Four Rose-Zadows under one roof; little doggies, first public performance in a long time

Malcolm arrived this morning along with Camille; Christopher and Isabelle picked them both up this morning in Brussels, and then the four of them went to look at the new puppy that Christopher hopes to adopt.

"Pongo" is ten weeks old, and is a very friendly little fellow.  He is the product of two parents who are both dalmatian/border collie crosses, so we were all quite enamoured of him as he ran around Christopher's backyard.  Yoshi is a very playful dog so they had some nice moments together in the garden.

I had a long planning meeting yesterday with Marie-Pierre and Thom, to try to figure out a harmonised curriculum for the rest of the school year in music following the departure of the previous teacher.  I think we have it more or less sorted out.  It's lucky that I have a full week of holidays right now to get my head around what I'll be doing for the next few months.

I did some baking yesterday to prepare for today, as I knew that we'd have a full (and hungry) house.  I made hamburger buns, and also did another two loaves of that rye starter/kamut/wheat loaf that blew my mind last time.  This time the levain was only single fermented, and I used much less than last time, something like 300 grammes.  But it still has a wonderful taste, and that is a bread I'm going to keep and make again regularly.  The hamburger buns will be used tonight, as angus burgers were available for a reduced price at DelHaize, and we don't bother with any other kind of beef around these parts.

I got warmed up this morning and drove into Brussels for the general rehearsal for two Bach Cantatas and a motet that is happening tomorrow with my colleagues at Les Minimes.  It honestly felt a bit weird for a few reasons.  The first is of course that I haven't sung very much in public since the 8th March (apart from some recording work, a funeral, and the Canada Day recording) so the experience had a kind of strange unreality to it.

Also we were rehearsing (and will be performing) in a new church.  The Eglise des Minimes was closed to us a couple of years ago, and we moved to our new home, the Eglise Saint-Jacques-sur-Coudenberg / Chapel Militaire, on the Mont des Arts.  That church is having the furnace replaced at the moment, so we had to find another venue, and this gothic/renaissance church on the Sablon, well-known to anyone who has ever done a walking tour of Brussels, will be the venue for tomorrow's concert.

As well I really haven't had much opportunity to sing in my "real" voice recently; I've had to do a lot of demonstrating and falsetto singing to help the kids learn their parts in Grease, and that hasn't exactly set me up to sing Bach's bass solos.  But I had started early, and spent quite a lot of time over the last week singing the pieces into my voice, so I was pleasantly surprised that everything went well today.

The two Cantatas that we are doing are interesting.  I have a recitative in the BWV 115, and a nice aria in the other, BWV 89.  The recitative is great, because of the different "painting" that the singer can do with the text:

God who watches over your soul has a horror of the night of sin; He sends you the light of his grace and for these gifts which he promises to you so abundantly He only wants you to have the eyes of your spirit open. Satan's cunning is unfathomable to catch sinners in his net; if you now break the covenant of grace, you will never obtain help. The whole world and every part of it are nothing but false brothers and yet your flesh and blood see in them pure flattery.

But the aria is also unusual, because it is one of those situations where the bass voice is in fact singing with the voice of God, the vox Dei...  It is normal for Bach to give the bass singer the vox Christi, as he does in the Passions and in many cantatas, but I can't remember interpreting God the Father very often... so far in my singing life, I've sung the voices of Jesus, Peter, Judas, Pilate, Elijah, St. Paul, Raphael, Adam, Joseph... but not very often God the father, so that's kind of neat.  Here's a great recording with Jakob Stämpfli as the vox Dei in this cantata, from the late 1960s:

Here is the text, where God speaks directly to Ephraim (one of the sons of Joseph - he of the famous "technicolour dreamcoat") and the nation of Israel, and asking if he should rain down judgement... 

What shall I make of you, Ephraim? Shall I protect you, Israel? Should I not simply make an Adama* out of you and judge you like Zeboim*? But my heart is of another mind, my mercy is too fervent. (*Admah and Zeboim were two of the "cities of the plain" that were destroyed by God, along with Sodom, Gomorrah, and Zoar.)

In the end God is magnanimous and admits that his mercy is "too fervent".  You can imagine that give lots of opportunities for the singing actor to show contrast between the God of vengeance and the God of mercy and forgiveness...