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Saturdee Opry
Links # 129: Crazy-Quilt Edition
Saturdee Opry Links' crazy-quilt edition is now stitched together.
Nothing goes with anything else! No logic, no pattern---just like life!
Improbability is the only probability. Irish military anthems, looney Donizetti
jabbering, obscure French love songs, soaring lyricism, brooding declamation!
Rudolf Schock, Max Shreck, laughter, mania, high anxiety, transcendent Mozart
melodiousness, Sean Connery, and Jussi Bjorling, too! Salud.
Saturdee Opry Links Overture!
The antic "Daughter of the Regiment," by Donizetti.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B-YgobpvwA
Miguel Villabella (without skates)
Connery and Caine
Paul Robeson
Fiorenza Cossotto
Luisa Tetrazzini
Risotto
1.
Today's Crazy-Quilt edition of Saturdee Opry Links begins with. . .crazy! What's
crazier than the third act duet, "Cheti Cheti Immantinente" better known as the
"patter-aria" from "Don Pasquale," by Donizetti? What's that? You've posted this
before, SOL! Yes! So sue me! As opera blogger/expert Neil Kurtzman puts it: "The
number ends with a mercuric blur of Italian symbols that defy comprehension, but
which, like bubbles from another Don’s confection (Perignon), delight those who
partake of it." Gulp. The baritone is the forgotten star of La Scala, Afro Poli,
and the bass is the one-time Met regular, Fernando Corena, said by the old NYT
music critic Harold C. Schonberg to have been "the outstanding buffo in action
today and the greatest scene stealer in the history of opera." So steal away, as
The Persuasions sang (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm7o3krSf5E ).
Synopsis:
Dr. Malatesta (literally "Dr. Headache" is pretending to help the ultra gullible
old priapic, Don Pasquale, catch his new wife in a compromising meeting with
another man. Why? He has bitten off more than he can chew, gotten in over his
head, put the cart before the horse, counted his chickens before they hatched,
taken the bull by the tail and faced the situation. What?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6E02oB2jBg
Translation:
https://medicine-opera.com/2016/06/cheti-cheti-immantinente/
2.
Tenor Miguel Villabella was a skater-singer, or singer-skater, depending on what
day you caught the young fellow. Why, he once set a world record for
speed-skating (1912, when he was 20.) Still, his father figured that neither
singing nor skating offered much financial prospect, and pushed Miguel into,
yawn, puke, business. Just like half of college students of the last twenty or
thirty years, gawd he'p us. Thank goodness that the boy kept singing, at least,
for one day he was overheard warbling in the streets of Paris by Lucien Fugere,
a great bass-baritone of yore specializing in Mozart. "Wait, young businessman!"
he said. "You are in the wrong business!" Well, he didn't actually say that, but
he might as well have, for Fugere's intervention gave the business to
Villabella's business career. The Spanish-born tenor debuted in concert just a
few months later, sang for French troops in WWI, and was soon a mainstay at the
Opera Comique in Paree. And so he became a beloved French lyric tenor from
Spain. Whether he skated again is unknown. Here he is with the little nugget of
a love song, "Je pense à vous" ("I think of you") by one Maître Pathelin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNx3tx5MMUM
Translation:
https://songstranslation.com/tino-rossi/romance-de-matre-pathelin/
3.
Another patch in the crazy quilt, usually reserved for St. Paddy's Day. . .Here
is The Count, as the inimitable John McCormack was honored by the Catholic
Church. What? This song sounds familiar? That's because you heard the great Sean
Connery (and Michael Caine) sing it as he died in "The Man Who Would Be King."
This is, of course, the stirring old song, "The Minstrel Boy," an Irish
patriotic number by Thomas Moore from the 19th century.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE2dyycXUOw
About the song:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Minstrel_Boy
About Mccormack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DDLyNS9rxw
And yes, here are Sean Connery and Michael Caine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DDLyNS9rxw
4.
What? You object to selections # 2 and 3? They aren't opera, you say? SOL is
cheating? Pshaw. They are certainly operatic---sung by opera singers---if not
actually from operas. But I will oblige your unreasoning, smelly criticism with
an attempt at compensation. Here is a wonderful old film. In it, you hear Enrico
Caruso singing "M'appari" ("She appeared to me") from "Martha," by Flotow, while
his one-time stage partner, the aging lyric coloratura Luisa Tetrazzini,
listens---and, eventually, is moved to sing along! It's a touching moment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Asdc8__68
Synopsis:
A hunting park in Richmond Forest, England, 18th century during the reign of
Queen Anne. After meeting Lady Harriet the night before disguised as "Martha",
Lionel sees her again with the ladies-in-waiting for Queen Anne. He is struck
again by her beauty and grieves that he will probably never be with her again.
AND HERE is Caruso singing the entire aria:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVDD5CoMni8
Translation:
https://lyricstranslate.com/en/m039-appari-she-appeared-me.html
5.
This patch of the SOL crazy-quilt induces laughter, at least from the soprano.
This is "Mein Herr Marquis," or the "laughing aria," from the comic operetta,
"Die Fledermaus" ("The Bat") by Johann Strauss. With English subtitles. (Note:
the laughter is not translated.) The Swiss soprano, Regula Mühlemann, obliges.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDR8YN5oXQ8
Setting: A party in Prince Orlofsky's house, Vienna, Austria, 1870.
Synopsis: Adele, a chamber maid, has run into her mistress's husband, Gabriel
von Eisenstein. He believes that he recognizes her but she convinces him that a
chambermaid would never be found at a party such as this one. Ha ha ha! Ho ho
ho!
