title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

author: Archaeopteryx

text:
Anzitutto: impossibile, è una cosa disperante, mi si
incrociano le dita e gli occhi. Però sono a meno della
decima lettura e ne devono passare almeno altre 30 prima
che io capisca di che stiamo parlando.

Suonarlo - lo so, lo scopro tardi, prendo il bigliettino e
mi metto in coda - è ancora più coinvolgente che
ascoltarlo e lascia veramente senza parole. Ecco le mie
domande da un miliardo di dollari:

1) Mi ritengo molto fortunato ad averne trovato una
versione puramente manualiter, il massimo che avevo
trovato era su tre righi e non credo nemmeno pensato per
l'organo. Però lo scotto da pagare è come dicevo lo
strabismo temporaneo dalla quarta battuta in poi. Idee per
affrontare una cosa simile? Ogni battuta scopro una nota
che dovevo tenere e non ho tenuto e un'altra che non
dovevo tenere e ho tenuto. Disperante. Per questo il piano
digitale impostato su "organo" è perfetto ma comunque è
qualcosa di fantozziano.

2) Come dicevo, suonarlo è ancora più tutto che
ascoltarlo, in particolare le modulazioni che audaci è
dire poco, il senso del respiro con sezioni con meno di
sei parti, eccetera, insomma la faccio breve: sono molto
tentato di dare credito all'ipotesi di Buscaroli secondo
cui, stringi stringi, Sebastiano non compose quasi niente
in diversi anni per prepararsi all'offerta musicale. Anche
facendo la tara a quel fantastico iconoclasta, trovate
credibile la cosa? Mentre lo suono lo trovo non solo
credibile ma anche ovvio e necessario.

Buon sesso a tutti, tranne che a Luzy :P

Apx.


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

author: lzy

text:
Il giorno lunedì 7 marzo 2016 20:58:43 UTC+1, Archaeopteryx ha scritto:

>
> Buon sesso a tutti, tranne che a Luzy :P
>

sono in astinenza forzata; da qui la mia depressione nera alternata a momenti di debolezza fisica (endorfine a zero, tendiniti, dita di burro, senso del rubato sbarellato... cmq sempre più di quello prossimo allo zero di alcuni giovani baldi pianisti).

bach vale diciotto scarlatti


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:

eh, allora ritiro tutto, voleva essere una battuta che ti
immaginavo gustare in qualche alcova con una pletora di
donne ai tuoi piedi o cose così


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

author: {PM}

text:
"Archaeopteryx"  ha scritto nel messaggio
news:nbkmhg$fba$1...@gioia.aioe.org...

>versione puramente manualiter, il massimo che avevo trovato era su tre
>righi

Anni fa (4 o 5 minimo) ti inviai per email un file pdf
da me preparato rimontando in A4 orizzontale
i pentagrammi tratti dalla normale BGA per
strumento a tastiera (a doppio pentagramma).
Per migliorarne la resa in stampa, dato che
stampando l'originale BGA il risultato è faticoso
da leggere viste le esigue dimensioni.

> Idee per affrontare una cosa simile? Ogni battuta scopro una nota che
> dovevo tenere e non ho tenuto e un'altra che non dovevo tenere e ho
> tenuto. Disperante. Per questo il piano digitale impostato su "organo" è
> perfetto ma comunque è qualcosa di fantozziano.

Sul piano-organo almeno il problema è solo tenere
le note e operare molte (molte!) sostituzioni di dita
in stile organistico per tenere a lungo le note; cercando
di farle risaltare con il fraseggio, dato che non si può
farlo con l'intensità del suono; con il pianoforte il problema
delle note tenute è meno sentito (non che si debba
smettere di tenerle, s'intende, ma il suono dopo 4/4
è spento) però in compenso c'è il problema di (voler)
far emergere ogni entrata del tema.

Io, che sono grossolano e volgare, amo far cantare
abbastanza _forte_ i temi delle fughe, pur sapendo che
è pratica che va dallo sconsigliato all'aborrito, quindi
tento di farlo sempre (parlando di pianoforte).

Questa pratica, a parte le valutazioni estetiche,
può essere IMHO utile come esercizio, cioè far risaltare
il tema in maniera anche esagerata per aumentare
il controllo sul volume delle altre voci.
Io ho spesso fatto così in questa e in tante altre
fughe, chiaramente parlando delle voci interne
(far risaltare quelle estreme è facile sempre),
esagerandole fortemente per poi riuscire a
diminuirne un po' il volume ma continuando
a farle risaltare.
Magari qualcuno non sarà d'accordo, non so.

Lo stai suonando almeno un po' a mani separate?
Lo so che non ami farlo (neanche io) però certe volte è
veramente utile.

> Come dicevo, suonarlo è ancora più tutto che
>ascoltarlo, in particolare le modulazioni che audaci è
>dire poco, il senso del respiro con sezioni con meno di
>sei parti

Suonarlo è una cosa eccezionale. Infatti un non-suonante
come egmont ha ridicolizzato questa composizione
(e ho detto tutto) in quanto non avrebbe i requisiti per
essere definita fuga con tutti i crismi (nonostante metà dei
libri in giro, compreso il DEUMM, ne parlino come di fuga)
e questo mi fa compatire chi non è in grado di
cogliere la straordinaria bellezza di questa composizione.

>  Sebastiano non compose quasi niente
> in diversi anni per prepararsi all'offerta musicale

Non so, se ne parla sempre come di una composizione
estemporanea, ispirata da un concreto fatto eccezionale
(la visita dall'imperatore, estensore del tema),
ma forse intendi frutto di una lunga preparazione
mentale?


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
Il giorno martedì 8 marzo 2016 00:42:34 UTC+1, {PM} ha scritto:
>
> egmont ha ridicolizzato questa composizione
> (e ho detto tutto) in quanto non avrebbe i requisiti per
> essere definita fuga con tutti i crismi (nonostante metà dei
> libri in giro, compreso il DEUMM, ne parlino come di fuga)
> e questo mi fa compatire chi non è in grado di
> cogliere la straordinaria bellezza di questa composizione.
>

Come tuo solito, mistifichi a tuo pseudo-vantaggio le mie affermazioni. Io non ho mai ridicolizzato alcunché; ho invece detto, e lo ribadisco mille volte,  che non si tratta di una fuga. Ribadisco anche che ti farebbe bene capire la distinzione (che tu sembri ignorare del tutto) tra un ricercare e una fuga, e che scrivere un ricercare a 6 voci è questione contrappuntisticamente del tutto irrilevante, mentre scrivere una fuga per lo stesso numero di parti è impresa da diventare matti.


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
ha scritto nel messaggio
news:fd63f8b6-fde9-4af0...@googlegroups.com...

[...]

Ok, ok, hai ragione come sempre


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:

Con te è praticamente impossibile avere torto.


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
ha scritto nel messaggio
news:926f4ed8-3440-4b44...@googlegroups.com...

>Con te č praticamente impossibile avere torto.

E' che ti piace vincere facile.
Del resto tu non hai MAI torto con nessuno,
quindi cambia poco.

Comunque, bisogna correggere il DEUMM:
"Anche l'Offerta Musicale riunisce
forme arcaiche e moderne, cosě come
nelle variazioni Goldberg si trova il
contrappunto insieme con il virtuosismo.
Il canone nelle forme piů diverse (canone
tematico, contrappuntistico, retrogado,
per aumentazione, a specchio, circolare,
enigmatico) domina l'opera; vi si trovano
inoltre 2 fughe, chiamate "ricercare" (anche
questo un arcaismo) e una sonata a 3 [...]"


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:

Infatti, bisogna correggerlo, perché riporta un'affermazione sbagliata (l'arcaismo non c'entra nulla di nulla). Non è che il DEUMM (come qualsiasi fonte musicologica) sia Vangelo.

Ma indipendentemente da quello che dice egmont e da quello che dice il DEUMM, io fossi in te procederei __secondo logica__, e mi preoccuperei semmai di capire cos'è una fuga e cos'è un ricercare. Almeno nei concetti di base, che ti sfuggono del tutto. Poi valuterai tu se catalogare l'Offerta musicale nel primo o nel secondo genere. E magari mi chiederei, sempre se fossi in te, come mai JSB per quelle che cataloga come fughe arriva ad un massimo di quattro voci, mentre proprio quando si spinge a sei voci - guarda un po' ! - definisce "ricercare" la composizione...


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
ha scritto nel messaggio
news:96da3772-abd5-4e04...@googlegroups.com...

> e mi preoccuperei semmai di capire cos'è una fuga
> e cos'è un ricercare. Almeno nei concetti di base,
>che ti sfuggono del tutto.

Sfuggiranno a tua bisnonna (con rispetto parlando)

> arriva ad un massimo di quattro voci

Al limite 5. O manco quelle a 5 vanno bene?
Sei capace di suonarle, tanto per sapere?

> mentre proprio quando si spinge a sei voci -
>guarda un po' ! - definisce "ricercare" la composizione...

Le evidenti anomalie della forma non hanno impedito
a chi le ha analizzate di definirlo "fuga".
C'è, tra le tante cose, questo interessante (imho) articolo
http://www.bachsociety.hu/pdf/Bach_tanulmanyok_11_1_English-2.pdf

di Zoltán Göncz, studioso e compositore autore anche
di una pregevolissima ipotesi ricostruttiva della fuga
incompiuta dell'Arte della Fuga, che rende poco
sul pianoforte (e infatti la suono  all'organo).

Insomma, se io dico "fuga" per te sarò il pirla di turno
ma pare che non sia il solo, anzi sono in ottima compagnia.


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
Il giorno mercoledì 9 marzo 2016 01:40:03 UTC+1, {PM} ha scritto:
> ha scritto nel messaggio
> news:96da3772-abd5-4e04...@googlegroups.com...
>
>
> > e mi preoccuperei semmai di capire cos'è una fuga
> > e cos'è un ricercare. Almeno nei concetti di base,
> >che ti sfuggono del tutto.
>
> Sfuggiranno a tua bisnonna (con rispetto parlando)
>
>
>
> > arriva ad un massimo di quattro voci
>
> Al limite 5. O manco quelle a 5 vanno bene?

No, no. Al limite quattro. A meno che tu non includa le fughe in _stile antico_ (tipo la BWV 849, che pure ti sfuggono e che sono assimilabili a ricercari)

> > mentre proprio quando si spinge a sei voci -
> >guarda un po' ! - definisce "ricercare" la composizione...
>
> Le evidenti anomalie della forma non hanno impedito
> a chi le ha analizzate di definirlo "fuga".

Ascolta, stai prolungando questa discussione in modo davvero insulso. Non ho alcuna voglia, né interesse ad intraprendere battibecchi tecnici con te. Tu sei peraltro concentrato sullo smentire le mie parole, cosa della quale non può fregarmene di meno. Mi premeva solo evidenziare che nessuno ti dà il diritto di mistificare quello che scrivo. Detto con fervore assai tiepido, eh: questa volta sono intervenuto, ma la prossima volta eviterò tout court di prender parte a questi inutili "dialoghi".


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
ha scritto nel messaggio
news:7d42d418-5d5e-40b4...@googlegroups.com...

>No, no. Al limite quattro.

Le fughe a 5 voci del clavier ben temperato
non hanno titolo di figurare come fughe
a 5 voci?

>Mi premeva solo evidenziare che
> nessuno ti dà il diritto di mistificare quello che scrivo.

Tu dici che non è una fuga (dicendo che,
non essendola, ha un basso valore contrappuntistico
e artistico), molti altri dicono che lo è.
Pazienza.

>questa volta sono intervenuto, ma la prossima
>volta eviterò tout court di prender parte
>a questi inutili "dialoghi"

Mi farai un gran favore, grazie.


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
Il giorno mercoledì 9 marzo 2016 03:37:59 UTC+1, {PM} ha scritto:
>
>
> Tu dici che non è una fuga (dicendo che,
> non essendola, ha un basso valore contrappuntistico
> e artistico), molti altri dicono che lo è.

Come già ribadito, quello che dico io non corrisponde in nulla alle tue grossolane mistificazioni. E quale sia la sostanza dei miei discorsi, ognuno potrà valutarla a modo proprio, senza alcun bisogno del tuo intervento.


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
"{PM}"  ha scritto nel messaggio
news:nbl3l9$rui$1...@virtdiesel.mng.cu.mi.it...

> in quanto non avrebbe i requisiti per
>essere definita fuga con tutti i crismi (nonostante metà dei libri in giro,
>compreso il DEUMM, ne parlino come di fuga)

Premetto che NON mi sto rivolgendo al signor
Egmont/aaabbbababaabab, che non è
interessato all'argomento avendo già detto
la _sua_ (anche sul sottoscritto),  ma ad
Archaeo e agli ammiratori del brano in oggetto
al thread, che Schweitzer definì  "lo schema
di fuga  più organico di tutte quelle scritte da Bach".

