Day 4; Hamburg (3 May 2009)

Sunday!

We drove into Hamburg in time to worship with the folks at St. Thomas a Becket Church (Die Englishe Kirche – The English Church). This is a Diocese in Europe chaplaincy, part of the Church of England. They use the 2000 “Common Worship” book, with which I had not been familiar, and it was a great improvement over the “Alternative Service Book.” Made me think it was about time that we in Canada had a look at a BAS update; there is so much more material available now, from various other churches in the “catholic” tradition, and it is a shame to miss out on some of it.

There were about 80 people present, not all of them English. Some from the West Indies, some South Asians, and a surprising number of Germans, speaking at least some English, who preferred Anglican worship to Lutheran, at least in that part of Germany. Indeed, one of the ongoing concerns, and lobbying efforts of this group, is to free these people from paying their church taxes to the “established” Lutheran church.

Had some good conversations at coffee, with a surprising number of people who were familiar with Canada and the Canadian Church, and who weren’t at all sure that we were more progressive than they – given some of our present “difficulties.” Sometimes it is a good thing to see yourself through other eyes.

Unfortunately the day was very cool, cloudy, with frequent rainshowers. Trying to do a driving tour of inner Hamburg was frustrated by most of the roads being dug up, and thus GPS navigation continually tried to take us down a road that was not available, and, alternates also were closed – which results in the GPS trying to take you back to a route that you already know doesn’t work. Needed is a “the road is closed at this point” button, so that other alternatives are offered. As it is, seemingly the only way around this problem is to stubbornly drive on well beyond the construction area, until the GPS offers a route that comes at the objective from another direction.

Eventually there was about an hour of no rain, which enabled us to walk around Planten un Blomen, a large garden in the centre of downtown Hamburg, with fountains, small restaurants, pubs, and waterworks that “dance” to recorded music played over loudspeakers. Again, a lot was in full bloom, and despite the rain the place was full of people out enjoying this beautiful feature of their city.

Then we drove to near the Hamburgische Staatsoper, parked the car, and bought tickets for a 4 p.m. matinee performance of “The Barber of Seville”, sung in Italian with German surtitles – but the plot is well-know, and this production went for obvious farce, so it was quite easy for June to follow. We both agreed it was probably the best opera we have heard/seen in several years, and the best done, with a cast that was obviously well rehearsed and had worked together long enough to give a smooth and yet spontaneous performance. I think one of the strengths of the European companies is a very permanent complement of singers, and productions with a long run, rather than the American habit of bringing disparate singers together, working on the “star” factor, but not giving enough rehearsal time and having only a few performances before moving on to something else. Hamburg has had this particular production since 1976, and it has been performed several hundred times, obviously not with the same cast, but cast changes from year to year are a few performers, giving long-term continuity.

I will explore the difference between European opera houses and North American ones again, perhaps after our next opera venture, Aida in Nuernberg.

But, I am finally up to date! Tomorrow, another day in Hamburg, which looks to be rainy again, or Bremen, which also has a lousy weather forecast. We will look at both again in the morning, and see which offers the best chances of a not-too-wet day; dry is too much to hope for.