Guardian Angel

Dear friends of piano music,

it is said to have got on Chopin's nerves quite a bit - the notorious association of flowing water, which probably mainly the young women around him repeatedly uttered. Higher daughters loved Chopin and his music, and it mainly reminded them of water. I have to admit that I am not much more original with my association with this mazurka, only that I have changed the physical state. Snow, I had snow in mind when I played this piece for the first time, the freezing cold, the clear air and the glittering magic of a snowy landscape. It's a completely fantastic idea because I can't remember the last time I saw something like this. As a child, of course, I built huge snowmen or made “angels” in the snow. That was in kindergarten or elementary school age, when all the children plopped backwards in the snow as if on command, rowing arms and legs and actually leaving prints that were reminiscent of angels with spreading wings. Our cat was completely euphoric when it saw its first snow. She did somersaults, until then I didn't even know that cats can do gymnastics so well - it was extremely cute. Behind my parents' house there was a huge meadow, on which the pristine snow glittered and sparkled in the sun, creating a contrast to the deep blue sky, which for me was of almost breathtaking beauty. I didn't care much for winter sports, sledging wasn't for my faint-hearted, and first skiing ... I stick with Alf, the shaggy TV monster from the planet Melmac: Find out in life what you can't do - and then stop it stays!!!

Later the magic of the snow was lost, as so much is demystified over the years. Especially when you have to drive a long distance to work every day, you really can't do much with snow. When it took me three hours to get to my school because of the snowy highways, I was no longer one of the friends of the snow. Once I slipped my car on a slippery road and ended up in a ditch - it was almost surreal when I climbed out of the driver's door, which was like the lid of a tin can over my head. But it was completely surreal when on the way back to my school in the Odenwald (a low mountain range) I drove a snow-covered road parallel to the Neckar river, slowly and carefully enough to be able to brake. In front of me, an old Opel Astra had turned twice on its own axis. The car had become, as it were, a figure skater and had done a double pirouette, it looked beautiful and harmonious. Then we both came to a stop with our motorized sledges, a few centimeters apart, in front of the picturesque backdrop of a winter forest, over which the snow trickled softly. Thank you, dear Guardian Angel….

Best regards from Heidelberg

Kerstin

Music: Chopin: Mazurka No. 49 in A Minor, Op. 68 No. 2 – Lento https://youtu.be/HXHS9HZvNKo

Foto: Despite the climate change, the Neckar river was frozen years ago (very rarely).