Oltre il già citato DEUMM da correggere
(Cap prenderà nota...) in quanto riporta
un'informazione sbagliata (usa due volte la
parola "fuga"), allora quanto pare secondo
qualcuno bisognerebbe pure correggere
(e bacchettare l'autore),  per esempio:

Bruno Zanolini - "La tecnica del contrappunto
strumentale all'epoca di Bach", 1993

Pagina 9:
"Come arcaismo, dato che il termine non è più
corrente, o forse solo per riferirsi all'acrostico posto
all'inizio della composizione, Bach chiama "ricercari"
le due fughe dell'Offerta Musicale"

Pagina 551
"Le fughe a 6 sono rarissime (l'esempio più noto è il
ricercare dell'offerta musicale); le fughe a 5 voci,
per quanto non rare, sono comunque poche; di Bach
se ne contano meno di dieci (per cembalo e per organo)."

Pagina 674
"Quanto infine alle composizioni che, assieme a
canoni ed altro, compongono i celebri cicli bachiani
dell'Offerta musicale e dell'Arte della fuga, si è già
detto che si tratta di fughe vere e proprie (chiamate
nell'Offerta "ricercar" e nell'Arte "Contrapunctus")

Nonché Wolff, Nielsen, Buscaroli, Hofstadter,
Göncz etc.


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:

Allora, mio caro {PM}, dato che ti rivolgi a me pur non rivolgendoti a me, potresti farmi capire dove in codesta "fuga" a sei dove sta l'___ESPOSIZIONE A SEI__?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsh88GrsY34

Io qui vedo invece un'esposizione a __quattro___ (chissà perchè!) e due ripercussioni in diatessaron (32 /24 ---> 4/3)...
E potresti anche dirmi ad esempio dove sta il pedale? Così, tanto per iniziare dall'ABC della fuga... (ma evidentemente per te è più importante leggere testimonianze altrui anziché studiare)


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

author: cap

text:
Il giorno martedì 15 marzo 2016 02:36:31 UTC+1,
aabbaa...@yahoo.it
 ha scritto:

>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsh88GrsY34

Magnifico, questo video. Hai letto l'articolo di Göncz da cui sono tratti i grafici sottostanti la partitura?
http://www.bachsociety.hu/pdf/Bach_tanulmanyok_11_1_English-2.pdf


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
Il giorno martedì 15 marzo 2016 02:04:45 UTC+1, {PM} ha scritto:

> Oltre il già citato DEUMM da correggere
> (Cap prenderà nota...)

Come sai, purtroppo, non c'è più nulla da fare...

> Nonché Wolff, Nielsen, Buscaroli, Hofstadter,
> Göncz etc.

Un elenco quasi sterminato di gente che di musica non capisce un'acca :)


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

author: etwas langsamer

text:

Non vorrei trarre conclusioni affrettate, ma questo Göncz sembra
proprio il classico tipo che crede ancora che il Rinascimento sia nato
in Toscana.


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
"cap"  ha scritto nel messaggio
news:c79f4813-a2ff-45dc...@googlegroups.com...

>Magnifico, questo video. Hai letto l'articolo di Göncz
>da cui sono tratti i grafici sottostanti la partitura?
>
http://www.bachsociety.hu/pdf/Bach_tanulmanyok_11_1_English-2.pdf

L'ho già proposto io stesso molti giorni fa in questo
thread perché oltre a visualizzare la  struttura, nel
testo mette in evidenza varie anomalie della forma;
che per lui - che usa il termine fuga - non sono
nell'esposizione:

"The grandiose six-part fugue opens with a
regular, six-fold exposition of the lengthy and
complex “royal theme” (Thema Regium)
(measures 1–56)"


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
aabbaa...@yahoo.it

ha scritto nel messaggio
news:50bbd410-7a6a-4cd7...@googlegroups.com...

>Allora, mio caro {PM},

Grazie per il simpatico 'mio caro'.
Ma me lo sono cercato con il "signor egmont",
ammetto ;-))

>dato che ti rivolgi a me pur non rivolgendoti a me

Sbagli, non mi rivolgo a te, nel senso che avevo
così poca intenzione di interagire di nuovo direttamente
con te da aver fatto la mia invero sciocca premessa,
che ha sortito l'effetto opposto, infatti.
Certamente non mi dà piacere interagire con una
persona aggressiva e prepotente che, tra l'altro,
con modi apparentemente signorili nella sostanza
sbeffeggia e irride continuamente sottolineando
l'impreparazione altrui e la mancanza d'argomenti.

In questo thread sei solo un elemento accidentale,
da me introdotto assai incautamente, mannaggia a me;
detto per celiare, sei un po' come il tuo amico
Dracula: secondo Stoker non può entrare in una
casa sinché non viene fatto entrare/invitato,
ma se uno fa quell'errore è fritto perché a quel
punto D. non se ne va più e può imperversare in
lungo e largo; in questo caso, l'averti evocato..
ahia... ^___^

Io scrivo, anche se prevedo già le tue solite reazioni
(e meno male che l'argomento ti aveva già
da tempo rotto le scatole). Probabilmente
questa risposta ti tedierà in maniera colossale.

> potresti farmi capire dove in codesta "fuga"
>a sei dove sta l'___ESPOSIZIONE A SEI__?
>Io qui vedo invece un'esposizione a __quattro___
>(chissà perchè!) e due ripercussioni in diatessaron
>(32 /24 ---> 4/3)...

Dato che solitamente mi dici che mi manca
l'abc, di certo non hai dubbi sul fatto che io non
sia un professore di contrappunto scolastico
(se lo fossi, farei quello, magari, anziché perder
tempo qua).
Ma a me, in base ai miei umilissimi, faticosi e
imperfetti studi usando modesti testi (gli
esecrati Dubois, Gedalgé, Salzer-Schachter,
Piston, Zanolini), continua a sembrare
un'esposizione normale (nella sua
_eccezionalità_ e rarità) a 6 voci.

Parole tue, quando hai reagito così al fatto
che io ho osato dire "fuga a 6 voci":
- "Tanto per iniziare, quella che tu chiami fuga a
6 voci, non è una fuga, ma è un __ricercare__"
- "Scrivere un ricercare a sei voci è facile,"
- "Scrivere una fuga a 6 voci è tutto un altro paio
di maniche e impresa davvero da diventare matti,
e mai affrontata da Bach, che io sappia
(in un ricercare per forza di cose tutto si semplifica)"
- "I ricercare puoi anche scriverli per 8456856
voci, poco cambia."
e via dicendo.

Cosa vedo io?
Io umilmente vedo un tema difficilissimo e lungo
(19 note su 8 battute), 6 entrate su 6 voci differenti
(3 soggetti seguiti  da 3 risposte alla quinta),
le ultime due precedute da code che le distanziano
leggermente dalle prime 4 (dato che quando si
compone occorre pure _pensare_alla_musica_
e farne uscire qualcosa di bello) con l'ultima
non accompagnata da controsoggetto.

Ma siccome io non sono nessuno per determinare
senza dubbio alcuno la legittimità dell'esposizione,
mi conforta, per esempio, che un compositore
di notevole preparazione specifica come Göncz
la trovi normale:
"The grandiose six-part fugue opens with a
regular, six-fold exposition of the lengthy and
complex "royal theme" (Thema Regium)
(measures 1–56)".
Mentre tante anomalie formali si trovano nella
parte centrale.

Ora, se tu affermi perentoriamente che è
non è un'esposizione a 6 ma in realtà è a
4 più "2 ripercussioni in diatessaron", non si
sta parlando più dell'ABC della fuga, ma  di qualcosa
di più che, a mia memoria, sfugge ai pur vasti
argomenti dei sopraccitati testi sulla fuga; o
forse, lo dico in umiltà dato che non è improbabile,
sfugge alla mia limitata conoscenza di essi.
Non sono in grado di capire se quello che dici
sia concretamente sensato o no e se possa
compromettere l'esposizione come dici tu.

Comunque, per te l'esposizione è falsa (4+2
anziché 6) e  dunque già solo per questo
quella che tutti non temono di chiamare "fuga"
(pur "ricercata", dai tratti non comuni, anomala)
non è una fuga ma un facile ricercare.

Quindi: Bach, richiesto dal Re in persona (al
cospetto dell'intero mondo della musica tedesco)
di fornire una fuga a 6 voci su un tema già difficilissimo
di per sé, ha la faccia di prendersi un po' di tempo
e, a tavolino e, non essendo bravo a sufficienza
né essendolo mai stato, bara bassamente fornendo
pubblicamente al Re e al mondo una sottospecie
facile di "fuga" inadeguata ad essere chiamata tale
e, siccome ha la coscienza sporca, la chiama
"ricercar a 6" non per i motivi riportati dai musicologi
(acrostico, arcaicizzante etc.), ma per magari poter
in seguito dire, nel caso di rogne, "eh, mica avevo
detto che era una fuga, io....".
Quindi fa una cosa che - a tuo dire - a 6 o a 8456856
voci poco cambia e, con sorpresa, la fa franca
per un paio di secoli mentre la gente la chiama
"fuga a 6".
E qua non c'entra manco il solito youtube.

Io ho citato già vari testi che dicono
esplicitamente (e posso citarne altri)
che è da considerarsi una fuga a tutti gli effetti
e gli  autori avrebbero potuto facilmente evitare
di farlo; alcuni analizzano molte parti
(tra cui alcune in contrappunto quadruplo),
a mia conoscenza nessuno ha avuto da
ridire su una cosa così importante come
un'esposizione falsa e conseguente fuga falsa.

Siccome io non sono nessuno e lo so,
non posso che credere a quello che costoro
dicono e _se_va_bene_a_loro_ di chiamarla
"fuga" e non temono di farlo stampare
nei loro libri, a me sta benissimo.

Tu dici di no (tra l'altro, dicendolo
come se fosse una cosa d'evidenza palmare
che pure un idiota noterebbe)?

Sarò lieto di convincermene al 100% quando
leggerò queste affermazioni, circostanziate,
anche da altri, oltre che da TE, se mi permetti.

>E potresti anche dirmi ad esempio dove
>sta il pedale?

Non mi risulta che il pedale sia sempre
presente e obbligatorio e la sua assenza
invalidi l'essenza di una fuga (al limite
la sua assenza stonerà in un'astratta
fuga scolastica dove bisogna usare "tutto").

>per te è più importante leggere
>testimonianze altrui anziché studiare

Beh, si studia sempre...partendo dalla
lettura di testimonianze altrui. O no?
Ti lamenti sempre della mancanza di
argomenti e quando uno fornisce
un po' di bibliografia non va bene neanche
quello, mah...

Concludo citando (eh, sempre citare gli altri..)
Hugo Riemann sul CBT: "quando un dotto maestro
di contrappunto usa dire ai propri allievi che
nel Clavicembalo Ben Temperato non esiste in realtà
una fuga fatta secondo le regole, ecco che noi
con sicurezza possiamo rovesciare la questione
e dire che le regole non valgono nulla quando
non trovino corrispondenza nelle fughe di Bach"


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
Il giorno martedì 15 marzo 2016 15:07:33 UTC+1, {PM} ha scritto:

> L'ho già proposto io stesso molti giorni fa in questo
> thread

Sì sì, ho visto, ma Egmont non ti ha risposto.

> oltre a visualizzare la  struttura, nel
> testo mette in evidenza varie anomalie della forma;
> che per lui - che usa il termine fuga - non sono
> nell'esposizione:
>
> "The grandiose six-part fugue opens with a
> regular, six-fold exposition of the lengthy and
> complex "royal theme" (Thema Regium)
> (measures 1-56)"

L'esposizione è in effetti assolutamente "normale". Ma, come disse una volta un mio ex compagno di studi, il Ricercare a 6 è "il più bel casino che sia mai stato concepito da mente umana" :)
A proposito del tema di fuga, ricordo che il buon don Piero Damilano, docente di filologia musicale all'Università di Torino, spiegava che, secondo i trattatisti settecenteschi (Fux in particolare), se ne possono distinguere tre tipi: oltre a quello più comune, detto appunto semplicemente "tema", ci sono l' "attacco", molto secco e incisivo, e l' "andamento", più esteso e di carattere severo. Un esempio di attacco è costituito da BuxWV 146, brano che mi è particolarmente caro:
https://youtu.be/pR_Nb19s-QY?t=1m26s

L'andamento è quasi sempre costituito da due frasi che presentano figurazioni ritmiche diverse, la prima a note lunghe - e credo che questo sia un retaggio dell'antico ricercare. Possiamo definire "andamento", dunque, anche il tema di BWV 1079:5.


