May 17, 2015 Sunday
Went 25 minutes NW across the plateau, then down to the edge
of the green and sweetly flowing Aveyron to the St. Antonin Noble Val Sunday
market specifically to get a map and maybe cherries if there were any. I didn't
find any right off, but there were lots of people selling Fraises du Here and There.
Strawberries that are smaller and sweeter than
ours. Then I found some early cherries and bought some of those too, some
onions, two bottles of beer from the English people we bought from last time, a
splendid map of Southwestern France that has everything we could conceivably
drive to, and a packet of butter that turned out to be mashed potato with a
little butter. Oh well. And 4 chocolate/ orange macaroons. Coming
back by the cathedral, I discovered that this afternoon- in about an hour in
fact- there will be a concert to benefit the restoration of their organ with a
performance of a piece by Tavener. I’m sure you will remember that he wrote the
recessional used for Princess Diana’s funeral, a truly moving piece of
music. I’ll leave pretty soon to get
back there to hear that. Meantime, we
can read aloud our Donna Leon mystery set in Venice while JP applies color to
the painting.
Plus Tard. Actually,
he DIDN’T write the recessional. That was the wonderful John TAVNER who just died in 2013 . This mass by John
Tavener was written in the court of Henry VIII with reference to the common
songs of the times. There was a suspicion he consorted with protestants, ( pre
Anne Boleyn?) but he was kept out of prison by Cardinal Wolsey because he was “qu’un
musicien”. Frankly, I think he noodles
along shapelessly and interminably in a minor key . Tiresome. But the other music both earlier and then 20th
century was wonderful and the setting with the stained glass high up all around
and the echoing acoustics was just what we came for. The organ needing repairs
was a freestanding box about ten feet square with 6-8 pipes showing and the
organist facing out. A cute pipe organ!
Imagine!
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