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 Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 3:23 pm Post subject: PokerPulse Gambler's Guide to the Opera |
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| Quote: | WELCOME!
PokerPulseGambler's Guide to the Opera |
From Gambling Austria:
Don Giovanni
DVD
Directed by opera maverick Peter Sellars
| Quote: | | We love the '80s Bronx street gang motif used by this innovative director in this five-star production of one of our favorite Mozart operas, which featured singers who were then largely unknown, though we have since heard from the African-American twins, who play the leads. How can we help admiring the Don, a man who preferred to take his chances with Mephistopheles rather than give up his lowdown, hard-livin', bad-lovin', two-timin', no-good ways. |
Equally innovative:
Don Giovanni Unmasked
DVD
PBS Version featuring - prrrr! - Russian hearthrob Dmitri Hvorostovsky
A more traditional, lavish approach:
Don Giovanni
DVD
Featuring an all-star cast, including Josee Van Damme and Kiri Te Kanawa
| Quote: | | Sublime sets and costumes and Kiri Te Kanawa sings like an angel. See this one on the big screen. |
About Mozart's infamous librettist:
Where There's a Will
Hardcover
By Sir Jack Falstaff Mortimer, Q.C.
| Quote: | If you feel stuck in any kind of a rut you might contemplate the chameleon life of Lorenzo Da Ponte, the Jew who became a Catholic priest, the librettist of the three greatest operas ever written, the friend of Casanova, Mozzart (as he always spelled the composer's name) and two successive Austrian emperors, who married an English wife and ended up living in New York, owning an opera house and teaching Americans about Italian poetry.
In that great period of history which included the Age of Reason and the French Revolution, the world of Rousseau and Napoleon, Byron, Wellington, Shelley and Goethe, Mozart and Beethoven, Da Ponte appears in flashes of light, enjoying extraordinarily different lives in various disguises. Even his name wasn't his. The child of a Jewish family which had converted to Catholicism because, in the province of Venice, Jews were not allowed to marry, the future librettist was given the name of the bishop who baptized him.
We get a glimpse of Da Ponte in the priests' seminary at Cenada, where, in six months, he learned most of Dante's Inferno by heart, as well as the best sonnets and songs of Petrarch and 'the most beautiful works of Tasso.' He was fluent in Latin and became a brilliant teacher. Now we see him taking holy orders, followed by a succession of unpriestly love affairs. An anonymous denunciation accused him of an 'evil life.' Someone had seen a woman put her hand in his breeches. He fled from Venice to avoid his trial by the Inquisition and was sentenced, in his absence, to seven years in a prison cell without light.
After a tender love affair with the wife of an innkeeper, and having renamed himself for a short while with the eccentric pseudonym of 'Lesbonico Pegasio,' he appears again in Vienna as 'poet' to the Burg theatre, and the favourite of Emperor Joseph II. So we find him writing libretti for three operas, one by Mozart, one by Salieri and one by Martini, feeling as he writes that 'I am reading the Inferno for Mozart, Tasso for Salieri and Petrarch for Martini.' He is working twelve hours at a stretch, assisted by a bottle of Tokay on his right, his inkwell in front of him and a box of Seville snuff on his left, with a beautiful young girl, the housekeeper's daughter, to bring him a biscuit, a cup of coffee or merely her smiling face.
Da Ponte's lasting fame rests on his writing the wrods for Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Cosi fan tutte]. He was convinced, in these works, as in his life, that quick and complete changes of mood are essential. So, in Don Giovanni[/color], scenes of farce (the changing of clothes between the Don and Leporello) are followed by moments of high comedy, tragedy and, finally, the [b]refusal to repent, which has made Don Giovanni into an existentialist hero as he is dragged down to hell.
... We can't resist a look at Da Ponte in a country house party just before the first night of Don Giovani. The house was on the outskirts of Prague and the October weather was still warm and beautiful. 'People lingered happily in the open air, with the feeling that days like this were a blessing,' one of the guests wrote. It was at this party that Mozart was lured into an upstairs woom and the door was locked until he finished the yet unwritten overture. Da Ponte appears at this party with an aged librarian from the Castle of Dux. This was a man who may have been a model for the sensual Don, and who also had a rascally servant. 'Signor Casanova seems to be a worthy old man,' one of the guests is reported to have said to Da Pone, who replied, 'There you are making a terrible mistake. He's an adventurer who has spent his days playing cards, brewing elixirs and telling fortunes.'
... He travelled to England and then turned up unexpectedly in Boston, after a terrible crossing of the Atlantic without a mattress or regular meals, to teach and sell Italian books. And then he was in New York, opening his new opera house.
... Finally the opera house burnt down, but Da Ponte lived on until his ninetieth year, respected, grey-haired, still handsome and smiling through all life's changes. When he died, he had an elaborately theatrical funeral at the Roman Catholic Cathedral on 11th Street. His grave was, like Mozart's, unmarked, the cemetery has been built over and no trace of this extraordinary consumer of life exists except on the stage. (From Changing Your Life - and 'The Man in Sneakers,' pgs. 7-10) |
From the Ultimate High-Stakes Gamble:
The Book of Guys
Audio CD
Narrated wonderfully by the author,
Prairie Home Companion radio host, humorist and then some, Garrsion Keillor
Listen to him at the excellent Writer's Almanac
Audio CD
The Book of Guys
Hardcover
| Quote: | "A life without a woman is the lonesomest life I can imagine," Figaro said with a sigh. "I would be miserable without Susanna."
Life is lonesome, said the Don, and lonesome isn't bad, compared to desperate. But of course a man should not live without women. Luckily, marriage is not a requirement. Nobody needs monogamy except the unenterprising. Hungry women are everywhere! Lonely housewives who advertise on recipe cards pinned to a bulletin board in the Piggly-Wiggly - wistful ladies at the copier, putting flesh to glass, faxing themselves to faroff officedom - fervid women sending out E-mail invites - hearty gals working out on the weight machine who drop a note in your street shoes - cocktail joints along the freeway, wall-to-wall with women whose lights are on and motors are funning! - Figaro, they're out there! No legal contract required. What could be better? (From Don Giovanni, pgs. 136-137) |
Link to this entry
http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=3198#3198
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| Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 3:44 pm Post subject: |
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From Gypsies:
| Quote: | Carmen
Based on the opera by Georges Bizet
Directed by Francesco Rosi
Here's a sample at YouTube.com.
