May 21, 2008

• Date at the Concert

   

  What a fun night we just came from! Ben surprised me late Monday night by saying he wanted to take me to hear a classical concert sometime this week.

  Let me give a bit of background by saying we live in a town that produces a newspaper only bi-weekly for lack of news, that gives all the police reports from the past few days, and that dedicates a full page to the recent happenings in NASCAR but not a word is given to any events other than that in the rest of the world or the United States, political elements heated now or not. Obvious what is important to folks down here. :)There are a lot of radio stations we are able to get here; your choice of many country stations. Maybe one rock station, one Christian station. No classical or jazz stations nearby. Ben tells me the real Southerners like their music as whine-y and grunty as possible. Again, it’s obvious what matters to these Southerners.

  So when Ben told me Monday night he wanted to take me to hear an orchestra, I was rather surprised. Shocked is more like it. There is no such thing for several hours around, unless a school orchestra counts, so I knew we’d have to drive quite a ways. Ben himself had never been to something like that, so for him to decide to go and actively search for something was a big deal  – to both of us. He even said he wanted to use some of the gift money he got from school students for the big night out in the city. I couldn’t believe it!

  At first he told me he was looking at a performance for Friday night that was dinner and a concert under the stars. But that cost $1000 per person, so we opted for $35 tickets instead. There was actually something playing on Tuesday night, and though it was rather last-minute to try to find a baby sitter for Zoe’, Mama Yoder and the aunties were very willing! So we dressed up all classy-like and enjoyed being snazzy and intermingling with the rich that night. We hadn’t had a date like that in a long time, and especially not one that formal and dressed up.

  I hadn’t been to a symphony orchestra since we lived in Lancaster, where those kinds of things are frequent and your choice of many styles and places. The music was just gorgeous… For those who care, we heard Beethoven’s Symphony #5 in A Major, and Concerto #3 for Violin and Orchestra by Mozart, with Elmar Oliveira on the violin. It was amazing. Such beauty that is so exquisite it’s almost painful. Music stirs my soul like nothing else can…

  

  
  // after the concert in the beautiful arts center. just look at that massive pipe organ//

  

  This was an extra-special evening for me because that is not Ben’s primary idea of a fun time – although he did say afterward that he enjoyed it. Before we got married he had never heard of The Messiah or other wonderful pieces. He kept me in stitches through the evening though – he had never been to anything so grand or so, um, classical, before, so his comments were so funny.

  Him: “What’s that stick thing out the side of his mouth?”
  Me: “Oh, that’s a flute, Babe.”

  Or his cracking up over the dramatic clarinet player and the way he had the eyebrow-raising and body-swaying going on. Or his declaration that Beethoven must have been ADD because his music style is so unpredictable. I told him I doubt that because otherwise he never would have had the patience to write such lengths of music – and this was only one of his pieces. By the end of the concert Ben was actually using musical terms and asking which “movement” we were listening to, and I was so proud of him I forgave his insulting comment about Beethoven.

  

  It was fun explaining to him the first and second violins, showing him who the concertmaster was, the difference between the violins and the violas (and how to say ‘viola’ and ‘concerto’ and ‘Mozart’ correctly), and between the basses and cellos. And even though it was all new to him, he did well in being the part of a dashing male companion.

  
  // a bit fuzzy, but inside the hall//
  
  The harbor was just outside the Performing Arts Center, so we went out afterward and watched the moon rise over the lighted bridge and took pictures of the city lights. So so fun!

  

  

  

  
  //my modern art shot of the bridge and moon not really, I had just set the shutter speed way too slow and this is what happened//

  Evenings like that are just lovely. So thoughtful and reflective. It does my soul good. Wish we lived choser to something like that and could go  more often.

  When I hear things like that last night I wonder why I’m not involved in the music world. Not that I have the ability now, but why didn’t I go to college for music and the arts like I wanted to?? I think I’ll always wish I would have… One of those things I may never understand why God never gave me the go-ahead, but that I simply need to rest in the Lord, that He is good, that his purposes are only good as well.

  

  But it was a lovely evening – one that I hope can be repeated in the future!

  Maybe next time I can even persuade him to go listen to an opera. Ha!

  Cheers for classical music!

   

  • 3:50 pm
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