Prague Journal

Monday, December 20, 2004.

Rick suggested that I go with him to his Czech group, four students who have arranged to meet at Irena’s house for semi-private tutoring sessions. My vocabulary is bigger than Rick’s, but I’m embarrassed at how little I retain. The group intends to continue to meet in January, and our plan is to go together and study together. If nothing else, we will be forced to take some time in class, which, in and of itself, is more than I have been doing on my own.
This evening’s entertainment was another choral and instrumental concert, this time at the University of Economics, Prague (VŠE). By the time we arrived, there was standing room only. Similar to yesterday’s order of events, first the choir sang (mostly acapella), and then the orchestra performed. Most songs were in Czech, and it was obvious that the words sung in English were not understood (we would not have understood had we not been familiar with the songs already)! The high point of the evening was a performance of Jakub Jan Ryba’s Czech Christmas Mass “Hey, Maestro, Stand Up Brightly,” which is a masterful composition for soloists, choir, and orchestra traditionally performed during advent. Needless to say, the voices and instrumentation were superb, as all musical groups here are.

posted by JWinn @ 10:24 PM