DVD
This is the movie that would make an opera fan of even the most committed beer-snarfling yob. Spanish sets and costumes rival a perfect cast in this most satisfying performance that would have cheered its dejected composer considerably. Unbelievably, a discouraged Bizet died believing his timeless score celebrating the infamous wiles of a Gypsy feminist was a mediocre flop and best forgotten. |
In this scene, a starry-eyed Carmen, who has been dancing most of the night on tables in the town watering hole with a rose between her teeth, mysteriously declines the advice of her Gypsy co-horts to call it a night and get some shut-eye before the caravan heads out in the morning for some serious mountain thievery. Party girl Carm is wide awake and ready for anything. "She's in love," sighs one of her pals.
| Quote: | Gypsy: In love? That's no reason.
Gypsy girl: I'm in love but I do my duty.
Carm's pal: I've never seen you like this. Who are you waiting for?
Carmen: A soldier who helped me.
Pal: The one who went to jail?
Gypsy: He'll be scared. I bet he won't come.
Carmen: Don't bet. You'd lose. |
By far and away, the best of many movie versions, in our view. Still, while we know the fat man would have burst the buttons on Don Jose's tight jacket in this production, we cannot help but prefer Pavarotti's or Jussi Bjoerling's rendition of the soft lamenting Flower Song, the aria signalling the beginning of the end of this doomed love affair. Not that it goes much better for the bull in the opening sequence.
Other noteworthy adaptations of Bizet's famous score:
| Quote: | Ballerina: Karen Kain
VHS
NFB documentary featuring excerpts of beautiful
Kain studying with Roland Petit and performing the role
with his troupe, Ballet National de Marseille, in the early '70s.
A clip from the Carmen footage is also included in
Denis Arcand's Barbarian Invasions.
Sadly, Canada failed to record even one performance of Kain as Carmen and, for this lapse of sanity, we wish them and their wilderness culture all the luck they deserve. |
| Quote: | Black Tights
DVD
Featuring an excerpt of Carmen danced by
choreographer Petit and his wife, Zizi Jeanmaire,
who partnered Mikhail Baryshnikov again in the
title role about 100 years later with
alarmingly youthful vigor.
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Link to this entry
http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=3200#3200
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| Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:21 pm Post subject: |
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From Italia:
La Traviata
DVD
By Giuseppe Verdi
Featuring Rumanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu as Violetta
What fun we had navigating the Giuseppe Verdi website, clicking on all the wonderful video and music clips, the latter of which include lyrics as well as credits. Listen to selections from La Traviata, the tragedy based on the Alexandre Dumas fils story of a French courtesan, Lady of the Camellias.
In addition to lavish sets, costumes and extraordinary music, Act II provides one of the greatest gambling scenes ever in the arts:
| Quote: | | At her soirée that evening, Flora learns from the Marquis that Violetta and Alfredo have parted, then clears the floor for hired entertainers - a band of fortune-telling Gypsies and some matadors who sing of Piquillo and his coy sweetheart ("E Piquillo un bel gagliardo"). Soon Alfredo strides in, making bitter comments about love and gambling recklessly at cards. Violetta has arrived with Baron Douphol, who challenges Alfredo to a game and loses a small fortune to him. Everyone goes in to supper, but Violetta has asked Alfredo to see her. Fearful of the Baron's anger, she wants Alfredo to leave, but he misunderstands her apprehension and demands that she admit she loves Douphol. Crushed, she pretends she does. Now Alfredo calls in the others, denounces his former love and hurls his winnings at her feet ("Questa donna conoscete?"). Germont enters in time to see this and denounces his son's behavior. The guests rebuke Alfredo and Douphol challenges him to a duel. (From The Metropolitan Opera online and attributed to Opera News. |
We greatly admire this 1994 performance live at Covent Garden by certainly the most beautiful soprano singing today. She looks in this DVD like a princess who has magically stepped out of a book of Perrault's fairy tales. More photos here. Yup, and she sings just fine, too.
Also ravishing:
| Quote: | La Traviata
DVD
Artistic Director Franco Zeffirelli
This 1982 version of the opera should be seen for its magnificent blue sets and costumes but the singing smells. James Levine has never commanded much of a performance from any singer, in our view. No wonder the Met is in trouble. |
Other dramatizations of the story we admire:
Camille
DVD
Featuring screen legend Greta Garbo
Link to this entry
http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=2150#2150
[/b][/i][/size]
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editor
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| Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:31 pm Post subject: |
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From the Will to Win:
Luciano Pavarotti
Oct. 12/35 - Sept. 6/07.
Turandot
CD Audio
Featuring the Big Bambino, singing
his theme song, Nessun Dorma.
Italia 1990 World Cup version.
Better, at a recital at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1982.
| Quote: | "Nessun dorma" is an aria from the final act of Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot. The aria, whose title translates from Italian as "Let no one sleep", follows the proclamation by the Princess Turandot that no one shall sleep: they shall all spend the night attempting to find out the name of the unknown prince, Calàf, who has set the challenge. Calàf sings, indicating his certainty that their effort will be in vain.
The aria achieved pop status after it was used by the BBC for their TV coverage of the 1990 Football World Cup, known at the time as Italia '90. Prior to the World Cup it was the signature song of the late Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti and it was associated with him until his death in 2007.
Libretto Verses
(from the original libretto)
Il principe ignoto
Nessun dorma!... Tu pure, o Principessa,
Nella tua fredda stanza
Guardi le stelle
Che tremano d'amore e di speranza.
Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me,
Il nome mio nessun saprà!
Solo quando la luce splenderà,
Sulla tua bocca lo dirò fremente!...
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio
Che ti fa mia!...
Voci di donne
Il nome suo nessun saprà...
E noi dovremo, ahimè, morir!...
Il principe ignoto
Dilegua, o notte!... Tramontate, stelle!...
All'alba vincerò!...
Score text:
Il principe ignoto
Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma! Tu pure, o Principessa,
nella tua fredda stanza
guardi le stelle
che tremano d'amore e di speranza...
Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me,
il nome mio nessun saprà!
No, no, sulla tua bocca lo dirò,
quando la luce splenderà!
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio
che ti fa mia.
Voci di donne
Il nome suo nessun saprà...
E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir, morir!
Il principe ignoto
Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle!
Tramontate, stelle! All'alba vincerò!
Vincerò! Vincerò!
Translated from the score:
The Prince: Nobody shall sleep!... Nobody shall sleep! Even you, o Princess, in your cold room, watch the stars, that tremble with love and with hope.
But my secret is hidden within me, my name no one shall know... No!...No!... On your mouth I will tell it when the light shines.
And my kiss will dissolve the silence that makes you mine!...
The Chorus of women: No one will know his name and we must, alas, die.
The Prince: Vanish, o night! Set, stars! Set, stars! At dawn, I will win! I will win! I will win!
