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| I loved Lulu even more the second time. |
This week women have dominated the major roles, most of the time with their names in the titles of the operas: Salome, Lulu, Orfeo ed Euridice, Tosca -- so many divas and so many murders.
Because the part of Orfeo, usually played by castrati, was played by a mezzo-soprano, I really liked watching a character where the gender was more fluid.
Beautiful.
And speaking of death, tomorrow comes The Exterminating Angel, based on Luis Buñuel’s surrealist film. I think I just like the idea of being in the room with an exterminating angel.
Since I have lived eighty years, I have had a chance to see, even that Buñuel movie. I was taking a class, the professor asked if anyone wanted to come to his house and see it and I did. I always want to go see everything, thus I was the only one there for the showing. I am only a baby when it comes to knowledge about surrealist film. The film was incomprehensive to me.
I have next week's line up of opera already penciled into my daytimer.
I have done some shorthand into my daytime for what is coming -- opera as old as 1992 and as new as 2015.
My daytimer looks as full as when I actually go out!
Here is a rundown of what is ahead, that is after I finish watching The Exterminating Angel and then Otello. Thank goodness that doing all of this physio is pinning me to the screen.
Week 13
Monday, June 8
Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito
Starring Lucy Crowe, Barbara Frittoli, Elīna Garanča, Kate Lindsey, and Giuseppe Filianoti, conducted by Harry Bicket.
From December 1, 2012.
Tuesday, June 9
Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and Bartók’s Bluebeard's Castle
Starring Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczała in Iolanta, and Nadja Michael and Mikhail Petrenko in Bluebeard's Castle, conducted by Valery Gergiev.
From February 14, 2015.
Wednesday, June 10
Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel
Starring Christine Schäfer, Alice Coote, Rosalind Plowright, Philip Langridge, and Alan Held, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.
From January 1, 2008.
Thursday, June 11
John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles
Starring Teresa Stratas, Renée Fleming, Marilyn Horne, Graham Clark, Gino Quilico, and Håkan Hagegård, conducted by James Levine.
From January 10, 1992.
Friday, June 12, and Saturday, June 13
At-Home Gala (Encore Screening)
In a re-broadcast of our the At-Home Gala, more than 40 leading artists and members of the Met Orchestra and Chorus perform virtually from their homes around the world, with General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin as hosts.
From April 25, 2020.
Sunday, June 14
Handel’s Rodelinda
Starring Renée Fleming, Stephanie Blythe, Andreas Scholl, Iestyn Davies, Joseph Kaiser, and Shenyang, conducted by Harry Bicket. From December 3, 2011.
Arta
Monday, June 8
Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito
Starring Lucy Crowe, Barbara Frittoli, Elīna Garanča, Kate Lindsey, and Giuseppe Filianoti, conducted by Harry Bicket.
From December 1, 2012.
Tuesday, June 9
Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and Bartók’s Bluebeard's Castle
Starring Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczała in Iolanta, and Nadja Michael and Mikhail Petrenko in Bluebeard's Castle, conducted by Valery Gergiev.
From February 14, 2015.
Wednesday, June 10
Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel
Starring Christine Schäfer, Alice Coote, Rosalind Plowright, Philip Langridge, and Alan Held, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.
From January 1, 2008.
Thursday, June 11
John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles
Starring Teresa Stratas, Renée Fleming, Marilyn Horne, Graham Clark, Gino Quilico, and Håkan Hagegård, conducted by James Levine.
From January 10, 1992.
Friday, June 12, and Saturday, June 13
At-Home Gala (Encore Screening)
In a re-broadcast of our the At-Home Gala, more than 40 leading artists and members of the Met Orchestra and Chorus perform virtually from their homes around the world, with General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin as hosts.
From April 25, 2020.
Sunday, June 14
Handel’s Rodelinda
Starring Renée Fleming, Stephanie Blythe, Andreas Scholl, Iestyn Davies, Joseph Kaiser, and Shenyang, conducted by Harry Bicket. From December 3, 2011.
Arta
I feel a sense of determination, excitement, and fear when I come across I word I do not know. I am determined to learn what the word means. I am excited to get to grow my knowledge base. I am anxious that by the time I am able to look up the word I will no longer remember what I was doing, and will be off chasing butterflies, as it were.
ReplyDeleteToday I got to right click on the word "castrati" and felt the relief that comes from seeing the immediate availability of the knowledge I seek, popping up in a dialogue box. No getting up to find a dictionary, the getting up and moving opening my vulnerability to wander away and lose sight of my intention. No frustration that the place I want to go to find the dictionary is a place in which I no longer live (oh, beloved enormous dictionary in the living room of my teen years). No having to contend with the itchy feeling in my eyes from disturbing dust that enter my eyes and nose as I squint over tiny words making sense of what I am reading. No, none of that. Only wishing I had cleaned my glasses and updated my lens prescription so that I don't have to lift my chin, and look down my nose, moving my head forward and back until the letters come into focus.
I reel with horror as I learn that the word refers to male singers who are castrated before puberty to retain capacity to reach a specific range of notes. F*ck! I know that expletive may make my reader reel with horror, and that is not my intention. I write it trying to release the revulsion I feel at the thought of the mutilation of a child at the hands of someone else's decision about their future.
And as my mind wanders to literature I read in my 20s about genital mutilation of girls, the rights of children, my role in righting wrongs, my role in contributing to the current movement in "the land of the free" to support "the brave," as suggested by Hasan Minhaj in his eloquent and impassioned plea to his community, to humanity, I take deep breaths to slow my heart rate, rather than press on into panic paralysis, I find myself back in my immediate present, my feet on the floor, my laptop on my knees, my body supported by my couch, my spine lengthening to full height, my shoulders dropping, my face relaxing, and see my index fingers still hover over the f and j keys on the keyboard, my intention hovering over the comment box below the post by my favourite writer.
I am reminded, my mind does not need to be transported by my body to another location to find an object, such as a dictionary, to go wandering, losing sight of my intention, my intention, yes, my intention that is two fold. First, to ensure she knows that I see her, I hear her thoughts, I am moved by the view I get when looking through her eyes at the world. Second, to enjoy sharing with her the delight I had upon reaching the last words of the "castrati" sentence, to read of her pleasure in "watching a character where the gender was more fluid."
Gender fluidity.
I it not a term I learned in my childhood, nor my youth, nor as a student, then academic, then clinician, not in my early parenting years. I resist the urge to go searching for when this term came into use, so I can sound more savvy than I feel in this moment. But here is my reality (see blog post above the above).
Thank you for this beautiful essay, left on a comment box, which will soon be hidden. Thank you for your beautiful prose. I connect with much of it -- the need for a new prescription for my glasses, your worries about the politics of racism, gential mutilation, destructin that impacts children's live, your most excellent description of your reality. I phoned you to say thank you, but I was slipped away to an answering machine or to texting. I shall do both.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to write about gender fluidity, but that didn't get done yet. Why is it so much easier to write in the comment boxes?!
DeleteI can't answer your question about why it is so easy to write in comment boxes. Especially I can't answer that question because i don't find it easy to write in the comment boxes of other people's blogs.
DeleteI am pretty sure that you shouldn't try to write about gender fluidity in a comment box. Try setting up a whole separate blog for that!
LOL. Yes. Very funny. Yes, indeed. A whole other blog for some topics.
Delete