The God of Conducting Starting from Absolute Pitch

Chapter 358 Church Gospel
Although he asked the head of the monastery about sponsorship, it was obvious that Chen Qiu was just joking and did not really want to get sponsorship from the monastery.

Without waiting for a reply from the person in charge of the monastery, Chen Qiu smiled and raised his hand to apologize.

"Sorry, sorry, it's just a joke, don't take it seriously. I just feel that the inside and outside of the monastery seem to look different, especially when compared with the performance hall just now. It feels even more different."

"Oh, you're talking about that. That's normal. But don't be fooled by the fact that our decoration here is so luxurious. If we were to invest money in the orchestra, we wouldn't have a penny. After all, our working capital is very limited."

The head of the monastery laughed very kindly, poured a cup of coffee for Chen Qiu from the coffee pot on the side, picked up the milk on the side and raised his eyebrows at Chen Qiu.

"Do you want milk? Or sugar?"

"No, just a simple Americano will do."

"This is not called Americano. To be precise, it should be called Caffè crema, which literally means coffee with cream. But in fact, here, people usually just use this name to refer to this kind of coffee without any cream."

The head of the monastery smiled and placed the coffee in his hand next to Chen Qiu. Then he put his hand on the edge of the coffee and pushed it towards Chen Qiu. Then he picked up another cup of coffee, casually threw two sugar cubes into it, and nodded to Chen Qiu.

"As for what you said before, Commander Chen Qiu, that the interior is too luxurious, it's actually not something we intentionally built that way. You should be able to see that the staircase, elevator, and the part where we're working are not in the same style, right?"

"Yes, that's why I felt a little strange when I saw it. I wondered if this was the special decoration style of your monastery."

Chen Qiu picked up the coffee in his hand and took a sip. The slightly hot coffee dispelled some of the chillness in his heart.

He smiled and said to the person in charge.

"If the stairwell is more modern Nordic style, then the office you are in now is actually a bit like the traditional European aristocratic style. The use of colors is very interesting. The combination of dim yellow and red gives people a feeling of going back to the last century."

"There is no other way. After all, the decorations are not from the same period. All the decoration styles must be based on the popular styles at that time, not our ideas. The decoration of the house was also created with the help of believers."

The person in charge also smiled and took a sip of the coffee in the cup. Then he pointed at everything around him and explained to Chen Qiu.

"Don't be fooled by the fact that these things in my house look luxurious. Many of them were donated to us by believers. For example, these were given by a professor named Chris Zimmerman, and these were given by a knight. These were given by a mother whose child is sick. Even the floor we are standing on, I remember which believer helped to compact it."

The person in charge explained to Chen Qiu clearly the origin of every item in his house.

Even the origin of the cup Chen Qiu is using now is clearly remembered by everyone.

Chen Qiu couldn't help but be stunned after hearing this.

He picked up the cup in his hand and looked at it.

He really couldn't tell that this cup actually came from a boy who died young.

It is said that he would stay in the monastery for a few days every year. He was originally in good health. Unfortunately, when he was out with his classmates one time, he was hit head-on by a speeding car from the opposite direction and died before he was sent to the hospital.

Of course, the other side is gone too.

Later, the mother was so sad that after burying her son, she sent some of her son's commonly used items to the monastery as a donation.

Chen Qiu was stunned after hearing this.

The person in charge looked at Chen Qiu's expression, guessed what he was thinking, and asked with a smile.

"Were you thinking of something bad when you came in before?"

"No, no! How is this possible?" Chen Qiu flatly denied it.

"Don't be nervous, I don't care."

The person in charge waved his hand nonchalantly, then smiled while holding the teacup in his hand.

"Actually, many people now have similar ideas, especially the new generation who don't believe in religion. They always think we are amassing wealth, hiding a lot of good things, and that we are rich enough to rival a country. Of course, I don't deny that there are some people who think so, but it's not the case here."

"You may not believe it, but apart from government grants, most of the things in the monastery are donated by believers. Every penny of our expenditure must be made public to believers. Everyone can also see the current operating status of our monastery from the financial report we publish every year."

"Although I dare not say that there is not a single termite in this place, but personally, I am quite satisfied with the current situation of the monastery. Especially seeing this monastery go from its previous shabby appearance to its current state step by step, I am really, very satisfied."

A look of satisfaction appeared on the face of the person in charge. He turned his head to look at the sunlight falling through the window behind him, the huge open space behind the monastery, and the mountains behind it, and couldn't help but whisper.

"For me, I have no regrets about being able to spend my life here, even if it's isolated from the world."

"..."

We have to admit that there are indeed such believers.

This was probably the first time Chen Qiu encountered such a true believer.

Some of the foreigners he met before may indeed believe in religion, but in normal communication, they would not specifically discuss religion or anything like that.