(footnotes omitted) |
PokerPulse favorite Pavarotti recordings:
King of the High Cs
CD Audio
Featuring the golden voice of lyric tenor
Pavo at his height.
| Quote: | | In his heyday, he was known as the King of the High Cs for the ease with which he tossed off difficult top notes. In fact it was his ability to hit nine glorious high Cs in quick succession that first turned him into an international superstar singing Tonio's aria "Ah! Mes amis," in Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment (with cool Aussie soprano Joan Sutherland) at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1972. (From Pavarotti is dead, Associated Press, Sept. 5/07) |
Mattinata
CD Audio
Featuring - swooooooon! - Alma del core
Nice try but don't quit your day job.
Luciano Pavarotti
Live in Bari, 1984
DVD
Same song, this time in person and
in country.
Tutto Pavarotti
Multi-CD Audio
Many, MANY career highlights
Don't miss Pavarotti and his dad singing the 'penis song' in hometown Modena, 1979.
We dedicate this entry to anyone who has not yet experienced the kind of misery that can only find expression in opera. Cups up!
Link to this entry
http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=3206#3206
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| Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:36 pm Post subject: |
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From the Wild, Wild West:
| Quote: | cbc.ca
Radio 2
Saturday Afternoon at the Opera
Girl of the Golden West
Featuring artists of the fabulous Radio Filharmonisch Orkest
Nov. 3/07
| Quote: | Show: SATURDAY AFTERNOON AT THE OPERA
Date: 2007/11/03
Time: 13:30:00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST (This performance is not commercially available) Duration: 02:02:23
Concert: LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST
Persons/Roles: DAVID BELASCO - AUTHOR
GIACOMO PUCCINI - COMPOSER
CARLO ZANGARINI - LYRICIST
EDO DE WAART - CONDUCTOR
NORBERT ERNST - TENOR
PETER GIJSBERTSEN - TENOR
STEPHEN KECHULIUS - BARITONE
NETHERLANDS RADIO MEN'S CHORUS - CHORUS
NETHERLANDS RADIO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA - ORCHESTRA
HUGH SMITH - TENOR
EVA-MARIA WESTBROEK - SOPRANO |
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| Quote: | Act I
Sheriff Rance quiets a brawl that has broken out in Minnie's Polka saloon. Ashby announces that he is chasing the bandit Ramerrez and his gang. When Rance is told that Minnie is only toying with him, another fight follows. A plan is formed to capture Ramerrez, after reading a letter from Ramerrez's old girlfriend. Minnie rebuffs Rance's attentions. The stranger Dick Johnson enters who knows Minnie. When the miners demand to know his plans, she intervenes. Rance becomes angry when he sees Minnie and Johnson dancing. Ashby returns with the gang member Castro, and after they threaten to kill him, he promises to betray Ramerrez, who is actually Johnson. The miners follow Castro on a wild goose chase. Johnson stays behind to protect Minnie. They confess their love for each other.
Act II
Minnie tells Johnson about her life, and they kiss. Overwhelmed with guilt over his secret identity, Johnson tries to leave, but is stopped by snow. He swears his love to Minnie. Before the sheriff and his men enter, Minnie hides Johnson. She is shocked to learn that Johnson is Ramerrez. After the men leave, she confronts Ramerrez. He confesses, asks for forgiveness, and reforms. After leaving he is shot, but Minnie takes him back to care for him in secret. Sheriff Rance is about to give up searching for Ramerrez, when he discovers a drop of blood. Minnie desperately makes Rance an offer. If she beats him at poker, he must let Ramerrez go free. If he wins, she will be his. Minnie wins by cheating, and Rance honors the deal.
Act III
Rance is furious that Minnie loves Ramerrez. Ashby captures Ramerrez and turns him over to the sheriff. The men want to hang Ramerrez as a thief and a murderer. He denies killing anyone, but admits to stealing. He accepts the sentence, and only asks that Minnie be told that he escaped. Minnie gallops in before the hanging, and while Rance tries to proceed, she convinces the miners that they owe Minnie too much to kill the man she loves. Minnie and Ramerrez leave to start a new life together. (From Wikipedia) |
Not such a surprising plot development, perhaps. According to the composer's biography posted at Musician Biographies:
| Quote: | | ... Puccini was famously handsome and charming, but he also possessed a melancholic side that he drew on to give depth to his characters. He was wholly uninterested in religion or politics, and enjoyed racing sports cars on his property and gambling at cards. |
| Quote: | | New program host Bill Richardson is breathing intelligent new life into this PokerPulse favorite, which has occasionally suffered from the weight of so many stars - quite literally. We have especially enjoyed recent selections from this summer's Salzburg Festival. |
Link to this entry
http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=3207#3207
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editor
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| Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:43 pm Post subject: |
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From Hosers, eh?
| Quote: | eNews Vancouver Opera
Vancouver Opera In Schools presents
The Barber of Barkerville
E-mail Alert
Aug. 1/07
| Quote: | VO’s 2007-2008 touring production for young audiences will make a stop September 29, 2007 in historic Barkerville, B.C. And for good reason: the show is The Barber of Barkerville, an adaptation by Ann Hodges of Rossini’s famous opera.
Set in Barkerville during the Cariboo Gold Rush, the story features Al, a young miner who has struck it rich; Rosie, a young woman of estimable beauty and wit, and the apple of Al’s eye; and Bart de Ville, Rosie’s over-protective boss and proprietor of the Hotel Barkerville.
And of course Figaro, the town’s professional fixer.
The Barber of Barkerville, featuring a cast of four energetic and talented young singers and a nimble-fingered pianist, will enthrall nearly 50,000 school children in schools and community venues across B.C. The show is proving to be extremely popular: it’s almost entirely booked, through to the spring of 2008, and the Barkerville show is nearly sold out.
For information on the Vancouver Opera In Schools program and VO’s other education programs, click here.
To find out more about Barkerville Historic Town, click here.
| Quote: | Consisting of four rising young Canadian opera singers, a pianist and a stage manager, Vancouver Opera In Schools' touring ensemble travels throughout British Columbia, performing on stages and in schools. These talented artists appear at venues as diverse as school gyms, local firehalls and community theatres.
Now in its 35th season, Vancouver Opera in the Schools has brought more than 1.6 million people to the magical world of opera. Each year, nearly 50,000 school children and families see a performance by the ensemble.
Specially adapted for younger audiences and performed in English, these fully-staged and costumed operas last approximately 45 minutes, and are followed by a short question and answer period with the cast. A gym floor and an excited audience are all that’s required. Teachers are provided with a comprehensive study guide and excerpt CD to help prepare their students for the presentation.
2007/2008 Production
The Barber of Barkerville
Adaptation written for Vancouver Opera by Ann Hodges.
