Archives - Summer 2020 <II>
July 21 Paul Robeson: An American Tragedy
There was no more gifted artist or more magnificent bass voice in the whole 20th century, and few if any so battered by fate.
July 28 How Does it Go? Beethoven's Fifth
In honor of the Beethoven Year we were supposed to have - we've all known this piece all our lives, but it is startling how many different ways it can speak.
August 4 The Mysterious Señor De Gogorza
Here is a really wonderful "forgotten great" - an aristocratic baritone at home in multiple cultures and languages, and one of the most charismatic singers ever. Short stature and bad eyesight kept him off the opera stage, but he left behind nearly a thousand recordings from 1899 to 1929.
August 11 After Cav and Pag
Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci are not just sure-fire melodramas, they are also seriously well-composed music by expert composers. It's unthinkable that these two had nothing more to say after their youthful hits. Here we look at what they did with the rest of their lives, and identify some operas that could make a comeback.
August 18 The Valkyrie
There are a dozen paths through the Ring cycle, and in some ways the most moving one is to follow Brünnhilde from innocent exuberance, through experience, loss, and betrayal, to understanding and transcendence.
There was no more gifted artist or more magnificent bass voice in the whole 20th century, and few if any so battered by fate.
July 28 How Does it Go? Beethoven's Fifth
In honor of the Beethoven Year we were supposed to have - we've all known this piece all our lives, but it is startling how many different ways it can speak.
August 4 The Mysterious Señor De Gogorza
Here is a really wonderful "forgotten great" - an aristocratic baritone at home in multiple cultures and languages, and one of the most charismatic singers ever. Short stature and bad eyesight kept him off the opera stage, but he left behind nearly a thousand recordings from 1899 to 1929.
August 11 After Cav and Pag
Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci are not just sure-fire melodramas, they are also seriously well-composed music by expert composers. It's unthinkable that these two had nothing more to say after their youthful hits. Here we look at what they did with the rest of their lives, and identify some operas that could make a comeback.
August 18 The Valkyrie
There are a dozen paths through the Ring cycle, and in some ways the most moving one is to follow Brünnhilde from innocent exuberance, through experience, loss, and betrayal, to understanding and transcendence.