Tanglewood 2017

Thirty or so years ago I went to Tanglewood for the first time. I went with my mother and some other relative(s). A week ago I went for the second time. I had invited two internet friends — Zack, whom I had met several years ago thanks to Bob, and who has visited me several times, and Peter, whom I had never met, but whom I have known on blogger and twitter for about ten years — to join me for the three Boston Symphony concerts of August 11-13. Both agreed, and I ordered tickets and made motel reservations. We planned to meet between 3:00 and 4:00 on Friday afternoon.

Friday. Peter is a grad student in History from Western Pennsylvania, and he prepared for the trip, researching sites of historical significance he could visit in conjunction with the trip. So on the drive to Massachusetts, he made a stop at FDR's home in Hyde Park, NY. Zack drove directly form his home near Syracuse, NY. My trip, along the Massachusetts Turnpike (route I-90), took an hour and a half longer than normal because of heavy and slow moving traffic much of the way. I didn't arrive until about 5:00. We had supper at a Friendly's across the street from our motel in Lee, and, with the help of Peter's map and directions app, made the 15 minute ride to Tanglewood without any difficulty.

The concert consisted of Dvořák's Carnival Overture, followed by the Double Concerto, for violin and cello by Brahms, and after intermission The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky. It was a good concert, with each piece enjoyable in its own way. During the concert it began to rain, and we got pretty wet on the way back to my car. Back at the motel about 11:00 we agreed to meet at 9:00 the next morning for a trip Peter wanted to take to a historical home he had learned about in his preparation for the trip.

Saturday.  In Manchester, Vermont, Robert Todd Lincoln — Abraham's only son who survived to adulthood — had a family home built in 1905. He called the estate Hildene. It was in an area which he and family members had visited regularly. The drive there took about two hours, and we spent a couple of hours touring the impressive house and spacious grounds. Although the building is fairly large, it does not have many rooms. It is designed for a family to live there in comfort. After our visit we went to Manchester's best known restaurant, Mulligan's, for a late lunch. Peter had also discovered it during his preparations for the trip. We got back to our motel in Lee late in the afternoon. At that point, nobody wanted to eat supper before the concert, so we got some takeout food from Friendly's to reheat and eat afterwards.

Arriving at Tanglewood, we saw that there was a "Grill" which was in operation, with an adjacent beer and wine patio. Zack and I had some coffee. The concert consisted of a recently composed work, Incantesimi, by Julian Anderson. It wasn't the greatest thing I've ever heard, by a long shot, but I found it listenable. Petert and Zack were unimpressed. There were no complaints about the Brahms Violin Concerto or Beethoven's Symphony No. &, which followed. This time the rain, lighter than on Friday, held off until we were in the car on the way back to the motel. We enjoyed our little snacks.

Sunday.  Sometime in the middle of the night I fell out of my bed. An involuntary contraction of some muscle r muscles near the base of my right ribs gave me considerable discomfort; when I moved in certain ways, it was painful. It took me about forty minutes to get dressed, but after I found some aspirin in my suitcase and took a couple, the movements (going from sitting to standing or vice versa, bending over, lifting things with my right arm) became tolerable. I went to the Dunkin' Donuts across the parking lot to change a $20 bill so I could put something in the collection at the 8:00 Mass. A cup of coffee and a jelly doughnut served the purpose and furnished breakfast.

Zack had decided that he wanted to visit the Basketball Hall of Fame, so after I got back from Mass, he left for Springfield. Checkout time at the motel was 11:00, and the gates at Tanglewood didn't open for the 2:30 concert until noon. It was a beautiful, sunny day, so we were able to spend some time strolling around Lenox. We arrived at Tanglewood shortly before 1:00. Once inside we picked up some bagged lunches I had ordered when I ordered the tickets. I also bought a beer at the beer and wine patio, and we ate our lunches at tables between it and the Grill. Afterwards there was plenty of time to stroll around the grounds and admire the houses there which predate the establishment of Tanglewood.

The concert was the Overture to Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, followed by the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto (with Joshua Bell as soloist) and the Great C Major Symphony by Schubert. It was, of course, a very fine concert; but, if the truth were known, I tended to doze off several times.

I had invited Peter to stay ay my home near Boston for the next five or six days, so we reutrned to the motel, where he got into his own car, and, after he bought some gas, we headed east on I-90 at 6:00 p.m. The traffic was a slow as it had been on Friday. Having gone about 100 miles in three hourts, we stopped for some food at a McDonald's, and arrived at my home about 10:30, which was about two hours later than I would have expected.

Conclusion.  A high school classmate of mine spends time in the area every summer and attends a number of the concerts. When he learned that I would be there he suggested he might meet me at one of the concerts, but if he attended any of them, he never managed to locate me. It would have been enjoyable to see him there, but it was a good trip nonetheless.

Despite the massive traffic delays and the injury,* it was a fine weekend. I was very happy to finally meet Peter in person and to spend time with Zack. For years I have been looking at Tanglewood brochures, but never finding a series of concerts which was such "must listening" that I actually made the effort to arrange to go there. And once my Race Committee schedule was set, that would limit my freedom to head out to the Berkshires. This year, with the prospect of meeting the others, I kept the weekend free. Since both Peter and Zack seem interested in going again, I'll look for a weekend with an attractive set of programs. I'll also hope that each of them can visit me here some time.

* Over the course of the past week, the discomfort has greatly subsided. There is still some tenderness with some motions, but it's not nearly so bad, and there is no constant soreness. I expect it to clear up completely before long.