Touring BC schools and communities
September 2007 - April 2008
Music Director, Kinza Tyrell
Stage Director, Ann Hodges
Adapted from one of the world's most popular operas, Rossini's comic masterpiece The Barber of Seville has been relocated to BC's historic Barkerville during the exciting Gold Rush.
To book a performance in your school or community venue, please contact:
Patrick LeBlanc, Education Manager. 604-682-2871 ext. 4835
pleblanc@vancouveropera.ca |
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Yes, that would be ...
Best of Bugs Bunny
DVD
Featuring the Looney Tune classic,
Rabbit of Seville
Watch the cartoon
More Gambling for Gold.
Beaumarchais in Seville
An Intermezzo
Hardcover
By Hugh Thomas, who seems to know his Spanish onions.
| Quote: | Reading between the lines of Barmarchais's letters in these months, it would seem that Madame de Croix was usually with him at that time as his companion. She was certainly with Beaumarchais when he won a fortune at brelan against the ambassador of Russia, Peter, Count of Buturlin.
* Brelan was an old simple game in which each player is dealt three cards, on which he bets. Three aces, the best hand, was known as a brelan.
In the past, gambling in Spain had been condemned, and playing for money considered heresy. But many Neapolitans came to Spain with King Charles III determined to gamble, and though the law still included such punishments for gambling as banishment to the country for five years, a fine of two hundred ducats, even a hundred strokes with the whip, secret gambling prevailed. Smart tertulias were especially arranged for the hostess to profit by gambling, pocketing her gains, for example, and avoiding paying if she lost. There was thus apparently gambling every night at the house of the Condesa-Duquesa de Benavente, one of Caron's debtors, where a secretary of the Inquisition and a ruined merchant were that winter the most frequent players.
... Early in February 1765, Beaumarchais played against the Buturlins jointly and won two thousand livres from them. They did not pay. Probably that was because they believed that it was not necessary to settle debts incurred in one's own house. Similar games continued over several weeks. Then Buturlin won one hundred louis, but he still did not pay anything back nor indeed did he speak of doing so. Beaumarchais said: "If the count lends me some money, I shall embark on a folly and take the bank." He did take the bank and lost money to Lord Rochford, the British ambassador, to the Duque de San Blas - and to Buturlin. To the latter, Beaumarchais said, "Ah, my dear count, we are quits." The count said that what he owed could not be balanced against what the bank should pay him. "That," he said, "does not really cost you anything." "That's what you could say to me," returned Beaumarchais, "if I had been a bad debtor." At that, Madame de Croix got up and told Beaumarchais to give her his arm. They left.
The next stages in the dispute were somewhat disagreeable. Beaumarchais and Madame de Croix went back to the Russian embassy, as was normal for them, in order to avoid giving the impression that they were angry. Beaumarchais lost every night about 10 or 12 louis, against a bank of 200, but before he left he developed the custom of putting all he gained on two cards, which always won. He broke the bank when it was in the hands of the Marques de Carassola. The Chevalier de Guzman put 500 louis on the table and said, "Gentlemen, don't go, I wish to bet that Monsieur de Beaumarchais will break the new bank." Beaumarchais felt obliged to accept the bet, having already made 200 louis. Everyone watched, because no one else played for such high stakes as he did. He put ten louis on each of his three cards. He was dealt three aces, a *brelan, so he doubled his winnings. He continued to win and, in two hours, he broke the bank again. He went to bed having made 500 louis, of which the next day he lost 150. Thinking then that he had played enough, he was about to go home when Buturlin came up and said to him, "Is it possible that you are not going to play against me?" "I have lost a great deal this evening," said Beaumarchais. "But yesterday you won more," said the diplomat. In the end they played, and Beaumarchais won another 200 louis. He again sought to leave. Again the Russian insisted that the game continue, though it was four in the morning. Beaumarchais insisted on giving up, and the Countess Buturlin, angry at the losses of her husband, said to him, "You are more fortunate than polite, monsieur." "Madame," he said, "you forget that eight days ago, when dining with Lord Rochford, you said quite the contrary." For at the British Embassy, the Countess Buturlin had begged him to lend her 30 louis to pay what she owed at the tables. (From Chapter Nine, At the Tables and to the Theatre, pgs. 127-131) |
About Beaumarchais's contribution to art:
| Quote: | Beaumarchais's Figaro plays comprise Le Barbier de Séville, Le Mariage de Figaro, and La Mère coupable. They were some of the most important French plays, for the trilogy spans the most turbulent period of French history. Figaro and Count Almaviva, the two characters Beaumarchais most likely conceived in his travels in Spain, were (with Rosine, later the Countess Almaviva) the only ones present in all three plays. They are indicative of the change in social attitudes before, during, and after the French Revolution. The two began in a formal master-and-servant (albeit light hearted) relationship, in Le Barbier; the two became rivals over Suzanne in Le Mariage, a personification of class struggle in pre-revolutionary France; and they finally join hands again to thwart the evil schemes of Bégearss, an attempt to call for reconciliation in La Mère. Further, Beaumarchais also dubbed La Mère "The Other Tartuffe", to pay homage to the great French playwright Molière, who wrote the original Tartuffe.
Beaumarchais's characters of Figaro and Almaviva first appeared in his Le Sacritan, which he wrote around 1765 and dubbed "an interlude, imitating the Spanish style [3]." His fame began, however, with his first dramatic play (drame bourgeois), Eugénie, which premiered at the Comédie Française in 1767. This was followed in 1770 by another drama, Les Deux amis [2].
To a lesser degree, the Figaro plays are semi-autobiographical [3]. Don Guzman Brid'oison (Le Mariage) and Bégearss (La Mère) were caricatures of two of Beaumarchais's real-life adversaries, Goezman and Bergasse. The page Chérubin (Le Mariage) resembled the youthful Beaumarchais, who did contemplate suicide when his love was to marry another. Suzanne, the heroine of Le Mariage and La Mère, was modelled after Beaumarchais's third wife, Marie-Thérèse de Willer-Mawlaz. Meanwhile, some of the Count monologues reflect on the playwright's remorse of his numerous sexual exploits.
