Canada, a roadtrip from Vancouver to Winnipeg

Part 1. The first three weeks

A three week road trip to the west of Canada, from the Rocky Mountains across the prairies to the coldest big city on earth, Winnipeg.

The trip has been so varied and so interesting, that blogging seemed a waste of time. One conclusion is that there is no such place as Canada. Canada has a very varied population, mainly from Europe and the Far East. Many people we met are first or second generation immigrants, and towns and villages have still kept their own culture to a large extent. Shops are run by Chinese and Japanese. All of Banff is dominated by Japanese motel, hotel and shop owners, and hordes of Japanese tourists flock through the main streets. On the prairies of Saskatchewan and Alberta there are many Ukrainian towns (Read: hamlets and villages). There are German towns (eg. Muenster), and we found a café where an Austrian couple has schnitzels, alpfelstrudel and goulashsoup on the menu, while Austrian and German songs enlivened the place. So it is hard to write about Canada in general terms. Most Dutch tourists who come to Vancouver and rent a motorhome, only go to the picture postcard places in the Rocky Mountains. Or they board this fabulous train which crosses the mountains in two days, going from Vancouver to Banff or Calgary. In Alberta and Saskatchewan, we did not see any tourists. Nevertheless, the prairies have their own beauty and are very interesting. For that is where the settlers had their homesteads and tried to live their dreams. Most of those tiny homesteads are now deserted, as the going was tough and the land hard to cultivate. It must be difficult to live so far from one’s neighbours as well. Of course it depends on where people originally came from.

There are the Doukhobors, of Russian descent, who rebelled against the rites and beliefs of the Russian Orthodox church, especially the worshipping of icons. Their roots can be traced to the 18^th century. They were pacifists and severely persecuted in Russia. In 1899 some 7.500 of them left Russia and settled in Saskatchewan where they established a communal lifestyle. Their slogan was “ Toil and Peaceful Life”.

I suppose this part of Canada is more representative of Canadian history than Vancouver and the Rockies.

Nor did I realize that the Rockies as we call them in Europe consist of at least four different mountain ranges, stretching from North to South and then down into the USA. And that only the most eastern mountain range is called the Rocky Mountains. The valleys in between these ranges have different climate zones. There are high deserts which are dry and bare. But also fertile valleys with a mild climate which produce an abundance of fruit and even wine. Peaches, apricots, apples, pears, plums and tomatoes in many varieties, they all grow here, and are sold along the roads in small stalls by the farmers.

The beginning

It now seems a long time ago that I left for Vancouver from Amsterdam.

Leaving on 9-11, ten years after the dramatic events, is perhaps not a wise thing to do, but I did anyway. A memorable date, for everybody, but also for me personally.

A friend very kindly takes me to Schiphol, which is helpful as the trains in that direction don’t run due to repairs or whatever. As usual I have plenty of time at Schiphol.  And everybody knows how boring those places are. The security check takes a lot of time, but we take off on time. Unwisely I have chosen an aisle seat, not wishing to have to step over people all the time if I have to get up. Unwisely, as we fly during the day, following the sun, and as it is a clear day there is a lot to see. The young woman sitting near the window immediately draws the shutters across the windows, as she wants to see the films, which are rubbish. So we miss Iceland, and only just over Greenland somebody opens the blinds and there is this spectacular view of icebergs and four glaciers ending in clear blue water full of big chunks of blindingly white ice. I miss the most impressive icebergs and realize how foolish I have been not to choose a window seat. 

Every now and then I go for a little walk to peer through another window. The north of Canada looks rather flat, at first covered in snow, later there are vast uninhabited stretches of brownish land interspersed with a myriad of lakes, winding streams and sometimes a road which is as straight as if drawn by a ruler, with no hardly any signs of habitation and any towns or villages. The roads lead to destinations which are invisible to us, if any. Later the Rockies loom up and that is wonderful. The snow-capped mountains look fantastic, and so near I get the feeling I could touch them. We also get a beautiful view of Vancouver as we circle over it.

After a 9,5 hour flight we land dead on time. If I thought that USA customs were dreadful, here it beats all. It takes one hour and 45 minutes to get through.

