Day 2 - Austria! (no spoilers)
Klagenfurt, Maria-Saal, und Tanzenberg
A small round dog, soaring gothic towers
A beautiful first concert, rehearsal lasting hours
Elusive alpacas reside in the mind
And at the Kunsthaus, glee clubbers unwind.
After a delightful buffet breakfast at Seepark Wörthersee, the quarter zip army filled not one, but two buses and rolled Maria-Saal, a small town on a hill mostly inhabited by an artists' commune, the ringleader of which is Stefan Sveiger. More on him later.
The glee club enjoyed about an hour exploring Maria-Saal in small groups. One group visited the old gothic church and attempted to climb the tower overlooking the city, but were tragically unsuccessful. Another group purportedly observed alpacas, but the alpacas in question could not be verified by any other member of the glee club (keep in mind there are 100 of us). Another party frolicked, Sound of Music style. Like in the movie, they skipped across an open Austrian field while reciting solfège syllables. Father von Trapp (Gabriel) would be so proud!
The von Trapp children also encountered a small dog, which they heroically reunited with its owner, the uncle of Stefan Sweiger. One dog enthusiast described him as “nur ein kleine Hund,” which translates loosely to “a dog whose proportions and size are so unbelievably perfect in every way that you just know that this dog has never done anything wrong in his life.” His underfur nearly grazed the cobblestone. Alas, this blog is not about a dog. Then it would be called Blog with a Dog. It is, in fact, the Glog chronicling our second day of tour.
The quarter zip army then boarded the bus and made their way to Tanzenberg (the Dancing Mountain) but there was no dancing except on a chair (Sarba pe scaun). Embraced by the snow-capped alps of Southern Austria, the Tanzenberg Castle is an arresting image. If picked up and moved by a Princeton construction crew to the plains of New Jersey, it could pass for a modified Richardson if you were squinting hard enough.
Two romanesque towers soar above the main hall section, wherein the white plaster and stonework glow with the light of stained glass windows in the nave. Our sound lingered in the marble gothic arches perceptibly, creating a highly unique acoustic which enlivened Shaw’s "Blessing of the Boats."
The concert program was a carefully crafted taster of Glee Club’s repertoire for our new Austrian fans. We began with Immortal Bach in four choirs scattered throughout the building before moving directly into version one of Nun ist das Heil. Next we sang our favorite Estonian number, Taaveti Laul No. 104. After that exercise in linguistics, Chamber Choir performed Laudibus in Sanctis, which was Laudibussin’ and slaying the house down. The next set moved seamlessly from the final chord of the Shaw to Harris's Faire is the Heaven, featuring our distinctive a capella sound as an ensemble. We finished the concert strong with Nun ist das Heil (it's back!) and Magnificat (it's Bach!).
Special shoutout to our soloists Cat, Ally, Tim, Matthew, Halle, Rafael, Corinna, Claire, Madeline, and Reese, and our student conductors Katie and Shruti.
And now we will rate each of their performances out of ten… just kidding!
After receiving a standing ovation and delivering a questionable rendition of Sarba pe scaun as an encore (those multicolored chairs in the aisle were definitely dancing), we headed back to Maria-Saal for dinner and festivities.
Speaking of chairs, Gabriel mounted the hot seat and demonstrated his love for the glee club as well as a diplomat’s gift for evading direct answers. Although the stakes were high during hot seat, they were even higher in the second floor kitchen, where Chef Gabriel and several sous chef glee clubbers were cooking steaks as after-dinner snacks.
Outside the building, a bonfire in the square attracted a cozy circle of glee clubbers who shared stories and—at various points in the night—broke into choruses of Happy Birthday, I’m a Train, and the first half of Faire is the Heaven. It’s safe to say that these faithful renditions truly did the composers justice.
It’s hard to put into words the sentiment in the air on that cold spring night under the stars of the Austrian countryside. The sight of beloved friends’ faces illuminated by the warm glow of firelight, eyes twinkling with laughter, air humming with song, created a sense of belonging and precious, fleeting beauty that will stay with the authors forever.
Yours,
Madeleine Murnick and Robert Mohan ‘26
PS. Next, for our first day in Slovenia, stay tuned (at baroque pitch)