Le Barbier premiered in 1775. Its sequel Le Mariage was initially passed by the censor in 1781, but was soon banned from performance by Louis XVI after a private reading. The King was unhappy with the play's satire on the aristocracy. Over the next three years Beaumarchais gave many private readings of the play, as well as making revisions to try to pass the censor. The King lifted the ban in 1784. The play premiered that year and was enormously popular even with aristocratic audiences. Mozart's opera premiered just two years later. Beaumarchais's final play, La mère was premiered in 1792 in Paris. All three plays enjoyed great success, and they are still frequently performed today, in theatres and opera houses. (Fully annotated at Wikipedia) |
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| Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 3:14 pm Post subject: |
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From the Ultimate High-Stakes Gamble:
Faust
By our all-time favorite French composer, Charles Gounod
Featuring Swedish tenor Jussi Bjoerling
CD Audio
Here he is with Salut, demeure at YouTube.com.
| Quote: | Life's great mysteries will always remain unknowable. The workings of Nature, the essence of the Divine, will forever be just beyond our comprehension and control. But out of those mysteries can come revelations of truth, beauty and love. If we seek these, we shall endure, but if we ask for more, we risk losing everything. Faust, an aged and embittered seeker, desperately barters his soul to the Devil in return for youth and an impossible alchemy: the melding of his cynical heart with that of a chaste and innocent young woman, Marguerite. Tragically, by trying to have it all, he is lost and must watch powerlessly as he loses that which he most desires. In his final moments on earth, he sees the truth he ought to have heeded: a pure soul cannot be contained or contaminated, even by the forces of darkness.
Faust is the pinnacle of 19th century French opera, rich in characterization, dramatically exciting and exuberantly evocative of its rustic setting. The glories of Gounod's sensuous and sublimely melodic masterpiece are framed in a cutting-edge production that employs scale, perspective and geometry to stunning effect. (Winning sales pitch for this year's season by Vancouver Opera). |
We couldn't agree more.
| Quote: | The Life of Jung
Hardcover
By renaissance man Ronald Hayman
| Quote: | | Browsing through his father's theological books for information about God, he found nothing helpful, but when his mother recommended Faust, he at last discovered a writer who took the devil seriously, though Goethe should not have let his hero gamble his soul away so frivolously. He deserved to be damned, and Mephistopheles should not have been tricked out of the soul he had won. The ending made evil seem innocuous. But the development of Jung's ideas was influenced by Goethe, who had studied the medieval alchemists and believed, as they did, that there were hidden human harmonies and interrelationships in all matter. (From Such a Wicked Thought, p. 25) |
|
Jussi Bjoerling in Voice and Song
VHS
Free singing lesson by professional voice coach
David L. Jones
The Best Poems of the English Language
Hardcover
By Harold Bloom
| Quote: | The chorus ends Doctor Faustus with what may be (Christopher) Marlowe's ironic self elegy:
Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight,
And burned is Apollo's laurel bough,
That sometime grew within this learned man.
Faustus is gone: regard his hellish fall,
Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise
Only to wonder at unlawful things,
Whose deepness doth entice such forward wits,
To practice more than heavenly power permits.
(-- p. 106) |
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| Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2007 12:36 pm Post subject: |
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From Highrollin' Rootskies.
The Gambler
Paperback
By Fyodor Dostoevsky
with the Diary of Polina Suslova
Translated by Victor Terras
Edited by Edward Wasiolek
| Quote: | "I have won two hundred thousand francs!" cried I as I pulled out my last sheaf of bank-notes. The pile of paper currency occupied the whole table. I could not withdraw my eyes from it. Consequently, for a moment or two Polina escaped my mind. Then I set myself to arrange the pile in order, and to sort the notes, and to mass the gold in a separate heap. That done, I left everything where it lay, and proceeded to pace the room with rapid strides as I lost myself in thought. Then I darted to the table once more, and began to recount the money; until all of a sudden, as though I had remembered something, I rushed to the door, and closed and double-locked it. Finally I came to a meditative halt before my little trunk.
"Shall I put the money there until to-morrow?" I asked, turning sharply round to Polina as the recollection of her returned to me.
She was still in her old place -- still making not a sound. Yet her eyes had followed every one of my movements. Somehow in her face there was a strange expression -- an expression which I did not like. I think that I shall not be wrong if I say that it indicated sheer hatred.
Impulsively I approached her.
"Polina," I said, "here are twenty thousand florins -- fifty thousand francs, or more. Take them, and to-morrow throw them in De Griers' face."
She returned no answer.
"Or if you should prefer," I continued, "let me take them to him myself to-morrow -- yes, early to-morrow morning. Shall I?"
Then all at once she burst out laughing, and laughed for a long while. With astonishment and a feeling of offence I gazed at her. Her laughter was too like the derisive merriment which she had so often indulged in of late -- merriment which had broken forth always at the time of my most passionate explanations. At length she ceased, and frowned at me from under her eyebrows.
"I am not going to take your money," she said contemptuously.
"Why not?" I cried. "Why not Polina?"
"Because I am not in the habit of receiving money for nothing."
"But I am offering it to you as a a friend. In the same way I would offer you my very life."
Upon this, she threw me a long, questioning glance, as though she were seeking to probe me to the depths.
"You are giving too much for me," she remarked with a smile. "The beloved of De Griers is not worth fifty thousand francs."
"Oh, Polina, how can you speak so?" I exclaimed reproachfully. "Am I De Griers?"
"You?" she cried with her eyes suddenly flashing. "Why, I hate you! Yes, yes, I hate you! I love you no more than I do De Griers." (From Chapter XV, p. 275) |
Sigh. There is just no pleasing some women. And yet:
| Quote: | | Aleksei comes to understand everything but what moves him, and what moves him are his feelings for Polina and his passion for gambling. He had confessed and professed his love for her again and again, but on the night she comes to his room to offer herself to him, he must first rush off to the gaming table, where he is phenomenally successful. He returns to his room, where Polina has been waiting for him, with his pockets bulging with gold and gulden. There he proceeds, as if it is a drama necessary before the act of love, to pour out the money on the table and floor. Aleksei believes he is paying tribute to his love, and by such tribute permitting Polina to regain her honor before de Grieux. Yet Polina sees something more than the impulse of the lover in his act. Aleksei narrates at this critical juncture: "'I wonder if I should put it in my suitcase until tomorrow,' I said, turning to Polina, as if I had suddenly remembered her. She was still sitting there without stirring, yet watching me intently. It was a strange expression she wore on her face; I did not like that expression! I would not be wrong if I said there was hatred in it." (From the Introduction) |
| Quote: | The Gambler
DVD
We were amazed at the vast number of critical reviews of this 1997 film our Google search yielded. How bad could it be with seasoned Irish vet Michael Gambon in the lead? We'll let you know. Please check back soon for updates. |
| Quote: | The Gambler by Sergei Prokofiev
Most of you can probably name at least a few operas that involve gambling. There's The Queen of Spades by Tchaikovsky, in which the hero is destroyed by gambling; there are Massenet's Manon and Verdi's La Traviata, both with key scenes in which a man goes to the the tables out of love for a woman and encounters disastrous results. Then, there's this week's opera, The Gambler, by Prokofiev. It actually has a whole cast full of gamblers -- and none of them has much luck.
