Pentecost Sunday: Medicine & Music
Today is Pentecost Sunday, 49 days after Easter, when the Holy spirit descended upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus. They were given the Gift of All Tongues in order to spread to Gospel, a theme we will revisit later this week.
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After mass in the abbey church for those who wished to participate, we had a Pentecost feast - paella!
Some students had seconds, then thirds, and even ... fifths...
...which - minutes later - led to this.
After a class on medieval medicine to prepare for tomorrow's site visit, we helped set up for a fabulous concert in the abbey. Régis Pasquier, the world renowned violinist, gave an all-Schubert concert with some of his musicians: a (never completed) string trio, a quartet (n° 13, "Rosamonde"), and finally the quintet for 2 cellos that is often considered one of the greatest compositions of all chamber music.
We had the best seats in the abbey, directly behind where the musicians would be performing.
It was quite a thrill to participate in this event - and to be so close to the performers.
After the concert we helped turn the abbey from a concert hall back into a church.
And were rewarded for our efforts by being invited to participate in a reception for the musicians.
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This is a French tradition, involving hors d'œuvres and wine - here, of course it couldn't be anything but Chablis.
Régis Pasquier travels all over the world as a soloist and with his chamber musicians, and has taken part in the Mozart Festival in Burlington (he was between Houston and Tokyo today). He speaks excellent English and loves the States. He chatted with the students and made everyone laugh -
And we raised a glass to his fine musicianship, and to Franco-American friendship.
