The Germans Came to Town Singing The Gospel

Once again, sorry for not posting regularly the last couple of days but there really hasn't been anything interesting to report from the field. I suppose I could start posting about random subjects, like the history of the Korean alphabet or spotlights on Korean history, which maybe I will start doing to fill in the gaps. One huge obstacle we have overcome in the last week is the horribly bitter cold weather. The thermometer finally breaking 50! Spring is really on it's way and the change in not only weather but type of jacket to wear is wonderful. I have become quite tired of my sleeping bag-esque long down coat being part of my daily outfit, not mention having to take a glove off every time I need to use the iphone while out and about.

Along with soaking up as much of this amazing weather as we can, RCP and I soaked up some culture last night at the Seoul Arts Center. The world-famous Leipzig Orchestra from Leipzig, Germany was in town for a one night only performance of St. Matthew's Passion by Bach. Along with the orchestra came the Thomanerchor Boys Choir (also from Leipzig) and 5 soloists (2 sopranos and 4 tenors). I have never heard a boys choir sing live and the 50 boy chorus was incredible and completely stole the show from the older 5 soloists. We saw the performance at the Seoul Arts Center, southwest of home, and a traffic nightmare to go through to get there. It was very reminiscent of Lincoln Center and the New York Philharmonic's concert hall, except that we had boxed seats which are always so much fun to sit in. They don't hand out free programs (cost: $7) but they were probably in Korean anyway and who needs a program anyway when you can look up all the information about the performers on your phone. The performance itself was a marathon, close to 3.5 hours of the telling of Chapters 26 and 27 of the Gospel of Matthew set to music. One of my favorite parts was that the piece makes use of a harpsichord which was so cool to hear. Of course it was being sung in German and the translation on the screen above the orchestra was in Korean, so I had no real idea what was going on. Had I known of the nature of the piece beforehand, I would have taken the Bible with me.

Some info on the orchestra and the performance follows.

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is one of the the oldest symphony orchestras in the world. It is named after the concert hall in which it is based, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra's origins can be traced to 1743, when a society called the Grosses Concert began performing in private homes. In 1744 the Grosses Concert moved its concerts to the "Three Swans" Tavern. Their concerts continued at this venue for 36 years, until 1781. In 1780, because of complaints about concert conditions and audience behavior in the tavern, the mayor and city council of Leipzig offered to renovate one story of the Gewandhaus (the building used by textile merchants) for the orchestra's use. The motto Res severa est verum gaudium ("a serious concern is true pleasure", or "true pleasure is a serious business" – from the Roman author Seneca) was painted in the hall, suggesting the priorities of the sponsors. The orchestra gave its first concert in the Gewandhaus in 1781. The orchestra thus has a good claim to being the oldest continuing orchestra in Germany founded by bourgeoisie, while older orchestras were part of royal suites.

St. Matthew's Passion by Bach

The St Matthew Passion, (also frequently St Matthew's Passion) (German: Matthäus-Passion), is a sacred oratorio from the Passions written by Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra. It sets chapters 26 and 27 of the Gospel of Matthew to music, with interspersed chorales and arias. It is widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of classical sacred music. Although Bach wrote four (or five) settings of the Passions only two have survived; the other is the St John Passion. The St Matthew Passion was probably first performed on Good Friday (11 April) 1727 in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, where Bach was the Kantor of the School and Directoris Chori musici of Leipzig. He revised it by 1736, performing it again on 30 March 1736, this time including two organs in the instrumentation. He further revised and performed it again on 24 March 1742. Possibly due to the second organ being under repair, he switched the continuo instrument to harpsichord in Coro II, reinforced the continuo group in Coro II with a viola da gamba, and inserted a ripieno soprano in both movements 1 and 29. There is evidence of a further revision in 1743-1746, when the score as we know it originated, but no performance.

 Seoul Arts Center is a massive arts complex in the southwest part of Seoul.

Hmm. Where might the concert hall be?

The courtyard.

A foggy, hazy night.

In the Music Hall.

It's amazing how performance halls, the crowd and the atmosphere 

are very similar no matter where you go.

Box Seats!

I'd rather be perched above everyone than sit in the front row.

A little bit of familiarity.

The Thomanerchor boys choir filing in. 

They were so cute, not to mentioned disciplined for sitting still on stage for 3.5 hours.

They probably ranged in age from about 7 to 17 years old.

So cool.

When the performance started at 7:30 and finished around 11:00 there was no time for dinner...

and the only thing open around midnight here is fried chicken and beer.

No better way to follow up some Bach than with a nice big beer.

Half fried, half fried coated in honey.

The plain fried ones were deceptively spicy.

The white cubes are pickled/ferminted turnips. 

They taste and smell like old garbage (which is the normal flavor) so we never eat them.