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Complete idiocy from two morons
These are two Ancients of Daze on the grotesque Opera-Smell, enabled by the Little Librarian who could one, Bob Kosovksy. Tritter is an elderly shyster who once married a middling but very capable...
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The amazing Eötvös, the great Ligeti and perhaps greater Bartók
Among Opera lovers with IQs over sixteen (alas there aren't many of those) Peter Eötvös is best known for setting that quintessentially American Classic Play Angels in America as an opera (a...
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MUSSOLINI'S COMPOSERS, RUNNING FROM OPERA
I saw recently on Facebook (god help us with social media!!!) a bunch of fools making generalizations about Mussolini's Italy and the composers who stayed there. They had no idea of what they were...
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THE WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH, ALSO SOME HATE
Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen should be playing in the background.Mrs. John Claggart is sad. The Lumbago Rear-up afflicts her this week. So do the lacrimae rerum. Thanks to Publius Vergilius Maro,...
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SIEGFRIED, The HORROR, THE VALKYRIE AGAIN, ALAS, ALSO Gelb, SILLS
After the catastrophically bad Met Siegfried Saturday, April 21, with an unbelievably painful to hear final duet, (and they had their propagandists telling everybody this conductor, Luisi, was great --...
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MADNESS (1): SCHUMANN, KATE HEPBURN, BRAHMS AND CIPHERS
(pic: Robert Schumann)I, the Widder, thank all who have joined up. Rather brave, it seems to me. Just for info, I am on Facebook as Mrs John Claggart. Ahi! Facebook! Quelle cliché !!! The Widder could...
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Netrebko, Muti Speaks, Trovatore
It's fun to see the necrophiliacs (opera lovers) on various opera lists go on about either how bad Anna Netrebko's aria from Verdi's Macbeth is ("Vieni t'afretta"), or how wonderful it is because she...
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ADVENTURES AT LA SCALA, A RING SHATTERS
This week had its share of scandal. Tannhäuser in Düsseldorf was literally booed off the stage. What can be known for sure is that the production by Burkhard C. Kosminski focused on Nazis,...
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TEBALDI AND FORZA AT LA SCALA '99 PART 11
FORZA AT LA SCALA, PART 11; TEBALDI AND OTHERS. part one is below.Piazza Guastalla, where Renata Tebaldi resided, is a short walk from La Scala. Like most upper-class apartment blocks in Italy, it's...
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BLESSED CECILIA, APPEAR IN VISIONS TO ALL MUSICIANS, APPEAR AND INSPIRE
I’ve had the Decca pressing of Norma starring Cecilia Bartoli for more than a week now. I was going to write a review but when I started to do it something else emerged. The Widder has known Miss...
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YOU MEAN NORMA IS MUSIC? WHO KNEW?
(Norma jigsaw puzzle, ca. 1928)NORMA: BARTOLI, JO, OSBORN, PETUSSI; La Scintilla, ANTONINI DECCA COMPLETEOne of the most beautiful and moving moments in this remarkable performance occurs as part of...
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THE OBESE, THE GIFTED, THE AUTHENTIC
(Ruggero Leoncavallo)I got to thinking about fat people who create music. That may or may not be because the widder and her poor twin, whose name is around, wanted to compose and are persons of size....
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Parsifal: Wagner's Secret Gospel
In Parsifal Richard Wagner was massaging his hemorrhoids, whilst resting one cheek on a Cosima embroidered pillow and applying Schopenhauer’s lotionto the throbbing wound within, when he cried,...
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Music is the art of the prophets and the gift of God.
(Rauschenberg Retroactivo l, 1964I was thrilled to listen to Sony’s recent release of five CDs, called as a group, Prophets of the New. I found myself weeping hearing these, many of them never...
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Music at last! What a relief. I hate opera! Sometimes.
Writing a few weeks ago about what was once “new music”; I realized, not for the first time, that opera is a mental illness. A few days ago I listened to one of my favorite pieces, Brahms’ A major...
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DISPUTING PUTIN
(picture AP)I wrote something on Opera-L and surprisingly the three people on Mrs. John Claggart’s face book page urged her to republish it here. I dedicate this to Leslie Barcza. He has a blog (don’t...
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HENRY HOLLAND HELP, ANNA’S DOING VERDI
(Henry Holland)There is a huge international cabal to WILL Anna Netrebko a legend. I’ve seen it on social media. I have seen the whores do what they are bid; and as for the ‘Net flacks!!!!! We will...
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Benjamin Britten: THE BITTER WITHY
That is the second tune from one of Britten’s last works, Suite on English Folk Tunes. Although the lyrics aren’t set, they are an old vernacular Christmas carol. The withy is the willow tree, which...
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NO WIN BATTLES
On a list I frequent I’ve noticed the following recently: Rage about a British reviewer's dismissal of Giacomo Puccini’s last opera (uncompleted), Turandot. Then there appeared the following statement:...
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The Dead City
There’s been a lot of mourning for City Opera. It is dead. Various Pollyannas, mostly idiots, think it will rise from its ashes. But our world is now very different than it was in 1944 when the company...
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