Ben and I performed Dichterliebe the other day in toto for the Ladies (capital L)
of the Worthington-Columbus Symphony Support Unit.
Our hostess, Mrs. Hamilton said to me, "I'm on the young side of this crowd, and I'm seventy-nine. The last time you spoke to us was it Liselotte's house. She died, you know. Went in with an aneurysm poor soul, they were working on her and she said Leave me alone! I'm ninety-two and I want to watch my soap operas. So they left her alone and she passed away watching The Young and The Restless in intensive care! Do you want another brownie?"
Ben and I went up there and did thw whole thing, soup to nuts.
The Ladies, over 30 of them in one living room! made cooing noises
and the terms "adorable" and "too fat" were muttered beneath the smiles.
Ben was adorable. I was...
Even with some adjustmeents for hearing aids and the plethora of Breck and
Alberto VO 5, it was a lovely morning.
Ben and I worked hard. My German wasn't awful, and if I didn't sound like Dieskau I still made music and told the story. Unrequited love and the war between our physical and spiritual natures. I came into my own telling The Ladies: "Listen for the words HERZ, SCHMERZ and GELIEBTER. There's the whole friggin' history of music right there!"
After this, how about the Hermit Songs or Fiancailles pour rire?
I'm bitchin' to go on, and The Ladies will always be with us,
even Liselotte --in heaven watching The Edge of Night.
1 comment:
Chris:
I loved all of your interviews!
I too have a (grand)child with Aspbergers. Gloriously bright. Even loves Mozart. I want to enclose him in a cocoon of love so life never hurts him, but , even at seven I can see that will not be enough.
Thank you for sharing some of the many informative interviews that have been such a rich part of your life. They weave into many of your talks and chats like little gold threads.
Anne
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