Finding the music

I think the title of this post is probably a metaphor for my life. It was certainly the inspiration for this weekend. As I said in the previous post, there was more music than I could absorb so Friday night I started out with one concert that had no competition - it was an Advent Meditation organ concert at St. Augustinkirche. The music was Bach played on one organ and Messian played on a French Baroque organ - both were magnificent.

My options after the organ meditation were to go to St. Stephen's for an advent concert at 8:30 p.m. However, I knew from my afternoon walk that the Vienna Opera House was playing Verdi's "La Traviata." I asked several people about how to get tickets and was told in no uncertain terms that my question was ridiculous. One person gave me a glimmer of hope saying that sometimes you could go shortly before the performance and there might be a seat open. I ran from St. Augustinkirche to the Vienna Opera House to get there 10 minutes before the opening, only to find that there's a side entrance for standing room only seats - I jumped to the end of the line and took my chances. My European luck panned out again - I snagged "La Traviata" at one of the world-reknowned Opera Houses for $2 Euro; if you're not familiar with opera, the tickets usually start at $75-$100 and go up to hundreds per seat. I hardly noticed the stand as my entire being was taken to another dimension watching this incredible performance.


The picture above is of the interior of the theatre during intermission. The only other picture (although dark) is of the grand staircase leading to the theatre. (If you click on the picture, it gets bigger and a littler easier to see.)

I cannot tell you how special this evening was. The only thing missing was Diane, my Violetta (she's the heroine), except that Diane brings considerably less drama into my world, which is a good thing (you'll only get this if you know the story).