Not too much time. I am writing from a "Phone-Internet Shop" run by German speaking Turks in the city of Konstanz. Gave my lecture on Heinrich Isaac and the "Choralis Constantinus" he composed for the Cathedral of Konstanz in 1509. Gave it in the crypt which dates back to 6th century, however the upper church dates from the Middle Ages with Renaissance and Baroque additions - these combinations work much better than the Abbey in the Insel Reichenau.
Of course, the battery in my camera chose to run out just before we arrived. I will not be able to recharge until I get to our next hotel this evening in Appenzell. But someone else has a digital camera I can download from - if I can get an internet connection in the sleepy hamlet Appenzel is. Konstanz is a beautiful city! - the center of which is Medieval. Many buildings dating back to the 13th century (1260, 1273, etc.). Most of them have stucco over the original stone, but the original structure is there. This has a different feel than Reichenau. More of a "city," albeit a Medieval one.
It was here in the Cathedral that the Council of Constance was held in the 1400's definitively ending the heresy of "conciliarism." Saw the choir stalls from which Isaac`s pieces were originally sung in the early 1500's by the choir that commissioned them. Thrilling! It was in what is called "Konzilhall" that Pope Martin V was elected. Not the Cathedral proper. The hall is 200-300 yards from the cathedral. It is now a restaurant-banquet hall, which is not too bad because it originally was a grain storage hall before the bishops used it.
As I said, I may or may not make an internet connection outside of the "big city" of Konstanz, but I am trying hard to blog once a day!
Goodbye for now!
4 comments:
Kurt, it's a shame that the camera battery ran down. I hope you can re-charge later, because it was really neat to see the earlier pictures.
Back to "pla pla". Local gossip must have been a major issue back then, (when they had so little in the way of entertainment?). Today we have much wider sources for gossip, with TV, etc.----and we hardly think of it as gossip, maybe because it's not so close and personal.
Mom
I'm sorry the camera "malfunctioned," as I was looking forward to seeing more pictures. Still, I've definitely been enjoying your blog, and look forward to reading more.
Your mother made an excellent point about gossip in a pre-technology era.
Enjoy the rest of your trip!
Christine
Wonderful blog, Dr. Poterack! I just recalled it this moment, but I am having so much fun going back and reading the posts. I hope you are having even more fun seeing Europe!
God bless,
Sylvia
Thank you for reading and commenting, you two sopranos! : ^ )
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