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
Il 15/03/2016 15:56, {PM} ha scritto:

> e, siccome ha la coscienza sporca, la chiama
> "ricercar a 6" non per i motivi riportati dai musicologi
> (acrostico, arcaicizzante etc.), ma per magari poter
> in seguito dire, nel caso di rogne, "eh, mica avevo
> detto che era una fuga, io....".

Onore al Pulcinella di Eisenach!
:-)


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
"{PM}"  ha scritto nel messaggio
news:nc97rb$c8e$1...@virtdiesel.mng.cu.mi.it...

Mi scuso per la lunghezza e prolissità
di questo (abbastanza inutile) post


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
"cap"  ha scritto nel messaggio
news:aa066afc-c50d-42fb...@googlegroups.com...

>L'andamento è quasi sempre costituito da due frasi
>che presentano figurazioni ritmiche diverse, la prima
> a note lunghe - e credo che questo sia un retaggio
>dell'antico ricercare. Possiamo definire "andamento",
>dunque, anche il tema di BWV 1079:5.

Definizione molto interessante, grazie.
Aggiungo che nel citato libro di Zanolini
l'autore illustra la classificazione di J.G.Walther
(cugino di Bach) e distingue le fughe in

a) fuga-mottetto e fuga-ricercare
b) fuga pathetica
c) fuga-danza
d) fuga-toccata e fuga-concerto

e aggiunge
"Anche il soggetto dell'Offerta Musicale
può essere considerato fra quelli di
fughe-ricercare, pur presentando alcune
inflessioni 'patheticae'"
(minore, cromaticità, e forte evidenza del
tema, aggiungo io, da quel che ho capito)


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
Il giorno martedì 15 marzo 2016 15:56:44 UTC+1, {PM} ha scritto:
>
aabbaa...@yahoo.it

> ha scritto nel messaggio
> news:50bbd410-7a6a-4cd7...@googlegroups.com...
>
>
> >Allora, mio caro {PM},
>
> Grazie per il simpatico 'mio caro'.
> Ma me lo sono cercato con il "signor egmont",
> ammetto ;-))
>
>
>
> >dato che ti rivolgi a me pur non rivolgendoti a me
>
> Sbagli, non mi rivolgo a te,

[cut]
Come già detto a tibidabo, stai introducendo questioni assai complesse che ora non ho la possibilità di discutere (si tratta di passare al setaccio la costruzione della fuga, cosa che non si può fare in questo contesto). Se saprai attendere, pubblicherò al più presto (superate alcune difficoltà di carattere tecnico e, soprattutto, burocratico) una serie di documenti che spiegano per filo e per segno le cose che ti sto contestando. A buon rendere.


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
Il giorno martedì 15 marzo 2016 20:07:32 UTC+1,
aabbaa...@yahoo.it
 ha scritto:
>  Se saprai attendere, pubblicherò

Era ora! Pensa che ho pubblicato pure io. Con tutte le cose che sai dovresti vivere di bestseller fin dagli anni del tuo apprendistato.

Apropos, dove hai studiato?


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:
ha scritto nel messaggio
news:fea51fe5-67c2-40e1...@googlegroups.com...

> Se saprai attendere, pubblicherò al più presto

Attenderò quanto c'è da aspettare
(dopodiché mi aspetto già le bastonate
sotto forma di carte ingiallite, lo so) ^___^


title: I dilemmi del ricercare a sei

text:

Ma quali bastonate...
Non sono altro che argomenti neutri.
Torno a ripetere a te (e agli altri sulla tua linea) che è tipico della sindrome da pianista del dopoguerra vedere la musica come proiezione del concertista che riesce/sbaglia, del pubblico che applaude/fischia, del dotto e dell'ignorante, del figo che rimorchia e dello sfigato che soccombe e mille altre estreme dicotomie. Per me qualsiasi forma di competizione è semplicemente repellente (e me ne tengo bene alla larga, per la mia salute mentale).


title: Rule Britannia (or Lucifer auf naXos)

