Ingrid's Dark Secret Passion Ch. 14

When Ingrid and Sieglinde woke up that Sunday morning in their suite at Hotel Adlon Kempinski, they proceeded with their typical Sunday morning exercise. They indulged in a side by side sixty-nine oral sex. After their shower, at Sieglinde's behest, they went to her favorite café in Berlin for a hearty German breakfast. The menu featured Brötchen (bread rolls), jam, honey, cheeses, hams, salami, boiled eggs, and a piece of Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest Cake).

For Ingrid's benefit they opted to do a popular touristy thing by signing up for a four hour walking tour. It was a most informative exercise. The guide's commentary provided brief history of the city from the Prussian era, through WWI, the Nazi period, the Cold War period and ending up with the current time era of a reunited Germany and Berlin. The jam-packed tour included stops at famous landmarks such as Checkpoint Charlie, the Holocaust Memorial, the rebuilt Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, and the remnants of the Berlin Wall.

Even Sieglinde was pleased to have agreed to spend their time in this way. As she pointed out, "I've been to Berlin countless times, but I've never before taken the time to explore the city in this fashion. I learned a lot today and I'm glad I went."

They ended up back at their hotel to dine at their restaurant. After they finished their meal, they repaired back to their suite to finish the day, engaged in non-stop relentless love making. One of the luxurious features of the suite was that it contained a jacuzzi and a sauna. Consequently, our heroines could not resist indulging in an unbelievably relaxing and languid sexual play. In the jacuzzi sitting side by side against each other, letting the jets spray warm water on their breasts, they slowly simultaneously fisted each other's vagina. The resultant mutual orgasms proved to be an exquisite and exhilarating experience.

After they were done in the jacuzzi, they wandered into the sauna. Laying on the bench there, they engaged in an oral sixty-nine sex with Ingrid on top. Each of them had access to raise the heat of the sauna, without breaking from their sexual position. Consequently, when one of them could discern their passion heating up, they pulled the cord to increase the steam heat of the sauna. From the two sources of heat, they both were perspiring copiously more than they has ever experienced. As a result, their vaginas produced a different kind of smell, that contributed to a new kind of ecstasy. When they climaxed, they were flush with euphoria. Their skin all over, not just in their faces, had reddened resembling the color of boiled lobsters.

After their session in the sauna, they returned to their gigantic king size bed in extremely good humor. While lolling about on the bed savoring in their afterglow, Ingrid giggled, as she pondered the question as to whether either Michael Jackson or the Queen of England had indulged in sex, like they just had, during their stays in this very same suite. Sieglinde volunteered, "Well both of them are acknowledged to have been biological parents proving that they had been sexually active. So, I guess anything is possible."

Ingrid then speculated, "Back in the United States, there are a plethora of long standing hotels and the like that boast that the first President, George Washington, was reputed to have slept in their establishment, back in the day. Perhaps such claims are the origin for his acquiring the distinction as the father of our country."

Sieglinde swatted Ingrid with a pillow for articulating such a silly notion. The latter retaliated in kind and a pillow fight ensued. The women giggled like teenage girls during their frivolity. Once they settled down again, they returned to kissing each other while simultaneously manually stimulating each other's clitoris to a new orgasm.

The next day, Sieglinde accompanied Ingrid for moral support, to the DGG recording studios. The recording sessions for the day were scheduled from 09:00 AM to 12:00 noon, to be followed by a lunch break, and the afternoon session would begin at 02:00 PM to end at 05:00 PM. The morning session actually lasted till 12:40 PM, since Ingrid was unfamiliar with some of the lesser played Nocturnes. Accordingly, she took some time to study the music thoroughly before recording it, to ensure a superior finished performance. Since, the afternoon session was a repeat recoding performance. Ingrid was able to compete that session by 04:30. Likewise, the next morning's session was completed by 11:30 AM, and so the two of them, had plenty of time to catch their train to return to Vienna.