But friends of friends are waiting for me, which is so welcoming! I hardly know them and they have taken the trouble to come a long way just to meet me. We drive the spectacular road along the Howe Sound, after having cruised through Vancouver from south to north. The weather is wonderful, and the sky very clear and a deep blue. Even in the sleep deprived state I am in, I enjoy the trip.

We have a meal at Squamish, an Indian settlement with a view of a mountain. Slowly it turns dark while we drive on through Whistler to Pemberton, a small village – called a town here - tucked away in a fertile valley. My trip of discovery has begun.

Gouda

A wonderful evening of music, beauty and friendship.

An organ recital in a marvellous church. the St. Jan (St. John) in Gouda. Most non-Dutch people will associate Gouda with cheese, and perhaps candles and "stroopwafels", syrup cookies, but the best things about Gouda is the big church. It is world famous for its stained glass windows, which tell a wonderful story. They are best seen on a summer's day when the sun is shining through the windows, showing the glass in all its glory. Sometimes, early in the summer, during organ recitals, the sun may set during the concert, setting the windows on fire. The website gives a lot of information about the church, and shows all the windows. Unfortunately the English version of the site is far from ready, but it is a work in progress. With a length of 123 meters, the church is also the longest church in the Netherlands. Goudse Glazen in Beeld gives you all the windows in detail.

Then there are the church organs, the impressive pipe organ covering the complete height of the west wall, as well as a small but beautiful choir organ.

The console of the organ in Gouda

Detail of the organ console

An unusual view of the organ

The first part of the programme was played on the choir organ. The programme was opened with a Voluntary by Henry Purcell. Here is the music, played on a very big organ, and rather slow and loud, I think. The choir organ in Gouda has just two manuals, but the sound is very clear and bright, without being sharp.

The programme guided us on a musical tour through Europe, Austria of course represented by Mozart, Seixas representing Portugal.

The tour continued on the big Moreau organ, so we all moved from the choir to the nave of the church, facing the organ. Prelude and Fugue in c-moll BWV 549 by J.S. Bach (Germany), was followed by Concerto in F by Albinoni (Italy). 

Two composers represented France, Guilmant and Widor.

Personally I really loved the subtlety of the Cantilène Pastorale, by Alexandre Guilmant, which sounded amazingly good on an organ which was not really built with French romantic music in mind, but Baroque music.  Widor is always impressive and so versatile. Perhaps I am biased. But does that matter?

Usually I meet lots of friends during those concerts, and we tend to go for a drink with the organist afterwards to discuss the music, and the sound in that particular church. A composition varies a lot depending on the possibilities of the instrument it is played on, the variety of stops on an organ, the period the organ was built in and the country of origin of the organ builder. And not to forget the acoustics of each individual church. And last but not least the interpretation of the organist and his choice of stops. As it was pouring with rain, we huddled up in a warm and cosy cafe in the market square which we did not leave till it was almost midnight .

When I woke up this morning still thinking of the concert and still a bit sleepy after a late night, I went downstairs to the kitchen and to my utter surprise saw a big fox elegantly walking through my tiny patio garden! I thought I must still be dreaming, but I wasn't. I am in an urban area, and apart from goldfish in my pond, a treat for the herons, there is nothing to eat. Unfortunately my small camera was upstairs, so I could only watch, truly amazed, and not send you any proof. 

Scheveningen

The accident of birth?
A special day, the wedding of a cousin who just reached retirement age and his second wife. The official part took place in the Museum of Scheveningen, Muzee, where the very beginning of the groom's family history was quoted from a written history of this former fishing village. The groom's father and my mother were siblings, so their history is also my history.  On my mother's side, we all owe our existence to one man, Daniel Verbaan, a licensed privateer who lived in the 18^th century. He was married on August 12^th 1781. The next day he sailed out with a crew of 20 adult men to fight the English at sea in his ship, aptly named "The Heroic Patriot". When they encountered a ship of the enemy, the Dutch being at war with the English, a fierce battle followed. The Dutch were on the losing hand, and instead of being captured by the English, the ship was blown up, either intentionally because Daniel and his men did not want to be made captives, or because of some unhappy incident. All the men were killed and drowned, Daniel as well. This was on August 14^th, so their marriage lasted only two days. But lo and behold, 8 months after Daniel's death his widow gave birth to a son, another Daniel. And that is our forefather, mine and the groom's, the only Verbaan living in Scheveningen at that time. Now I know where that wild streak in our character comes from. I thought it came from my father's side of the family, but perhaps not.