Now Chen Qiu brought the symphony orchestra to the monastery for a performance. I didn’t think much about it at the time. I just felt that it would be a bit of a loss to fly all the way to Europe just to perform in Baden-Baden, so I accepted it.

I didn't expect to actually meet a dedicated believer.

As a normal person, Chen Qiu would naturally not talk about atheism or other things that would spoil the fun for the believer at this time, nor would he mock theism in front of him.

He just touched his head and smiled.

"It feels pretty good. Except for the fact that this place is a bit cold, everything else feels pretty good. The air is fresh and the environment is beautiful. It would be nice if I could live here for a while."

The person in charge smiled and nodded: "Of course! If you want, you can contact me next time you come to perform. I will arrange a room for you at the monastery. You can stay as long as you want."

"Hahaha, if I come here again next time, I will definitely contact you!"

Chen Qiu smiled and chatted with the person in charge about some other things. He also asked him some questions about religion. Then the two of them walked downstairs and headed back towards the performance hall.

During the walk, the person in charge also introduced Chen Qiu to the details of the monastery.

Although this is a monastery, it has everything that should be there.

For example, there is a special wine cellar in this monastery for making wine.

There is a wine shop over there in the parking lot, which sells wine produced in this monastery to tourists.

The person in charge took Chen Qiu there and had a brief taste.

Not much of each flavor was poured out, just about one or two bites.

Chen Qiu doesn't know much about wine, but he feels that it tastes pretty good. The overall taste is mellow and sweet, and the wine taste is not particularly obvious.

After taking a few sips of each wine, Chen Qiu couldn't help but want to buy some to take home, to drink together at the band's Christmas dinner at the end of the year, or to give as gifts to others.

If I remember correctly, many teachers in the school like to drink wine.

Even Wang Hai likes to drink some.

However, after taking a look at the price, Chen Qiu gave up the idea of ​​giving it away.

It’s not that the wine is too expensive and Chen Qiu can’t afford it.

But...

This wine is so cheap!
Like the drinking service he just provided, if it is really sold, it costs 1 yuan for a sip, and each sip is about 50ml.

If you want to buy, basically each type of wine is only about 10 Euros.

These are some ordinary wines.

If it was a collection-level wine, or a wine made from the best grapes, of particularly high grade, he would take a look.

The most expensive one is only over 20 yuan, less than 30 yuan.

Converted into RMB, the most expensive wine is only 250 yuan.

Give away 250 yuan worth of wine?

Chen Qiu really wasn't sure whether it was a good idea for him to send it off like this.

But it’s definitely not enough to save face.

Of course, there’s no problem in taking some back and treating everyone to a drink.

Chen Qiu pointed to a wine beside him that he found most comfortable to drink, with a mellow taste and moderate sweetness, and said to the staff.

"Can you pack this for me? Can you pack it for me to take away?"

"Pabo!" Before Chen Qiu paid, the person in charge looked at the staff at the counter kindly and nodded, "Help Chen Qiu pack a box!"

"Okay Dean!"

Pablo quickly packed up.

While Pabo was cleaning up, the person in charge looked at Chen Qiu and said with a smile.

"This is a specialty of our monastery. This glass of white wine is a thank you gift for agreeing to perform here."

"This……"

Chen Qiu blinked, but before he could react, Pabo brought a box of wine, placed it on the counter, pushed it towards Chen Qiu, and then looked at the two of them with innocent eyes.

"All packed, curator!"

"Okay, thank you."

The person in charge pointed at the wine and said, "After all, we have no way to reward you for your performance. We can only take care of your transportation within Germany. It is our honor to invite such a great orchestra like yours. This gift is not a token of respect. If you like, we can also give each member of your orchestra a bottle." Chen Qiu looked helpless and shook his head without any hesitation.

"No, no, this is enough. This is more than enough. This is enough for us in the band to drink. Thank you very much."

"We should be the ones thanking you."

The person in charge waved to the guy at the counter, who immediately picked up the box, packed it up, and then carefully placed it on a cart in the corner and wrote the name of the Harmony Symphony Orchestra on the box.

Obviously, this was intended to be used to help load things into the car when Chen Qiu and his friends left the monastery after the performance.

After Chen Qiu thanked the person in charge again, the two continued to walk into the monastery.

After walking about forty or fifty meters, Chen Qiu saw a large pile of grape vines.

Apparently, this was the orchard where the monastery made its wine.

The sun was shining brightly at this time, shining over the hills surrounding the monastery and shining on the vines.

It is not yet the season for grapes to ripen, so the fruits on the vines are not yet fully formed, you can just see the fruits hanging on them.

After the person in charge briefly introduced the brewing history of their monastery, he took Chen Qiu to other places.

In addition to this small wine shop in the monastery, there is another place with a lot of people, which is the restaurant opposite the shop.

An entire vineyard separates the two.

When Chen Qiu arrived at the restaurant, some people from the orchestra had already started eating.

When they saw Chen Qiu and the person in charge standing together, they were very tactful and just waved instead of shouting.

