Ever more proof that man does not learn from history – and, in all his greed, pride and arrogance, in fact has little interest in it at all, at least in any real history… “The Lord giveth increase, but man devised credit.” “The general shape of the universal delusion may be indicated by three of …
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The “Flower Duet” is a famous duet for soprano and mezzo-soprano from Leo Delibes’ opera Lakmé, first performed in Paris in 1883. The duet takes place in Act 1 of the three-act opera, between characters Lakmé, the daughter of a Brahmin priest, and her servant Mallika, as they go to gather flowers by a river. …
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Habanera (music or dance of Havana, Spanish: La Habana) is the popular name for “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” (“Love is a rebellious bird”), an aria from Georges Bizet’s 1875 opera Carmen. It is the entrance aria of the title character, a mezzo-soprano role, in scene 5 of the first act. It is based on …
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I listened to a well-known ‘hip-hop’ person recently proclaim himself to be the greatest artist that ever lived. Since this was such an utterly ridiculous statement it stuck in my head. That he could even remotely compare his binary tempos and coarse use of language to the aesthetic sensibilities that existed in famous works of …
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I am copying here a number of Spacebook postings from the last couple of weeks. Here is one from a couple days ago… I posed a thought experiment: “Does anyone know what they used to use typewriters for in Hollywood?” I didn’t receive many responses. I finally replied: Well, neither the question nor the answer …
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A little out of order regarding a larger thing I was working on, this is something I posted tonight on Spacebook… Yes, I am still aghast at the thought of “hip hop” being called music, much less an art form. This short piece was written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1722. Its intrinsic beauty is …
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Hermann Wilhelm Göring [also rendered as Goering] was a German politician, military leader, and leading member of the Nazi party. He was founder of the Gestapo, and Head of the Luftwaffe. He notes that it makes no difference what form of government you have, you can always get the people to do what you want. The following is from an interview with …
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