Looks like a jumble of consonants. Sounds like "psh jin ah." Go figure.
We toured an enormous palace that housed the von Promnitz family during their stay in Pszczyna in 1705. The palace also served as the imperial and staff headquarters for the German army during WWI. Most importantly to us, though, was that the palace was one of Telemann's main venues for performing his new compositions while employed by Count Erdmann II of Promnitz from 1704-1706.
And of course we weren't content to just enjoy looking at Telemann's Music Hall. We wanted to perform in it. <<David had brought Telemann's canonic duos for us to practice and play while we were in Poland, and luckily we had gotten to read through a few of them earlier that day--we had no idea we were going to perform in the hall; in fact, we didn't even know about the hall!>> The poor, obliging museum workers made numerous phone calls, talked in hushed tones for a while, and finally moved the ropes and barriers so that we could stand at the front to play and our group could actually sit in the seats. I sprinted back to the bus to grab my instrument, came back sweaty and breathless, just in time. And then we tuned:
and then we played:
Later that evening, we put on a concert in a cathedral in the Pszczyna square, just down the street from the palace. Before the show started, I did a bit of busking outside with Beau and Regan, while our crew shot this video:
During the concert, each band played a short set, and in between each set, David and I played a movement of Telemann. Good thing we had a few run-throughs earlier! Ha!
Over the last few days, Count Richard had mentioned to a several people in passing that I was related to Korfanty. Neither of us really thought it was such a big deal, but Richard was getting surprised, enthusiastic reactions to everyone he told, so at this show he said, "Why don't you stand up and say a few words about Korfanty?" So, halfway through the concert, I gave a little spiel about how I had discovered the night before I left for Poland that Wojciech Korfanty was my step-great-great-grandfather. And there was a huge ovation! After the concert, a man came up to me and asked to take a photo with me. He held my hand and said, "I want you to know how much Korfanty means to us. He inspired our people and fought for freedom. My grandmother served in Korfanty's house, and growing up she always talked to me about what a great man he was. Thank you for coming here in his legacy."
The gospel was presented clearly through the music and words at every concert, but especially at this one. Joy and love was evident in all the sets, and conversations about faith just spun off and carried on between our team and various concert-goers for about an hour and a half afterward.
>>> More videos from Telemann's hall can be found here.
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