jmc's classics
It has been almost a year. I hope to continue and have more entries with more research. Stay tuned. Have a good Labor Day!
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Today is August 15. The feast of the Dormition or Assumption of the Virgin Mary which is a holiday in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. In most predominantly Orthodox Countries and some Catholic countries this is a major holiday. It is also the setting of one of the most iconic operas I Pagliacci by Ruggerio Leoncavallo. It is a two act opera that lasts about an hour. it is often paired with Calveria Rusticanna by Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945). They are also considered the "Simese twins of opera" Leoncacallo, Mascagne and Umberto Giordono (1867-1948 are all considered "One hit wonders of classical music.
Leoncavallo wrote other operas as well as operettas songs and one or two tone poems. His most famous other opera is Zaza about a Paris France show girl. There has been some attempts to revive the opera Zaza. There are two recordings available on Arkiv music. The events of the opera I Pagliacci (the Players) are based on an event that Leoncavallo saw when he was eight years old. The Opera centers around a group of clowns in a traveling troupe. They stage a play and the leader of the troupe suspects that his wife who is part of the troupe is having an affair and he wants to know who she is having the affair with. Canio the leader of the troupe sings the Iconic aria "Vesti la Giuba" or the sobbing song when he finds out that his wife is having an affair. This is one of the most famous arias. It was used in a commercial for BEst Buy about 20 years ago. There are many recording available. The copy that I have is from the 1982 film by Franco Zaferelli with Placido Domingo, Juan Pons and Theresa Stratas. most cable TV companies have music channels of various types of music. Charter has a Classical music channel as well as Big Band, Swing and various types of Country and Rock N Roll. MTV is still available. This has been the anniversary of MTV. I don't watch MTV any more. I heard that they don't have much videos any mores.
What will happen with the eclipse? people get suspicious during eclipses and have superstitions about eclipses. I have not seen an actual full eclipse as of now.
Summer is unfortunately winding down. The Cathedral concerts start on August 9th. The SLSO season starts on September 23.
The Cathedral concerts are a series of concerts with various artists of mostly classical genres but deal with other music. They are held at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis which is the Seat of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of St. Louis. The Cathedral is a large church with a seating capacity of over 2000 people. It is adorned with mosaics and is worth visiting if you do not live in St. Louis. It was built in 1912 and replaced another cathedral now known as the Old Cathedral. The new cathedral has excellent acoustics. cathedralconcerts.org I have been to several Christmas Concerts at this venue and enjoyed them. I hope to attend some of the other concerts in addition to the Christmas concerts and see what they are like. There were no refreshments at the concerts or I did not see anybody selling them. there is an intermission. At the SLSO, they have an intermission and they do have refreshments of various types during intermission and right before the concert. During coffee concerts the SLSO has free coffee and doughnuts. during the coffee concerts various schools from the St. Louis area make field trips to the concerts. In a few weeks or less we will start seeing Halloween and Christmas items. IT means that summer is winding down. |
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