The View from the Towers 塔からの眺め A web log by Nigel Ruddock of life in Germany as an expat, with excursions to Japan and the UK.

Tag: Schwetzingen

  • 🪽 On Wings of Song 歌の翼に

    🪽 On Wings of Song 歌の翼に

    29th May 2026年5月29日

    🎵 I’ve been digging up some ‘cello classics and came across this…..a song….. (‘cellists love to steal songs to play for themselves…..😉)

    この歌は、何年も前に覚えました。

    I learnt this as a young `cellist many years ago……Here’s ´cellist Harumo Sato…….https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWKj5PSaYxE

    So I check out the music. The only trouble is that…well….the pigeons are also interested……

    鳩たちは、聞きたがっている……

    Well, he is very interested…..

    I shoo them away. Swoosh !….off they go, “…..On Wings of Song……”

    🎵 I have been singing a lot of songs recently. Like in Haydn’s The Four Seasons . He put an awful lot of them into this work…….the score is as thick as a Bible……

    先日、フランクフルトで大きなコンサートに出演し、歌いました。

    …and as solid as the concert venue……The Alte Oper, Frankfurt….

    🎵 But of course I was singing with others…..that is, the combined forces of four Frankfurt concert choirs…120 singers in all….but you need that to fill the Alte Oper…..that was already obvious at the dress rehearsal…….

    ….with the Opern und Museumsorchester under Thomas Guggeis…..crackling with energy….🎇

    a view from the Parkett – The Stalls……

    🎵 But however impressive four choirs are, it’s nice to experience something at the other end of the scale……so here we are in Schwetzingen one week later. It’s a small town somewhere between Mannheim and Heidelberg, and it boasts an impressive castle and gardens……

    一週間後、私は音楽祭のためにシュヴェツィンゲンにいた。

    – a suitable setting for the Schwetzingen Music Festival. The audience seems different from Frankfurt…..is that John Cleese on the left?

    We sit on original Rococco seats in the little castle theatre

    ……in colourful company….(what flavour is that hat?)

    実に多彩な観客たち――フランクフルトとはひと味違う。PHOTO : TOMOKO

    ……listening to a Lute player and his merry band….

    🎵 It’s the Jupiter Ensemble, led by Thomas Dunsford (lute) and Lea Desandre (soprano). Wonderful….

    リュート奏者とソプラノ歌手が率いるバロック・アンサンブル

    And what a little gem the theatre is!

    …..set in the grounds of the vast palace and gardens……especially interesting for my visitor from Japan….

    日本から来客があり、その方は宮殿と庭園をとても気に入ってくださいました。

    Schwetzingen is not that far from Karlsruhe, where we rendezvous with a certain bass………..

    家族に会いに、カールスルーエへ行きました。

    🎵…………..

    🎵 The clean modern lines of the Wolfgang Rihm Saal contrast with the baroque fantasies of the nearby Schloss…..lots of buttocks on display here…..

    カールスルーエの宮殿庭園

    But it’s a pleasure garden isn’t it? built for Duke Karl himself. No modesty here….This is power and order…

    But it’s fun walking around. A weird tree….

    and clean lines under a blue sky…..

    ……we spotted this elderly Karlsruhe citizen patiently waiting for the bus. He has bought some flowers……..for his home? for his wife?

    ある老人が、妻のために花を買った……あるいは、自宅のためにだろうか？

    Water dribbles from the Marktplatz fountain…

    🎵.. and an odd Engländer appears in the lights of the metro station…..

    地下鉄にいた奇妙なイギリス人

    🎵 So. This blog has been mostly about song.

    *************STOP PRESS*************CONCERT TIPS**************

    And here are two dates not to be missed if you live in Frankfurt.

    これらのコンサートをお見逃しなく。

    On Saturday 30th May, ‘Cellist Aki Kitajima will actually be playing that Mendelssohn song” On Wings of Song” in her recital in Bockenheim with Marco Ramaglia – She is usually to be found in giving concerts in all corners of Japan, but this time she is in Frankfurt. Here’s the link….https://sound-of-spirit-frankfurt.de/konzertuebersicht/kac-2026-05-08-19-uhr-duo-zero-kammermusik/

    Screenshot

    🎵 And on Friday 5th June as part of the famous Nippon Connection Film festival in Frankfurt, there is an interesting live event that you should not miss! Here’s the link….book your tickets now. And I mean that, because the Studio 1 in the Mousonturm gets rapidly booked out ……..https://db.nipponconnection.com/en/event/2073/nippon-live-on-stage-moh-x-shiki

    🎵 The extraordinary violinist/guitarist/song writer Moh (aka Momo Yamamato) has put together an eclectic group of young musicians to perform a weird and wonderful programme threaded with Japanese texts and instrumental improvisation.

    https://db.nipponconnection.com/en/event/2073/nippon-live-on-stage-moh-x-shiki

    🎵 There we are. In conclusion I can only say…..don’t give up practising and pine longingly out of the window….just take a break and get a coffee…!

    As always, thank you for your interest, and if you know anyone who might be interested in this blog then do forward it on.

    Wie immer vielen Dank für euer Interesse. Wenn ihr jemanden kennt, der an diesem Blog interessiert sein könnte, schickt ihn gerne weiter.

    読んでくれてありがとう

    See you…….. matane!

    Nigel 🎼

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com.

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

    THE END

    終わり🎵