Journal

We're back home after a great seven week trip in Germany, France, Denmark and Switzerland. Many wonderful experieces, new places and old and new friends. Unfortunately, no pictures - Pat lost the camera the last week of the trip but there are lots of weblinks and, of course, our descriptions are worth more than any picture!

Last Saturday I flew to Chicago and Leah and I went to see "Salome" by Richard Strauss. I wasn't crazy about the set since I am an old fogey traditionalist that likes the opera settings and costumes to be grand, but Deborah Voight was excellent. There are no real set pieces or arias in "Salome" but some of the musical lines are beautiful. Strauss took after Wagner to some extent in that he wrote with "leit motivs" instead of having well defined arias, ensembles and choruses. Theresa J. joined us for a great meal at Shaw's downtown before the opera and Leah had extra special accents in "my room" for my overnight stay.

The production at the Chicago Lyric Opera was excellent as Leah mentioned in her blog. Particularly wonderful was the tenor Matthew Polenzani. He may be the world's next Domingo or Pavarotti. It is interesting that in high school he was a lead singer with a rock band and sang in a jazz choir; only later, did he develop his voice for the opera. I am always delighted to hear of artists that perform and like multiple muscial genres; it is also nice when listeners can appreciate multiple musical genres - too many "rock band" listeners immediately reject all opera and classical music. Thanks to Leah for a lovely meal and for getting me to the airport on time on Tuesday morning so we could drive to Fort Worth for a great Thanksgiving celebration.