Close to new year 1993 I had the honourful opportunity to sound in the big hall of the Würzburg town hall for the first time. A soprano of the theatre, Richetta Manager was giving a Lied recital, being accompanied by GMD Jonathan Seers.
The big big staircase of the town hall was very easy to overlook but the edges of the steps were rather rounded so that there was a danger to slide. Since it was snowing outside and we came in with wet rubber chains of the pianoplan the chains had to be dried with the hair-dryer to get an optimal adhesion coefficient between rubber and the rounded stone edges. For god´s sake everything went o.k. without slipping of the mobile unit.
The wooden stage was only 20 cm high and it had been build by the stage workers of the theatre. They were not expecting such a weight when I was swinging over the edge of that low stage and nearly ruining the surface...... Wolfgang kicked it back into its position and nobody noticed anything.
We took use of that nice surrounding and took some photos. I will show you the photo which appeared in the press:
From the town hall I was brought directly in the Schönborn hall in the "Marienfestung" the fortress on top of the hill over Würzburg which the archbishops build to flee from enemies if they would be attacked in their residence. I was due to accompany a chamber music ensemble. American musicians who had been invited by the "friends of main-franconian art" whatever that is.
After the concert Wolfgang was going to meet the artists downtown in a restaurant. They had some violins and Cellos to pack and go downtown. Wolfgang and I were the first in the restaurant. A piano is just handier!
Then we drove to Pforzheim to visit a young soprano, this was like an excursion without work for me.
Middle of January the 6th doctors course was not booked very much. Wolfgang was trying a new hotel and had to improvise with pianos and practising rooms. They visited me for several hours and exchanged experiences. A friend from Hamburg, Gesine Thomforde, with whom Wolfgang had studied music therapy was amazed what she could learn in the course.
PKW
Another contact came back after 15 long years of pause from Wolfgangs times of studying in Hamburg:
Petra Kristin Wolf (my former nickname for her is PKW), now Petra Wolf-Perraudin is a mezzo-soprano and full dentist. She had met a former neighbour of Wolfgang in a Hamburg cafe and they found out that they knew him both. So they got back in touch after having lost touch. In February she came visiting in Leinach though just for talking and not rehearsing much. See her resume and nowadays activity here.
The "Mohr"
Only two weeks later another course again in Aub. Wolfgang tried to sell an old grand piano which he brought from a Würzburg dealer. These old models even have wooden legs with wooden screws, not metal mechanisms which can be hooked in seconds. At the set-up the wooden screw broke apart. Although it could be repaired fastly with a carpenter nobody bought it any more after this unsolid impression!
The pediatric doctor Robert Toussaint, having an international background, speaking many languages and having a wonderful black colour is always mocking on himself. When he played in fornt of the group the first time he said afterwards: "The black boy has done his duty" (which is like a citation from a german saying) and everybody laughed. He plays very well, difficult pieces like studies by Moscowski and much more. If I were a child I would love to be treated by him!
Another colleague, a lady doctor who would soon open up her own doctor´s office was also participating and liked the athmosphere of the courses very much. The quota of the repeaters was rizing so much that sometimes nearly the half course reserved a place for the next date!
Moon-light and star-glance
On 6th March I saw a new hall in the castle Marienfestung above Würzburg, the "Scherenberg-Stuben", one of the halls available for congresses and so on. There was a medical congress and they only rented me to be played by a young pianist (son of a doctor!). Wolfgang thought he was there anyways and he played a bit to impress the organizer of the congress in the hope to get an order next time. He was amazed to see my loading process very much.
Like many times before I was going down the garden stairs at moon-light and under the shining start. It is gorgeous to arrive at home under such a scenery. A grand piano which is transported by a spedition will rarley have these experiences.
Valldemossa
Then a great moment came: We headed for Mallorca! Also grand pianos want to see the south. I am made mainly from wood and I like good climate. The same senior touristic promoter who had organized the recital on Lanzarote, Manfred Pahl, was doing it on Mallorca, now. We should give a Chopin recital at the place in Valldemossa where Frédéric Chopin had lived with the french lady poet George Sand for a while.
The Bösendorfer factory in Vienna had understood that it could be interesting to hear a Bösendorfer grand here because up to now there was only another brand of piano. So they payed the expensive ferry from Barcelona to Palma de Mallorca. The tour from Leinach to Barcelona took 14 hours. The evening before Wolfgang had sund the Tannhäuser performance and had gone to bed very weakened with fever. But he did not at all want to cancel this important date in Mallorca. The more south we came the better Wolfgan felt.
We slept infront of the door of that phantastic botanic garden of Blanes north from Barcelona. Wolfgang walked through it on the next morning (without me!) before we entered the ferry to Palma. Eight hours on a ship. Silent sea. In Palma we were taken by the piano technician Marcello directly from the ship to Valldemossa. He also showed us interesting places beside.
One of the most difficult transport tasks Wolfgang had to dissolve with me was the entrance of the garden of the "Palacio del Rey Sancho" in Valldemossa. The old door was much too low!
but immediately followed a stair so I had to get through that on pianoplan. Only one meter after the stair came a little fountain who had to be surrounded. So he stood there for auite a while to think about a solution. He then put some wooden boxes under the ramp to have less inclination of pianoplan to save height.
On the ramp whch was positioned on a wooden box (ouch, balance!) he had to make a 90 ° left turn to get down to the garden level. With the help of some men supporting from the side they managedit. So the steep stair up on the stage was nearly nothing compared with the garden door!
In the afternoon Wolfgang had no more occasion to practise because several young pianists played there for all the tourist groups. So he came to the recital with no optimal preparation and made many mistakes because of the fresh program. The audience was so nice that they enjoyed the music rather than asking for a perfection like on a CD.
As part of the whole arrangement the group went to the hotel after the recital and listened to some more pieces not only by Chopin which Wolfgang played on the grand piano of the hotel.
Although the tour did not pay off at all it was a unique experience to play at such a historic place.
Friday, 26th March we arrived exactly TWO minutes before the second Tannhäuser performance at the Würzburg theater. Since the entrance of the men´s choir was to come a bit later there was plenty of time to dress up!
