings to appreciate them more. And all the concerts we went to just made me so inspired and reaffirmed the fact that music is what I want to do for the rest of my life. All the concerts we saw were just so powerful and inspirational. Thank you Dr. Powell for creating this fantastic trip for us, I will remember it forever. 

Adieu

As I sit here in the Frankfurt airport, getting ready to board our flight to Seatac, it is really starting to hit me that I am about to say goodbye to Europe as I embark on the final leg of our journey home. Maybe its because I have been awake for almost 24 hours now but, although I am happy to be returning home, I am also feeling very emotional about ending this once in a lifetime trip. Looking back, I cannot believe just how much we have accomplished and learned in 3 short weeks. I not only saw the best musical performances of my life but also learned immense amounts about the history and culture of the areas we visited. It is also incredible to me how our "routine," if you can call it that, feels very normal now. By this I mean that I am so used to traveling from city to city and spending each day seeing a new museum/historical landmark and each night seeing a breathtaking performance that I am not sure how I will adapt to the monotony of everyday life again. In some ways, this trip seems to have flown by but, in other ways, I feel as if I have been in Europe so long now that the idea of returning home feels a bit strange. I am sure that, in a few short weeks, looking back on this trip will feel like looking back on a dream. That is not to say that we didn't have our ups and downs but, overall, this opportunity we were given was truly magnificent and I am still in awe of the many things I have had the privilege to experience in the past month. I cannot wait to share these memories with my friends and family back home who could not come along with me. In the end, I strongly believe that this trip has made me a better musician, friend, teacher, and overall person. If anything, this trip has truly inspired me to keep on traveling and exploring new places throughout my life so I can continue this self-betterment. I hope to not only return to Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic but visit many new places as well. Even though I am going home today, this will, by no means, be the end of my adventures.

Goodbye for now,

Megan Cummings

Seen at the Lennon Wall in Prague

Finding a Dirndl

Walking around Salzburg, I noticed many shops selling traditional Austrian dress--lederhosen and dirndls. Having some Austrian in my blood, I felt particularly drawn to the beautifully handmade dresses. Back at the hostel, I did some research to find where in town I could find an authentic dirndl to possibly purchase. I could tell just from looking in the shop windows that this would not be a cheap investment in my cultural heritage.
With a little luck, I came across a local seamstress who had books with drawings of historic dirndls specific to different regions of Austria. I asked to see the dresses of Linz (a town not far from Salsburg where my ancestors lived). The seamstresses sorted through several encyclopedic scrapbooks and opened up a page with a lovely blue dirndl with a white and red apron. Amazingly, I tried one on in a different store the day before that looked just like the picture. Perhaps I subconsciously knew which dirndl I was supposed to have!
I thanked the seamstress for her information and left to ponder my pricey piece of history. The custom-fit dirndls from the seamstress were certainly out of my price range, but the dirndl I tried on previously was half that cost.
After much debate with my checkbook,  I decided to indulge myself and invest in my family's traditional garb. I now have a handmade dress, apron, and blouse to honor my heritage. It feels incredible to wear such a well crafted garment that holds personally historic meaning.

Concert Etiquette

Having now seen many European concerts, I have noticed some cultural differences between attending a concert here and attending one at home. The first difference I noticed was the requirement to check one's coat. Before each performance, each audience member was expected to check any coats, hats, or scarves, lest they be turned away at the concert hall door. A second difference was the availability of a concert program. At home, everyone expects to receive a program as they enter the hall. At the concerts we have attended here, a program must be purchased for several euro from one of the many employees standing at the hall doors. Another cost I did not expect at a concert was in the washroom. While it is not strictly required, there is typically a plate for tips for the washroom attendant by the sinks.
The most notable difference I observed was the lack of standing ovations. We attended many performances worthy of a standing ovation, however, none of the audiences stood. Instead, we just clapped for a very long time. We clapped for so long that two concerts gave two encores. I have never been to at concert at home when the performer shared two more pieces. At first, it felt strange not to partake in an ovation at the end of an inspiring concert. I became more used to the difference as our trip continued, but I still sat up a bit taller in my chair each time I wanted to take a stand.

