theDelicious Irony:i'm Driving Across Indiana Listening to

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

The delicious irony:

I'm driving across Indiana listening to Turandot, Puccini's opera that is filled with haunting music, which takes place in China, is sung in Italian, and I'm listening on the radio to a radio broadcast of a visual medium.

Nessun dorma is so haunting.

The following is for music geeks only:

More irony: Puccini also died before he completed the opera. When it premiered in 1926, Arturo Toscanini laid down his baton in the middle of the third act and announced to the audience, "Here, the opera ends, where the maestro died."

There have been three endings written, one has never been performed.

 

[raebates]

Interesting, KG.Did you get caught in all the snow? I've got a good 3/4 inch piled up outside my window.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Yes, around Layflatte. It wasn't bad, though.

 

[raebates]

Glad you didn't get into the worst of it.Hmm. I wonder if this thread is too high brow for the hoi polloi.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Probably.What are you doing up this time of the night?

 

[raebates]

It's morning for me, dear. I get up at 4:20 every morning.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

This third shift stuff is getting to me. I went to bed as soon as I got home because I was completely fried from driving. I woke up about 3, started a load of laundry and decided to see who I could annoy up here with some more cerebral humor.

 

[raebates]

My DH worked 3rd for a while. It's brutal. I do, however, believe you have a gift for annoying people. One more attribute we share.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

One of nature's most beautiful creations - the pearl - is a direct result of irritation.We serve a special purpose in life - providing a grain of sand. Some people will make it into a pearl. Others will just get pissed off and therin lies the difference between people.

 

[chefann]

That's an interesting story, KG. My music history prof. had lots of those interesting stories, which made the class fun. Of course, I don't remember most of them now...

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

So whadya expect in an opera - a happy ending?Actually there is a bittersweet ending in Turnadot, since there is the tragic death of Liu, but she is a loose end that needs to be tied down.Girl meets boy, falls in love with boy, boy meets other girl, other girl meets boy and asks three riddles, other girl falls in love with boy, first girl kills self. Standard opera fare, I suppose.

 

[raebates]

Stories behind the music in most genres are interesting. I got my DH a CD/DVD set for our anniversary-- Crystal Visions . . . the very best of Stevie Nicks. He's a huge Stevie Nicks fan. The liner notes are a treasure trove of "what happened when" stores. Lots of fun!

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

My favorite composer is probably Beethoven, although Tchaikovsky, Mendolssohn, Holst, Bernstein (Elmer, not Leonard) are on my list. Don't forget Carl Stalling! Beethoven had a rough life and he was a troubled soul, which you can hear in so much of his music. There is so much turmoil in the 5th Symphony yet, it is a stirring and beautiful piece. The opening, probably the most famous four notes in music, recurs throughout the composition. I'm taken in particular with the way the theme echos between instruments, much like the arguments he must have had with his father while growing up. Still, he was also a playful man with a light sense of humor that plays out in the 6th Symphony, a family picnic on a Summer day complete with an unexpected thunderstorm. Beethoven was stone deaf when he wrote the 9th Symphony, arguably one of the most beautiful, stirring, reverant and emotional pieces ever written. Tragically, he never heard a note of it, nor did he ever hear any of the thunderous applause when it was performed.