First of all, Happy Birthday! It is hard to image you being 93. Frank's photo of you yesterday was so good! We all hope that one of your birthday presents will be your getting rid of that nasty cough.
I thought you might like to hear about my activities of last Saturday. With great effort, I got out of bed at 6:30 (we seem to prefer 8:00 in France), had a quick shower, breakfast and coffee, and was out the door by 7:15. I took the métro to Châtelet, where I eventually met Michel at the RER Line B (one of the suburban trains). Michel had corresponded with me about four years ago, asking something about Pierre de la Rue (my hero and life's work). Several emails later, he kindly invited me to his home for tea, and we have stayed in touch ever since. I have been able to hear his vocal quartet sing two concerts in or close to Paris, each time they sang works by La Rue. When Michel learned that I intended to drive to Eymoutiers to hear them sing at the end of May, he bravely asked whether I would be interested in singing the baritone part in the Kyrie from La Rue's Missa de Septem doloribus (written in the early 1500s to celebrate the relatively new Feast of Seven Sorrows). I readily agreed, and things developed from there. Next, Michel asked me to sing a chanson à5, and I agreed; then some examples of organum, etc.
But to sing with the quartet, I needed to practice with them at least once! So everybody gathered in the small village, La Celle les Bordes, which seems to be about halfway to Chartres (where I will be going tomorrow). We were met at the train station by William, the ensemble's countertenor (who works for Orange, one of the large telephone companies in France; I use Orange for my mobile phone here).
The quartet met in an interesting way: Michel has a house in the south of France, and decided to advertise to see whether any singers might be interested in getting together there for a week to sing Renaissance music. Several good amateur singers replied, and soon became friends. The latest incarnation of the Ars Antiqua was born. Since three of the quartet live in Geneva, Switzerland, and two in or near Paris, it is difficult to get together to rehearse (and people have jobs and families). Michel sends music to them, they learn the music on their own, and then meet for several days of intense rehearsal before singing a concert. I joined them on Saturday.
The singers had arrived from Geneva and were ready to sing. Michel's portatif (small portable organ similar to those used in the late middle ages and early Renaissance) was already there. In this photo, Alan (bass) is singing while playing one of the lines, Lindy is singing soprano, William is partly hidden, Richard is singing tenor, and Michel is directing.
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| Left to right: Michel (on recorder), Lindy, William, Alan (behind the organ) and Richard. |
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| My music (bottom of photo) with another of my golf pencils. |
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| William demonstrating his motorcycle racing skills (the children were away for the day). |
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| Alan enjoyed some--but not all--of his coffee when practicing a motet by Machaut (died 1377) |
The home is quite large, with room for everybody. The property has lovely trees and a back patio which we used for the noon meal.
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| Left to right: Richard, Alan, Michel, Lindy and William |
I should have taken many more photos of the feast Florence prepared for us. This was the first course: olives, bread, potato chips, artichoke hearts, sardines and rosé wine (and water).
The second course: a terrine de compagne (pork, wonderful herbs, etc.), a leek terrine, special pickles, some raw onions marinated in salt and then washed and eaten raw (quite mild), and more wine. The third course (how I wish I had taken a photograph!) was a pasta carbonara (linguini covered with heavy rich cream, herbs and lardons--French style of bacon). Florence carefully placed half an egg shell with a rich egg yolk on top of each serving. We then poured the raw yolk onto the hot pasta. When it was stirred in, the heat from the noodles cooked the egg. Obviously, even more wine was required! The fourth and final course was a lovely bowl of mixed fresh fruit, with coffee. William gave his new wife a congratulatory kiss before we cleared the table and moved it back into the house for more rehearsing.
Somehow . . . I'm not quite sure how . . . we managed to continue rehearsing after this feast. Florence had a better idea . . . she took a nap outside while listening to our singing. Before we were finished rehearsing, all the dishes were nicely washed and put away. She had a very busy weekend!!
When we were finished rehearsing, we decided to visit the Ferme de la Noue, a local organic farm which specializes in making goat cheese and selling eggs, chicken, rabbits, etc. I really enjoyed visiting this well-kept farm.
A sign asks that there only be four people in the small shop at a time.
Janice's first pet was a chicken, a gift from her grandmother, and to this day, she takes photos of chickens of all types. So I took this photo for her collection. Eggs are €3,00 for 6, so the eggs must surely be superb.
The room for making the goat cheese was cleaned up by the time we arrived (about 7:00 p.m. or so).
This farm has received many gold medals for its produce.
A photo for Janice's relatives, the Groffs and the Becks, who raise or raised goats.
To celebrate (1) another good rehearsal and (2) Alan's birthday, we drove up to the local castle, the Château de la Madeleine. This offers magnificent view of the Yvette valley below. The fortress was constructed in the 11th century and then further work was done in the 14th century. By the time we arrived, the castle was closed, but we could still sit on the stone wall overlooking the valley.
Michel provided some e champagne for a toast to Alan, for his birthday (the day before).
After we sang 'Happy Birthday' (in English), two young brothers got our attention. They were celebrating a birthday as well, so I went down, had a chat and took their photo.
Lindy made some superb cupcakes for the event, which William obviously enjoyed.
We looked at our watches and realized it was time for William to take us to the train. One was waiting for us (it was the end of the line) and soon departed for Paris. I had texted to Janice, letting her know I would not be home before 10:00 p.m. Everything went well. The Line 1 (métro) was filled with young people who were heading out (or home?) on a lovely Saturday evening. I enjoyed the 10-minute walk back to the Centre in the warm evening air. On Sunday, I slept in, but Michel and the quartet faced another day of rehearsing the works which did not include me. Then three of the singers drove all the way back to Geneva, and everybody is back at work today.
This was a wonderful day for me, a day of events few tourists ever get to enjoy. So, again, Happy Birthday, Mother. Wish the quartet could be singing for you while you were sitting on the wall, overlooking a French valley!
with love from us both,
Evan
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