The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
Hardcover
Edited by Stanley Sadie
And yet, while gambling is often seen in an opera, we don't think of it as something you'd find at the opera. That is, you don't expect to find slot machines and blackjack tables in the lobby at your local opera house. But that wasn't always the case. According to the New Grove Dictionary of Opera, gambling was an essential source of funding for opera from the early 1700's century right up until about 1814. There was a time when the Italian and Austrian governments swung back and forth between banning all games of chance and profitting from gambling by creating a monopoly on it. In the latter scenario, they'd farm out that monopoly to impresarios like Dominico Barbaia and Carlo Balochino, who sometimes divided their profits between the poor -- and the opera house.
Barbaia was a scullion in local cafes and bars around Milan, and Balochino was an ex-croupier. Both of them had a yen for gambling and opera, probably in that order. When Barbaia managed to put aside enough money from his more low-level enterprises to lease the gambling tables in the foyer of La Scala, Balochino became the house manager. An enormous amount of the gaming proceeds were then diverted into the opera budget. Of course, a considerable amount was probably diverted into their pockets as well. You know, "doing well by doing good," and all that.
Even so, Barbaia wound up playing an important role in the overall development of 19th-century opera. In 1809, he was appointed manager of the Royal Opera House in Naples, where he used the profits from his gambling tables to commission operas from composers like Gluck, Rossini, and Donizetti. He also had an ear for new singing talent. Productions at La Scala and Naples were acclaimed for the brilliance of their vocalists. Unlike most impresarios of the time, who were considered on the same level as pickpockets and confidence men, Barbaia apparently was content with his legitimate share of the gambling revenue, and felt no need to cheat anyone. In fact, he was held in such high esteem that his death in 1841 was mourned throughout Italy. The writer Emil Luka based the title character in his novel The Impresario on Barbaia; he also turns up as a character in Auber's opera, The Siren.
Barbaia's seasons at La Scala and Naples weren't the only times when opera and gambling had a successful mix. The Austrian Empress Maria Theresa authorized legal gambling in order to support opera houses in Prague, Trieste, and Milan. Later, opera companies in places like Baden-Baden and Monte Carlo benefited from the invention of the roulette wheel, and used the proceeds to commission operas by the likes of Massenet, Saint-Saens, Puccini, and Ravel.
Now, it's true that "gambling problems" have destroyed many upstanding invividuals, as today's opera makes clear. Still, think how much today's opera coffers might swell if we could just get a deal like the one Barbaia and Balochino got with their government back in the 1800's. If, say, the proceeds from the state lottery went to finance opera companies or to commission new works. They might even be used to produce a cautionary, anti-gaming opera -- like Prokofiev's The Gambler.
In fact, Prokofiev's drama could well serve as a stern warning -- a sort of operatic public service announcement -- but it's also much more than that. The Gambler is a fascinating and innovative opera by one of the 20th century's most popular composers. And it's based on a story by one of Russia's most heralded authors, Fyodor Dostoevsky. So, for more on The Gambler -- and chances are you haven't heard much about it before -- tune in this week's edition of At the Opera. Host Lou Santacroce will discuss the literary background of the piece with Dr. Julie Buckler of Harvard University, an expert on both Russian literature and Russian opera. Lou also talks with regular guest Michelle Krisel on why we don't hear more Prokoviev in the opera house. Then, conductor Scott Speck will fill us in on the unusual music you'll hear in The Gambler -- Prokofiev actually considered the piece more a "sung play" than an opera. It's all At the Opera, just 30 minutes before curtain-time at the Metropolitan, from NPR. (From NPR, At the Opera, 2001) |
Something for Nothing
Luck in America
Hardcover
By Jackson Lears
| Quote: | | From the modernizers' view, gambling was a relic of a decadent old regime -- a vice epitomized the European haut monde evoked by Dostoevsky in The Gambler (1866). Dostoevsky's Roulettenberg is a society powered by feverish, erotic obsession -- with money, status, romantic attachment. Whatever the object, what is crucial is the desire to be always in pursuit, on the edge, whether at the roulette tables or in a lady's chamber. The only constraints on this quest for intense experience are the remnants of a creaking caste tradition, a set of musty principles and rituals that easily can be counterfeited. In Roulettenburg, it is always an open question whether this marquis or that countess is the genuine article or not. In contrast, the revolutionary "new man" -- bourgeois or socialist -- was an icon of authenticity. (From Gambling for Grace at p. 2) |
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| Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:31 pm Post subject: |
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London
The Biography
Hardcover
By Peter Ackroyd
| Quote: | The first evidence of gambling in London can be adduced from the Roman period, with the excavation of dice carved out of bone or jet. The unexpected turns of life, as then experienced, are also revealed in the elaborate equipment of a fortune-teller found beneath Newgate Street. In the early medieval period Hazard was played in taverns and other low houses, together with another dice game known as Tables. In medieval brothels, too, gambling and drinking were part of the service. Quarrels over a game were sometimes fatal and, after one round of Tables, 'the loser fatally stabbed the winner on the way home'. There was plentiful scope for fraud, also, and there are reports of the gaming was everywhere. An excavation in Duke's Palace revealed 'a piece of medieval roof-tile shaped into a gaming counter', according to a report in The London Archaelogist, and as early as the thirteenth century, there were rules in Westminster for the punishment of any schoolboy found with dice in his possession. A stroke of the rod was delivered for every 'pip' on the dice.
Playing cards were imported into London in the fifteenth century, and their use became so widespread that in 1495 Henry VII 'forbad their use to servants and apprentices except during the Christmas holidays.' Stow records that 'From All hallows Eve to the day following Candlemas-day there was, among other sports, playing at cards, for counters, nails and points, in every house'. They were found in every tavern, too: packs of cards had the names of various inns imprinted upon them. Their merits were widely advertised. 'Spanish cards lately brought from Vig. Being pleasant to the eye by their curious colours and quite different from ours may be had at 1/- [one shilling] a pack at Mrs Baldwin's in Warwick Lane.' The business in cards became so mid-seventeenth century an annual income of five thousand pounds which meant that 'some 4.8 million packs of cards' must have been traded.
Fulham earned a reputation as early as the sixteenth century for its dubious traffic in dice and counters; it is evoked by Shakespeare in The Merry Wives of Windsor, where
For gourd and fullam holds
And 'high' and 'low' beguile the rich and poor.
A fullam in this context was a loaded die...
