Wednesday's events

After class on Wednesday, I attended the afternoon activity, which was a guided tour of the church of San Lorenzo, the Medici's parish.

Christina was our guide, and as she's a native Florentine and a resident of this neighborhood, she knew just about everything there was to know about this church. Brunelleschi was the architect of this church, as well as many other structures built in Florence during this time.

Christina talked a lot about the light and dark colors of marble and stone that he used, in order to create contrast: chiaro and scuro, which is such a hallmark of the renaissance. There was also a wonderful painting by Filippo Lippi, his annunciation. This picture does not do it justice. Christina pointed to this painting as one of the most characteristic Renaissance paintings. In particular, the sense of prospective, the movement of the bodies, the facial expressions, the setting (which is purported to be a florentine garden), the colors, and the use of light, as if this event were taking place at noon on midsummer day, with the sun shining directly downward.

Also within the church are sculptures by Donatello and Michelangelo, both of whom were friends of the Medici family. The story goes that the current pope (a member of the Medici family) asked Michelangelo to build a new facade for the church. Michelangelo agreed, and plans were drawn up, including a large model which currently resides at Michelangelo's house here in Florence (I hope to see it before I leave). The pope approved, and building was about to commence when they had a disagreement about the material. Michelangelo wanted to use marble from Carrera, which was very pure white. The pope, however, had financial interest in another quarry and wanted that marble to be used. Michelangelo refused, on the basis of his artistic eye. The pope would not budge, since as pope, he never had to negotiate with anyone - his word was law. The two were never able to agree, and it was never built. That's why the front of San Lorenzo doesn't have the dazzling facade that some of the other Florentine churches have.

In addition, we visited the graves downstairs, which included those of Cosimo the elder and Donatello. There was a fresh laurel wreath on Donatello's grave...people here still love him.

Later last evening, I went to an orchestra concert given by the Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina in the courtyard of the Bargello museum (outdoors). It was wonderful! They played an "adagio for strings" written by David Jackson, a young Monk who lives in Florence. Very reminscent of Barber's adagio for strings. Also on the program were the Sibelius romance for strings and Nino Rota's Concerto for strings. But in the middle, was the Bach E major violin concerto, played by David Garrett, pictured below:

You wouldn't think that a guy who looked like that would be a classical violinst, would you? Maybe a rock guitarist or singer, but not a violinst! But yes, he played the heck out of that concerto, and then encored with two movements from one of the Bach partitas. Such a great performance! He was extremely musical!

After the concert, I walked over to Vivoli for a little gelato before heading back home. Do you suppose I can get italian gelato shipped to Seattle next month? Otherwise, I'll be suffering from withdrawal...