According the Matthew 14:1-12: 14 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, 2 and he said to his attendants, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.” 3 Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put … Continue reading The Singing Herod I
Opera
I Love a Polonaise
I love a good Polonaise! And for some reason, I can’t imagine why, Chaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin has popped into my mind and it happens to have a good one. The plot is very simple. As a young girl Tatyana falls head over heels in love with a stranger, Eugene Onegin (It’s Russian, so it’s … Continue reading I Love a Polonaise
14 Angels
Engelbert Humperdinck (that is, the original Engelbert Humperdinck) wrote an opera based on the fairy tale of Hänsel and Gretel to a libretto by his sister Adelheid Wette in 1891 and 1892. In the process Frau Wette cleaned up the story quite a bit to take some of the terrors out of the original Grimm … Continue reading 14 Angels
It Wasn’t Awful
Well, I watched the video of the blu-ray of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Christmas Eve the other evening, and about the best I can say is it wasn’t awful. It certainly won’t displace my affection for the 1977 English language production from Indiana University, especially now that I have the video of that to watch again. First, the good … Continue reading It Wasn’t Awful
My Christmas Eve
In 1977 Indiana University staged an English language production of Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera Christmas Eve, which was video taped and then broadcast on PBS in 1978. Not only did I watch that broadcast and was enthralled by it, but I managed to record the audio (not yet having a videocassette recorder), and it’s that audio tape (supplemented … Continue reading My Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Another of my pet peeves is Christmas Eve. Not the evening itself, but the usage of the term. Way too many ignorant folks throw the term around to mean the day before Christmas, when any half-way sentient humanoid understands that it means the night before Christmas. I mean it’s right there in the word eve, a clearly … Continue reading Christmas Eve
The Grail Made Me Do It
Act III of Lohengrin begins with Elsa and her mysterious protector’s wedding night. The King and chorus lead them into the wedding chamber, and when they are finally alone, the two of them launch into a love duet. But soon the knight utters Elsa’s name and she laments that she can’t return the favor. He warns … Continue reading The Grail Made Me Do It
The Forbidden Question
Although Lohengrin can be seen to deal with some weighty philosophical issues, in its simplest form it can be viewed as a fairy tale. Wagner drew upon history and both pagan and Christian mythology in devising his libretto, and there is one historical personage depicted, King Heinrich (Henry the Fowler), who has come to Brabant … Continue reading The Forbidden Question
Prelude
I became a Wagnerite in 1971, and a Perfect Wagnerite the following year. For several reasons I didn’t get to know his opera Lohengrin very well, though I did go to see a great performance of it at the Met in the late 70s. I’m rectifying that omission now, and of course there’s a wealth of … Continue reading Prelude
New Year’s Eve 1978
I’ve never been one for celebrating New Year’s Eve, and I usually just stay at home those nights, but in 1978 I decided to make an exception as a friend and I headed to New York City, the locus classicus of New Year’s Eve celebrations, to ring in the New Year with panache. Pat … Continue reading New Year’s Eve 1978