... Gaming was declared illegal but, despite nightly raids upon certain selected hells in the city, it continued to flourish. There was always 'assembled a mixed crowd of gentlemen, merchants, tradesmen, clerks and sharpers of all degrees and conditions', ready to play at Hazard, Faro, Basset, Roly-poly and a score of other games involving dice and cards. Into these hells came the puffs, the flashers, the squibs, the dunners, the flash captains with a regiment of spies, porters and runners to give notice of approaching constables. At Almacks, a famous gaming club in Pall Mall, the players 'turned their coats inside out for luck'; they put on wristbands of leather to protect their lace ruffles and wore straw hats to guard their eyes fro the light and to prevent their hair from tumbling. Sometimes, too, they put on 'masks to conceal their emotions'. At Brooks's, the twenty-first rule stated that there whould be 'No gaming in the eating room, except tossing up for reckonings, on penalty of paying the whole bill of the members present'. There were othedr less agreeable occasions for a wager, as recorded in London Souvenirs. A prospective player once dropped down dead at the door of White's; ;the club immediately made bets whether he was dead or only in a fit; and when they were going to bleed him the wagerers for his death interposed, saying it would affect the fairness of the bet'.
... The traditions of public gaming were continued into the nineteenth century by such places as the Royal Saloon in Piccadilly, the Castle in Holborn, Tom Cribb's Saloon in Panton Street, the Finish in James Street, and Brydges Street Saloon in Covent Garden otherwise known as 'The Hall of Infamy' or Old Mother Damnable's'. On the other side of London, in the East End, there were gambling rooms and gambling clubs, to such an extent that one minister working among the poor of the area informed Charles Booth that 'gambling presses drink hard as the greatest evil of the day... all gamble more than they drink'. The street urchins gambled with farthings or buttons, in a card game known as Darbs, and betting on boxing or horse-racing was carried on through the agency of tobacconists, publicans, newsvendors and Booth's survey of the East End, 'Women as well as men...men and boys tumble out in their eagerness to read the latest 'speshul" and mark the winner.'
And then there was the lottery. It was first established in London in 1569... (From Chapter 42, A Turn of the Dice, at pgs. 381-385) |
| Quote: | Adaptations and cultural references
The play was revised and adapted by John Dennis in 1702 as The Comical Gallant.
Giuseppe Verdi's last opera, Falstaff, with a libretto by Arrigo Boito, is based on the play, although, as with most operas adapted from the theatre, there are significant differences as to characters and plot.
The composer Antonio Salieri wrote the opera buffa Falstaff (1799), with a libretto by Carlo Prospers Defranchesi, which also adapts the main story line of The Merry Wives of Windsor for the operatic stage.
The German composer Carl Otto Nicolai wrote an opera based on the comedy in 1849, Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor.
The English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote Sir John in Love, an opera based on this play in the years 1924-28. (From Wikipedia) |
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| Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 4:33 pm Post subject: |
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From Росси́йская Федера́ция
Highroller Rootskies:
The Queen of Spades
The Captain's Daughter and Other Stories
Papberback
By Alexander Pushkin
| Quote: | | Quote: | In the cold, rain, and sleet,
They together would meet
To play.
Lord, forgive them their sin:
Gambling, late to win
They'd stay.
They won and they lost,
And put down the cost in chalk.
So on cold autumn days
They wasted no time
In talk. |
| Quote: | They were playing cards a the house of Narumov, an officer in the Horse Guards. The long winter night passed imperceptibly; it was after four in the morning when they sat down to supper. Those who had won enjoyed their food; the others sat absent-mindedly with empty plates before them. But champagne appeared, the conversation grew livelier, and every one took part in it.
'How have you been doing, Surin?' Narumov asked.
'Losing, as usual. I must confess, I have no luck: I play cautiously, never get excited, never lose my head, and yet I go on losing.' (From the story's opening paragraphs) |
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Later, after hearing the story of the Countess's famous win at the card table:
| Quote: | | Hermann shuddered. The marvellous story came into his mind again. He walked up and down the street past the house, thinking of its owner and her wonderful faculty. It was late when he returned to his humble lodgings; he could not go to sleep for hours, and when at last sleep overpowered him he dreamt of cards, of a green-baize-covered table, bundles of notes, and piles of gold. He played card after card, resolutely turning down the corners and won all the time, raking in the gold and stuffing his pockets with notes. Waking up rather late, he sighed at the loss of his fantastic wealth, and, setting out once more to wander about the town, found himself opposite the Countess's house. It was as though some mysterious power drew him to it. He stopped and gazed at the windows. In one of them he saw a dark-haired girl's head, bent ov er a book or needlework. The head was raised. Hermann saw a rosy face and black eyes. That moment decided his fate. (From Chapter I, p. 130). |
| Quote: | Great Russian Short Stories
Audio Cassette
Our only quarrel with Penguin Audio Books is that there aren't enough of them. This one features some of the best voices in contemporary theatre but, unfortunately, good actors are usually too busy at some posh West End venue to take on a crap job like reading a book on tape. Too bad, maybe. |
| Quote: | The Queen of Spades
Opera and Ballet
Featuring music by Tchaikovsky, lyrics by
his brother - yes! - and even a performance
by the incomparable Bolshoi ballerina
Maya Plisetskaya, who followed an exquisite rendition
of the Dying Swan at age 46 by ripping the phone from
the wall of a plush suite at the Hotel Vancouver
during an interview when it wouldn't stop ringing.
VHS
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| Quote: | Natasha's Dance
A Cultural History of Russia
Hardcover
By Orlando Figes
| Quote: | Yet, for all his Western inclinations, Pushkin was a poet with a Russian voice. Neglected by his parents, he was practically brought up by his peasant nurse, whose tales and songs became a lifelong inspiration for his verse. He loved folk tales and he often went to country fairs to pick up peasant stories and turns of phrase which he then incorporated in his poetry. Like the officers of 1812, he felt that the landowner's obligation as the guardian of his serfs was more important than his duty to the state.