author: Michael Barclay

text:
"In life, democracy.
In art, aristocracy."
--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------
On 26 September 2000, the so-called Great Mike Richter performed a
'plug in', heroically, on behalf of Klaus Heiman [sic], the so-called
Authority behind ---naXos---:
http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
Thus spoke the authority:
"Most singers understand that recording opera is extremely expensive,
especially under our perfect studio (not live) conditions and are
happy with our modest flat fees. Look at our Fidelio cast! The bit
about being allowed only two or three takes and no chance of fancy
editing is nonsense ... artists are allowed as many takes as necessary
to get the music right. However, having said that, we expect our
artists to be well prepared unlike many big-name artists who rely on
the producer and editor to produce a good performance."
We ask:
1. Mr. Heiman seems to have contradicted himself by simultaneously
affirming that his artists are indeed allowed "fancy editing...to get
the music right" and ranting against the "many big-name artists who
rely on the producer and editor to produce a good performance." What
exactly is the difference? Isn't fancy editing what earns producers
and editors their bacon, be it at naXos or Lucifer Classics? Or is Mr.
Heiman whining because Lucifer's console is bigger than his?
2. Mr. Heiman seems to have fallen prey to the epidemic virus of
unfounded critical prejudice and the politics of defamation and
character-assassination (the rate of infection appears to be
abnormally high within the familial fraternity of
American/Anglosaxon/Anglophile critical bedfellows). His words can be
easily formulized: "Big Name + Big Label = Little Music (or Falsity)".
No need to state the converse: "Little/No Name + Little Label = Big
Music (or Truth)". Who exactly are these many unprepared big names?
And how, where, and when?
3. A few years back, the authority was also quoted in "The Boston
Globe" - this other 'plug in' courtesy of critic-turned-promoter
Richard "local church mice are world-class people too" Dyer. Lately,
Dyer has been heard advocating for the equal part Charity/Chimpanzee
Acts that are The Three Mo' Tenors, Andrea Bocelli, and Charlotte
Church.
["Maestros of the Pen: A History of Classical Music Criticism in
America", by Mark N. Grant, Northeastern University Press, 1998, ISBN
1-55553-363-9:  n-o-t  o-n-e  f-o-o-t-n-o-t-e  on Dyer --- and this
after a 25-year+ career behind him dedicated to latter-day
Anglo+Judeo+Homo-centric bitchery and dishonesty; and as long
dedicated to sobbing after one Lucine Amara.]
But back to the authority:
"The market is shifting away from name artists, and the average music
lover is confused by bins crowded by recordings. What is the
difference between Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado and Riccardo Chailly
in a given piece? Whatever the difference is, it doesn't mean anything
to the average music lover who gives up and chooses our recording
because it is more reasonably priced, and the performance is just as
good. It is an absurdity for Plácido Domingo to sing 'The Barber of
Seville'; our recording is a better performance of the opera. If
Cheryl Studer were to come to me and ask to sing some of the operas
she has recorded, I wouldn't let her." {Author: Richard Dyer / Date:
19.01.1994 / Page: 61 / Section: Living Arts}
We comment and ask:
3A. Funny but we bet that the suits at Lucifer Classics swear
t-h-e-i-r barber gives a better haircut. Not that some of us (not
nearly enough) give a damn about Sire Domingo, at least not since his
early 90s (and thereafter) publicity and musical circus prostitutions.
3B. Let us cut to the chase: the real reason for the present-day
crisis is that the live and documented legacies of certain important
big-names (those immediately preceding the generation of today's
so-called "A List") literally fell through a  g-e-n-e-r-a-t-i-o-n-a-l
c-r-a-c-k. In the realm of opera this previous generation came "too
soon" after the Marias and the Renatas and the Joans and the
Montserrats and the Vickys and the Mirellas and the Regines and
whoever....but "too late" for today's democratic free-for-all (think
of the deregulation of the airline industry in the U.S.A. - surely it
is cheaper to fly and with more options but the experience is ghastly)
a-n-d  the quick fixes and seductions of Hyper Public Relations and
Cyberspace. Few artists can survive without some form of critical and
popular encouragement. It became fashionable sport (nah, olympics) for
too influential but equally ignorant, tin-eared and corrosively
partial critics and their bedfellows to dismiss these artists' work
faster than they could say Compact Disc (and worse: to fully ignore
too - consider the phenomenon that is the Phenomenally Perverse
Eclipsing by the press of a certain  v-e-t-e-r-a-n  soprano whose
stage appearances are pre-judged to be just that: appearances: phantom
ships in the night, when noticed ---- or to fully deny the usual
"critical analysis" - is it?- accorded lesser lights ("Monsieur G
could not sustain pitch  b-u-t  the Sicilian
understanding" [the same understanding which, according to the
experts, eludes fellow Southerner Riccardo Muti] - "Madame F [no other
soprano before or during Renée is known to have ever "taken
chances"....hear hear] shrieked unnaturally, flatting two high A
naturals and her overall intonation was insecure too  b-u-t  the
gowns" - "Hausfrau V was in customary squally voice again last night
and her top sounded tired, though no fault of her own,  b-u-t  her
sofa scene was comfortably moving" - "Irish-American AFL-CIO Heroine F
[who, by the by, tries, and is carded, to "sing" "everything"] [no
other soprano before or during Lauren is known to have ever "taken
chances"....hear hear] could not sing Reiza's music [she replaced
DeVoid, who had also cancelled all engagements in Vienna, and for the
2nd season in a row]  b-u-t  the visceral collision") - you know the
skit - why yes, ladies and gents, even these acts of levitation are
denied Midland, Michigan's Prodigal Daughter --- But then, taking into
account the desperate [in vain] efforts toward reconstruction, toward
opening new markets (undue
over-exposure in Arts journalism - over who counts - over what counts
- being the final vestige of their former Imperial selves), what is
the increasingly brilliant, independent-minded, impartial, cultured,
mature, and sympathetic
---right?--- Anglocentric Universe to do with a creature who refuses
categorization? - of what value or use is the lady? - of what value or
use is the artist? - who is neither English (nor pretender)  n-o-r
r-e-s-i-d-e-n-t   n-o-r   c-i-t-i-z-e-n  n-o-r  D-a-m-e  nor Faerie
Queene nor Greek (nor pretender) nor black-and-blue (nor pretender)
nor German (nor pretender) nor Austrian (nor pretender) nor
Kammersängerin nor French (nor pretender) nor
Cinema Paradiso Italian (nor pretender) nor Eastern European (nor
pretender) nor Spaniard/Latin American bombshell (they are the flavor
of the moment) nor Argentinian Tango nor East Coast Yiddishbbuk nor
Anonymous 4 nor Asian nor Canadian nor Aussie --- nor, most
importantly, deemed
sufficiently  A-m-e-r-i-c-a-n  --- n-o-r  r-e-s-i-d-e-n-t  nor
MET-centric nor
Manhattan/Queens/Brooklyn-ette nor Broadway belcher nor Saint
Francis-can nor Angelena nor Chicagoan nor Texan nor New Mexican nor
Washingtonian nor Saint Louis Gal nor panderer nor tall nor thin nor
heroine-overdose chic nor blonde nor Blonde Ambition nor grotesque nor
grotesquely zaftig nor power hungry
nor faghag nor lesbian nor cherub nor hairy chested nor fashion rag
nor glamour puss nor aspirant nor aspirate nor potential nor promise
(what you hear is what you get) nor apology nor preserved museum mummy
nor soccer mum nor sucker nor trend nor hip nor H.I.P. nor castrata
nor contralto nor countertenor nor counterculture nor lyric mezzo nor
soprano on the verge of a mezzo breakdown nor vice versa nor chanteuse
nor soubrette nor starlet nor coquette nor canary nor woodbird nor
nightingale nor tic toc tic toc tic toc nor geriatric nor vanity
record label owner nor
transposer-conductor-intendant-voicecompetitor-moviemogul-realestatemagnate-restaurateur-sexsymbol-jetsetter
(all in one and one for all and all in a night) nor lazy nor shrinking
violet nor daddy's lil' lass nor mystic nor minimalist nor hyperbole
nor Überfeminist nor Konzept nor dreams and fables nor metaphysics nor
philosopher ("Philosophier' Er nicht, Herr Schatz...") nor scholar
(nor pretender) nor didact nor pedant nor peasant nor composer (you
know, like Callas, who wrote all them masterpieces now falsely
ascribed to one Bellini and one other Donizetti) nor paladin of the
glorious avant-garde nor rarity rat nor rat tat tat nor archaeologist
nor room temperature nor Sponsored By Talbots nor Anglican Service nor
Vivaldi postcard nor Handel MBA nor Britten MD nor Janácek Nobel Prize
nor cliché nor stunt nor parody nor caricature nor Disney nor Ozzie
& Harriett nor Will & Grace nor smiley face nor horseface nor humor
monger (in any event, not the shtick you grew up with) nor camp nor
marketing-promo tramp nor trademark nor image-chaser nor
sensation-seeker nor
Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor pleasure ride nor automatic cruise
control nor sentiment-al nor cripple nor victim nor tearjerker nor
nostalgia trip nor tourist trap nor good-cause nor fund-raiser (so to
speak) nor social worker nor Katie Couric nor Walk For A Cure nor We
Are The World nor Sound Of Music nor Under nor Over The Rainbow nor
Rainbow
Coalition nor Summertime nor Supper Time (nice tunes....if you can)
nor fruit salad nor cotton candy nor peaches in double cream nor café
au lait nor dark chocolate nor civil/human rights centerfold nor gulag
survivor nor married to one nor refugee nor married to one nor UN
Ambassador nor member of any one precious special interest group (you
know who you are)  n-o-r  m-a-r-r-i-e-d  t-o  o-n-e  n-o-r
s-t-r-a-t-e-g-i-c-a-l-l-y  w-e-d-d-e-d  nor politician nor
inter-national political crisis parasite nor ad-minister of propaganda
nor grassroots peace activist (you do know, don't you, that them
ancient favourite warhorses of yours composed by Beethoven and Brahms
and Wagner and Liszt were inspired by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
--- ask Mehta and Señor Honorario und Tolerant Barenboim --- by the
by, in a recent Chicago program of Lieder by Hugo Wolf, the "Great
Jewish Musician"
[and we thought it un-Klezmer to allude to this musician's other
career] in harmony with his German/Christian sub-ordinates - a
physically handicapped baritone and an underpitch soprano - were heard
"r-e-c-l-a-i-m-i-n-g  the true meaning of the 'heilge Deutsches
Kunst'" --- see "Kubiak, David" --- please note that no one else
before GJM and for eons had accomplished nearly as much, and in a mere
evening) nor Adler Fella nor Crayola Opera Program alumna nor
Cardiff-Domingo-RichieTucker-BelleSilverman-Albanese-Horne-Scotto-vonStade-Heggie
groupie nor traveler along the Anglo Silk Road --- the
LandOfOz-BerlinStaatsoperUDL-LaMonnaie-ENO-Glyndebourne-NYCO-Glimmerglass-StLouis-SantaFe-SanDiego-DallasO-HoustonGO-FloridaGO-n-such
workshop ghettoes.
[Imagine, if you dare.]
E-N-V-Y = D-E-S-T-R-U-C-T-I-O-N
S-I-L-E-N-C-E = D-E-A-T-H
E-N-V-Y = D-E-S-T-R-U-C-T-I-O-N
S-I-L-E-N-C-E = D-E-A-T-H
E-N-V-Y = D-E-S-T-R-U-C-T-I-O-N
S-I-L-E-N-C-E = D-E-A-T-H
Enter into the equation the contemptibly stupid (discerning,
discerning) audiences who (wanted to and still do) believe everything
they read...and voilà, the science gives the (false)
i-m-p-r-e-s-s-i-o-n of yielding the expected (forced) hubris. Then add
the ones who stayed away from attending these artists' performances
because they were simply told to do so (in so many words). Never mind
the  c-o-w-a-r-d-s  who  n-e-v-e-r  attended but who later saw fit to
publish obituaries passing for legitimate eyewitness reports (see
"Maestros of the Pen: A History of Classical Music Criticism in
America", 1998, by Mark N. Grant, and look up "Dyer, Richard"). Never
mind the  h-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-e-s  who, in addition to prematurely and
irresponsibly issuing death certificates (see "Davis, Peter G."),
years later were caught with their pants down performing auto-erotica
to the tune of "Returns Triumphantly!" (see "Davis, Peter G."). Little
wonder many ceased listening --- and begin listening with others' ears
they did.  But leave it to the bloodless (and if you don't have blood
you don't need a heart and if you don't have blood you will find
yourself thirsty, very thirsty, guaranteed) - it is in fact their
exclusive province - to accomplish such feats.
No, they were not Maria or Renata or Joan or Leonie or Gwyneth and why
should they? --- Take the particularly complex case of a fascinatingly
complex yet elemental, yet thoroughly modern, and yet not, artist (and
most private woman), Cheryl Studer --- was/is the backlash really for
l-a-c-k  o-f  q-u-a-l-i-t-y  or  l-a-c-k  o-f  a-r-t-i-s-t-i-c
w-o-r-t-h?  A decade later there's a perceptible sense of panic and
fatigue among critics, industry folk, and fans alike, most shockingly
noticeable within the gated communities of the old and the jaded, who
can be heard loudly cheerleading anyone (and we mean anyone)....
[....as long as their names are  n-o-t  Cheryl Studer.]
[God Willing.]
[Young Ones - Do not be duped by the hollow enthusiasms of the age ---
ever seen a sad clown?]
[But now, oh today....Music and Art....or rather, what passes for
it....and every new product or stage appearance tossed our way by the
Star System we hate to love (certainly a system long preceding but
fatally ran to the ground by the prissiness of political correctness
and the Gestapo tactics of the instinct/thought-control police, in
concert with the 'World Music Congress' - the Rudases, the Mehtas, the
Levines,
the Maazels, The Three or Four or Five or Six or Seven Whores - we are
losing count -, Best Friends & Co. Inc. Ltd. - the Ozawas and the
Gergievs too
are major shareholders in this 'Juderei') - i.e., by the Star System
of
Bocelli, of course, or Hampson (now a mostly undisputed by-the-book
Straussian, Wagnerian  a-n-d ...hear hear...Verdian...of Stature,
don't you know) or the Alagnas (a  f-a-k-e recording of Verdi's
-Trovatore-for Sire Tony/EMI --- Grecian Approximation No. XXV - we
have lost count - has not sung Leonora where it counts, on the stage)
or the other Bocelli comrade, Fleming....well, all of it  h-a-s
sudden Meaning and Necessity, so the public relationists tell
us....the Magic courtesy,  n-o-t  of especially great voices or
exceptional interpretive forces or personalities or even of remotely
acceptable n-e-w music, but of, *in good portion and out of
proportion*, the promo op-catchpenny that has become 9.11 --- a
monstrous crime monstrously debased by the Infernal
Spinning Wheel of commerce and avarice and revenge and murder (widely
disguised as justice) --- a tragedy now symbiotically hijacked to
peddle everything from Arms Races to Far Right-ism (right Sharon? ---
how come we don't hear strings of consistently shrill High Cs crying
for  h-i-s  removal? --- this time, however, we applaud Barenboim for
being practically the only one publicly playing fiddle
on the roof of the problem) to Nationalism to Requiems to
Anglo-Zionist Terrorism --- the latter conducted both musically and
extra-curricularly, most prominently with (critical mass-destruction)
heavy-metal made in the squeaky clean U.S. of A. and paid for with
y-o-u-r  humble American tax dollar (as if you had a choice) and the
blood of  y-o-u-r  sons and daughters. --- So why won't Israel and its
