Last night we were fortunate enough to get tickets to the BSO, thanks to friends who gave us their tickets. The performance featured music by Felix Mendelssohn, a 19th century composer who died young but still managed to accomplish much. He is of course most famous for his wedding march but he also wrote operas, symphonies, piano quartets, and other pieces.
We had to rush a bit because of Kelly getting held up at work but we made up for lost time and even managed to find an awesome parking spot right around the corner from the Hall. We got inside with a little bit of time to spare and so we looked around for Jen and Greg (the couple who gave us the tickets) and found them almost by accident. After briefly talking with them (and with another couple Kelly knew) we headed up to our seats.
It was my first time at the Symphony, and so I was trying to take it all in. I liked the hall itself, and there was a lot of small displays in the hallways that had items of historical interest. One display featured a bit about Henry Lee Higginson, the guy who founded the BSO in the 1880s. It turns out that he was a Civil War veteran who served in the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry and the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry. They even had a photo of him in uniform and his dress sword on display in the case.
The symphony had some sort of champagne bar, where they also offered cognac and port. The port selection left a bit to be desired, but it is still cool that you can even get it. We didn’t stop for anything anyway.
Our seats were located in the second balcony, and offered a great view and acoustics. I generally enjoyed the performance, but there were a few things that stood out even to a novice like me. First, there had been last-minute substitutions for both the conductor and the tenor, and that probably threw a few people out of whack. There were several times when it seemed as if mistakes had been made. Still, I enjoyed it. It was nice to get out and to enjoy the music. I like Mendelssohn as a composer, and since one of the sopranos was from Sweden I immediately thought of Mendelssohn’s friend and contemporary Jenny Lind. I have no idea if that was intentional, but at least I could appreciate the connection.
-Geoff
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