Choir weekend

Отче наш, иже еси на небесех...

Regardless of whether He exists, God has inspired people to write music of a seemingly unearthly beauty. I spent the better parts of Saturday and Sunday singing such music, as my choir had a rehearsal weekend. We went through the entirety of Rachmaninoff's Chrysostomos liturgy, about half of it for the first time, and although tiring, it was wonderful.
As befits a good rehearsal weekend, there was, apart from lots of singing, a party on Saturday evening, to activate other parts of the body than the throat. Enjoyable as this was, it did result in a slightly hungover feeling on Sunday morning, as rehearsals started at 9:00 in the morning. However, as this feeling was shared by the entire choir, it provided for a kind of bonding only found on similar occasions.
Surprisingly, the deep bass parts came out a lot better on Sunday morning than on Saturday evening :p. 'Deep' does fit the stereotype in this case: I've never seen any bass lines go as low as these Russian ones do. The low basses are at two instances required to sing a b flat... (which only two of us managed, and only on Sunday morning; in the afternoon it already proved impossible).

The performances will be in the first weekend of February, in a town somewhere near Heidelberg and in the Peterskirche in Heidelberg itself. The Peterskirche is the traditional university church, where university choirs usually have their performances.
Apart from Rachmaninoff's liturgy, adapted for concert performance, we will also sing parts from Tchaikovsky's all-night vigil and Cui's Magnificat. All Russian, all church music, all Romantic or late Romantic era. Anyone who'd happen to be in Heidelberg at the time is most warmly invited to come :).