Civilizational markers

In part six of the seven part series, I write about the cultural scene in Wuerzburg, what I enjoy doing while here and also what it means to me. 

 

6. Cultural Hightlights in Wuerzburg

Yes, that was the whole point, more or less the whole point about being in Germany – to make the best of my time here and to do as many of the various things that I enjoyed doing as was possible. For example, I loved attending those free mid-day classical music concerts at the Musikhochschule, yes, you guessed right, besides having a regular university, Würzburg  also had a separate Music University, and students and professors ran a free classical music programme every Wednesday at noon. And the Musikhochschule is just down the street from where I live. Besides this, every year in the months of May and June, students of music who were passing out from the Music University that year had to give a full music concert to the public, as part of their exams. And those concerts were really often better than those done by professional musicians. And what is more, they were free. And often was accompanied by a detailed commentary by the professor who was mentoring the students that really helped the audience to go along with the music. Those student-concerts have helped immensely to improve my understanding of Western classical music.

Besides these, there are regular concerts (often with excellent choirs) in many of the numerous churches dotting the city, most of which are free, but they often ask for a voluntary donation at the end for a specific cause. And the Sunday music soirees in the beautifully grand Toscana Saal (Hall) of the stately ‘Residence’ in the middle of the city, also a short walk from where I live. Then there were the big concerts in the huge hall in the Mainfranken Theatre, the Congress Centrum and in the other big arenas and halls dotting the city. Tickets are usually fairly expensive but then what is not? For the sixty euros I paid to travel by train from the airport to Würzburg , I could have also gone to the best concert in town.

So much for music, but then there is a theatre, which I am particularly interested in. My favourite is a kind of intimate theatre in quaint little halls that can accommodate anything between 20 and 50 people. The props are minimal, it is the dialogues and the actors that hold centre-stage. True, most of the performances are in German, but that has not been a big problem for me. Yes, sometimes I have not understood it completely and have wondered why people clapped or laughed, but that could also have happened if the performance was in English. If anything, the many accents in which English is spoken makes it hard for anyone, even a native speaker, to claim cent percent comprehension. The fact that German (at least the formal version) pronunciation is fixed makes it is easier to speak and also easier to understand. Of course there are regional variations and accents, but still, in most cases one manages.

Tickets for performances at the quaint Chambinsky Theatre, which has a real Broadway feel to it, cost usually 20 euros. Not a lot if you consider that there are often as few as 5-6 spectators only. There are also the big mainstream professional theatres which costs more (25-60 euros I would say) but for which you have to go much further out. When Stephan was around we used to often go to the big theatre in Schweinfurt to listen to concerts as well as to see plays. But now that he is gone and I don’t have a car, that is not so easy to do, particularly since the performances often start at 8 p.m. and go on for a couple of hours. I guess this also means that such performances are meant for the well-heeled seniors who have the money, the leisure and their own personal cars to afford to attend.

Inside the tiny hall in the
Central at Burgerbrau

For the younger people there were the open air theatre performances in the summer months which are usually very well attended and I have been to many at the  Waldbuhne (Forest stage) set in the middle of the wilderness behind the Burgerbrau, an erstwhile brewery which had been repurposed into a cultural hub of sorts. At the Burgerbrau is also a Cinema Hall where one gets to see the best movies from all over the world and which also did not cost more than about 10 euros. There are three small theatres there each with a capacity of not more than 50. And although most of the time it is no problem to get a seat even if one has not reserved it earlier, a couple of times I have had to come back home disappointed. But it was okay, I had reserved a seat and gone back again the next day.

You couldn’t think of doing that in India. In fact, I still can’t go to see a film all by myself in Guwahati. Somehow it is just too much hassle – how will I book, how will I know which seat to book, do I have to book early, how will I go, if I take the car where will I park, if I don’t take the car will I get an Uber to bring me back home, and will it get too late to travel alone in a taxi, and so on and so forth. But here in Germany, it was easy. One just takes the tram or the bus, buys a ticket and goes in. When it gets over, one just takes the next ride back home.

