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 …
Continue reading ‘Hip-Hop versus Puccini’s Nessun Dorma’ »
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 …
Continue reading ‘JS Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier’ »
Standing at the crossroads, trying to read the signs To tell me which way I should go to find the answer, And all the time I know, Plant your love and let it grow [Chorus] Let it grow, let it grow, Let it blossom, let it flow In the sun, the rain, the snow, Love …
Continue reading ‘Let It Grow – Eric Clapton’ »
If you ever wondered what was so extraordinary about jazz musician John Coltrane you will want to watch this. The most feared song in jazz, explained 10:49
A number of years ago I listened to Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five as an audiobook. This was an additional track that followed at the end. It takes a small part of the book where Billy Pilgrim is experiencing time backwards, and reads it into a background of music. Some may find it moving. I did. …
Continue reading ‘Kurt Vonnegut – Unstuck in Time’ »
Moved to companion site, Compendia.