The hunting season has opened in the Tarn and on Sunday morning local sportsmen were out in pursuit of deer and boar (sangliers). Not a good day to be out walking in the woods with Reggie.
On the roads shoals of cyclists swirled up hill and down dale in a whirl of Lycra. For my part I attended Mass in the morning in a private chapel. The service was conducted in English by a priest from London and afterwards we sat down to a leisurely lunch.
In the evening in Puycelsi Rossini’s La Petit Messe Solennelle was performed in the village church. I had never heard it performed before although I know the music quite well from recordings. The gig was organised and conducted by Englishman, Mark Opstad. He assembled an organist, a pianist, four soloists (soprano, contralto, tenor, bass) and a large local choir. The piece doesn’t have the drama of Verdi’s Requiem or the emotional intensity of Britten’s War Requiem but it does have beautiful tunes. At the end the main performers were presented with pots of jam instead of bouquets of flowers. Indeed in the interval the only refreshment on offer was jam. I cannot explain this idiosyncrasy.