When the summer ended, Ingrid returned for third academic year and her second year at MDW. The University had no problem in allowing Otto Hellmesberger continue as a special academic advisor for Ingrid. The two of them made a good fit for each other. For Otto having the opportunity to mentor a budding super star who most likely will become a dominant musician in the classical music world for the forthcoming several decades, was a heavenly gifted dénouement for his life.

During Otto's younger years he had enjoyed a reputation as a proficient pianist with international renown. He was recognized as one of the finest Austrian contemporary pianists. Although his career centered in performing in Vienna, he was in demand in concert halls throughout Europe as well as in the Americas. For a couple of years, he ventured into Asia, mostly in Japan as well as performing one complete season in Australia.

Unfortunately, at the age of forty-three he developed an inflammation in his joints and suffered from arthritis in his hands and fingers. Accordingly, he was unable to play the piano at the concert level. Even playing idly for personal pleasure was impossible because of the horrendous pain. He tried to do some conducting, but he had not paid his dues in this regard by not having established his credentials as a competent conductor. As the competition in acquiring a prestigious position for even in a minor orchestra was fierce, he was forced to give up hope for a career in that direction.

In retrospect, Otto was thus, fortunate in acquiring the teaching position at MDW, as he had no real skills transferable to a different line of livelihood. His musicianship and his professional friendship with the administrators of the school allowed him to obtain the position, but to succeed in this new vocation for him, he needed to acquire graduate degree academic credits. Initially, it galled him to have to take academic lessons in music, considering that he had been a successful professional concert pianist for twenty-five years.

Nevertheless, Otto persevered and was able to achieve full professor status at the University within the shortest period of time possible. He proved to be a very effective teacher and was very popular amongst the students. He even enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing some of his students excel professionally in music after graduating. Still, the premature end to his concert career had broken his spirit. As a result, he had viewed his employment with MDW, as simply marking time until he was to leave this world.

This attitude and outlook in life changed dramatically for Otto, right from the very first moment he had met Ingrid Losnedahl. He had been assigned to her as her special tutor for her initial study year at MDW. He was aware, that she had won the Tchaikovsky International Competition at a very young age, actually at the barest minimum age requirement to be an entrant in the competition. He surmised that such fact was the nexus for the perceived academic perks and concessions accorded to her.

Consequently, he was prepared to meet an insufferable egotist. Mind you, he had no problem in dealing with such a characteristic, as he believed the same would be a natural consequence of such an unusually successful early accomplishment. To his delight, Ingrid did not prove to be the dreaded arrogant prima donna that had to be handled with kid gloves. By the same token Ingrid was also not the equally insufferable disingenuous humble soul who blatantly discounted her talent only to chastise anyone who could not detect her talent.

What delighted Otto about Ingrid's personality was her realistic even handed self-assessment of her skills. She knew she was good, and a very talented pianist. However, it was obvious to Otto, that she viewed her skills as her normal due as a result of her relentless and dedicated unyielding practice at the piano. She was oblivious to the fact, that she possessed a unique skill of inconspicuously outpouring her passion and baring her soul in performing the music. That skill raised the level of her musicianship to a lofty level that seldom is attained.

Now quite a lot of successful professional musicians are capable of emoting perceived passion when performing an essentially exhilarating passage of music. Unfortunately, the display of their alleged focus in the music is invariably so overblown that it casts doubt in the minds of their audience as to the genuineness of the exhibition. In Ingrid's case the visibility of her performance is congruent to an artist who is performing the music competently in a professional manner but still able to evoke her passion and soul in producing the music. This conclusion of Ingrid's prowess was quite evident in the first time Otto heard Ingrid play.

In assessing the talent and skills of a putative classical music pianist, Otto always liked to hear how the musician handles Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata". This music is a very familiar piece, which even those who are not into classical music had heard it performed sometime in their lifetime even if only incidentally. It is not a difficult piece to master, and any pianist worth his or her salt would have practiced playing it. It would be equivalent to an English literature teacher who felt compelled to read Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice'.

