Strecker II

So I did not win. Well, I won a book, but not an actual prize. The competition turned strange today - all the rules changed.

I arrived today (30 mins hike in the RAIN) and my accompanist was not there yet. We had a scheduled practise time but he was not there. So I waited and waited and 5 minutes before I was supposed to sing he showed up. Remember, I had NEVER heard these pieces played. They had been mailed to my by the competition just a couple of weeks ago, when I was in Salzburg, and since then I have not had piano access at all. So. He gets there and he wanted to just zip through the songs, but unfortunately, Strecker accompaniments from the 1930s were heavily influenced by Berg and Schoenburg. The melody is simple, the melody with the accompaniment is not so simple. I made him go over it a couple of times.
Then, the organizer of the competition came over. he said that I was to sing only the operette today. (We had just wasted 6 minutes going over the Wiener Lied), and so I did, and it went really well, for a wordy German piece that I had just learned.
The next bunch of people all sang 2 songs - Operetta aria and Wiener Lied, so I felt a bit put-out and went to investigate.

I asked around and got a bunch of excuses from different people. Time was running short (or something like that) that is all they needed to hear, bla bla. Finally someone told me that last night the rules had suddenly been changed: If you are not from Wien you are VERBOTEN to sing a Wienerlied. Why? Because as a non-Viennese (later extended to non-German or Austrian) you will obviously not comprehend the subtleties of the lyrics.
Now, the lyrics are all about wine. and dancing and song. I was the only person there who was not German, and I felt a bit more put-out (especially as the winner was calculated by adding up Wienerlied points and Operetta points). Not to rave of conspiracies, but come ON. They LOVE rules over here. I did not know they like changing rules, though. (For example, one girl changed her repertoire, and the head of the competition ahd to be found and dragged onto the stage to assure the uneasy jury that a a song change was permitted)

Obviously, I did not win. It was a lot of fun, but I feel that I did not even have a chance today.

On a different subject, I found the synagogue last night and there was a nice lady there who invited me to services tomorrow. Getting to the airport is more of a Schlepp later at night, but I am interested so I will go. Her son is moving to Grande Prairie Alberta. Isn´t that CRAZY?