Saturday, June 26, 2010

Morning melody



One morning each week for many years, Einsiedeln Abbey’s Fr. Maurus (right) and Dr. Hans Ulrich Jäger-Werth have mounted the hill overlooking the monastery, town, and nearby lake to play a few numbers on their alphorns.

Alphorns are long wooden horns traditionally used by Switzerland’s mountain dwellers to produce rich, natural, open-pipe harmonies.

Fr. Maurus, who is 80 years old, is the former pastor of the Catholic parish in Einsiedeln, while his friend is the former pastor of the Protestant church in town. Now that they are “retired,” the two have continued providing their brief ecumenical hilltop concerts (although admittedly a little later in the morning than in earlier years) for anyone within earshot.

It’s a splendid way to greet the sun—Swiss style.

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