Business/Washington lobbyists fight their next door neighbors, which
includes Iraq, all by themselves and with  t-h-e-i-r  o-w-n  currency
and leave and us all  a-l-o-n-e  a-n-d  i-n  p-e-a-c-e?]
[Consequently, would that  t-h-e  o-t-h-e-r  terrorists went home
too.]
[Discuss, if you dare.]
[And yet more Enchantment courtesy of the Panacea/Schadenfreude of
Cheryl Studer-free zones/ground zeroes.]
[About the new EMI ---Idomeneo---, we are beginning to read puff like
"a recording that  n-e-e-d-e-d  to be made." --- after all, it
contains the antipodean missionary of all things English, Sire
Charles; British Will o' Wisp Bostridge; Bocelli collaborator
Frittoli; and, to top it all, the New (Age) Callas - the
organically-grown, anon, pastel, and drab as
damp cardboard LetItRain Hunt(hyphen)Lieberson. But do not for a
second believe the ad-men....for this product is yet more of the
ho-hum variety.]
[About the new DECCA ---Fellatio Blues---, we are already reading
fluff like "A New  F-i-r-s-t  L-a-d-y  of Bel Canto - Renée Fleming
very nearly manages to shake the insistent ghost of Maria Callas."
(see "
www.andante.com
") --- But we (not enough of us) are neither deaf
nor naïve nor stupid. You see, n-e-v-e-r  e-v-e-r  f-o-r-g-e-t  that
sopranos like Cheryl and Maria (and countless others long before and
long after), bruised voice and heart or not, n-e-v-e-r  e-v-e-r
s-t-o-o-p-e-d  this low (below the navel) in the style department.
But, after all, the new product (scooped up 3 years ago) is being sold
under a neon sign that reads "Bel Canto", complete with a $2 rebate
incentive
b-e-l-o-w  its reduced repo artistic sale value. You know, in the
manner of the
stereo-typical toupéed and polyester-clad used-car salesman -
insincere, cajoling, slimy, slippery, sleazy -- and that's the singing
-- a raw deal.]
Blitzkrieg-style Public Relations, Marketing, and now
Blue-Collar/Working-Class Cheap Labor (and the aesthetics, or lack of,
of - see "Flanigan, Lauren" - see "Slavs") have been summoned to the
cause of salvaging something or other from the debris of these
self-appointed "opera/music lovers'" own making. And so the armies of
businessmen have landed triumphantly with portfolios chock-full with
the truly untriumphant, the amateurs, the pedigree-less, the
unaccomplished, the homogeneous, the vocally faceless, the emaciated,
the pretty, the photogenic, the grotesque too, the church rodents, the
H.I.P.-voiced, the H.I.P.-mannered, the pedigree-less, the correct,
the obedient, the mega amplified, the firefighters, the policemen, the
construction workers, the factory slaves, the custodians, the
industrial quality, the white trash, the divas next door; the divas
next door with the cute children as gimmicks; the divas next door who
are so nice and behave so well and must reassure us about it; the
divas next door who seek psychotherapy and then have the distaste to
announce it; the divas next door who relax to the Dixie Chicks; the
vedettes next door who love all that jazz and then scat and squat
through  e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g  that is European  a-n-d  Classical (and
not)---
but then, in music that requires precisely that, the phlegm gets in
the way of that thang called swing; the divas next door who thrive on
wrestling, meatloaf, and fish n' chips---and show it; the divas next
door who marry well, transgenderly; the divas next door who, although
already in their 40s or beyond, appease us by "taking baby steps to
protect their voices" and who swear that that's why they will still be
in their prime in extreme old age; the divas next door who swear we
will want to hear them then; the optically challenged, the physically
handicapped, the sob stories, more sob stories, the pedigree-less, the
pedigree-less, the pedigree-less, and yet more of that. And some more
sob stories. And not to be missed: the Teddy Bears (think of - well
not really, since you can't - the cancellations, the vocal troubles,
the gross embarrassments of stunt-ed live programs - everything from
Beg Your Indulgences to Public Regrets to Tosti to Walkouts - by, for
instance, Juan Dieguito Flórez, Domingo, Terfel and Heppner - no
matter - the insulted audiences correspond to their cheating with
tears and Standing Os --- but no surprise here, for it is nothing but
another perversion of our desensitized, demoralized, diseased,
frivolous, diluted, and vulgar days --- f-u-c-k, even Joseito Carreras
became the object of one of these demonstrations - and this in the
enlightened and improved and newly innocent and important again (so it
goes) Salzburg of the summer of two-thousand-and-two-after-christ).
And thus today's so-called "A-List" (really, nothing but a paid
announcement transmitted by the "Ass-ociated Press"), the P®ops, the
Pops, the Popp Clones, the Grümmer Clones, the Callas Clones, the
Tebaldi Clones, the Steber Clones, the Schwarzkopf Clones, the Price
Clones, the Cut n' Paste Composites, the Fischer-Dieskau Clones ---
poor, pitiful facsimiles  a-l-l ---, the Little Names, the Wannabes,
the Crossover Hustlers, the Bubblegum, the New Age Mongrels, the
Postmoderns, the Postmortems, the Multiculturalists, the Community
Outreachers, the Soundbites, the Marketing Love Couples/Traumpaars,
the Divine, the Fabulous, the Delicious, and the Little Labels That
Could all have it relatively easy in comparison to that preceding
generation. And the critical standards --- what standards? - whose?
--- have reformed, or rather, have doubled and tripled and....But
injury
is often prone to insult. Hell, standards have liquidized and then
evaporated vis a vis the new generation. It is no longer Sound Music
Criticism or Analysis but lowest-common-denominator Public Relations
Spin [and worse: the fixation with that elusive something known as
---technique--- technique and organization and
perfection as ends in themselves: music-making as athletic match:
missing the forest for the trees --- but this is another angle for
another day]. So much so that it has become strangely and suddenly
k-o-s-h-e-r  once more (Jesus!, how many more times are we going to
hear about over-saturation?) to make records (remember when you and I
were advised to swiftly  r-e-j-e-c-t, wholesale, them records [or
anything, for that matter] by or with Cheryl Studer becuz they were
everything from digital to illusion to un-necessary to in-competent to
im-personal to contrived to in-experienced to un-felt to
perfect to dull to null to this to that to that to this - beautiful
even? --- you know, the toxic byproduct of uncontained Kapitalismus -
the same Kapitalismus that gave us such goodies as Meyerbeer,
penicillin, opera glasses, the megaphone, the horn, the microphone,
the photograph, the ("fideistic") Mapleson cylinders, the phonograph,
the light bulb, animated pictures, the telegraph, the typewriter,
carbon paper, the telephone, the clock, the metronome, the radio, the
television, faster trains, the automobile, the jet plane, robots,
rockets, missiles, bombs, Star Wars, frying bacon, monaural sound,
analog tech, reel-to-reels, 8-tracks, the cassette, the LP, stereo
sound, surround sound, faxes, overnight mail, the (unfortunate and
devastating to the testimonials of a vast majority of contemporary
artists) digital tech, the PC, laptops, lapdogs, the CD, the walkman,
the minidisc, the CD-ROM, the famous
(pitch-re-engineered) Richter CD-ROMs, the (disgracefully influential,
sound-engineering-bag-of-tricks-wise) Solti Ring, naXos,
andante.com
,
12,000 other music websites, the pirates, special effects, the VHS,
HTML, the WWW, Apples, TV dinners, Windows, the cell phone, the
LD, the DVD, MP3s, Opera In The Origiinal (that's English to you,
perennially and naturally), CNN operas, Vilar titles, Vilar
entitlements, multitasking, micromanaging, acoustically enhanced opera
houses and concert halls, euphemisms, virtual reality, cloning,
artificial intelligence, Callas martyrs, Caruso, Ponselle, Callas,
more Callas, Flagstad, Nilsson, more EMI
Callas re-re-re-re-re-releases, yet more Sony Glenn Gould
re-re-re-re-re-compilations, etc. - and of course, the same
Kapitalismus that has transmitted the Oh So Long Anticipated, Oh So
Extensive, Oh So Very Important --- and, at last!, Oh So Necessary ---
recorded statements from, for example and randomly, Renée, Aprile
[these days reduced - or is it enhanced? - to croon opposite Danny Boy
The 9.11 NYPD Singin' Cop, pathetically], Alessandra, "Marilyn Monroe
Purr" Debbie (see "Ross, Alex") - (a  f-a-k-e  recording of R.
Strauss' -Friedenstag- for Sinopoli/DGG --- "...Deborah Voigt's Maria
[which was in fact dubbed in after the recording was completed, after
the
original soprano had dropped out]...." -'Fanfare', Sep/Oct 2002, p.
214), Cathy, Kathy, Jane, Ruthie Ann, "Veteran Wagnerian" Karita (see
"Tommasini, Anthony") - (a  f-a-k-e  recording of Schoenberg's
-Gurrelieder- for Sire Simon/EMI -
http://andante.com/magazine/article.cfm?id=17979
), Violeta, Waltraud -
and much much more) ----- for naXos, Rare Opera,
Mom & Pop, even for Lucifer Classics.  No matter.
[But......we are afraid it's  t-o-o  l-a-t-e  --- because the
registers, they ain't ringin' (and all too often, we regret to
announce, not just the cash ones).]
3C. How exactly is naXos alleviating the crisis of overcrowding and
confusion among consumers? In opera titles alone they have recorded
a-n-e-w: Boheme, Fidelio, Butterfly, Tosca, Flying Dutchman, Barber of
Seville, Aida, Rigoletto, Magic Flute, and on and on and on. Correct
us if we are wrong but these bread and butter works were not lacking
in existing documentation, whether historical or not, hysterical or
not, distinguished or not, high end or not. And the combined sad
efforts from naXos simply do not measure up. Why pay less, then, when
you can get better and more for twice the price?
3D. "Oh but it does mean something, it does", we say. So the "average
music lover" has become the barometer of quality and relevance? Indeed
they don't deserve Muti, Abbado, or Chailly (however much they deserve
the three-minute-aria-cum-top-ten-hit). And is the Hulun Hu Tympany
Orchestra really better than Amsterdam, Dresden, Berlin or Vienna?
(although, truth be told, too many of us have heard the Vienna, for
one, play and sound like a colony of monkeys under the stick shift of
a colonized but loyal to the crown, and thus celebrated, Indian
cabbie).
3E. And Cheryl Studer, she's not one of the unwashed, is she? Were
they her contemporaries, would Mr. Heiman have singled out Callas,
Tebaldi, Sutherland, or Caballe, to name but a few, in this manner?
After all, they were/are *Daughters Of Lucifer*, to our benefit.
Presumably naXos treats its "illustrious" roster with more dignity,
respect, and vocal support. Speaking of vocal support, perhaps the
crafty (and reptilian) Mr. Heiman is unaware that *his own* Floria
Tosca (Madame Nelly Miri-a-e-i-o-u --- "más sabe el burro que tú")
reportedly bombed in the same role in Orange, France in the year 2000
a-n-d  as Norma at the ROH, London, also in 2000. However, the Tosca
and Norma catastrophes strangely failed to make a dent in the armory
of the "cognoscenti" and their media spokespeople. And it is not so
widely known that Madame M has encountered more stage catastrophes
since then. For those not "in the know", Madame M is said to be the
Bastard Child of the Incestuous Union of the Twins Callas and Heiman,
now all grown and matured into a very 'Rare Opera' singer complete
with numerous fancifully edited recordings to her name. No matter.
4. Many of us have heard naXos' Caruso edition (not that the
long-deceased tenor is remotely a Heiman discovery/original). We
wonder what Mr. Heiman's authoritative producers and editors (and his
Public Relationists) would have made of the great man today for
violating at least a couple of standards of sound conduct:
throat-clearing smack in the middle of a take and a glaring false
entry at the beginning of another? And what of the poor pianist?
Good God.
----------------------------
Considering the imminent collapse of new opera recordings on Compact
Disc from the Universal Classics family of labels (DGG, DECCA,
Philips)....and now apparently EMI Classics too....let us take a close
look at the following inventory ---
* Title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, rec 8/90, London SO,
Marin, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Hanna Glawari in Lehar's Lustige Witwe, rec 1/94, Vienna PO,
Gardiner, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Countess in Mozart's Nozze di Figaro, rec 1-2/94, Vienna PO, Abbado,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Countess in Mozart's Nozze di Figaro, rec 5/91, Vienna PO, Abbado,
Sony VHS
* Title role in Rossini's Semiramide, rec 7/92, London SO, Marin,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Florinda in Schubert's Fierrabras, rec 5/88, Chamber Orch of Europe,
Abbado, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Title role in R. Strauss' Salome, rec 12/90, Deutsche Oper Berlin,
Sinopoli, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, rec 6/93, Metropolitan Opera, Levine,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto Act III, rec 9/91, Metropolitan Opera,
Levine, Lucifer Classics/DGG VHS
* Desdemona in Verdi's Otello, rec 5/93, Opéra Bastille, Chung,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Violetta in Verdi's Traviata, rec 1/91, Metropolitan Opera, Levine,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser, rec '88, Philharmonia, Sinopoli,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser, rec '89, Bayreuth, Sinopoli,
Lucifer Classics/Philips VHS
* Senta in Wagner's fliegende Holländer, rec 1/91, Deutsche Oper
Berlin, Sinopoli, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Gutrune in Wagner's Götterdämmerung, rec 5/89, Metropolitan Opera,
Levine, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Title role in Floyd's Susannah, rec 3/94, Opéra de Lyon, Nagano,
Virgin
* Marguerite in Gounod's Faust, rec 2/91, Toulouse, Plasson, Our Own
EMI
* Salomé in Massenet's Hérodiade, rec 11-12/94, Toulouse, Plasson, Our
Own EMI
* Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni, rec 9/90, Vienna PO, Muti, Our
Own EMI
* Konstanze in Mozart's Entführung aus dem Serail, rec 4/91, Vienna
Symphony, Weil, Sony
* Queen of the Night in Mozart's Zauberflöte, rec 7/89, ASMF,
Marriner, Lucifer Classics/Philips
* Giulietta in Offenbach's Contes d'Hoffmann, rec 87/88/89, Dresden
Staatskapelle, Tate, Lucifer Classics/Philips
* Matilde in Rossini's Guglielmo Tell, rec 12/88, La Scala, Muti,
Lucifer Classics/Philips (also on Home Vision VHS & DVD)
* Madama Cortese in Rossini's Viaggio a Reims, rec 10/92, Berlin PO,
Abbado, Sony
* Title role in Spohr's Jessonda, rec '84, ORF Orchestra, Albrecht,
Voce LP
* Chrysothemis in R. Strauss' Elektra, rec 1/90, Bavarian RSO,
Sawallisch, Our Own EMI
* Chrysothemis in R. Strauss' Elektra, rec 6/89, Vienna PO, Abbado,
Virgin VHS & Arthaus DVD
* Empress in R. Strauss' Frau ohne Schatten, rec 2-12/87, Bavarian
RSO, Sawallisch, Our Own EMI
* Empress in R. Strauss' Frau ohne Schatten, rec '92, Vienna PO,
Solti, Lucifer Classics/Decca-London VHS & DVD
* Title role in Verdi's Aida, rec 6/94, Covent Garden, Downes,
Serenissima CD, Pioneer & Kultur Videos (VHS & DVD)
* Odabella in Verdi's Attila, rec 6-7/89, La Scala, Muti, Our Own EMI
* Odabella in Verdi's Attila, rec 6/90, La Scala, Muti, Home Vision
VHS & DVD
* Elena in Verdi's Vespri Siciliani, rec 12/89-1/90, La Scala, Muti,
Our Own EMI (also on Home Vision VHS & DVD)
* Drolla in Wagner's Die Feen, rec 7/83, Bavarian RSO, Sawallisch,
Orfeo
* Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin (from Bayreuth), rec 6/90, Bayreuth,
Schneider, Lucifer Classics/Philips (also on VHS)
* Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin (from Vienna), rec '90, Vienna PO,
Abbado, Home Vision VHS & DVD
* Eva in Wagner's Meistersinger, rec 4/93, Bavarian State Opera,
Sawallisch, Our Own EMI
* Irene in Wagner's Rienzi, rec 7/83, Bavarian State Opera,
Sawallisch, Orfeo
* Ortlinde in Wagner's Walküre, rec 8/81, Dresden Staatskapelle,
Janowski, RCA/Eurodisc
* Sieglinde in Wagner's Walküre, rec 2-3/88, Bavarian RSO, Haitink,
Our Own EMI
* Zemlinsky's Der Geburtstagder Infantin, rec 83, Berlin RSO,
Albrecht, Koch-Schwann
* Coloratura Arias by Bellini (Sonnambula/Norma), Verdi
(Traviata/Trovatore), Donizetti (Lucia/Lucrezia Borgia), Rossini
(Barbiere/Semiramide), rec 4/89, Munich RSO, Ferro, Our Own EMI
* Mozart Arias
(Entführung/Zauberflöte/Idomeneo/Nozze/Giovanni/Clemenza/Cosi), rec
9/89, ASMF, Marriner, Lucifer Classics/Philips
* R. Strauss' Vier Letzte Lieder/Wagner's Wesendonck-Lieder/Isolde's
Liebestod, rec 1/93, Dresden Staatskapelle, Sinopoli, Lucifer
Classics/DGG
* Isolde's Liebestod, rec 1/88, Bavarian RSO, Tate, Our Own EMI
* Wagner Gala (Tannhäuser/Lohengrin/Meistersinger/Walküre), rec 12/93,
Berlin PO, Abbado, Lucifer Classics/DGG (also on VHS)
* First Europakonzert - in Prague (Mozart: "Non mi dir"/"Ch'io mi
scordi di te-Non temer amato bene"), rec 5/91, Berlin PO, Abbado, Sony
VHS & DVD
* Covent Garden Gala (Otello/Traviata/Fledermaus), rec 7/88, Covent
Garden, Barker, Our Own EMI
* Sacred Works (Bach/Schubert/Mendelssohn/Handel/Mozart/Gounod/Faure/Poulenc/Bernstein/Bruch),
rec 3/91, London SO, Marin, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Samuel Barber Songs, rec 9/92, Browning, Emerson String Quartet,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, rec 8/91, Vienna PO, Levine, Lucifer
Classics/DGG
* Beethoven in Berlin (Ah! Perfido/Choral Fantasy/Egmont), rec 12/91,
Berlin PO, Abbado, Lucifer Classics/DGG (also on VHS)
* Brahms' German Requiem, rec 10/92, Berlin PO, Abbado, Lucifer
Classics/DGG
* Schubert Lieder, rec 1/90, Gage, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Salzburg Recital (R. Strauss/Schubert/Debussy), rec 8/92, Gage,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Mahler's Klagende Lied, rec 11/90, Philharmonia, Sinopoli, Lucifer
Classics/DGG
* Mahler's Symphony No. 2, rec 11/92, Vienna PO, Abbado, Lucifer
Classics/DGG
* Mahler's Symphony No. 8, rec 11-12/90, Philharmonia, Sinopoli,
Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Mahler's Symphony No. 8, rec 1/94, Berlin PO, Abbado, Lucifer
Classics/DGG
* Verdi's Requiem, rec 6/87, La Scala, Muti, Our Own EMI
* Verdi's Requiem, rec 11/91, Vienna PO, Abbado, Lucifer Classics/DGG
* Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, rec 4/89, Philadelphia Orchestra, Muti,
Our Own EMI
* Bruckner's Mass in F Min/Mozart's Vespers, rec 3/77, MIT Choral
Society, Oliver, MIT LPs
* Donizetti's Requiem, rec 1/84, Bamberg SO, Gómez-Martínez, Orfeo
* von Schweinitz's Messe Op. 21, rec 7/84, RSO Berlin, Albrecht, Wergo
* R. Strauss Choral Works, rec 9/84, RIAS Kammerchor, Gronostay,
Creed, Deutsche Schallplatten
"L-A  Ú-L-T-I-M-A..........que ríe, ríe mejor."
Bravissima Cheryl Studer, Hija Querida.  Very beautifully and
exquisitely done.  A most wonderful, exemplary, and unforgettable
legacy, a legacy of  e-x-c-e-p-t-i-o-n-a-l  q-u-a-l-i-t-y  a-n-d
d-i-s-t-i-n-c-t-i-o-n --- the work of a consummate artist.  Thank you.
Thank you for Dedication, Seriousness, and Integrity.  Thank you for
remaining True to your self, to the artform, and to  m-u-s-i-c.  Good
Music.  Thank you for a Universe of Sound and Texture and Expression
a-l-l  o-f  y-o-u-r  o-w-n.  Thank you for  g-e-n-e-r-o-s-i-t-y.
Thank you for  H-i-g-h  I-n-d-i-v-i-d-u-a-l-i-t-y.
And thank you too, Universal, EMI and Sony, for having had the
foreskin to recognize and capture genius in our midst (now that these
dinosaurs' [delusional] populist causes, causes palatable to the
Anglocentric and their Axes (oh irony!) Of Love, have caused them to
trim....ouch....their future....for that squeaky clean look and
sound....and potent-ial self-extinction).
----------------------------
And now, a little something to ponder about ---
"Things got pretty rough at the last Philharmonic concert. A bitter
battle broke out over Liszt's 'Mephisto Waltz.' It was the standees
and a part of the gallery, resolved to give their all, against the
parterre, the mountain against the marsh. On the one side we had
youth, intelligence, idealism, good judgement, enthusiasm and
conviction; on the other dullness, frivolity, debility, ignorance,
arrogance, materialism. Such were the contending forces.
There was a lot of applause, but a lot of hissing, too. Since, as we
all know, these Semitic hissing sounds traditionally served the
'chosen people' as shibboleth in combat with their neighbors, it was
not hard to determine who it was that so emphatically proclaimed both
their dissent and their identity. Indeed, these 'chosen people'
habitually make a great show of their exquisite taste. They are always
ready to recognize in Beethoven a good composer. And yet there are
those who see nothing heroic in the courage of such convictions. What,
then, can we call courageous? Let it pass. These excellent and
generous souls will surely enrich the National Guard with a doughty
legion of tailors, and thus be of service to the state. You can take
an oath on that.
To take seriously the ludicrous behavior of these worthy parterre
subscribers toward the works of a genius such as Liszt would be like
punishing children's bad manners with the rack. We are not so cruel.
But it is well to look for what it is that causes the public to behave
like an ill-mannered child and to think like a well-groomed cad. How
is it, we ask, that Liszt's compositions are rejected by the majority
of our degenerate public? The answer is made uncommonly easy for me,
since it is contained in the question. But then why, someone could
object, do Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, etc., appeal to this same
degenerate public? The objection is so banal, the answer so obvious,
that any blockhead could handle it easily. But should someone choose
to ask me what I mean by degenerate public, I accept the challenge
gladly, and am ready with the answer: a degenerate public is one that
is content to be the ward of a degenerate press.
It is a public of newspaper readers. That is the source of all other
evils. That is the source of the thoughtlessness, frivolity,
dependence, distraction, insensibility and, above all, the bias
against those works condemned to death by the press. If this were an
ingenuous public, it would not tolerate for another day the shameful
chains it now fastens to itself voluntarily. But the habit of
cud-chewing has already become too delightful to permit the slightest
effort to use one's own teeth. Thus, this public receives its
impression of a work of art not directly, but from the review in the
newspaper, to be had in concrete form for a patent. Go then to the
apothecary, and buy yourselves some nux vomica or some other purgative
if you want to have an impression. The effect remains essentially the
same, and you spare yourselves the price of the ticket. And so a
public, the despicable tool of a despicable press, will pass judgement
on the works of a genius! A sluggardly mob that enters the concert
hall as if it were a toy store, reduces the noblest possessions of
mankind to idle diversions, and then, if that is not satisfactory,
arrogantly turns its back on the work of art and ceremoniously
hisses...fie, fie, and once again fie!!!
Given such circumstances, it is hardly surprising that Liszt's
original compositions have excited a lively 'for' and 'against'
whenever they have been played in Vienna. This time the applause from
the standees was still far from constituting a demonstration when a
few hot headed Philistines signalled, stupidly enough, the shibboleth.
That was pouring oil on fire. The applause grew louder, and rightly
so, since it was directed no less at the splendid accomplishment of
the orchestra and its conductor, Hans Richter, than at the work
itself. And did not the wonderful performance of this Lisztian
composition merit the most extravagant praise? What did Liszt's
admirers do to excite the drowsy parterre to a counter-demonstration?
They were simply giving due honor to service rendered."
Hugo Wolf
Vienna, 25 April 1886
----------------------------
A HARPSICHORD GLISTENS AND TRIUMPHS
You and I, we know the climate is profoundly  d-e-g-e-n-e-r-a-t-e
 when a nobody of a harpsichordist and her twinklin' little instrument
command more respect and accolades and analysis from 'the chosen
people' (The Rake's Progress --
http://www.operajaponica.org/reviews/dvd/rake96dvd.htm
) than those
ass-igned a certain veteran soprano. Consider this shibboleth ---
http://www.operajaponica.org/reviews/dvd/aidaroh94dvd.htm
Verdi: AIDA
Reviewed by Michael Richter, 27 May 2002
Cast: Cheryl Studer (Aida), Luciana d'Intino (Amneris), Dennis O'Neill
(Radames), Alexandru Agache (Amonasro), Robert Lloyd (Ramfis), Mark
Beesley (Il Re), John Marsden (Messenger), Yvonne Barclay
(Sacerdotta), Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden, Sir Edward Downes (conductor). Elijah Moshinsky (director)
Thus spoke our hero:
{{One can now prove that it is possible to make a performance of Aida
dull. Singing and conducting are altogether competent, but the only
elements of this release which enliven the work are those of the
production - and they are more often confusing or distracting than
constructive. Lloyd infuses some life into his character, but Beesley
is both vocally and dramatically subpar. D'Intino has some moments of
expression but they are not those most needed; the opening scene of
Act IV, for example, is flaccid. Studer, O'Neill and Agache sing all
the notes and none of the music. Many points in the score are marked
'a piacere', but the pleasure of the artists appears to be to do
nothing at all. The effect is altogether colorless - a grey and
pointless recitation of one of the most vibrant scores in opera.}}
"Things got pretty rough at the last Philharmonic concert. A bitter
battle broke out over Liszt's 'Mephisto Waltz.' It was the standees
and a part of the gallery, resolved to give their all, against the
parterre, the mountain against the marsh. On the one side we had
youth, intelligence, idealism, good judgement, enthusiasm and
conviction; on the other dullness, frivolity, debility, ignorance,
arrogance, materialism. Such were the contending forces.
There was a lot of applause, but a lot of hissing, too. Since, as we
all know, these Semitic hissing sounds traditionally served the
'chosen people' as shibboleth in combat with their neighbors, it was
not hard to determine who it was that so emphatically proclaimed both
their dissent and their identity. Indeed, these 'chosen people'
habitually make a great show of their exquisite taste. They are always
ready to recognize in Beethoven a good composer. And yet there are
those who see nothing heroic in the courage of such convictions. What,
then, can we call courageous? Let it pass. These excellent and
generous souls will surely enrich the National Guard with a doughty
legion of tailors, and thus be of service to the state. You can take
an oath on that.
To take seriously the ludicrous behavior of these worthy parterre
subscribers toward the works of a genius such as Liszt would be like
punishing children's bad manners with the rack. We are not so cruel.
But it is well to look for what it is that causes the public to behave
like an ill-mannered child and to think like a well-groomed cad. How
is it, we ask, that Liszt's compositions are rejected by the majority
of our degenerate public? The answer is made uncommonly easy for me,
since it is contained in the question. But then why, someone could
object, do Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, etc., appeal to this same
degenerate public? The objection is so banal, the answer so obvious,
that any blockhead could handle it easily. But should someone choose
to ask me what I mean by degenerate public, I accept the challenge
gladly, and am ready with the answer: a degenerate public is one that
is content to be the ward of a degenerate press.
It is a public of newspaper readers. That is the source of all other
evils. That is the source of the thoughtlessness, frivolity,
dependence, distraction, insensibility and, above all, the bias
against those works condemned to death by the press. If this were an
ingenuous public, it would not tolerate for another day the shameful
chains it now fastens to itself voluntarily. But the habit of
cud-chewing has already become too delightful to permit the slightest
effort to use one's own teeth. Thus, this public receives its
impression of a work of art not directly, but from the review in the
newspaper, to be had in concrete form for a patent. Go then to the
apothecary, and buy yourselves some nux vomica or some other purgative
if you want to have an impression. The effect remains essentially the
same, and you spare yourselves the price of the ticket. And so a
public, the despicable tool of a despicable press, will pass judgement
on the works of a genius! A sluggardly mob that enters the concert
hall as if it were a toy store, reduces the noblest possessions of
mankind to idle diversions, and then, if that is not satisfactory,
arrogantly turns its back on the work of art and ceremoniously
hisses...fie, fie, and once again fie!!!
Given such circumstances, it is hardly surprising that Liszt's
original compositions have excited a lively 'for' and 'against'
whenever they have been played in Vienna. This time the applause from
the standees was still far from constituting a demonstration when a
few hot headed Philistines signalled, stupidly enough, the shibboleth.
That was pouring oil on fire. The applause grew louder, and rightly
so, since it was directed no less at the splendid accomplishment of
the orchestra and its conductor, Hans Richter, than at the work
itself. And did not the wonderful performance of this Lisztian
composition merit the most extravagant praise? What did Liszt's
admirers do to excite the drowsy parterre to a counter-demonstration?
They were simply giving due honor to service rendered."
Hugo Wolf
Vienna, 25 April 1886
----------------------------
M-U-S-I-C OF THE FUTURE
Berg, Alban / Wozzeck / Marie
Cajkovskij, Pëtr Il'ic / Evgenij Onegin / Tatjana
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus / Così fan tutte / Fiordiligi
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus / Don Giovanni / Donna Elvira
Puccini, Giacomo / Manon Lescaut / Manon Lescaut
Puccini, Giacomo / Tosca / Tosca
Strauss, Richard / Capriccio / Gräfin
Strauss, Richard / Salome / Salome
Verdi, Giuseppe / Ballo in Maschera, Un / Amelia
Verdi, Giuseppe / Don Carlo / Elisabetta
MORE M-U-S-I-C....REDIVIVUS
Beethoven, Ludwig van / Fidelio / Leonore
Lehár, Franz / Lustige Witwe, Die / Hanna Glawari
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus / Idomeneo / Elettra
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus / Nozze di Figaro, Le / Contessa d'Almaviva
Strauss, Richard / Elektra / Chrysothemis
Verdi, Giuseppe / Aida / Aida
Verdi, Giuseppe / Otello / Desdemona
Wagner, Richard / Meistersinger von Nürnberg / Eva
AND YET MORE M-U-S-I-C
Strauss, Richard / Arabella / Arabella
Strauss, Richard / Ariadne auf Naxos / Primadonna/Ariadne
Strauss, Richard / Frau ohne Schatten, Die / Kaiserin
Strauss, Richard / Rosenkavalier, Der / Marschallin
Wagner, Richard / fliegende Holländer, Der / Senta
Wagner, Richard / Lohengrin / Elsa von Brabant
Wagner, Richard / Tannhäuser / Elisabeth
Wagner, Richard / Walküre, Die / Sieglinde
----------------------------
"The dangers of life
are infinite
And safety is among them."
--- Goethe


