Whitsun

Although I have not added any posts to my blog for some time, it doesn’t mean I haven’t done anything worth writing about. But time is limited and I have been preoccupied with other things. 

The old harbour of Kyrenia, North Cyprus. More to follow!

I spent a week in North Cyprus, staying at a friend’s place, and hope to write about that later. For now I will just write about Whitsun or Pentecost, which apart from a religious feast for those who still go to church, is a two day holiday here in the Netherlands. 
On Sunday I decided to go to the morning service in my local church, the church where we got married, surrounded by the churchyard where my husband and his son are buried. It seems they can see the church from where they are, a symbolic link with our lives. It is never good to return to a place which once was so familiar, in this case a protestant service of the church I once was a member of and in which I was raised. Not necessarily here, but in the town where I grew up. I expected the warmth of my youth, this feeling of safety, of homecoming. It wasn’t like that. 35 years is a long time, and everything has changed, the liturgy, the hymns, even the words of the protestant psalms which are a paraphrase of the texts in the Old Testament. As a child I had to memorise the psalms at school, so that we could sing them in church without needing a Psalter or hymnal. But that did not help me this time, as the words had changed and the poetry of the familiar texts was no longer there. I felt cheated out of my inheritance! It is like so many things: the disappointment of going back to a place where once one was happy and discovering that everything has changed, there are new and modern buildings, that cute shop has gone out of business, blocks of high rise flats and apartment buildings have spoilt the view and the magic of the first encounter has totally disappeared. It is never good to go back to a place one once loved, a church one knew and which now all of a sudden has digital screens, new hymnals and a different and alien feeling liturgy. 

Singing Evensong in the afternoon in my own church was a joy and a relief. Tallis, and Daniel Purcell’s beautiful Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis , which I love. 

So there was some antidote for the feeling with which I left church in the morning, a service where the fire of Pentecost, the fire of the spirit seemed totally absent. Just as the well known and beautiful traditional Lutheran hymns which we used to sing at Pentecost when I was young. Veni Creator Spiritus. 

The original Gregorian chant

At least I managed to finish my picture book about Bologna in between the services and send it off to the printer. In it are pictures of a striking terracotta Pieta in one of Bologna’s churches, very moving indeed. 
Whit-Monday and on Sunday Leiden is a treasure trove of cultural events, not the least of them the concerts in the many almshouses scattered throughout Leiden. There are classical, jazz and modern concerts, many performed by young and promising musicians and ensembles. This weekend I didn’t have time to go to many, except to one on Monday afternoon when I had some three hours in Leiden. First I scanned the many stalls with fabrics, a special market along the main canal with only fabrics, reels of fabric heaped up on the stalls: dress fabrics, fabrics for curtains and for upholstery, for bed linen and tablecloths, a dazzling variety of texture and colour. From there I walked along a former canal, now filled in, where modern sculptures were exhibited under the trees with their young and new leaves, the former canal now a nice walkway.

 Modern art and sculptures along the Hooglandse Kerkgracht

At last I reached the only almshouse which I had never visited yet, the biggest of all with 30 small houses and a magnificent governor’s room, with paintings dating back from the 17th century. The mezzo soprano, dressed in a gorgeous red silk dress, not only sang Italian songs, but also acted them, accompanied by a violoncello and a theorbe, historic instruments, with natural strings. 

 The musicians in the Governors' room

This is the programme: 
   Duo Seraphim: Margot Kalse, alt-mezzo, Elly van Munster, theorbe i.s.m. María Sánchez    Ramírez, violoncello 
   F. Caccini, Lasciatemi qui solo 
   B. Strozzi, Giusta Negativa 
   S. d’India, Tutto il dì piango (Petrarca) 
   B. Strozzi, Begl’ occhi, bel seno, bei crini e bella bocca 
   B. Strozzi, Trà le Speranze e ‘l Timore 
   D. Gabrielli, Sonata à Violoncello solo, con il Basso Continuo: Grave, Allegro, Largo,          Prestissimo 
   G. Carissimi, Lamento in Morte della Regina Stuarda 

 F. Caccini, Lasciatemi qui solo

It was a very surprising concert, not in the least by the expressive performance of the alt-mezzo, Margot Kalse. It was a very nice to have some culture this Monday. The rest of the day I spent moving furniture and covering floors and wardrobes with plastic as some major renovation project was due for Tuesday. Now the house is a mess, but it will be very nice when all is ready. It means that with workmen around me, open doors and windows everywhere, the only thing I can do is sit behind my laptop and write this blog post.

 The court of the almshouses

 The gate on the Oude Vest