It was quite an experience to meet a number of cousins again, some of whom I had probably not seen for at least 30 years. One was the spitting image of his father, and although I could not immediately put the correct nametag on him, I knew he was one of my cousins straight away.

All the festivities took place in an area where I grew up, so I had a full day of going down memory lane. The bride and groom – and we, the guests of course - were in luck, as this was the one and so far only real summer's day since the end of June, I think. In the evening there was a garden party, and it stayed warm and dry till almost midnight. There was no wind to speak of either, which is amazing considering this is a seaside town.

Wedding picture of my grandparents, Willem Verbaan (1882-1928) and Cornelia Pronk (1884-1974). I never saw my grandmother wearing anything but the local costume. She had nothing else. My grandfather looks rather possessive with his hand on her shoulder. I never knew him. His father, my great-grandfather, was also a Daniel.

Concertgebouw

On Monday I had the most enjoyable evening in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. I have never seen such a big orchestra. This is the programme before the interval:

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

Overture from 'Rienzi, der letzte der Tribunen'(1842)

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

Der Tanz der sieben Schleier from 'Salome', opus 54 (1903-05)

These compositions used the complete range of instruments, apparently all the brass, percussion and wind instruments. Especially Strauss reminded me of one of his opera's, which I went to see many years ago, when we were having a very difficult time, "Die Frau ohne Schatten". A kind of little impish ghost hovered over the stage with regular intervals accompanied by a haunting theme. I think it was the woman's shadow which was escaping her all the time, but I am not sure. One of the themes in the Strauss composition reminded me of this particular theme which had the same kind of eerie feel to it. At that time we walked out and left during the interval, because we did not feel well. The opera was a long one, so we had had a good taste of what the rest was going to be. No catching choruses, melodies, lyrics, aria's or themes, but more of the same difficult to understand music – difficult because we were tired and upset and there was no real theme. 'The Dance of the Seven Veils' is a much more interesting composition, which I enjoyed a lot.

         Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) (Dutch spelling: Sjostakovitsj), Symphony number eight, takes a full hour and ten minutes! It is a wonderful experience, as it shows extremes of beautiful lyrical parts, which are pianissimo, or even ppp, and the most deafening full orchestra parts, the brass - two tuba's,  quite a number of trombones and trumpets - , blowing away and getting rather red in the face, their cheeks pumping in and out like mad. Any variety of percussion one can think of, cymbals, chimes, drums, a triangle, a Glockenspiel, a xylophone, timpani, you name it. The pianissimo parts were wonderful. People were on the edge of their seats and no sound apart from the music could be heard. As if people had stopped breathing. The loud parts were exciting to see, the frantic but nevertheless controlled movements of the musicians, the concentration. Unfortunately I found it almost ear-splitting. Too many decibels. I understand why musicians in an orchestra get hearing problems. The violinists were almost blasted away by the brass. Since I lost hearing in one ear last year as a result of a nasty virus infection, loud music unfortunately becomes just loud noise. So although fascinating to see everybody working with so much concentration, I just escaped an instant migraine attack. Perhaps I was not the only one, because I noticed the woman next to me covering her ears with her hands! She did it very unobtrusively not wishing to offend the musicians should any of them notice!

But it was worth it. The acoustics in the Concertgebouw are fabulous and not comparable to any other Dutch concert hall. And the conductor , Andris Nelsons, really was a treat. He danced around, in peril of falling off his podium, and his face was so expressive. He also managed to keep the audience totally silent for a long time after each composition and each part of the symphony. Everybody seemed spellbound.

Nelsons conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker. This is the beginning of the symphony. The complete symphony can be heard via the website of the, Berliner Philharmoniker. They have their own site, the Digital Concert Hall, with recordings of their concerts, interviews with musicians, samples of the music, a full programme and many other issues interesting to music lovers. For a monthly fee one can enjoy their concerts digitally without having to go out. 

