Sylvia's Journal

A virus invasion left me coughing and hacking, nearly unable to communicate with the rest of the world, for nearly two weeks. Last night was the acid test: could I sit through 1 hour and 40 minutes of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis without a single cough or gurgle?

Modern medicine and traditional herbal medicine were called upon: a codeine-infused cough syrup and 20 herbal drops every 30 minutes, suggested by our herbal-wise daughter and confirmed by our local herbalists did the trick. From an experimental view it was a bad design since we don’t know which of the two contained the winning formula, or whether it was the combination of ‘something new and old.’

At any rate, it was the result that counted and I was able to enjoy Beethoven’s masterpiece, as some call it. It was performed by a chorus of 40 men and 60 women and 4 soloists, with a fairly large sized orchestra of hired hands in between them. The soloists sung the sacral music with great skill and heart. I wondered what it is like when your instrument is your voice and the virus finds you.

A cousin of our sings in the chorus, which is the reason we went. If every one of the 100 singers invites a few family members you can quickly fill up Jordan Hall. On the reservation screen we got just about the last seats. But once there we noticed many more empty seats than the seating chart had indicated. I am sure it was that same virus. It has been racing through New England like a tornado, leaving whole offices empty, schools cleared out and keeping doctors and pharmacists busy.