Flying Dutchman

The concept and splendor of this opera captivated me:

The main characters are as follows

1. The Dutchman: the protagonist, clad in darkness and under a burden of spell.
2. Norwegian sailor Daland
3. Daland's daughter Senta: obsessed with the myth of the Dutchman 
4. Erik: Senta's longtime suitor who is a hunter by profession

Inspired by the original myth, Wagner wrote Flying Dutchman as a wayward ghostly character doomed to futile travels in the hope of redemption.  

These seven-year cycles are the result of an act of defiance by the Dutchman before God. The spell will only be broken once the sailor can find faithful love. That is the hope of the captain "The Dutchman" every seven years when he guides the vessel ashore. The Daland's ship is swayed from their home harbor by an oversight of a young Steerman deceived by romantic fantasies. The deviation leads to a fateful encounter with the ghostly dark vessel with blood-red sails. 

Daland faces the Dutchman who lays out his ordeal and promises all his treasure and possessions in return for getting to know Senta.

The encounter takes place eventually once the ship lands and Senta recognizes the mystic ideal gentleman she had cherishfully envisioned all along, in the Dutchman. 

At the shore, there are scenes of Dalan's ship personnel rejoicing and celebrating with the port residents. However, their party met its end once the ghostly ship crew, reflecting the gloomy and dark status of their captain, infiltrated into the land. 

In a different scene the old desperate suitor, Erik, is reproving Senta and singing of good old times of romantic engagement with Senta. These scenes are secretly monitored by the Dutchman who feels the promise of love has turned to false hope. In a desperate act of hopelessness, the Dutchman leaves to the dark vacuum of his ship, leaving Senta distraught. She climbs to the top of a cliff and jumps to the water as she restates her eternal commitment to Dutchman. As a consequence, the dark vessel dismantles and eventually sinks.

Next, we see the Dutchman and Sneta together clad in white, ascending in joy. The protracted spell is broken and the Dutchman is liberated, finally.

The Small Pitfalls of an Inevitabilist Mind

The promised land is there; it stands tall and strong and at some point in time all the prophecies will undoubtedly be realized.

What is far less certain is the livelihood of thousands of lives that fade before your eyes. Tragedies are unfolding before your eyes while you are waiting for the golden dust.

Rhetoric and Truth

The design of Rhetoric is to remove those Prejudices that lie in the way of Truth, to Reduce the Passions to the Government of Reasons; to place our Subject in a Right Light, and excite our Hearers to a due consideration of it.

—A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, Part II. Ch. 3.

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra: RAD Days

Program list: 

Nancy Galbraith: A Festive Violet Pulse

Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 7 (First Movement)

Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551, "Jupiter"

Sarah Gibson: to Make this Mountain Taller

Sergei Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet

George Gershwin: The Real McCoy "Walking the Dog"

Manuel de Falla: Three-cornered Hat

PSO

Conducted by Jacob Joyce

Tuesday, 10/10/23

The Barber of Seville

 

Music by Gioachino Rossini

Libretto by Cesare Sterbini

Attended 10/20/23

Aleko: Opera by Rachmaninoff

Rachmaninoff's opera Aleko (1892) is based on Pushkin's poem The Gypsies. It tells a tragic love story between Aleko, a Russian, and a free-spirited gypsy girl Zemfira.

Longing for freedom, Aleko abandons the stifling life and rules of "civilized society" for what seems to him an unencumbered, carefree life of nomadic gypsies. Zemfira meets Aleko wandering the southern steppes, brings him into the gypsy camp, and introduces him to her father as her lover. After living together for two years, Zemfira, who now has a baby, lost interest in Aleko. As a warning, the old man tells Aleko his own story of how Zemfira’s mother Mariula abandoned them both, a fate he had to accept. Aleko admits that his views are different and he would seek revenge for betrayal.

Suspecting that Zemfira is now in love with a young gypsy, Aleko encounters them together, and kills them both. The old man casts out Aleko adding that his peaceful people do not want a murdered in their midst. Alone again, Aleko finds no escape from fate.

Source: https://www.russianoperaworkshop.com/

Tragedy Business

 So the Doom metal hipster of our time who's clad in black and sings about the futility of life and fatality watches the ordeal of people and doesn't find anything of note to sing about! Not a single note comes out of this tragic throat! 

The mighty artist of our time remains silent, with literally zero utterance! There he stands... perhaps working on his next "Doom" magnum opus, talking about the corrosion of conformity! Well, I assume clinging to the sweet life is all it boils down to! 

"Tragedy" has become a cheap artistic watchword that is definitely a trendy one!

Better faking it than living the whole thing! Right? 

Monday, October 9

 Jazz music led by violinist Mat Maneri and the poems by Denver Buston and four scholars from the University of Iowa: Busisiwe Mahlangu, Saba Hamzah, Yashika Graham, Tammy Lai-Ming Ho

I liked the idea of Jazz poetry concerts! Kudos to Henry Reese with whom I had a brief chat. I needed to salute him personally for his wisdom, courage, and bravery! 

I also bought a book from Alphabet City bookstore. This completed the fantastic artistic adventure on a high note: Sleet is the name of a collection of short stories by my favorite Swedish author, Stig Dagerman!