title: Rule Britannia (or Lucifer auf naXos)

author: Manuela Hoelterhoff

text:

--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
Thus spoke the authority:

We ask:






We comment and ask:


by, in a recent Chicago program of Hugo Wolf's Lieder, the "Great
Jewish Musician" [and we thought it un-Klezmer to allude to this
musician's other career] in harmony with his German/Christian
sub-ordinates - a
physically handicapped baritone and an underpitch soprano (see
"Kubiak, David")
- were heard "r-e-c-l-a-i-m-i-n-g  the true meaning of the 'heilge
Deutsches
Kunst'" --- again, see "Kubiak, David" --- please note that no one
else
before GJM had accomplished nearly as much, and in a mere
evening - of course, we know now that Wolf wrote his songs inspired by
people everywhere holding hands) nor Adler Fella nor Crayola Opera

[Imagine, if you dare.]






[God Willing.]



[Discuss, if you dare.]



sopranos of the calibre of Cheryl and Maria (and countless others long



title: Rule Britannia (or Lucifer auf naXos)


title: Rule Britannia (or Lucifer auf naXos)

author: Sergio Segalini

text:

--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
Thus spoke the authority:

We ask:






We comment and ask:


popular encouragement. It became fashionable sport (nah, Olympics -
nah, Mob Rule) for too influential but equally ignorant, tin-eared and



title: Rule Britannia (or Lucifer auf naXos)

text:

--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
Thus spoke the authority:

We ask:




Anglo+Judeo+Homo-centric bitchery and dishonesty; and just as long
dedicated to sobbing after one Lucine Amara.]
But back to the authority:
"The market is shifting away from name artists, and the average music
lover is confused by bins crowded by recordings. What is the
difference between Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado and Riccardo Chailly
in a given piece? Whatever the difference is, it doesn't mean anything
to the average music lover who gives up and chooses our recording
because it is more reasonably priced, and the performance is just as
good. It is an absurdity for Plácido Domingo to sing 'The Barber of
Seville'; our recording is a better performance of the opera. If
Cheryl Studer were to come to me and ask to sing some of the operas
she has recorded, I wouldn't let her." {Author: Richard Dyer / Date:
19.01.1994 / Page: 61 / Section: Living Arts}
We comment and ask:
3A. Funny but we bet that the suits at Lucifer Classics swear
t-h-e-i-r  barber gives a better haircut. Not that some of us (not
nearly enough) give a damn about Sire Domingo, at least not since his
early 90s (and thereafter) publicity and musical circus prostitutions.
3B. Let us cut to the chase: the real reason for the present-day
crisis is that the relevance of live engagements and the documented
legacies of certain important big-names (those immediately preceding
the generation of today's so-called "A List") literally fell through a
 g-e-n-e-r-a-t-i-o-n-a-l
c-r-a-c-k. In the realm of opera, this previous generation came "too
soon" after the Marias and the Renatas and the Joans and the
Montserrats and the Vickys and the Mirellas and the Regines and
whoever....and "too late" for today's democratic free-for-all (think
of the deregulation of the airline industry in the U.S.A. - surely it
is cheaper to fly and with more options but the experience is ghastly)
in deadly mix with the quick fixes and seductions of Hyper Public
Relations and
Cyberspace. Few artists can survive without some form of critical and
popular encouragement. It became fashionable sport (nah, Mob Rule -
nah, Olympics) for too influential but equally ignorant, tin-eared and
incredibly, corrosively partial critics and their bedfellows to
dismiss these artists' work faster than they could say Compact Disc
(and worse: to fully ignore too - consider the phenomenon that is the
Phenomenally Perverse
Eclipsing by the press of a certain  v-e-t-e-r-a-n  soprano whose
stage appearances are pre-judged to be just that: Appearances: Phantom
Ships In The Night, when noticed ---- or to fully  d-e-n-y  the usual
"critical analysis" - is that what it is? - accorded minor lights

ascribed to one Bellini, one Donizetti, and one other Verdi) nor
paladin of the
glorious avant-garde nor rarity rat nor rat tat tat nor archaeologist
nor room temperature nor Sponsored By Talbots nor Anglican Service nor
Vivaldi postcard nor Handel MBA nor Britten MD nor Janácek Nobel Prize
nor cliché nor stunt nor parody nor caricature nor Disney nor Ozzie
& Harriett nor Will & Grace nor smiley face nor horseface nor humor
monger (in any event, not the shtick you grew up with) nor camp nor
marketing-promo tramp nor trademark nor image-chaser nor
sensation-seeker nor Eurogarbage nor ez-listenin' nor pleasure ride
nor automatic cruise control nor sentiment-al nor cripple nor married
to one nor victim nor tearjerker nor nostalgia trip nor tourist trap
nor good-cause nor fund-raiser (so to speak) nor social worker nor
Katie Couric nor Walk For A Cure nor We Are The World nor Sound Of
Music nor Under nor Over The Rainbow nor
Rainbow Coalition nor Summertime nor Supper Time (nice tunes....if you
can)
nor fruit salad nor cotton candy nor peaches in double cream nor café
au lait nor dark chocolate nor civil/human rights centerfold nor gulag
survivor nor married to one nor refugee nor married to one nor UN
Ambassador nor married to one nor member of any one precious special
interest group (you know who you are)  n-o-r  m-a-r-r-i-e-d  t-o
o-n-e  n-o-r
s-t-r-a-t-e-g-i-c-a-l-l-y  w-e-d-d-e-d  nor politician nor married to
one nor
inter-national political crisis parasite nor ad-minister of propaganda
nor grassroots peace activist (you do know, don't you, that them
ancient favourite warhorses of yours composed by Beethoven and Brahms
and Wagner and Liszt were inspired by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
--- ask Mehta and Señor Honorario und Tolerant Barenboim --- by the
by, in a recent Chicago program of Hugo Wolf's Lieder, the "Great
Jewish Musician" [and we thought it un-Klezmer to allude to this
musician's other career] in harmony with his German/Christian
sub-ordinates - a "physically handicapped baritone" and an "underpitch
soprano" (see "Kubiak, David") - were heard "r-e-c-l-a-i-m-i-n-g  the
true meaning of the 'heilge Deutsches Kunst'" --- again, see "Kubiak,
David" --- please note that no one else before GJM had accomplished
nearly as much, and in a mere
evening - of course, we know now that Wolf wrote his songs inspired by
populations everywhere holding hands - to promote future handholding)

[Imagine, if you dare.]




No, they were/are not Maria or Renata or Joan or Leonie or Gwyneth and
why
should they be? --- Take the particularly complex case of a
fascinatingly
complex, yet elemental, yet thoroughly modern, and yet not, artist
(and
most private woman), Cheryl Studer --- was/is the backlash really for
l-a-c-k  o-f  q-u-a-l-i-t-y  or  l-a-c-k  o-f  a-r-t-i-s-t-i-c
w-o-r-t-h?  A decade or so later there's a perceptible sense of panic
and
fatigue among critics, industry folk, and fans alike, most shockingly
noticeable within the gated communities of the old and the jaded, who
can be heard loudly cheerleading anyone (and we mean anyone)....
[....as long as their names are  n-o-t  Cheryl Studer.]
[God Willing.]
[Young Ones - Do not be duped by the hollow enthusiasms of the age ---
ever seen a sad clown?]
[But now, oh today....Music and Art....or rather, what passes for
it....and every new product or stage appearance tossed our way by the
Star System we hate to love (certainly a system long preceding but
fatally ran to the ground by the prissiness of political correctness
and the Gestapo tactics of the instinct/thought-control police, in
concert with the 'World Music Congress' - the Rudases, the Mehtas, the
Levines, the Maazels, The Three or Four or Five or Six or Seven Whores
- we are losing count -, Best Friends & Co. Inc. Ltd. - the Ozawas and
the
Gergievs too are major shareholders in this "Juderei") - i.e., by the
Star System of Bocelli, of course, or Hampson (now a pretty much
undisputed
by-the-book Straussian, Wagnerian  a-n-d ...hear hear...Verdian...of
Stature,
don't you know) or the Alagnas (a  f-a-k-e recording of Verdi's
-Trovatore- for Sire Tony/EMI --- Grecian Approximation No. XXV - we
have lost count - has not sung Leonora where it counts, on the stage)
or the other Bocelli comrade, Fleming....well, all of it  h-a-s
sudden Meaning and Necessity, so the public relationists tell
us....the Magic courtesy,  n-o-t  of especially great voices or
exceptional interpretive forces or personalities or even of remotely
acceptable  n-e-w  music, but of *in good portion and out of
proportion* the promo op-catchpenny that has become 9.11 --- a
monstrous crime monstrously debased by the Infernal Spinning Wheel of
commerce and avarice and revenge and murder (widely disguised as
justice) --- a tragedy now symbiotically hijacked to peddle everything
from Arms Races to Far Right-ism (see "Sharon, Ariel" --- how come we
don't hear strings of consistently shrill High Cs crying for  h-i-s
removal? --- this time, however, we applaud Barenboim for being
practically the only one publicly playing fiddle
on the roof of the problem) to Nationalism to Requiems to
Anglo-Zionist Terrorism --- the latter conducted both musically and
extra-curricularly, most prominently with (critical mass-destruction)
heavy-metal made in the squeaky clean U.S. of A. and paid for with
y-o-u-r  humble American tax dollar (as if you had a choice) and the
blood of  y-o-u-r  sons and daughters. --- So why won't Israel and its
Business/Washington lobbyists fight their next door neighbors, which
includes Iraq, all by themselves and with  t-h-e-i-r  o-w-n  currency
and leave us all  a-l-o-n-e  a-n-d  i-n  p-e-a-c-e?]
[Consequently, would that  t-h-e  o-t-h-e-r  terrorists went home
too.]
[Discuss, if you dare.]
[And yet more Enchantment courtesy of the Panacea/Schadenfreude of
Cheryl Studer-free zones/ground zeroes.]
[About the new EMI ---Idomeneo---, we are beginning to read puff like
"a recording that  n-e-e-d-e-d  to be made." --- after all, it
contains the antipodean missionary of all things English, Sire
Charles; British Will o' Wisp Bostridge; Bocelli collaborator
Frittoli; and, to top it all, the New (Age) Callas - the
organically-grown, FDA approved, anon, pastel, and drab as
damp cardboard LetItRain Hunt(hyphen)Lieberson. But do not for a
second believe the ad-men....for this product is yet more of the
ho-hum variety.]
[About the new DECCA ---Fellatio Blues---, we are already reading
fluff like "A New  F-i-r-s-t  L-a-d-y  of Bel Canto - Renée Fleming
very nearly manages to shake the insistent ghost of Maria Callas."
(see "
www.andante.com
") --- But we (not enough of us) are neither deaf
nor naïve nor stupid. You see, n-e-v-e-r  e-v-e-r  f-o-r-g-e-t  that
sopranos of the calibre of Cheryl and Maria (and countless others long
before and long after), bruised voice and heart or not, n-e-v-e-r
e-v-e-r  s-t-o-o-p-e-d  this low (below the navel) in the style
department.
But, after all, the new product (scooped up 3 years ago) is being sold
under a neon sign that reads "Bel Canto", complete with a $2 rebate
incentive  b-e-l-o-w  its reduced repo artistic sale value. You know,
in the manner of the stereo-typical toupéed and polyester-clad
used-car
salesman - insincere, cajoling, slimy, slippery, sleazy, sticky -- and
that's the singing -- a raw deal.]
Blitzkrieg-style Public Relations, Marketing, and now
Blue-Collar/Working-Class Cheap Labor (and the aesthetics, or lack of,
of - see "Flanigan, Lauren" - see "Slavs") have been summoned to the
cause of salvaging something or other from the debris of these
self-appointed "opera/music lovers'" own making. And so the armies of
businessmen have landed triumphantly with portfolios chock-full with
the truly untriumphant, the amateurs, the pedigree-less, the
unaccomplished, the homogeneous, the vocally faceless, the emaciated,
the pretty, the photogenic, the grotesque too, the church rodents, the
H.I.P.-voiced, the H.I.P.-mannered, the pedigree-less, the correct,
the obedient, the mega amplified, the firefighters, the policemen, the
construction workers, the factory slaves, the custodians, the
industrial quality, the white trash, the divas next door; the divas
next door with the cute children as gimmicks; the divas next door who
are so nice and behave so well and who must reassure us about it; the
divas next door who seek psychotherapy and then have the distaste to
announce it; the divas next door who relax to the Dixie Chicks; the
vedettes next door who love all that jazz and then scat and squat
through  e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g  that is European  a-n-d  Classical (and
not) --- but then, in music that requires precisely that, the phlegm
gets in
the way of that thang called swing; the divas next door who thrive on
wrestling, meatloaf, and fish n' chips --- and show it; the divas next
door who marry well, transgenderly; the divas next door who, although
already in their 40s and beyond, must appease us by "taking baby steps