When Otto had Ingrid play Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata", he was taken by complete surprise! There were no untoward exaggerated body movements by Ingrid as she was striking the keys to produce the music, Nevertheless, the music he heard conjured up an image of a moonlight evening in the country. When he closed his eyes, he could imagine he was seated on an outdoor patio of a cabin near the shore of a lake or a pond. There he could see himself sipping a glass of vodka on ice, as he would view some ducks or swans alight on the water. A truly enchanting pretend episode evoked by the exquisite music.

Now Otto could concede intellectually that perhaps the music genius of Beethoven and his composition of this music was responsible for invoking such a charming imagery. But then he would respond that he had not imagined such imagery whenever others played that same music even flawlessly. This led Otto to conclude that Ingrid was without doubt a musical super nova.

By embracing such sentiments, Otto Hellmesberger, was grateful that MDW had assigned him to specifically tutor Ingrid. He was forever grateful for this opportunity to hone her innate musical talents and direct them properly to allow her to achieve the ultimate artistic success that was meant for her. He felt that his association with Ingrid would mark the pinnacle of his own musical career. By being known that Ingrid was his protégée during her stint at MDW would overshadow what he inwardly had to admit was an unremarkable career otherwise.

Accordingly, Otto set out as his mission to ensure that Ingrid would have a seamless transition from a mere college student into a world class concert pianist. To this end Otto saw to it that Ingrid was accepted to compete in the University's sponsored International Beethoven Piano Competition in October. Luckily, this was the first year she was old enough and eligible to compete. As she was the only MDW student musician who had a reasonable chance of performing competitively against the international field of recognized superb pianists entered in the event, the University slotted her directly into the semifinals foregoing the necessity of her competing in the preliminary round.

Some of Ingrid's competitors in this event were also her competitors at the Tchaikovsky Competition. They had since per force improved their skills as they had advanced in their professional career. Surprisingly enough one of her competitors was Lajos Kiraly, who had already achieved a spectacular reputation as a premier piano virtuoso as a result of his stellar concert performances. His fame was especially augmented by his collaboration with Natasha Starikovich, both in concert performances and in recordings. The latter was universally acknowledged as clearly the most proficient current violinist extant.

In contrast to Ingrid who barely met the minimum age requirement for entry, Kiraly was actually older than the maximum age limit to quality for entry in accordance of the stipulated conditions for the competition. MDW waived the rule on condition that the pianist who came in second would be acknowledged as the actual champion. It was rumored by those in the know, that the successful professional partnership between Kiraly and Starikovich was disintegrating. It was thought that they were once lovers but no more, as each of them made no secret that they were dating others. Thus, it was surmised that Kiraly's surprise entry in this completion was to prove to the world that he was the superior artist not needing Natasha to bolster the high esteem the public held for him.

But no matter, the competition. It was quite evident even to the least discriminating classical music enthusiast, that the quality of Ingrid's performances in the competition vastly surpassed that of all of the other thirty-one candidates, especially including the redoubtable Lajos Kiraly. Actually, Kiraly came in third as another pianist along with Ingrid bested him. Ingrid was an easily adjudged winner to the surprise of no one in the audience viewing the contest; a remarkable triumph considering the high quality international field of recognized talented pianists. For Kiraly his decision to compete proved to be ill judged. The respect for his musicianship suffered as music lovers took note that he was bested by a wet behind the ears pianist from the cultural backwaters of Toledo, Ohio, plus another unproven newcomer.

That victory caused the University to grant Otto carte blanche to manage her time at MDW as he saw fit. In that regard, Otto set up the special May concert wherein Ingrid performed the piano concertos by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff plus Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini.

Where Otto proved his worth in assisting Ingrid's musical career was his promotion of this special concert. In his advertising campaign to attract an audience for the concert, he was able to create a buzz amongst music lovers in Vienna. By the time of the concert there was an anticipation amongst the audience that they were about to view a special event indeed, and Ingrid did not disappoint.

