Peter Klaveness
I live in Bavaria, Germany, and Bavarians take their holidays seriously. The pre Christmas season includes a big market in the town square, with booths selling trinkets and goodies, processions, entertainment and a huge Christmas tree. Street fairs are popular in southern Germany, and they actually pop up at all seasons, some with roots and traditions back to the 12th century.
Bavarians also have many (Catholic) religious holidays which are days off for the general population. In the theater, however, all these holidays are for performances. We play on Christmas Day and on most religious holidays throughout the year and really have no time off for R&R. When I was in the army we learned that a good soldier sleeps whenever he can. It’s a bit like that with trench workers in the German theater system. We get our R&R whenever we can, primarily during the periods – if there are any – when there are no rehearsals going on for your particular part. During such times, I try to snatch a few days here and there and go to someplace nice. It just doesn’t tend to be during the holidays of most “normal” people.
Of course, the six weeks’ vacation in the summer is the real recreational plum of the year. But I actually prefer to practice regularly and work on my parts pretty much all the time. Taking several weeks off actually results – for me – in a rather long period of getting back into shape. Maybe that will change when I have been in the business longer.
The holidays don’t mean relaxation time for singers in the German theaters, but I still enjoy the festive atmosphere and my walks to and from the theater through the decorated streets. And how festively the Germans decorate their shop windows! After all, I love performing, and doing it in an festive atmosphere is even better! One benefit for “Fest” contract singers is to be home during the holidays. Since we are needed here, we don’t have to travel away to rehearse and perform, as free-lance singers often do.
Bruce Brown
Christmas and the holidays in Vienna are really a treat to behold for our entire family. It’s nice that the opera house pays us all an extra month’s wages to begin the holiday shopping season. The music, the open-air Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) at the Rathaus (Courthouse), the neighborhood markets, singing in the holiday productions of Hänsel und Gretel and Die Fledermaus, seeing the fireworks at midnight on the 31st of December to blast in the New Year and not to forget–drinking the Glühwein (glowing wine) that is served up all over town at the Christmas stands are just a few of the Austrian traditions that we have come to enjoy. There are several types of hot wine that one can taste during the season at these outdoor stands. Different whites and reds with spices that warm you up on your way to and from work or shopping and allow you to visit with the locals.
We have two small children, ages 3 and 5, so the past three holiday seasons have been fun to experience with them here in Austria. The large Christmas Market has hundreds of stands where you can buy anything from toys, candles, crafts and food to artwork, clothing and specific, traditional Austrian gifts and items–most of which are hand-crafted. There is a large indoor area set up in the Rathaus for the children to bake Christmas cookies, paint, work in Santa’s wood- working shop, make pottery, make arts and crafts and have a fun time. Outside, a Christmas amusement park for the children is set up with ponies, carousels, sleigh rides, trains, snowman-making areas and of course St. Nikolaus himself (European version of Santa Claus). We go to the main Christmas Market several times every season with the children. After Christmas, all the outdoor stands are removed and the space is converted to a huge outdoor ice-skating rink that stays open as long as weather permits. There are also some very nice Christmas markets that are outside of Vienna in various castles. We usually attend one or two of those every year as well. The same sort of hand-made things are available to buy as gifts as well as the delicious food and wines.
I remember the first Christmas we experienced after moving here in 1995. My daughter was still an infant, so I took my son, age 2-1/2 at the time, to the Christmas Market to see Santa and ride the ponies and carousel. He was so excited to be going and was finally old enough to “grasp” the concept of Santa. We rode down to the center of town on the Strassenbahn (streetcar) to get to the Rathaus Christmas Market area. One has to understand that in Vienna there are outdoor beer and sausage/hot dog stands all over town. As we approached the downtown area my little son screamed out in a clear voice that only little kids are able to do, “Look Dad, there’s Santa having a beer and smoking a cigarette!” Sure enough, there was Santa at one of the beer stands with a big beer in his hand and smoking a cigarette on his break. Everyone who understood English on the streetcar got a chuckle out of it. I explained to my son that even Santa needs to take a break every now and then from his rigorous schedule.
We usually have relatives that visit during the holiday season from the States. They enjoy experiencing the Austrian “traditions” as well. It is really the one time of year in Vienna that everyone goes out of their way to be gracious and friendly to each other. We enjoy that aspect of the holiday season and are looking forward to the upcoming season.
William Neill
Anyone with a family, spouse, friend or significant other should make every effort to share and be together at special times–be it holidays, birthdays, anniversaries or whatever.
Celebrating holidays all over the world is one of the many advantages of these crazy careers that we so ardently seek and enjoy–along with all the travel that they require, being in different countries with different cultures and experiencing different customs during the various major holiday seasons. There is so much to enjoy and to share both with new friends and with those that we already love and hold dear. We are indeed blessed!
The only way to survive as relatively sane individuals in this business is to make every effort to maintain a “normal” lifestyle, whatever that means. Sharing it with others and staying in close contact with those who mean the most to us is the only possible solution. (Would that we could afford to own major stock in Ma Bell, American Airlines or whatever!)
Most of us are hopeless romantics. Holidays with snow, sleighbells, Santa Claus (or any of his elves), friends, family–they all make us come to terms with our own roots, reality and basic beliefs (not a bad thing in this insane world that we live in!).
Good luck in your quest for clever solutions. I am confident that most of us would much prefer friends, family and tradition, in spite of our burning desire of fame and fortune.
Edward Crafts
For more years than I care to think about I have been travelling around the world performing, which has resulted in some interesting holiday anomalies. For example, I have already enjoyed my Thanksgiving turkey this year, even though it is not November yet–Canada, where I am singing currently, celebrates Thanksgiving on October 12th! Holiday memories often center around the family homestead, and although I certainly cherish those times when my whole clan has gathered at a great-aunt’s for traditional feasts, I find many of my experiences are connected with far-away locales and customs.
Among my fondest Christmas recollections is a trip by narrow-gauge steam railway through the sugarcane plantations of Maui (I was singing a Messiah in Honolulu), during which the train personnel sang carols in Hawaiian, accompanying themselves on the ukulele. How many families have a tradition of presenting a Kachina doll at Easter? One year, we hid one of the colorfully carved dolls in among my young son’s Easter eggs, to remind him of the summer we had enjoyed at Santa Fe Opera. Somehow, that odd marriage of cultures continued in our house for many Easters to come! Trying to organize an Independence Day party in Germany was quite a challenge, too. Our neighbors were convinced that we had lost our minds – who would want to eat corn-on-the-cob (everyone knows that’s only good for animal fodder!) or set off fireworks on July 4th (they belong on New Year’s Eve!)?
This year is no different – my wife and I will spend “American” Thanksgiving in Barcelona, and ten months ago I packed up a box of miniature ornaments to take with me for Christmas in Dallas. Since my rehearsal period at Dallas Opera runs right through Christmas and New Year’s, the family will come to me, and we will have a Southwestern celebration among the cottonwoods and the oil wells. I wonder where I will be next season–might I actually be home for Christmas? Wishing you a Holiday Season full of musical delights, wherever you are!