Evensong in Haarlem

Choral Evensong in the St. Bavo Church in Haarlem

It is odd to walk into a big church and then see an aeroplane parked in front of the choir! Many churches in Holland unfortunately have lost their original function. There may still be services on Sundays, but the buildings are also used for events and exhibitions.

100 years ago on August 31 the then 21 year old Fokker flew over Haarlem in his homebuilt aeroplane the Spin. The day after he flew three times around this church. In celebration of this centennial there have been festivities in the Market Square and the Bavo church (which is in the middle of the market square) for a week or so.

Coming to Haarlem to sing Evensong, it is rather a shock to see the church changed into a museum. After the Reformation the altars were removed from the originally Roman Catholic churches , together with many other things. In English cathedrals, and not just in England of course, the altar and the choir of the church are the most important parts and worship and services concentrate there. In the big churches in Holland, as can be found in Leiden, Haarlem and Amsterdam for example, and which became protestant places of worship after the Reformation, the choir is hardly used and often closed off. The organ is mostly on the west wall opposite the choir, and for worship and services the nave is used with people often facing the organ with their backs to the choir, depending on where the pulpit is situated. Sometimes the choir is also used for services, as it is smaller and the congregation is shrinking. And it is easier and cheaper to heat the choir, another reason to close it off. In Zaltbommel the choir is completely closed off and used for meetings, social gatherings after church and as a winter church. It is not normally open to visitors of the church.

Today – Sunday 28^th  - the Spin, a very fragile looking aeroplane with an open wooden seat just for one person, was placed just between nave and choir of the Bavo church. Around the choir was an exhibition area with models of aeroplanes. The church looked like a market place. I suppose it was often used as a covered market place during the Middle Ages. At least, that is what many paintings suggest. However, when we started rehearsing, people had to leave the church and some peace returned.

The place for the choir is often under the organ, with its back towards it, and that is where we sat. Acoustically this is not the best place and it was never intended for a choir.

The Evensong was an echo of our week in Ely and a reunion for some of the ECS members who sang there. It was good to sing again as many of us suffered from severe withdrawal symptoms after a full week of singing in a beautiful English cathedral. We sang well, I think. Jackson's "Justorum Animae" sounded ethereal, as we sang it under the crossing of nave, transepts and choir, which is a much better place for the choir. We seem to get the hang of it, and so at last we can make music and don't just frantically count!

One Evensong crawler coming all the way form beyond Utrecht, wrote a very nice comment in his blog.

The title of this blog entry made me smile: Elegant evensong by assorted Anglicans. Quite witty. But this choir fan was not the only one who had enjoyed the Evensong.

This was our music list:

Introit: Justorum animae (Gabriel Jackson)
Procession hymn: O Worship the King (NEH 433)
Preces (Michael Walsh)
Psalm 136 (Jonathan Bielby)
Canticles: Evening Service in E minor (William S. Lloyd Webber)
Lesser Litany, Lord’s Prayer, Collects (Michael Walsh)
Anthems: Christ whose glory fills the skies (Harold Darke) & Litany to the Holy Spirit (Peter Hurford)
Closing hymn: How Shall I Sing that Majesty (NEH 699/373)
Organ voluntary: Voluntary in A minor for Double Organ (William Croft)

Conductor: Martin van Bleek
Organ: James Pollard

Afterwards some of us relaxed over drinks in a cafe on the Market Square. Others still had a long way to travel by train to get home. Those evensongs are a real joy. It is such a blessing to be able to sing with such a choir and in wonderful places of worship. There is the prospect of singing in Malta, and who would not like that!

A good day all in all.

The Muller organ of the BAVO is world famous. Built in 1738, it was played by G.F. Händel in 1740 and ’50, who travelled to Haarlem especially for this purpose, and in 1766 the ten-year-old Mozart was on the organ.  It looks magnificent. So the postludium or voluntary was worth listening to.

Some frescoes in the church are still intact and have been restored to its former glory.

Iconoclasm has destroyed so many church treasures. In Holland the protestants did not at all approve of organs or any other musical instrument in church services. They were considered  to be instruments of the devil by. Only the Word, the Bible, was important. The organs, however, were not destroyed as they did not belong to the churches, but to the cities. The organists were employed and paid by the city and were supposed to give recitals regularly, also on Sundays, but not during the services. So the beautiful pipe organs were left untouched. For those who speak Dutch, there is a very interesting site explaining the conflict between the religious and local authorities about the church organs.

