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 the one which is part of what is possibly the oldest operatic pun. Let me explain. Richard Wagner managed to get on a friendly basis with the mad King Ludwig of Bavaria – the one who built Neuschwanstein Castle (which is a story in itself.) He also funded the building of Wagner’s new opera house, called the Festspielhaus – a coined word which entered the language to mean any theater built for opera and/or other large musical events. In the early 1900s, one critic started calling the New York Metropolitan Opera House “Das Faustspielhaus” – because it put on Gounod’s “Faust” so often. I think everyone knows the soul-selling-to the devil story, which isn’t pretty, although the music is. I haven’t seen or heard it since CoViD (when the Met was free-streaming and put up a production in which Faust was a nuclear physicist in the 1940s and 50s.) There’s a lot about it to like. I won’t list all the catchy arias, duets, and ensembles, it would take too long. And all the good news stories speak for themselves, so I won’t comment on them
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.
Yesterday, the radio opera was La Nozze de Figaro – usually translated as “The Marriage of Figaro” – but I think it should be “The Wedding of Figaro.” There is a difference. But after 240 years – and with the original French play using “Le mariage…”, I guess we’re stuck with it. It does always take me back to when Virgil and I got married – by a JP with no one but him and us present – a friend was asking me beforehand about our plans, and when I told her, she said, “Oh, I get it – you don’t want a wedding, you want a marriage.” I couldn’t have put it better. My parents did the same thing, and if my father hadn’t died so young, I’m confident their marriage would have lasted at least as long as ours. Off to see Virgil now. Will check in upon return
66 billion is one heck of a lot of trees. And what we might br ablr to learn from them could be amazing.
I have never thought that rodeos had any positive aspecta. Well, I stand corrected. (or to be accurate, sit corrected.)
I certainly found this one heartwarming. (and it is on loop – though it’s long for ABC – it’s not repetetive. I’m in awe of the work that was required to put it together.
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 Boris Godunov, starring Bryn Terfel, in the original 1869 version, which, among other things, has no scene in Poland with an alluring soprano. The main female solo voice are those of Boris’s daughter (who IIRC is around 8-10) and her nanny. (His some is also pre-pubertal, so that’s also in the higher range), and they are only in a couple of scenes. Boris isn’t in every scene (those plotting to bring him down don’t plan in front of him) but he is in most scenes. Mussorgsky wanted it to be in the mold of a Sheakespearean tragedy, so there is some humor in it. At one point a policeman, with a warrant for another character – can’t read -so the guy he’s looking for offers to read it for him, but substitutes another person’s description for his own, so the policeman grabs the other guy. That may not be screamingly funny – but then neither is the porter in MacBeth. I will say the feature in my browser that lets me increase volume betond what a website can do got a workout. That’s not a criticism. A wide range of volume is a good thing and a mark of real musicians. But my house doen’t have the acoustics an opera house has.
This is long, especially for a Sunday, but I found it very rewarding. Thanks to our Mitch for the link.
This may be a bit overdue – but maybe I’m not taking the problems seriously enough. In any case, it’s a good thing – and not surprising in a state which keeps electing Bernie.
https://www.rmpbs.org/news/science-environment/aspen-acres-fire-animal-rescue
Just as Mr. Rogers mother always told him – “[When there’s a disaster] look for the helpers.”
From the 19th. I was lucky – I lived close enough to home that I could just stay there. Most people are not that fortunate. And we as a nation need those people who want the education to get it. We need them much more than we need the “fortunate sons.”
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.
