Yesterday, the radio opera was Giuseppe Verdi’s “Luisa Miller” – one of his early successes which made masterpieces like Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Rigoletto and more possible. It reminds me of La Gioconda, in that both have a character who has the hots for the heroine (who is in love with someone else) and is so resentfl at being turned down that he destroys pretty much everyone else in the cast. Verdi named this character “Wurm,” so you know right up front just who he is. (Come to think of it, “Andes Chenier” has one of those too.) Off to see Virgil now – will of course check in upon return.
Yesterday, the radio opera was Pelléas and Mélisande by Debussy = the only opera he ever finished. The plot is basically Tristan und Isolde without the love potion, and so steeped in turn-of-the-20th-century symbolism that it’s tricky to follow – a listener just needs to go with the flow. The libretto is from a play by Maurice Maeterlink – who was pissed off that his girl freind was not cast as Mélisande ay the premiere that he didn’t see it until agfter Debussy died, at which time he said, “In this affair I was entirely wrong and he was a thousand times right.” As a listener/viewer, I would say this quote from Wikipedia nails it: “The deliberate vagueness of the story is paralleled by the elusiveness of Debussy’s music.” Off to see Virgil now. Will check in upon return.
Archived from abc news because theirs only stay up for a while and I need to spread them out to avoid running short.
I am impressed. I did know that birds – particylarly columbids (which includes pigeons) and corvids (crows and ravens), but a bird knowing, first, the it needs oxygen, and second, that it could get some from the right humans, andthird, that these were the right humans -that’s quite a feat.
From GOODGOODGOOD. Just look at all the volunteers it took to make this happen.
Here’s a link to the GIF at the bottom, since it isn’t GIFing: https://martiniambassador.substack.com/p/baby-okapi-is-okie-dokie
Yesterday,the radio opera was “L’Eliser d’Amore” (“The Love Potion) by Gaetano Donizetti. It’s a comedy, and not just because it has a happy ending. It premiered in 1832 abd kas kiterakky never been out of the repertory. Normally, I’m not crazy about productions which change the time or the country an opera is set in – because there’s always something that doesn’t fit the history and/or culture of the new setting) – but, years ago (so many years that I was not yet married) a production was televised set in the 1860’s in the American southwest in the 1860s – and it was spooky how well it fit. The southwest did not have peasants – but it did have cowboys. And it had traveling snale oil salesmen. And there was a war on. (And of course, a young woman who owns a farm or a ranch could be just about anywhere, any time.) Since then, I have never heard it without remembering that production. (And it didn’t hurt that the tenor was very easy on the eyes.)
I would never have thought of this, but I’m glad someone did. (I did think of taking bayyet to address balance issues – and it worked – but didn’t last because I didn’t keep it up. Marine bases didn’t have barres installed then – and I’d be very surprised if they do even now.)
This chick is lucky to be a penguin – it it were an animal which could be cuddled gy humans, it would be cuddled within an inch of its life, it’s so adorable. (No disrespect is meant by calling it “it” – penguins cannot be gendered by humans visually, and it needs to be old enough for a blood test to check its DNA, and it isn’t yet.)
This is long for a Sunday, and it’s also not yet actual good news but potential good news. But, having spent a couple of years as a regular visitor to a couple where the wife had advanced Parkinson’s, it hits home to me.
Wednesday, after watching I Puritani, I ordered a DVD of Lorin Maazel’s opera “1984,” which arrived Saturday. Maazel was best known as a conductor, but he alo played the violin and composed. He (and/or his stage manager and director) was certainly able to pull together a stellar cast – Simon Keenlyside, Richard Margison, Diana Damrau, Lawrence Brownlee, and more. Jeremy Irons (in absentia – he taped it) was the voice on the telescreen. The only less familiar name there is Richard Margison -I’m aware of him because he is agenuine heldentenor who doesn’t look terribly heroic – which makes him perfect for O’Brien. (He’d also be a stunning Peter Grimes, though I can’t find a record of his having sung it.) He’s better known in Canada, his home country, than here. It’s on two DVDs, so I may not watch both in the same day. We’ll see.
I have to throw in that someone referred yo Mitch McConnel as “Schrödinger’s Senator.”
I have a question for y’all. I’m catching up on pet video so I may have a couple of months worth again. As you know, many rescues are of abandoned animals, one I just picked up is if an animal who was “abandoned” because ICE deported his family. Should I put a hanky alert on it (and on similar ones)?
Well, this is close to home for me. There used to be a theory – or a superstition – that events come in threes. I hope that works for this. We could all use a little break. I also hope this victim recovers fully. “Lower body” is pretty vague – and I’m visualizing things lik a broken hip, a broken pelvis, even a broken femur.
I envy anyone who has time or energy for hiking in the woods, or even dealing with a yard. But you may know and care about someone who does. And precaution are always easier than remedies.
Archived from The Guardian. When I read the allegation, I thought, “Oh, he probably donated money to help the starving in Gaza.” Bingo.