Chen Qiu just smiled and nodded at everyone in the band, then spoke curiously.

"In addition to normal donations from believers and government funding, does the monastery actually also engage in some tourism?"

"This can only be regarded as better than nothing. As you can see, the price here is not much higher than outside. The most important thing is to provide accommodation for believers, not for the purpose of making money."

The person in charge smiled kindly.

"If I allow money to taint this land, no matter how much I give for it, it will never be able to atone for my sins."

"..."

Chen Qiu didn't know what to say, so he could only nod.

To be honest, this monastery is really remote.

They were staying in Frankfurt. It took them a full hour and a half by bus to get here from Frankfurt. This monastery was completely in the mountains.

Even though there are some small residential buildings nearby, many of them can only be considered as residential gathering places and cannot be considered as cities.

Even the nearest city takes an hour to drive there.

So if we use the word remote to describe this place, it is really correct.

Just as the monastery appears in ordinary people's memory, this place is indeed a place for seclusion.

The items they sell are all at normal market prices, and they don't charge extra just because their place is remote.

Is this the monastery?

Chen Qiu was not sure what to say, but this group of believers did give him a completely different feeling.

But then again...

Are there so many people in the monastery?
Chen Qiu frowned and looked around, and found that a large group of people had gathered in the monastery at some point.

I don't know whether they came to listen to the concert or just to visit the monastery.

After Chen Qiu glanced at the passers-by, he put the matter behind him and continued to follow the person in charge to tour the not-so-big monastery.

After strolling around, the two returned to the main hall, which was near the venue for their performance.

The place where they performed was a huge chapel.

There is no special arrangement.

There were just some chairs in front of the cross for the orchestra to use.

Behind the cross is a large piece of Baroque stained glass.

The sunlight shines through the glass, releasing colorful light.

Combined with the lights on both sides, it even gave Chen Qiu the feeling of dancing in a disco.

But then again, maybe it would be cool to hold a rock concert in this place?

If memory serves me correctly, a lot of rock music was inspired by gospel.

And those gospels are far from being as boring as many people imagine. When Chen Qiu was studying, he specifically studied the gospel conducting part and listened to a lot of gospels.

All he could say was...

Some of the gospel is really fucking touching.

It feels like ancient people were having a wild disco.

No wonder everyone wants to go to church on weekends. If it were him, he would also want to go to church to listen to free live performances on weekends.

Chen Qiu stood in the church hall, stamped his feet lightly, felt the echo of the church, and nodded silently.

Although this church is not a concert hall specially designed for symphony orchestra, the acoustics of this church are quite good because it was needed to organize hymns in the past so that the music could reach the ears of every listener more beautifully and sacredly.

It feels like there's a natural reverberation.

It's like singing in the bathroom.

of course.

If it was just simple reverberation, Chen Qiu would probably feel uncomfortable.

After all, reverberation can easily make the sound muddy and make it difficult to hear the original feeling of the music.

But Chen Qiu could hear the reverberation in this place...

If the room were half full tonight, the reverberation would fade.

If the seats are full, the music they play will be very clear.

Basically, he can achieve the feeling he wants in his mind, which is to imitate the feeling of a concert hall.

Chen Qiu nodded in understanding.

The person in charge next to him saw Chen Qiu nod, raised the corners of his mouth and asked Chen Qiu.

"How do you feel? Are you satisfied with our church?"

"Of course, I don't know how many people will come tonight. If many people come, I feel that the effect tonight should exceed my expectations."

Chen Qiu said with a smile.

He took two steps forward and looked up at the cross inside the arc wall with a slightly emotional look in his eyes.

"This is probably my first time playing in a church. It's a very wonderful feeling."

"Then, I hope our church can leave you a perfect impression!"

The person in charge bowed slightly to Chen Qiu, nodded, then turned and left the church.

Only Chen Qiu was left.

Churches were not locked down like concert halls but were open to everyone.

After feeling the reverberation on the spot, Chen Qiu ran to the lounge, called everyone out, and had them rehearse the piece to be performed tonight again to find the appropriate performance intensity.

As they began to rehearse, their voices attracted many audience members to come in.

During the performance, there were audience members who walked into the concert hall curiously to observe the Harmony Symphony Orchestra, but they were very sensible and said nothing. They just observed for a while and then turned around and left.

After all, this is a church, open to everyone. There is no way to temporarily block the concert hall before a performance like in a concert hall.

It’s just a pity that although everyone is very sensible, the number of people leaving is less than the number of people coming, which also leads to more and more people watching, and the staff have to come to maintain order.

The whole church was in chaos.

With no other options, Chen Qiu could only let the orchestra members leave, rest for a while and wait for the performance to begin.

but……

Before leaving, Chen Qiu looked around the church again, with a slightly thoughtful look in his eyes.

The church seemed to be better than he had imagined?
(End of this chapter)