Glowing accounts of this concert appeared in the newspapers of Vienna as well as laudatory reports on television. That this performance received such great accolades was no mean feat achieved by Otto and Ingrid considering the status of the classical music experience in Vienna. Every night in the Austrian capital, at least 10,000 music fans attend and are treated to live classical music, something that is simply unheard of in any other city in the world. Each year the Vienna concert schedule includes more than 15,000 events of various sizes and genres. Considering the success of Ingrid's concert, the music critics in the city were making the case that her concert was one of the truly outstanding ones amongst the usual 15,000 events.

The success of that concert coupled with the tremendous sales of her CD album, naturally altered how Ingrid was perceived by the faculty and her fellow students at MDW. True in actuality, she was still merely a student pursuing a baccalaureate in music, but viva la différence in her reputation. There was a consensus feeling amongst her acquaintances at the University, that she was destined to become another Clara Schumann, arguably the most prominent female pianist/composer ever. Ingrid was naturally flattered by such comparison. Mind you Ingrid was not enamored by the fact that Ms Schumann was the mother of eight children, resulting from a marriage of only eighteen years before her husband died. In addition, she had to raise a couple of grandchildren as well, due to the early demise of the parents.

It was Otto who initially fostered the comparison to Clara Schumann. The historical Clara Schumann had issues with Franz Liszt stemming from a philosophical difference in performance practice. He believed that the artist, through physical and emotional performance, interpreted music for the audience. When he performed, Liszt flailed his arms, tossed his head, and pursed his lips inspiring what contemporary accounts described as Lisztomania across Europe. It was possibly something akin to the Beatlemania phenomena of the popularity of The Beatles in the 1960s. Clara Schumann, in contrast, came to believe that the personality of the musician should be suppressed so that the composer's vision would be clearly evident to the listeners.

When Otto first had heard Ingrid play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata for him, the debate between the views of proper decorum versus the most effective presentation of the music, was settled in his mind. He had to favor the position advocated by Clara Schumann. In Ingrid's performances, there was no visible histrionics on display to coerce the listener to ascertain that she was playing with passion. All one had to do was close one's eyes and the music Ingrid produced effectively provided the imagery the composer surely had intended when he or she created the opus. Furthermore, Otto had a suspicion that Ingrid was interested in eventually composing her own music down the line. He had no doubt that she would excel in such endeavors even beyond the excellence in comparison to the outstanding performances she would be famous for.

To Ingrid's credit, such constant praise did not go to her head to produce an insufferable arrogant musical prima donna. Part of the reason for her equanimity could be attribute to her parents' adulation of her, commencing right from the moment she took her first breath. With such relentless approbation, she did not develop a conclusion that she was unique, but instead perceived that receiving praise was the inevitable result from applied effort. Nothing unusual in that was her perception.

The other major factor that constrained Ingrid's personality from evolving into an off-putting arrogance, was her romance with Sieglinde Wagner aka Mistress Denna. Her love for the Austrian Dominatrix knew no boundaries. Every aspect of life in the experience of living together was a sheer pleasure. Not just the sex, which experienced joy went through the roof in ecstasy, but even the simplest innocuous activity such as engaging in idle conversations, evoked pleasures beyond what Ingrid was accustomed to, in just living through a normal mundane day.

Ingrid was cognizant that most people would be critical of Mistress Denna's vocation as a professional Dominatrix. They would regard her as nothing more than a sex worker equal in status to an actual prostitute. Ingrid respected Sieglinde that she displayed no shame in her work. Mistress Denna was fond of describing her work as a service to bring pleasure to those who would be otherwise deprived of the inherent joy they were seeking.

To those who would scoff and suggest such rationale would equally justify the work of a prostitute, Mistress Denna would point out that for a female to become a prostitute all she would need to rely on was her inbred awareness of performing sex. Whereas to become a skilled Dominatrix like herself, requires an ornate and a rare type of education which she had taken the trouble to acquire. Her pride in her skills was reinforced by the lucrative income she garnered as a result. In an addition Sieglinde was at home and accepted in high society in Vienna, even by those who were privy to her dark side.