Saturday, Oct 20

This afternoon we spent the afternoon at the Bastille area, mainly at the big café there. We went back home early to have a light supper because we wanted to go the la Madeleine church for a concert. Some Parisian group was doing the Mozart Requiem. It was almost a packed house and if you know the church, that’s a lot of people. We were disappointed in the performance. The chorus and the orchestra were not always together and sometimes the various sections of the chorus were not together. We know since we have done the work a number of times and know some sections almosat by heart. Even the two male soloists were not very good. The two females were better. The bass didn’t have the low notes needed in the “Tuba mirum“ and the tenor just wasn’t up to the job. They did several smaller pieces to fill out the program. The Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah was hardly appropriate and also not sung well. Oh, well. We have struck that chorus off our list. We also think that the Madeleine may not be accoutically good for choral music, especially if you are in the middle. It was after 11 when we got home. We missed a bus and had a 20 minute wait for the next one. Here is the group. I won't name them, however, or give the name of the conductor. They are well-known in Paris and should be better, especially at $40 a ticket.