The view from my seat in the Musikverien before the Tonkunstler Orchestra 

Golden Seat of the Vienna Philharmonic

Organ

Golden columns

Last Sunday I got to experience a concert in the Musikveiren, which is the concert hall that is home to the Vienna Philharmonic. We heard the Vienna Phil in Salzburg, so I was looking forward to hearing Tonkunstler Orchestra in Vienna. They played well, but the most impressive thing about the experience was the hall itself.

The entire hall was covered in gold. Golden women form pillars that hold up the upper levels, and more women lounge above each door. There are even golden statues on the organ. I had hoped to be able to hear the organ, as it was super impressive. It would have been fun to hear if a gold-covered organ could sound as good as the one in Lagerquist Hall. Unfortunately, they didn't play it.

CEILING!

One aspect of the concert that I really enjoyed was the flutists using different flutes. The first piece was a smaller orchestration and had a lot of movements where the musicians played chamber music with each other. During these pieces the flutists used wooden flutes for a warmer dampening sound. Then they switched back to silver flutes for the larger orchestration.

The ceiling was incredible. I could have stared at it for hours.

After the concert I got a chance to explore Vienna's swing dancing scene and it is amazing! More on that in a different post.

Salzburg Excursions

Salzburg! The city where Mozart was born, but the one place he couldn’t stand. In his time it was not much more than a salt mining town, but today it has become a place of culture, history, music and religion (not to mention tourism). On our tour with Gabrielle on January 25th, we were able to learn about the history of the city's prized Salzburger Dom (Cathedral). In December 1598, a mysterious fire burned down half of the original church that had stood in the same location since 774. This event allowed the Archbishop Wolf Dietrich of Salzburg to tear down the structure and have the Italian architect Vincenzo Scamozzi draw up plans for a new church in the Baroque style. The building itself, however, was not built according to his plans, for he desired it to be large enough to fit 16,000 people. In 1612 the conflict with Bavaria caused Wolf Dietrich to be arrested and imprisoned, halting all progress of construction. Two years later, Archbishop Markus Sittikus took over the project and hired Santino Solari to complete it. Solari designed today’s cathedral by dramatically altering the Scamozzi plan. It stands today, half the size of the original plan, which, granted, is still very huge. It was an amazing experience to walk inside this Cathedral and look up at all of the beautiful decorations, paintings, and stain-glass windows. What I found interesting was that in the front of the church there were four organs surrounding the main area, allowing four organists to play at the same time, and in the back of the church there is an even larger and quite magnificent organ. Outside of the church we were able to see the fountain that was used in the “Sound of Music.” Unfortunately it was covered, so we could only see its top. This is because during the winter months water gets inside the crevices of the fountain and then expands as it freezes, causing cracks to form in-between the layers of ‘marble’.

Another fun place we explored was the Festung Hohensalzburg (Salzburg Castle). On the day we decided to visit, we had wanted to take the funicular railway to the top, but when we got there it was under construction so we had to hike up 1660 ft.  When we reached the top we were pretty winded, but it was definitely worth the climb because the view was spectacular! Here we were able to walk on the palace grounds, admire the buildings, go inside the chapel, and visit some of the exhibits, including a ‘torture chamber,’ marionette puppet museum, and some of the actual rooms of the palace! These rooms had dinnerware sets, interesting musical  instruments, artwork, and armory. Altogether it was a beautiful excursion and a great experience!

Haydn's Missing Head

Today we went to see the church where Haydn worked and we heard the story of his missing head. 

As it turns out, Haydn's head was stolen when he was first buried by a scientist that wanted to study and see if Haydn had an enlarged lobe or if there was something different about his brain that made him smarter than anyone else. He wanted to see if there was a reason why Haydn was a genius composer. It wasn't until the 1950's that Haydn's head was returned to his body. I think that is crazy but also very interesting. It was something I had no idea about! 

That night, after a crazy train ride and almost being late, we made it to the Magic Flute! Even though I was wearing a t-shirt to the opera because I chose not to go change, the opera itself was incredible. The conductor looked so young and he directed the entire opera without a score! That's crazy! Also the Queen of the Night aria was life changing. I had been waiting the whole trip to hear this aria and she did not disappoint! She was so amazing! I had never seen that opera before and it is probably my favorite opera and I'm so glad we got the chance to see it in the State Opera House!