I heard a LOT of music at the Frauenkirche!
The Frauenkirche was mostly destroyed in the Allies' bombing of Dresden in WWII, but has been rebuilt with an exterior consisting of both new cream-colored stones and the old grey stones and with a sort of cheerfully bright and gaudy interior. It only re opened in the last decade or so. And if you can't tell from the big ole Martin Luther statue in front, it's a Lutheran church.
On Saturday night, there was this concert:
And we sat WAY up there...Looking way down there....
It was a marvelous concert of music that had almost nothing to do with Bach--practically everything was from the 20th century. The choir had a beautiful sound that floated up to us quite brilliantly. The concert ended with a 20-minute improvisation at the organ by the conductor of the evening's concert, Wayne Marshall. Because we were so high up, we were parallel with the pipes, so that part of the concert was um LOUD, as well as being interesting and amazing. You can see him standing at the front of the balcony across the way.
The next morning I returned to the Frauenkirche because they were actually having a service that included a Bach cantata, Cantata #37 (St. Thomas in Leipzig was not, by the way...). We also the cutest, kickiest, look-all-around baby get baptized.
Between the Hofkirche and Frauenkirche, I got a good peek into the religious and musical life of Dresden.
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