Yesterday, the radio opera was Rienzi by Richard Wagner. It was an early work – he was only 29 when he wrote it – and it is seldom performed, so I had never seen, or even just heard it, except for the overture. I think Agatha Christie must have seen it performed at least once, because in one of her books she makes a reference to the “turn in Rienzi” as having an immediate impact on one’s mood. I know exactly what she meant, because that turn does also appear in the overture, and I agree that it lifts the spirits. But I expected it to have also been used in the opera itself to make a plot point – though I didn’t know that for certain. Well, I found out (it is from Rienzi’s prayer in the last act, which when the opera was popular was also everyone’s favorite aria in it.). But I digress. It was based on a book by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who was both a writer and a politician, so, not surprisingly, the opera is political. Bulwer-Lytton’s books were quite popular in their day, and very much of his time stylistically, but unappreciated today. It was one of his books which opened with “It was a dark and stormy night” which inspired not only Snoopy, but also an annual Bulwer-Lytton contest, which was in effect up until 2024, to find the worst possible opening sentence for a novel. But he wrote a number of sentences and phrases which are still in the language – probably the best known is “The pen is mightier than the sword.” But I digress. Rienzi is a populist (a real one who genuinely cares about the plebs) who initially meets with success as a politician, but ends up getting burned alive with many of his followers, for reasons including the disapproval of him by the reactionary clergy. (We have many of those today – most of them self-appointed, though there is also a cadre of reactionary Bishops. And the French Revolution ran into the same problem in reverse.) Hitler had the delusion that he was like Rienzi – which is like our current president having the delusion that he is “high IQ” and everyone else is “low IQ.” Hitler’s delusion may have contributed to the full opera not being performed in my lifetime, until now. Also, I learned that there are over a hundred “Raging Grannies” groups across the company. They may all sing, but they don’t all post. The ones in Rochester New York may be the first one – they have posted a playlist, and every one is at least 7 years old. I listened to one, and it was all about “Iraq” and “Lying Georgey.” It could easily be remade – only two words would have to be changed – to “Iran” and “Trumpy” – and it demands out troops be brought home. But I didn’t use it – I used one from California instead. Off to see Virgil now – will check in upon return.
This is not news of any kind – it’s humor from Andy.
But this, I think, is good news. I haven’t been out to see it yet – and I may have to wait until we have a little more daylight – but I will eventually.
This is good news too. Colorado got lucky this week.
