AT THE OPERA ..HAENSEL UND GRETEL

Dear Family,

Mom and I had two dates this weekend and it was fun. Friday night we went to the Hale Theater and saw "Born Yesterday" which was about New Yorkers trying to pull off a deal in Washington DC. The actress played a ditsi Blond who spoke in a great New York twang that I recognized. I told our friends that this was New York in the 1940's because that is how people talked to each other.

After the play we met the actors and the actress and I told her she reminded me of my childhood. "Did I get it right?" "You nailed it" I replied. It was a fun evening.

Saturday night we went to the Opera and saw Haemsel and Gretel. The Capital Theater is right next to Sigfrieds which is a pretty good imitation German Bistro and had Schnitzel and Sauerkraut.

I love this opera which is a very popular children's opera in Europe. It is about two little German kids who get lost in the woods and run into a Witch who likes to turn little children into gingerbread kids. She lives in a great ginger bread frosted house. It is really one of those German fables put to beautiful music.

A tender scene occurs when the two children get lost in the woods and have to sleep in the dark forest. The Sandman comes, sprinkles dust in their eyes and they settle to go to sleep but before they do that, they face the audience, kneel in prayer and sing the Abendgebet or Evening prayer and it is a beautiful duet. Here is the Abendgebet sung so well in German. Here is the song sung in English

The first verse goes like this:

When at night I go to sleep
Fourteen angels watch do keep;
Two my head are guarding,
Two my feet are guiding;
Two are on my right hand,
Two are on my left hand,
Two who warmly cover
Two who o'er me hover,
Two to whom 'tis given
To guide my steps to heaven

Then as they go to sleep, fourteen Angels come on stage. This is the Angel Ballet and they gracefully surround the two little kids and watch over them as they sleep.

I used to think about this song and played it at home especially when Julie was in the ICU during her treatments. I used to visit her early in the morning before my hospital rounds and I often wondered whether these Intensive Care Units might also be sacred places where unseen angels might be providing protection as some of the miracles I have seen over the years could not be explained simply by good care. As Doctors or surgeons, we are not always in total control of outcomes.

Well we do not talk about Guardian Angels much but I think our family has employed legions of them along the way.

We had a great weekend... Love, Dad