Criticism or Analysis but Lowest-Common-Denominator Public Relations
Spin [and worse: the fixation with that elusive something known as
---technique--- technique and organization and perfection as ends in
themselves: music-making as athletic match: missing the forest for the
trees --- but this is another angle for another day]. So much so that
it has become strangely and suddenly  K-o-s-h-e-r  once more (Jesus!,
how many more times are we going to hear about market
over-saturation?) to make records (remember when you and I were
advised to swiftly  r-e-j-e-c-t, wholesale, them records [or
anything, for that matter] by or with Cheryl Studer becuz they were
everything from digital to illusion to un-necessary to in-competent to
im-personal to contrived to in-experienced to un-felt to
perfect to dull to null to this to that to that to this - beautiful
even? --- you know, the toxic byproduct of uncontained Kapitalismus -
the same Kapitalismus that gave us such goodies as Meyerbeer,
penicillin, opera glasses, the megaphone, the horn, the microphone,
the photograph, the ("fideistic") Mapleson cylinders, the phonograph,
the light bulb, animated pictures, the telegraph, the typewriter,
carbon paper, the telephone, the clock, the metronome, the radio, the
television, faster trains, the automobile, the jet plane, robots,
rockets, missiles, bombs, Star Wars, frying bacon, monaural sound,
analog tech, reel-to-reels, 8-tracks, the cassette, the LP, stereo
sound, surround sound, faxes, overnight mail, the (unfortunate and
devastating to the testimonials of a vast majority of contemporary
artists) digital tech, the PC, laptops, lapdogs, the CD, the walkman,
the minidisc, the CD-ROM, the famous (pitch re-engineered) Richter



confusion among consumers? In opera titles alone, they have recorded
yet
a-n-e-w: Boheme, Fidelio, Butterfly, Tosca, Flying Dutchman, Barber of
Seville, Aida, Rigoletto, Magic Flute, and on and on and on. Correct
us if we are wrong but these bread and butter works were not lacking
in existing documentation, whether historical or not, hysterical or
not, distinguished or not, low end or not. And the combined sad



title: Rule Britannia (or Lucifer auf naXos)

text:

--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
Thus spoke the authority:

We ask:






We comment and ask:

3B. Let us cut to the chase: we propose that one big real reason for
the present-day crisis is that the ever-so-important anecdotal
experience of the live stage experience  a-n-d  the documented
legacies of certain important big-names (those immediately preceding
the generation of today's so-called "A List") literally fell through a
 g-e-n-e-r-a-t-i-o-n-a-l  c-r-a-c-k.  In the realm of opera, this
previous generation came "too soon" after the Marias and the Renatas
and the Joans and the Montserrats and the Vickys and the Mirellas and
the Regines and whoever....and "too late" for today's democratic
free-for-all (think of the deregulation of the airline industry in the
U.S.A. - surely it
is cheaper to fly and with more options but the experience is ghastly)
in deadly mix with the quick fixes and seductions of Hyper Public
Relations, Hyper Text, and Cyberspace. Few artists can survive without
some form of critical and popular encouragement. It became fashionable
sport (nah, Mob Rule - nah, Olympics) for too influential but equally
ignorant, tin-eared and incredibly, corrosively partial critics and
their bedroom partners to

transposer-conductor-intendant-voicecompetitor-crossoverputa-moviemogul-realestatemagnate-restaurateur-sexsymbol-jetsetter
(all in one and one for all and all in a night) nor lazy nor shrinking
violet nor daddy's lil' lass nor mystic nor minimalist nor hyperbole
nor Überfeminist nor Konzept nor dreams and fables nor metaphysics nor
philosopher ("Philosophier' Er nicht, Herr Schatz...") nor scholar
(nor pretender) nor didact nor pedant nor peasant nor composer (you
know, like Callas, who wrote all them masterpieces now falsely
ascribed to one Bellini, one Donizetti, and one other Verdi) nor
paladin of the glorious avant-garde nor rarity rat nor rat tat tat nor
archaeologist nor room temperature nor Sponsored By Talbots nor
Anglican Service nor Vivaldi postcard nor Handel MBA [opera's answer
to the 80s business phenomenon - everyone has one] nor Britten MD nor

- to promote future handholding) nor married to one nor Adler Fella

[Imagine, if you dare.]






[God Willing.]



[Discuss, if you dare.]





sound-engineering-bag-of-tricks-wise) DECCA/Solti Ring, naXos,
andante.com
, 12,000 other music websites, the pirates, special
effects, the VHS, HTML, the WWW, Apples, TV dinners, Windows, the cell
phone, the LD, the DVD, MP3s, Opera In The Original (that's English to
you,
naturally and perennially), CNN operas, Vilar titles, Vilar



title: Rule Britannia (or Lucifer auf naXos)

author: Helmut Fischer

text:

--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
Thus spoke the authority:

We ask:






We comment and ask:


2nd season in a row - not a bad thing when you try to remember those
Scheiße AIDAs at the MET where Crayola sang the notes and none of the
music - and let's not start about the brutal stupor that was
Pavarotti]  b-u-t  the visceral collision") - you know the skit - why

transposer-conductor-intendant-voicecompetitor-crossover-moviemogul-realestatemagnate-restaurateur-sexsymbol-jetsetter

[Imagine, if you dare.]






[God Willing.]



[Discuss, if you dare.]









Tebaldi, Sutherland, or Caballé, to name but a few, in this manner?



title: Rule Britannia (or Lucifer auf naXos)


title: Rule Britannia (or Lucifer auf naXos)

text:

--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
Thus spoke the authority:

We ask:






We comment and ask:

3B. Let us cut to the chase: we propose that one big reason for
the present-day crisis is that the ever-so-important anecdotal
experience of the live stage experiences  a-n-d  documented

Scheiße AIDAs at the MET where Crayola connected them dots and none of
the
music - not to mention the brutal stupor that were
Pavarotti and the ever-accomodating Levine]  b-u-t  the visceral

Cardiff-Domingo-RichieTucker-BelleSilverman-Albanese-Horne-Scotto-vonStade-Heggie-VeraRosza

[Imagine, if you dare.]






[God Willing.]


- we are losing count -, Best Friends & Co. Inc. Ltd. S.A. GmbH - the


[Discuss, if you dare.]


organically-grown, FDA approved, anodyne, pastel, and drab as



title: Rule Britannia (or Lucifer auf naXos)

text:
NOT "Helmut Fischer" but Pineiro Bocanegra <
FishNChips...@yahoo.com
>
wrote....
... blah blah blah.....
Sorry for having to crosspost, but I just have emphazise that not I, but the
troll Pineiro Gabriel Bocanegra has posted that message, again impersonating
me by using a yahoo-address, as he had done already countless times before.
Same old boring story!
Greetings from Vienna,
Helmut Fischer


title: Rule Britannia (or Lucifer auf naXos)

text:
NOT "Helmut Fischer" but Pineiro Bocanegra <
FishNChips...@yahoo.com
>
wrote....
... blah blah blah.....
Again I just have emphazise that not I, but the
troll Pineiro Gabriel Bocanegra has posted that message, again impersonating
me (and others) by using a yahoo-address, as he had done already countless



title: Rule Britannia (or Lucifer auf naXos)

author: Lucifer

text:
Why write at all? It seems totally pointless. Whatever is said, people
just read therein what they want anyway. And every time it is the same
thing. And every time it is the same thing. Pfui.


title: Rule Britannia (or Lucifer auf naXos)

author: David Shengold

text:

--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
Thus spoke the authority:

We ask:
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We comment and ask:
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Cardiff-Domingo-RichieTucker-BelleSilverman-Albanese-Horne-Scotto-vonStade-Heggie-VeraRosza-GeorgeLondon
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title: Rule Britannia (or Lucifer auf naXos)

text:

--- Arturo Toscanini
----------------------------

http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0009D&L=opera-l&P=R10995
Thus spoke the authority:

We ask:






We comment and ask:


Cardiff-VeraRosza-Domingo-GeorgeLondon-RichieTucker-BelleSilverman-Albanese-Horne-Scotto-vonStade-Heggie



title: Rule Britannia (or Lucifer auf naXos)


title: Koopman e la Messa in si minore

author: Giovanni Lavena

text:
Ieri sera ho assistito a una splendida esecuzione della Messa in si minore
di Bach a cura di Ton Koopman e dei suoi complessi (Coro e Orchestra
barocchi di Amsterdam).
L'interpretazione mi è parsa eccellente, curata in ogni particolare, con
l'attenzione a sottolineare tutti gli aspetti, dai più massicci e colossali
a quelli cameristici e finanche intimi, del capolavoro di Bach. La resa di
alcuni momenti è stata a mio avviso stupefacente. Su tutti, forse, la
trasparenza - oserei dire cosmica - dell'accompagnamento orchestrale nel
Domine Deus e nel Qui sedes del Gloria: una una purezza di linee che
lasciavano estasiati tanto da rubare la scena ai cantanti (tutti, anche il
famoso Klaus Mertens, un gradino al di sotto dell'orchestra e del coro);
l'intensità e insieme la levità del flauto del bravissimo Hazelzet che
dialogava col tenore nel Benedictus; la maestà e la dolcezza del Sanctus:
confesso che qui mi sono commosso, tale era la forza suggestiva che Koopman
e i suoi hanno saputo dare al brano già di per sè incredibilmente bello.
Alla fine, malgrado nella pausa tra il Credo e il Santus un po' di gente sia
andata via (com'era quella storia del non dare le perle ai porci?...), c'è
stato un uragano di applausi.
Bravissimi tutti gli orchestrali (in tutto 26), eccettuato qualche problema
d'intonazione della cornista, con lodi particolari per il flautista
Hazelzet, per le oboiste e per il timpanista. Splendido il coro: un tessuto,
trasparente, leggero, mai massiccio, capace di grandissima espressività in
tutti i momenti. I quattro solisti, come ho già detto, erano la componente
più debole dell'insieme: non scadenti né imprecisi, ma nemmeno del tutto
convincenti. In particolare, Cornelia Samuelis, il soprano, giovanissima e
timida (al suo primo intervento è diventata rossa paonazza tanto da sembrare
in preda a un malore), mi è parsa incerta e poco autorevole.
Insomma, un concerto davvero speciale e difficilmente dimenticabile.
Giovanni
--------------------------------
Inviato via
http://arianna.libero.it/usenet/


title: Koopman e la Messa in si minore

author: Praenestinus

text:
"Giovanni Lavena" <
giov...@occupato.it
> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:82Z53Z22Z114Y1...@usenet.libero.it...
> Ieri sera ho assistito a una splendida esecuzione della Messa in si minore
> di Bach a cura di Ton Koopman e dei suoi complessi (Coro e Orchestra
> barocchi di Amsterdam).
Scusa puoi dirci dove si è tenuta l'esecuzione?
S.


title: Koopman e la Messa in si minore

text:
                    Praenestinus ha scritto:

> Scusa puoi dirci dove si è tenuta l'esecuzione?
Cagliari, teatro lirico.
Da ciò che si legge nel sito di Koopman
(
http://www.tonkoopman.nl/may05.htm
), probabilmente è stata l'unica
esecuzione in Italia.



title: Koopman e la Messa in si minore

author: Giuseppe

text:
"Giovanni Lavena" <
giov...@occupato.it
> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:82Z53Z22Z114Y1...@usenet.libero.it...
> Ieri sera ho assistito a una splendida esecuzione della Messa in si
> minore
> di Bach a cura di Ton Koopman e dei suoi complessi (Coro e Orchestra
> barocchi di Amsterdam).
Io non ho mai ascoltato la si minore con Koopman live, ma ascoltando i
cd che ho della sua interpretazione, ho avuto una delusione davvero
imprevedibile.
Stesso giudizio per il Magnificat.
Cmq, mi fa piacere che ti sia piaciuta.
Ciao
G.