Harmonisation
I come from mostly music, hard and easy, joyful and sad
Dresden 2016
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Listen to the Hallelujah chorus
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Our next foray into international waters was Dresden, where we joined a collection of church choirs who wanted the challenge of performing Handel’s Messiah. This was incredibly exciting, and they were so welcoming, inviting us to join them in joint rehearsals, even hosting us all for a meal. What we weren’t expecting was the standing ovation after the Hallelujah chorus, and an encore. That’s never happened to us before, especially as the Hallelujah is part way through the section two. Where we performed was on the outskirts of Dresden, to the south of the city and immediately opposite the Carl Zeiss factory. The management of Zeiss were supporters of the Nazi regime, as were many of the German industrial manufacturers at that time, and they made the glass for bombsights on aircraft and binocular lenses for the troops on the ground. This factory still stands, undamaged from that time.
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“Procession of Princes” (Fürstenzug) is an impressive mural
on the outer wall of Dresden Castle's Stables
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New Cambridge Singers on tour in Dresden
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Who knows what my swan song will be – I just have to hope it doesn’t start too soon. I have sung in churches and concert halls, in bars and barns, on boats and on beaches, in fact anywhere that will have me. But there is far too much music to include everything. As with life, a line must be drawn so as not to overwhelm. That said, this life is full to the brim with notes, not all of them perfect, but all of them loved.
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History
Dresden just prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall
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Karl Zeiss Factory in Dresden
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We could see where buildings in the old part of the city were completely rebuilt from new. This part of the city was destroyed in February 1945 by the joint forces of the RAF and the USAF bombers. The factory opposite our rehearsal hall was one of the main targets of that raid. In the 45 years that Dresden was part of East Germany, very little was done to rebuild the city, leaving visible gaps and broken walls, like a mouth full of rotten teeth. Reparations by the UK and US, poured money into the city and much has now been fully restored, including the Frauenkirche with its gilded orb and cross atop the spire.