Rain continues to impend...

As it has since Sunday-- perhaps today will be the day at last; it is 55° this morning-- I imagine that indicates something. 

At Paris, they are celebrating the feast of the Holy Relics: I believe that the feast was in the Roman Calendar at some point or, perhaps, the right of celebrating it was granted to particular regions or dioceses. 

Post Tertiam. I returned from my spatiamentum, put a pan of cornbread in the oven, made a pot of tea, and then the dog began barking like mad. Since the landlady will sleep through it barking like mad for half an hour or more, I went out to the front room and, lo, 31 turkeys accompanied by one very large white duck were parading down the street. 

If the dog would restrain itself from barking to those occasions when e.g. there were flocks of turkeys passing through I'd be entirely happy to countenance that. As it is, it barks at cats, at squirrels, at people, at other dogs out for their walks with their people, as well as at events or things invisible to the human eye-- too much barking, alas.  I tend not to pay attention after the first second or two when it's in the back yard in the daytime; I put the kibosh on it after dark, however, or at least after dark when my bedtime is nearing. 

I want to know the duck's story. 

The feast of the Holy Relics-- I ran out of time, earlier, prior to the appointed hour for my walk out-- is the feast of all the Saints whose relics are conserved and venerated in a particular church. It used to be the case that at the very least a church would possess whichever relics were entombed in the altar; I don't know if the Church, after the introduction of the Pauline Rite, continues to require this in new altars. 

The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra's performance of Shostakovich's Cello Concerto no 1 in E flat major op 107, with Sol Gabetta the cellist, and then the Symphony no 7 of Sibelius, is livestreamed at 1045. The conductor is 'the young phenomenon' Klaus Mäkelä.

At 0900, Klassikaraadio in Estonia is streaming a concert recorded at Charles Church (a Lutheran temple named after the Swedish king Charles XI) in Tallinn on All Souls Day-- Arvo Pärt's Salve Regina and Gabriel Fauré's Requiem. The Tallinn Chamber Choir and the Estonia Society Mixed Choir, with the soloists Arete Kerge and Tamar Nugis (he is a baritone but that link is to his band X-Panda, eh: 'energetic and theatrical, both progressive while simultaneously accessible and catchy') and organist Ene Salumäe, are directed by Heli Jürgenson.

Holy Mass at 1000. So if I have calculated the times correctly, the Tallinn concert, Mass (I anticipate that it will be a low Mass i.e. no sung parts) at 1000 for rather less than 40 minutes, and then the GSO, with the chatting beforehand at 1045.

~~~

Have been on the telephone for fifteen minutes rectifying a glitch in the insurance records. My fault? I honestly don't see how it could be but, who knows. 

There is a Jesuit celebrating the Mass at Saint-Eugène this morning. He has been there before (I recognize his name) but I know nothing about him; I do doubt that there are many priests of the Society in France who celebrate in the Traditional Rite. 

The Pärt Salve Regina and the Fauré Requiem were lovely. 

The Finn Klaus Mäkelä, at Gothenburg, may or may not be a 'phenomenon' as conductor but he is very articulate and talkative in the pre-concert conversation-- he's leaving Andreas Lindahl, the interviewer, very little to do. A challenging job done right, I'm sure: sometimes he seems to be having to pull teeth, as it were, sometimes the interviewee scarcely breathes in his or her eagerness to say what needs to be said. New plague regulations in Sweden require the members of the Orchestra to be seated a meter and a half from each other. 

~~~

An essay in the Times today by Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim about the composer Osvaldo Golijov and his years out of the public spotlight following a time in it. I do have a vague recollection that his La Pasión según San Marcos was a favorite of the critics and Fortune for a while but can't say that I recall listening to it-- it's in my folder 'Passions' at Spotify so I know I thought about listening, anyway. Perhaps now is the time. 

Was interested to read that the 'Sidereus' scandal mentioned in the da Fonseca-Wollheim piece began here in Eugene, in 2012-- I was looking about to see what Golijov had been performed by the Eugene Symphony and stumbled over all of that (precisely because Golijov was a 'star' there was lots of ink spilled over the business). Had been pretty sure something was done relatively recently, or at least since I began paying attention to such things after 2015-2016, but a cursory Internet search returns nothing so my memory is probably up to its usual tricks.

~~~ 

The squirrel just leaped up to the window sill, seized a peanut, and leapt back down. It didn't make it all the way in its first jump: it was left clinging to the edge of the window frame by its front paws for a moment but pulled itself up to sit on the sill. Of course I jumped myself, startled, and then recalled yesterday's reading about killer squirrels. She just did it again and this time remained on the sill for a couple of seconds, making her choice. Hmm. I must remember to close the window when I'm not here, I reckon. 

The rain, earlier on a light drizzle, is become a regular shower. Time for None and dinner.

~~~

LDVM