I wonder why the Canticles, the Magnificat and the Nunc Dimittis, were also banned by the protestants, as well as the chanted Psalms. The latter were replaced by the most dreadful rhymed paraphrases of the biblical psalm texts. The song of Mary and the song of Simeon, respectively the Magnificat and the Nunc Dimittis, are literal quotations from the Bible. But it was all to "popish" for the protestants, especially the Calvinists. The Lutherans have kept more of the Roman Catholic elements of the liturgy. It would be a very fascinating study why the protestants in the Netherlands were so radical, but I suppose that has been done already.

In the morning I sang in my regular church choir in The Hague . The congregation really welcomed the choir after a two month absence. A quick drive home to cook an very easy meal before leaving for Haarlem.

Just before I left for Haarlem I was invited to join a nephew and his wife on Monday night for a concert in the famous Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, an unexpected treat. No Anglican chant this time, but Wagner, Strauss  and Sjostakovitsj.

The day before, on Saturday, we organised the Open Day of the cultural institution of our small town, where a selection of the courses, concerts and lectures we have on offer this coming season was presented to interested possible "customers". It was an opportunity to meet some of the course leaders and teachers, and admire the work of students who had taken part in creative and/or art courses. We did not get as many interested future "students" as we expected, but that might have been due to the inclement weather. It was pouring down all day long, and even the shopping centre remained very quiet for a Saturday. 

Ely en Brahms

A video of the Brahms, the only German anthem we, the ECS (European Cathedral Singers), sang in Ely. James, the organist that day, did the recording and used my photo's to create this video. It was a surprise for me, but I think it is quite a good video. I did not really like the Brahms, but I think it sounded a lot better than I had thought it would. There were 29 of us. Some years we only have 20 or 22 singers, so we had a rather big choir this year.

Flowers and Music

A nice weekend, fortunately not without company.

Friday evening my neighbour and I went to see the floats which were ready for the flower parade on Saturday. The auction halls are just down the road, and the weather forecast for Saturday was for rain and more rain. The halls are huge, and after Aalsmeer which is world famous, they are the biggest flower auction halls in Holland. They are covered, so we could admire the flowers well protected from the elements. Of course during the parade the floats carry people: flower queens and maidens, brass-bands, clowns and whatever. But the flowers are the most important thing. The imagination of the people designing the floats is amazing. It seemed that every one taking part in the parade had been awarded a prize, be it bronze, silver or gold. And rightly so, for all the private cars and trucks, as well as the floats were beautiful in their own way. I could not choose between them, although I liked some colour schemes better than others.  But that is a matter of personal choice. Every visitor went home with a big, long stemmed rose, which is now taking pride of place in the living room.

Zaltbommel

Another and totally different outing was on Saturday night. I had not seen my organist friend for at least seven weeks, during which time he had given recitals in France and Switzerland and I had gone to England to sing in Ely Cathedral the day he came back from his five week tour. On Saturday evening he gave a recital in Zaltbommel, in a big church which has a beautiful pipe organ. The church is remarkable as frescoes from before iconoclasm are still vaguely visible in several places. Although the church is dedicated to St. Maarten (St. Martin?), three of the remaining frescoes depict St. Christopher. A website for the church is in the process of being built and does as yet not give any information about its history or the pipe organ. But another website gives detailed information about musical life in the area. It contains a dairy of the recitals, and each individual programme is given in detail. For each composer listed – and for some organists - , there are links to specific websites.  One of the compositions my friend played that evening was the Passagaglia in d-moll by Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707).

It is a joyful organ piece. The You Tube recording I have chosen is interesting because it is played on the well-known De Swart-van Hagerbeer organ in the "Hooglandse Kerk" in Leyden, the Netherlands, which I am so familiar with. It was a joy to be at the recital, and to meet many friends and acquaintances. Six of us, including the organist, had drinks in a cafe afterwards, the only one in this sleepy town which was still open, so we could catch up on what we had been doing during the summer so far. I was not back home till after midnight, as it takes at least an hour and 15 minutes by car to get to Zaltbommel. But it was well worth it and a very enjoyable evening indeed.