Saturday, 22 March 2008

Passions

We've come to the end of the bad that was my life for a bit. I'm on vacation, about to have a party, just went to Copenhagen with my father, able to pay rent for the month of April, applied for a job at the Academy that would enable me to stay on here another year and pay for it too and other than this week with Dad, have been very inspired on the playing horn and practicing front! This past term was full of emotional upheaval but it all seems to have come out well, for the most part.
Prince Charming and I have split up for purposes of independence and less stress. It is sad and I miss him very much but I also feel a load was lifted and I was suddenly able to accomplish all the educational and emotional stuff I needed to without the stress of a long distance relationship and he seems to be doing the same. It's very good. As I said, I miss him but I think this is going well. I am however very very ready for this party tonight so I can get sloppy drunk and turn off my thoughts for an evening.
I have had a very cultural week with my Dad visiting. After taking in a concert of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No 2 and then winning a pub quiz (at a pot of 125 pounds-woot!) We jetted off to Denmark. There we did canal tours and lots and lots of walking. We went to the top of The Round Tower which has an observatory in the tippy top and we looked through to see Saturn, rings and all! We also went to Roskilde, which is the original capitol of Denmark. There is the Viking Ship Museum which houses some thousands year old Viking ships that were preserved in the ocean-sooooo cool. They've also built many replicas as these ships gave them so information about how they were made that no one had known before. Also in Roskilde is the Cathedral that houses 38 of their deceased royalty. There were some very fancy sarcophagi! Back in Copenhagen we also went to the Royal Arsenal Museum and saw probably around 400 canons and various other weaponry. whoa. All in all a very awesome trip. We returned to London where we saw Penelope Keith playing a marvelous Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest. Dad has now headed off to the airport and his absence is very noticeable although it is nice to have my space back. Although of a fairly grumpy nature normally he was very happy and excited the whole trip. It was really a lovely lovely time!
And now to party time!!! Happy Easter!!!!


Passions:

The reading of the Passion during Holy Week dates back to the fourth century.[1] It began to be intoned (rather than just spoken) in the Middle Ages, at least as early at the 8th century. 9th-century manuscripts have "litterae significativae" indicating interpretive chant, and later manuscript begin to specify exact notes to be sung. By the 1200s different singers were used for different characters in the narrative, a practice which became fairly universal by the 15th century, when polyphonic settings of the turba passages began to appear also. (Turba, while literally meaning "crowd," is used in this case to mean any passage in which more than one speaker speaks simultaneously.)