Tuesday, June 19

Arriving with the car at the place where my first lecture is going to take place, I got almost got knocked out! At the gate: ‘I don’t believe my eyes’, as we say in German (and maybe not in English…). Right after the entrance where the car comes in, there is a little square with trees and lot of greenery. On top of this – to my complete surprise – I see that big, long red banner with Chinese characters in yellow. These characters are framing my own name to be found in the middle which everybody can see entering the school that day: “Anno Mungen”. What a welcome with the announcement of my being at the Music school that day. The Music school at the University of Hangzhou is beautiful. The buildings are situated in a campus which looks like a garden. It is quite hot today. The doors of the practice rooms are left open. I love that cacophonic sound experience of coincidence: some piano playing here, some opera singing there, and a chorus somewhere else in the far background. The campus has a nice concert hall as well as a gym, a sports field, dormitories and other buildings. Students strolling along, greeting us. They must be realizing that this peaceful village-like school is not a bad place to study music and musicology. What a great and almost perfect situation. The idea of 1905 peace nobel prize laureate Bertha von Suttner of a festival of education for the 21^st Century replacing or extending the Wagner festival idea comes to my mind. This is my example I will be finishing my lecture on the Bayreuth festival this afternoon. The Musicology department is part of the school, and Professor Yang Jihua invited me to talk in front of his students. Jessica is translating my paper in little sections. She does an excellent job. At least that is my impression. Being translated this way is a new experience to me. Only a few of the students seem to understand my English. It feels a little strange to be not able to get in touch with them directly through my speaking. But, as the questions they are asking after my talk indicate: it did work. These question also prove the general appreciation for the topic. Theoretically I knew this before, but now I can feel it for the first time in this class room full with Chinese students in their late teens and early twenties: Wagner seems a big deal in this country. A very big deal.