And if you would prefer to read a translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=502
About the soprano:
https://regulamuehlemann.com/
SOL LAUGH EXTRA!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm8teX_MxWE
SOL LAUGH EXTRA EXTRA!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI1nPd7hezM
6.
Now, when I said this was the "crazy quilt" edition, some of you---many of
you---must have concluded that I was presenting crazy arias, or arias by crazy
characters. What, you expect logic from me? That would have been a good idea.
Maybe I'll do it next week. But no, I just meant this to be a completely
unlikely group of things that bear no relationship to one another. You know,
like the thoughts in the average American's head! But. . .here is a bonafide
crazy, for the quilt. This is Azucena, the looney gypsy witch of Verdi's "Il
Trovatore," sung by Fiorenza Cossotto. Great melody!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_r8rYqueLA
Setting: A broken down shack in the Biscay Mountains, 1409.
Synopsis: The good Count di Luna lived happily, the father of two sons. Many
years before, a gypsy was wrongfully accused of having bewitched the youngest of
the di Luna children; the child had fallen sick, and for this the gypsy had been
burnt alive as a witch, her protests of innocence ignored. Dying, she had
commanded her daughter Azucena to avenge her, which she did by abducting the
baby. Although the burnt bones of a child were found in the ashes of the pyre,
the father refused to believe his son's death. Turns out Azucena raised the
Count's son as her own, and in the end, facilitates his execution by the Count,
screaming, "Mother, you are avenged." Nutty as a fruitcake. Here, Azucena
relates the tale.
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=509
7.
Okay, don't say I never do nuffin' for you. I just spent twenty minutes trying
to determine who this tenor is. You would think that the album would provide
this information, let alone the Youtube listing. You would also think that
everyone would get vaccinated. Yes, I could have picked the same selection with
a different tenor, but this guy is just too well suited to this aria to neglect.
I think that it is the German lyric tenor, Rudolf Schock. (No relation to actor
Max Shreck.) The convincing element in my research was that he portrayed the
light, bright tenor, Richard Tauber on film. This is an invigorating, soaring
little aria from Offenbach's sprawling "Tales of Hoffman," "Ô Dieu! de quelle
ivresse" ("Oh God, with such intoxication!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHhOYOo_It4
Setting: Giulietta's palace, Venice, 19th century
Synopsis: After Giulietta warns Hoffmann that he should go to avoid a
confrontation with Schlemil (another of her lovers), Hoffmann confesses the full
extents of his love for her.
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=367
About Rudolf Schock:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Schock
8.
Ainhoa Arteta
The crazy-quilt edition need not be only odd or obscure choices. Here is our
weekly concession to "hit" arias, chosen for sad reason. This is the Spanish
soprano, Ainhoa Arteta, with "Quando me'n vo" ("Musetta's Waltz") from Puccini's
"La Boheme." Ms. Arteta contracted COVID two months ago, seemed to have
recovered, then was felled by an obviously related kidney infection that
necessitated putting her in an induced coma for ten days. She was later seen in
a wheelchair, with severe leg edema, but is now reportedly recovering. It is not
known if she was vaccinated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwTKar3Yrjs
Setting: The Cafe Momus
Synopsis: Having spotted her occasional boyfriend, Marcello, Musetta sings
teasingly of the way everyone always notices her beauty when she goes out.
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=34
9.
I have never felt more like lamenting the state of human affairs than I do these
days. I am feeling some of the same fear and woe that I remember feeling when we
were all told that nuclear war with Russia was imminent, in the early '60's. "We
will bury you!" Krushchev told us on the tube, almost every day after school, if
you remember. Accordingly, here is the "Lamento di Federico," from Cilea's
opera, "L'Arlesiana," as sung by the mighty Jussi Bjorling. Also known as "E' la
solita storia" ("It's the usual story.") What a comparative pleasure it would be
to only lament a lost love, eh?
Setting: on the banks of Vacares pond in the region of Camargue, the end of May,
late 1800's, Italy.
Synopsis: Federico has run away from home after finding out that his beloved
girl from Arles has betrayed him with the stable boy. He is found by Baldassarre
and L'Innocente but the former leaves to tend the flocks and the latter falls
asleep. As L'Innocente falls asleep, he mentions a line from a story told
earlier about a goat. This comment sets off Federico and he despairs over his
lost love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O91rpv0ROwo
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=1119
FINAL BOW:
Here are two sublime sopranos, Kiri Te Kanawa and Mirella Freni, with a
sublime duet---technically a duettino (little duet)---from Mozart's "Marriage of
Figaro." Does that make it sublimettino? This is, of course "Sull'aria. . .che
soave zeffiretto," or "On the breeze...What a gentle little Zephyr." Which is,
coincidentally, what my wife says after we dine on chili. Note how Mozart makes
so much out of so little dialogue. Exquisite? Quod erat demonstrandum! (And yes,
someone involved in the making of "The Shawshank Redemption" thought so, too.)
And so is today's crazy-quilt edition of SOL stitched together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnWz8KqOnJg
About the aria, translation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sull%27aria_..._che_soave_zeffiretto
Annnnd. . .The "Shawshank" scene:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=1119
SOL ENCORE!
What does this have to do with any of the previous posts? That's right,
absolutely nothing. Paul Robeson with Mussourgsky's "The Song of the Flea."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI4xXmWoaJk
Translation:
https://www.oxfordlieder.co.uk/song/4438
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