November 18th 2025年11月18日

As is typical for this season in Germany, the day starts with that drippy feeling….

…..but the goods must be delivered…….

…and the buildings must be built (they start at 7am every day)……

And the Gingko must make a blaze before the winter…..

This wild rose has not yet given up….

A flash of defiant colour …..

Meanwhile, far away, in the warmth of a city hall in Kanagawa, 友子 san is playing in a community orchestra….

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Back in Langen. Here’s me waiting for the next customer……no time to tune up, just sit down and play an Irish 🍀 tune. Simply doing something that makes me feel good that’s all……………..

🎧recommended….

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I can’t find my kindle. Yes, it’s in my flat somewhere, and I’ve been looking in every nook and cranny for it. Ironically, instead of finding this state-of-the-art device, I stumble across a small catalogue picked up in a second-hand bookshop in Cardiff many years ago. It was printed in 1870, and lists the musical instruments in possesion of the “South Kensington Museum”, aka the V&A .

The loan record has one entry: the “S (?) of Art Cardiff. Date of issue: 21.2.71 (ie 1871). Date of Return :When recalled ( never….)

Amongst the copper plate engravings of instruments of Asia, I found this plate of a Koto…(the artist doesn’t seem to have seen many Japanese women in his lifetime!)

…..and one of a Biwa “a kind of lute”…(bought, Paris Exhibition 1867). This must have been during the “japonismus” fashion that gripped Europe in the 19thc.

Imagine my surprise then, when almost on the same day, Scott posts this picture on Instagram….

He is accompanying a Biwa player on the organ!

Enyo-san is giving a recital next Thursday, Nov. 20th, at Rikkyo University in Tokyo. In Chinese this instrument is called a pipa, apparently. Well if you’re in Tokyo just now…..

One last curious note on this museum catalogue. The list of donors and lenders…….At the top we see His Highness The Viceroy of Egypt. Heavens, who was that? Well, as the British hadn’t taken over Egypt yet at that time (they did in 1882), this must be Is’mail Pasha of Egypt, Khedive (Viceroy) of Egypt and Sudan from 1863 to 1879.

Known as Is’mail the magnificent, he led Egypt into such severe debt with his economic policies that he was forced to sell off his shares in the Suez canal (to the advantage of Britain of course, the canal being the life-line to India)…

The other names would not be out of place in an Agatha Christie novel…..(!)

I still haven’t found the kindle. But what also came to light was some early Japanese revision notes. On the subject of counting. Now counting in Japanese is not easy, as it depends on the shape of the object which you are counting. Thus apples and small compact objects have their own system – ” there are 2 apples” is : Ringo (apple) ga (particle) nikko (specifically 2 apples and not bottles of beer) arimasu (there are).

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Many moons ago, when I first came to Germany as a violinmaker, a rather eager young journalist asked me that classic question “und was hat Sie hierher gezogen?” (what brought you to Germany?)

“Kaffe und Kuchen” I replied. I am still at it, over 30 years later…..

I am smiling here, but an hour beforehand I was furious. Furious at the Shirn Art Gallery. I had arranged to meet up with a friend there. On arrival at said Art gallery (Just near the cathedral) I was met by metres of high metal fencing. Only when I found the entrance to the Music school (who share the same premises) did I notice a rather pathetic A4 notice stuck to the door informing me that the Schirn had temporarily moved to the other side of Frankfurt at Bockenheim. Wow! Thank you Music School, but not the Schirn, who had left no sign as to their whereabouts. I checked the website. The first thing you see is this:

As a mother-tongue genuine article Englishman, I took this headline at face value. (” so where is that then, please?”) But the dropped pin symbol and the co-ordinates where just there for decoration. Useless 😡. I later discovered that this was the name of an Exhibition, not a helpful signpost. I have since written a letter of complaint to the Museum Director. When I actually got to the new site the confusion just continued (there are two entrances). We eschewed the musuem café for a local one nearby ☕.

The exhibition is all about Suzanne Duschamp, a rather neglected figure in the Dada movement. This arose at the beginning of the 20thc. as an anti-war, anti-art, anti-a lot of things movement. Here are just a few impressions….

Dadaism was probably also anti-the-heavy-solidity of Jugendstil. I had walked past a classic example in Darmstadt the day before…The obelisk in memory of Princess Alice, who was, incidentally, British.

The full inscription reads “Der Unvergesslichen Großherzogin von Hessen und bei Rhein / In Verehrung Liebe und Dankbarkeit / Gewidmet von Frauen und Jungfrauen Hessens / Errichtet im Jahre 1902.

From the base of the monument you get a view of the Staatstheater Darmstadt, which was unkindly nicknamed the petrol station (or words to that effect in German) by those who work there. I like it, but it’s going to need a facelift soon…

Petrol station or not, it is the home of some fine opera and regular chamber music recitals. That’s why I was there. For Brahms’ string sextet 🎵 Sublime……It reminded me of how much I miss playing chamber music…..Thank you Sarah, 1st violin, for the invitation 🙏

So, before I leave you, I have to finish off my rant. In English it’s called letting off steam ……..

• Download (Downloaden or Herunterladen)
• Event (Veranstaltung)
• Team (Mannschaft)
• Oh my God (Ach mein Gott)
• Streaming (Strömen)
• Highlight (Höhepunkt)
• Sorry (Entschuldigen Sie bitte)
• Online-deal (Geschäft übers Internet)
• TV-Box (Fernseher Kasten)
• Upgrade (nachrüsten)
• Grumpy old man (haven’t seen this one yet 😄)

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Well, that’s it for this week.

Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

See you またね 🙋‍♂️

https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

nigelwruddock@gmail.com

The End

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終わり

p.s. Stop press……this Saturday…..get your bargain…..The Japanese Fleamarket / Japanischer Flohmarkt (蚤の市) in Frankfurt

👺 https://japanisch-kulturzentrum.de/2025/10/02/japanischer-flohmarkt-3/