Music sounds better in nature (and in Spanish)

Are we too old for selfies? (We are not.)

No football matches at the moment. None of our favorite bands were in town. And taking in a play wasn’t an option, considering we have managed just enough Spanish to order food and drinks.

 

So operating under the assumption that music is a universal language, we got tickets to walk through Madrid’s Botanical Gardens while listening to different ensembles play classical music. 

 

My favorite was the performance of Joseph Haydn's "Cuarteto de cuerda op. 33, No. 3 en Do Major" — as in major deer, a female deer.

 

 

Elizabeth was most captivated by the duo of the flutist and viola's rendition of Franz Anton Hoffmeister's Duo-Concertante No. 3 en Fa Major" (a long, long way to run). I haven't picked up much Spanish but in the flutist's introductory remarks, I understood "viola," "violin," "flauta," and "transformar" enough to understand that the music was initially written for a violin and viola and had been adapted so the flute took the violin's part.

While I got to focus on the music, Elizabeth shot the video (which is why it's vertical — "I'm embracing the TikTok generation," she claimed). 

Elizabeth also noticed how the teenage audience members seemed less than enthralled, while the older ones spent the whole time recording video. 

 

We also enjoyed a trio of a violin, viola and cello, and the musicians performed three songs (pieces from Schubert, Antonín Dvorák and Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf).

 

 We hope to post links to the songs once we get back.