Piazza San Marco
06/02/2010
This morning we ventured to the piazza San Marco again. We went inside the basilica and walked all around and then up to the top and outside on the balcony. If you google a picture of it, look for the four horse statues on the front. We were walking on that balcony right next to them. I do have pictures as does Elliott and many of the rest of the group, but I'm on an old hotel computer and do not have the technology to upload them yet.
Inside the basilica was really amazing, as expected. The glass mosaic art was intricate in everyway and completely detailed. I wish we could have taken pictures inside, but alas we could not. The whole experience was pretty surreal to everyone. Once inside, we got tosee the different lofts if you will and how music was performed. Basically, there are a ton of arches with little balconies in many places in the main area in the basilica. Because of this, the musicians would be placed in different sections to acheieve a new musical effect never before achieved. I bet it was astounding to see and hear in the hay day of this place.
After the basilica we took a long vapporetto ride to the cemetery to pay our respects to Igor Stravinsky. It was a very somber moment and we were also not the only people there paying him a visit. Again, if you are unfamiliar with Stravinsky you should probably take five minutes to research him and get an idea as to why he is significant.
All in all, it was a somber yet educational day for the class. It began to rain after we visited Stravinsky's resting place. The class dismissed and we separated for a night of dinner of choice for our last night in Venice aka Venezia to the Italians.
Tomorrow I will try to blog, but no promises. We will spend the dayi n Venice then we will hop on the overnight train to Vienna, Austraia. We wake up in Austria, but then we hop onto another train to Bratislava for the recording of our guest professor, Dr. Peter Russell Farmer's Psalms, in the Bratislava recording studio.