He felt this obligation as a writer, too, and looked to shape a written language that could speak to everyone. The Decembrists made this a central part of their philosophy. They called for laws to be written in a language 'that every citizen can understand.' They attempted to create a Russian lexicon of politics to replace imported words. Glinka called for a history of the war of 1812 to be written in a language that was 'plain and clear and comprehensible by people of all classes, because people of all classes took part in the liberation of our motherland.' The creation of a national language seemed to the veterans of 1812 a means of fostering the spirit of the battlefield and of forging a new nation with the common man. 'To know our people,' wrote the Decembrist poet Alexander Bestuzhev, 'one has to live with them and talk with them in their language, one has to eat with them and celebrate with them on their feast days, go bear-hunting with them in the woods, or travel to the market on a peasant cart.' Pushkin's verse was the first to make this link. It spoke to the widest readership, to the literate peasant and the prince, in a common Russian tongue. It was Pushkin's towering achievement to create this national language through his verse. (Children of 1812, pgs. 82-83) |
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| Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:33 am Post subject: |
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Sirius Metropolitan Radio
Cosi Fan Tutte
Opera buffa by Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by that infamous lover of life, Lorenzo da Ponte
Feauturing Conductor Jeffrey Tate; Carol Vaness, David Rendall, Ann Murray, David Holloway
Live performance recorded Dec. 22/84
Re-broadcast April 28/08
| Quote: | | In a coffee shop, Ferrando and Guglielmo (two officers) claim that their fiancées (Dorabella and Fiordiligi, respectively) will be eternally faithful. Don Alfonso joins the discussion and lays a wager with the two officers, claiming he can prove in a day's time that these two women (like all women) are fickle. The wager is accepted: the two officers will pretend to have been called off to war; soon thereafter they shall return in disguise and attempt to seduce each other's lover. The scene shifts to the two women (they are sisters) who are praising their men. Alfonso arrives to announce the bad news: the officers have been called off to war. Ferrando and Guglielmo arrive, brokenhearted, and bid farewell (quintet: Sento, o Dio, che questo piedo è restio—"I feel, oh God, that my foot is reluctant"). As the boat with the men sails off to sea, Alfonso and the sisters wish them safe travel (trio: Soave sia il vento—"May the wind be gentle"), then Alfonso, left alone, rails against the fickleness of women (arioso: Oh, poverini, per femmina giocar cento zecchini?—"Oh, poor little ones, to wager 100 sequins on a woman"). (From the synopsis posted at helpful Wikipedia) |
| Quote: | Cosi Fan Tutte
DVD
Featuring the Zurich Opera and Italian Mezzo Powerhouse
Cecilia Bartoli
Bartoli exalts in this otherwise dawdling production. Seen a better one? Tell us at legal@pokerpulse.com. |
The Met's excellent satellite station makes ultimate use of its magnificent archive of live performances recorded throughout its history. Sadly, performances from the '50s, '60s and especially the mid-'70s during Pavarotti's heyday reveal the fruits of vastly superior musical training, administration and probably funding, but there are yet moments of light even today.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:42 am Post subject: test |
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From Roués resplendissants:
Manon
Mirella Freni
Volume 2
CD Audio
| Quote: | | Selections from a 1969 live performance of this sublime opera by the great Jules Massenet, featuring the famous duo of Mirella Freni and the Big Bambino as they approach their respective peaks. |
From Act IV:
| Quote: | | A gaming salon at the Hôtel de Transylvanie. Lescaut and Guillot are among the gamblers, and the three young actresses are prepared to attach themselves to any winner. Manon arrives with des Grieux; no longer with any illusions as to her character (Manon! Manon! Sphinx étonnant) he admits his helpless thralldom, and allows himself to be persuaded to gamble, in hopes of gaining the wealth she craves. He plays at cards with Guillot and wins, winning each time when Guillot doubles and redoubls the wager. As Manon exults, Guillot accuses des Grieux of cheating. Des Grieux hotly denies the charge; Guillot leaves, but shortly returns with the police, to whom he denounces des Grieux as a cheat and Manon as dissolute. (From OperaGlass Synopses). |
Not to be confused with:
Manon Lescaut - the Puccini Opera
Featuring Italian diva Mirella Freni
VHS
Trust the kudos!
Or:
Manon - The Ballet
Natalia Makarova: In a Class of Her Own
VHS
This is a tough one to find, and all you get is a short excerpt, but Makarova's Manon is legendary.
Of course, it might be this one, too:
Natasha
A Dance Entertainment Starring Natalia Makarova
Directed by Derek Bailey
VHS
For reasons known only to la diva, it is difficult to get more than a cursory two lines about these films of 1985 and '86 respectively even though they document the peak of a stellar career. Strange, huh?
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| Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:39 pm Post subject: |
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From Welshers:
British Heritage
Magazine Subscription
The National Eisteddfod of Wales
With its roots in the bardic tournaments of the 12th century, scores of thousands gather every August for the rites, competitions and festivities of this fanciful clebration of Welsh identity
By Siân Ellis
July, 2007
| Quote: | ... The National Eisteddfod of Wales, alternating location each year betweent the north and south part of the country and lasting up to nine days, is Europe's largest popular festival of competitive music, poetry, literature and performances. Bolstered by 800 years of traditiion, it remains (pace erstwhile doubters) a flourishing icon and bastion of Welsh arts, language and culture. ...
On average some 8,000 adults and children pit their skills, with passion and excellence, in contests as varied as folk singing and step dancing, choral performances and monologues. Months before the eisteddfod at Swansea, I spoke to Layton Watkins, top tenor with Morriston Rugby Football Club Male Choir ... and he had confided that "the boys" had begun practising their pieces as early as the previous November. "It's not the prize (£750), it's the honor of winning a National Eisteddfod that is the motivation," he said. ...
To get an idea of just what special place the eisteddfod occupies in Welsh hearts, you need to dip into its evolution. Eistedd is Welsh for "sit" and the term "eisteddfod" originally denoted a meeting of bards, either in poetic contest or to discuss professional matters. The earliest known Welsh bards worked in the courts of princes in the 6th century, competing to win a seat of honor at the lord's table that would bring patronage and a livelihood.
The first recorded bardic tournament, however, was not until 1176, held at Cardigan Castle by Rhys ap Gruffydd. Called a gwledd arbennig (special feast) rather than eisteddfod, it offered two miniature silver chairs as prizes for poetry and music, and attracted competitors from England and Scotland as well as Wales. The term eisteddfod was used for the first time at Carmarthen in the middle of the 15th century, an occasion that was significant also for tightening the rules governing strict Welsh poetry. You need to be a mental gymnast to understand the intricacies of cynghanedd - poetry that involves patterns of consonance, alliteration and internal rhyming in prescribed meter. Further eisteddfods at Caerwys in 1523 and 1567, sought to safeguard professional standards by licensing three classes of bard: anyone who didn't make the grade had to find alternative labor or be treated as a vagbond. ...
... To be admitted to the ranks of the bards amid the Gorsedd circle of stones is considered a great honor and is bestowed on those who have made a distinguished contribution to the Welsh nation, language and culture. Members range from world-famous opera singer Bryn Terfel to former rugby star Gareth Edwards and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams (coincidentally a native of Swansea). (-- pgs. 18-21) |
Renee Fleming and Bryn Terfel
Under the Stars
DVD
(Way, way better than Terfel's tired performances with an otherwise enchanting Cecilia Bartoli. The magic of the home crowd, perhaps, or the soft summer night by a lake).
Watch the Youtube video of Renee singing Dvořák's Song to the Moon from Rusalka at the 2003 festival - in Czech.
Link to this entry
http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=4176#4176 |
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