Mozart night at the proms

Awake before the alarm again today, and  ready to leave on time to collect Patricia and drive to San Pedro for the only Eucharist of the day. Again there were thirty of us, which included a family with four young children and another family with four teenage boys, a healthy mix for an ex-pat congregation. Time at last for a relaxed coffee after the service. 

We didn't use the video projector for the liturgy and hymns today, but booklets and mission praise, plus the rite A Common Worship Eucharistic Prayer based on the ancient text of Hyppolytus, widely used with minor variation among Catholics and Protestants, because it dates back to an era before there were divisions in the western church. It's certainly my favourite. 

I was back at the  house by a quarter to one and ended up having lunch much earlier than usual. Then there were a few emails to attend to, in preparation for next Sunday when we have a baptism at San Pedro during the service. It got me started on drafting a homily for that occasion. I'll need to do a separate one for the service at Sotogrande later in the week. I had a siesta until it started to cool down enough for it to be comfortable to walk along the senda litoral, chatting to Clare on WhatsApp for ages, while she was out walking in Llandaff Fields.

The BBC Proms live broadcast tonight was showcasing works by Mozart and featured Piano Concertos 20 and 22, with Leif Ove Andsnes directing the Mahler Chamber Orchestra from the piano keyboard. It was a powerful experience, especially in the light of my recent slide video creation of the fire photos I took, using a dramatic, dare I say fiery section of number 20's second movement. He played cadenzas I hadn't heard before which gave an extra richness as well as excitement to the performance. Shall I sleep after such stimulating music?

The other Figaro opera

After my Monday afternoon walk, I was less stiff and tired than I thought I might be, but nevertheless was glad not to have much to do before walking to Tuesday evening's Chi Gung and Tai Chi double class in St Mary's Church Hall. Today, by contrast, was busy with the St German's midweek school Mass, then the Ignatian meditation group at noon, followed by a funeral at Pidgeon's Chapel straight after, just down the road from where we were meeting.

Then in the evening, we went to the Millennium Centre for the Welsh National Opera's performance of Mozart's 'Marriage of Figaro', definitely one of our favourite operas. I thought I'd be disappointed that it wasn't sung in Italian, but this particular English free rendering of the original is very good and gives added value to the comedy element, such that people laughed aloud more than they normally might. 

At the climax of the final scene, in a thoughtful and moving moment, the Contessa with a philandering husband, declares she has pardoned him, and speaks of forgiveness as calming troubled hearts. She who is most persistently betrayed. Just right for an evening in Lent, as thoughts turn to Christ's passion. Superb singing throughout. We came away feeling joyous and enlivened in spirit.

In the foyer beforehand we bumped into Peter and Mary Barnet fitting in a night at the opera in between a West Country visit and returning to their home in the Gower. Peter succeeded me as Team Rector of St Paul's in Bristol back in the eighties, and we've met up occasionally over the years since then. We also bumped into Bob and Mary Hardy, St John's bell ringers, attending an event in the concert hall. We've bumped into them at Dyffryn Gardens on a couple of occasions. Finally, we bumped into Dafydd Elis-Tomas in the interval. We usually meet each other walking to the Llandaff Fields bus stop, as their house is in a neighbouring street to ours. Sometimes we don't see a soul we know on our Millennium Centre visits for the opera. Tonight was a happy exception.

We decided not to book for the third in this season's trilogy of operas focusing on the character of Figaro, entitled 'Figaro gets a divorce', it's hard to imagine how something with such a depressingly post-modern theme could deliver delight in the way that Rossini and Mozart's offerings do. Just a bit too contrived a theme concept to my mind. There, exposing my age and my values.