Francophiles out here?

The French have been here. And the influence lingers. I think I’ve commented before about  the presence of significant French heritage here, in the architectural gems like the Hanoi and HCM Opera Houses, the Post Office, and other masterpieces of French design. There is even a bridge designed by the firm to which Henri Eiffel belonged and that is reminiscent of the tower by his name in Paris. The Vietnamese love these reminders of their French connection. They have their baguettes, the beret (though these are much  less common now than Yankee’s caps) and their impressionists who continue to turn our delightful scenes from the local streets, flora and so forth. 

         

                                 

        

  

   

But this past week we discovered that this  love for the French extends to music as well. It was the  60^thanniversary of the music conservatory in Hanoi, and they had invited a noted French conductor to direct the celebratory concert, which featured, can you guess? Choral and orchestral works by Faure, Charbrier, Messaien, and Beethoven. I’m looking back now and saying how did Debussey and Ravel not make the cut here? Poulenc I could understand. But that “slight” aside, the music was a delight, particularly the Faure which could as easily come from a recording we acquired a while back with Rutter conducting. And the Beethoven Festival for Chorus and Orchestra was a much more grand celebration than “La Mer” or Bolero would have been, even if they had managed to add in pieces for choir. 

         

                                       

    

The female voices in the choir were delightfully gowned in “traditional” ao dai, with a more modern palette of color options, and their performance along with the Hanoi symphony was superb. Our seats directly above the stage were not ideal for views, but the sound, which is what we came for, measured up wonderfully. And then afterwards, we went back to “little Seoul” to our  apartment in this increasingly cosmopolitan city to enjoy an eclair.

So what can we draw from this? How does this evening on our date teach us or testify of Christ?

What one culture adopts from another may be an interesting anthropological puzzle to some, but in a greater sense, the individual culture (or in today's terms, the operational software) of a family, community or nation will only excel eternally to the degree that they adopt the cultural traits of a Christ-centered people, of individuals devoted to seeking the interest of their neighbor, rejoicing not in evil but in goodness, returning good for ill, repenting and seeking to have wrongs corrected, and the ill-will therefrom supplanted by wholeness and wholesomeness. What will really matter for us after we leave Vietnam is whether those we have met are indeed more like Him, and of course, whether we also have had his image engraved more completely in our countenance, his feelings and affection for mankind nearly similar to ours, our willingness to do all for others just as he did. That is the culture I want in my life and family. That is the software I hope will govern my responses to others, the legacy that I hope to leave to my grandchildren.