A very popular movie combi-offer was on Thursday afternoons at the movie theatre in the nearby town of Dettelbach where the cost of coffee and cake was included in the price of the film ticket (which was cheaper than usual). So one went at 3 p.m., met up with friends over coffee and cake and then at 4:30 went in for the film. Why don’t we have anything even remotely like that in India?

There is something else too that is very different in India than here. In India nobody really claps at the end of a performance. Here, be it music or theatre, at the end there is always hearty applause. Of course the degree of applause, going from out of pure politeness to that out of total amazement and excitement. But the point is that people clap in the end, to show their appreciation for the effort that the performers have put in, regardless of whether they loved it or didn’t. In India, the attitude seems to be, we have already paid you to perform, why should we bother to clap? It seems there is a world of difference in how we treat our artistes, and the respect we show them.

But I am not done with my account of the things I enjoy doing while in Würzburg .

Kunsthalle in Hamburg

Another item really at the top of my list are the seasonal exhibitions and the special exhibitions in museums that are always nice to go to. Art has no language and Germany has always been known especially for its art and music. Every city in Germany, no matter how small, boosts of at least one museum, dedicated either to some aspect of local history of the region, or to some famous son or daughter of the place. In the village church, many of which have very good organs, they have at least one place for music performances. And in the city’s community hall, there is at least one place for holding exhibitions, lectures, sports events, dance performances and other programmes.

Of course Würzburg , while it is not a very big city with its 130,000 inhabitants, is still big enough to boost of its very own art museum called the Kulturspeicher which has a very fine permanent art collection, and which organizes special exhibitions on a regular basis, some of which are quite spectacular. And of course the spectacular   Residence in the heart of the city, the home of the Archbishop-king, is home to several museums as does the Festung, the Fortress up on the Hill, one of which has a great collection of very fine Riemenschneider sculptures. Moreover, the Würzburg  Cathedral, which was badly damaged during the war, has its own museum as has the City Town Hall, the Rathaus, which has a model of how Würzburg  looked after the bombings of a few hours of that one particular morning in 1945, when 90% of the old city was destroyed.

Side view of the Residenz with the Cherry blosssoms

But about all that some other time. I am still not done with my list of things one can do while in Würzburg . One can also simply go for a walk, for kilometres on end along the Main or in the vineyards all around, for a quick jog to the beautifully maintained Residence gardens, or to just spend a few hours in the heart of nature by simply crossing the river and walking into the woods. Or one can do nothing and just simply sit on one of the many benches along the Main and watch the waters and the world go by…

By the Main in Randesacker

A wisteria is full bloom
with a lady dressed
in the same colours
in front of it

What is it that I am really trying to say by telling you about the various things that one could do or see in the city? I am trying to tell you that this is what draws me to Würzburg , what makes me want to return to it over and over again, this is what I look forward to every time I come back here, this is what I enjoy doing, even if I am on my own, most evenings I am here. This is what being in Germany gives me. And this is what I miss having in India – this extra bit which goes beyond just living, beyond the mundane everyday business of keeping alive.

And even if indirectly, what I also miss in India is the beauty of it all, the great attention to detail, the earnestness with which the students perform at the Musikhochschule, the immersed stillness in the pauses between the different movements in a piece of music, the professionalism with which the actors at the theatre perform their parts giving their very best evening after evening even if there are barely a handful of people in the audience, the generous clapping at the end, the extreme care and thoroughness with which every aspect of an event is planned, the reliability of its public transport system, how events always begin on time, how people almost always keep their word, and the politeness and formality if not warm friendliness attending these occasions.

For me these are nothing less than civilizational markers, markers that are sadly missing or if present, very differently manifested, in India. This is the world that I miss in India, much more than I miss the cheeses and the wines, the sausages and croissants, that this country can also give me. Somehow it seems to suggest that there is something more to life than just working and living. People must also have the time and the space and the means to enjoy music, to go to the theatre, to witness great art, and more. Being alive must also include all of that too…