Yesterday, the radio opera was The Makropulos Affair, based on a 1922 play of the same name by Karel Čapek – the same guy who populized the word “robot.” The opera is about immortality – and why it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I’ll just stop there and go off to visit Virgil. And check in upon return (which may take a while – it’s supposed to be quite warm.)
I’m always interested in, and often excited by, medical good news. At 80, I don’t expect to benefit personally from this news, but, having empathy, I can appreciate its life changing nature. And – if this can be done with stem cells (and stem cells can be made from other cells), what else will be possible?
You don’t often see much good news from The Root – and when you do, it’s likely to be bittersweet, as is this one. But I am always inspired by a celebrity stepping in to console and encourage a child.
Yesterday, the radio opera (should I be saying “the on line opera” until December? Naah.) was Ariodante by Handel, composed in the early 1700s. It’s based on two (out of 46) cantos of the epic chivalric romance Orlando Furioso (Orlando is the Italian form of Roland – yes, that Roland), which dates to the early 1500s, and was itself based on the Chanson de Roland, which dates back to the 11th sentury, and was inspired by the (presumed historical) death of Roland, who was a knight of Charlemagne, who, IIRC, became Emperor in 800, so, the 9th century. Roland is not a character in the opera, which is set in Scotland(!), has minimal chorus, but does have a dance in each of its three acts, includes a mad scene for the prima donna, and is generally melodramatic. Anyone who has ever heard “Messiah” or any excerpts from it knows that the man could write music. Heck, he could paint pictures with the notes he wrote. But I’m off to see Virgil now – will check in when home. Meanwhile, let’s jump into the pool.
https://jojofromjerz.substack.com/p/the-sun-confesses
I have shared JoJo before purely for the excellence of her writing, and now I am again. Last time it was a rant. This time it is – I’m not quite sure – maybe an allegory. But if it doesn’t make you smile at least once – take a a deep breath, leave the computer and do something else that revitalizes you.
https://abcnews.com/video/134102842/
I hope this is visible and audible. It happened om Father’s Day.
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/five-questions-with-the-chickens
To be frank, this is not exactly good news. What it does have is a lot of cute photos illustrating good advice for staying sane. (Today’s not-a-cartoon is from it.)
Yesterday, the radio opera was Shostakovich’s “Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk.” It was quite popular, including internationally, until Stalin saw it and didn’t like it, and officially condemned it. After Stalin’s death, Schostakovich revised it under the title of “Katerina Izmailova.” The protagoniste isn’t much like Lady MacBeth. She does kill – two people by herself and one with assistance -but she has no remorse, and at least Lady MacBeth had a marriage where they apparently cared about each other. Katerina is in one kind of prison or another through the entire opera. A husband with zero libido, an abusive live-in father in law, then a lover who treats women like beer cans (why keep one around when the beer is gone?), and who, when they are in a group of other convicts doing a forced march to Siberia, tricks her into helping him seduce another woman. Normally, life has its ups and downs – but this is a story with no ups at all. It is supposed to have satirical aspects, but I don’t hear them. Maybe you need to understand Russian. Or maybe you need to be male and privileged. I just hear cringe. Which is not to denigrate the brilliance of the music. In the scene in which the jerk lover comes to her room, where she intends to flirt, but he rapes her, one criic described the music as “pornophony.” And I certainly cannot dispute that.
I may not follow any sports – but I’m not so distanced from those who do as not to recognize a rare achievement when I see one. As is generally true of the American ABC, it’s a video on loop, and may need to be unmuted.
For a change, an ABC (US) video that’s not on loop. But if you want to play it again, refreshing the page will do the trick.
When I was in high school and college, I did a little baby sitting on the side. This kind of sitting doesn’t compensate the siters monetarily, but I’ll bet it’s also a lot less work. And very rewarding emotionally.
Yesterday, the Met season was over, but WFMT’s summer season was just beginning, with “The Bartered Bride” by Smetena, from Vienna. It was perfomed in German, as opposed to the original Czech, which I thought might give me a fighting chance to ubderstand some dialogue as it was sung. But individual words like “I”. “My”, “your,” “no”, “yes”, even “love” (hey, it’s a rom com) don’t give much to go on. But the plot is simple, based on concealed identity, and there’s a lot of great dance music (which must have come in handy for Paris), so it wasn’t hard to follow. Also, John Pavlovitz had a thought for so-called Christians who want to turn Pride Month into Niclear Family Month – they should celevrate Mind Your Own Damn Business Month instead.
Another short ABC video on loop. It speaks for itself. ABC is pretty good at this.
This, referred by The Smile, is closer to politics than I usually try to get on Sunday. But it is very good indeed.
From National Public Radio. This is limited to melanoma – for now – but it’s progress. (My mother had a melanoma, but she was lucky. It was very visible even when very small, and even with just outpatient surgery with local, it never returned. Not everyone can be that fortunate.
