While writing this I am listening to this Verdi music. Another great find of yours.
Fortunately, the pop-up for writing covers your photo from the sea-side with those 4 banks in foreground. Don't know why, but the beach outfit distracted my listening.
Normally, I am not a great fan of Italian requiems. For me, they always seem to play on grief, mourning and affliction but don't really feel it. Like in those operas where the hero is singing for ten minutes "I am dying, I am dying" and I would like to yell: "go ahead, don't loose time, make it snappy".
Hallo Georg, Ha! Italian and French works do seem to enjoy making their hero/heroine take their time dying indeed. ;o) I think the Bellini ones are ok... They don't overstay their welcome.
The late Romantic Italian and French operas, though, if the dying hero isn't singing spectacularly, I do have the same reaction as you (I watched a DVD of Massenet's Werther from the Wiener Staatsoper a while back and found it so incredulous that Werther keeps rolling around in bed with Charlotte while dying... for 15 minutes, that I sort of wish that a chandelier would fall on them or something and end the agony for us all). ;o)
Glad you enjoyed this bit from Verdi's Requiem! :o) Most people like that work for its fiery Dies irae section, but I really like the more settled bits like this Agnus dei more. They're harder to pull off properly, I think.
2 comments:
Hallo Smorgy,
While writing this I am listening to this Verdi music. Another great find of yours.
Fortunately, the pop-up for writing covers your photo from the sea-side with those 4 banks in foreground. Don't know why, but the beach outfit distracted my listening.
Normally, I am not a great fan of Italian requiems. For me, they always seem to play on grief, mourning and affliction but don't really feel it. Like in those operas where the hero is singing for ten minutes "I am dying, I am dying" and I would like to yell: "go ahead, don't loose time, make it snappy".
Georg
Hallo Georg,
Ha! Italian and French works do seem to enjoy making their hero/heroine take their time dying indeed. ;o) I think the Bellini ones are ok... They don't overstay their welcome.
The late Romantic Italian and French operas, though, if the dying hero isn't singing spectacularly, I do have the same reaction as you (I watched a DVD of Massenet's Werther from the Wiener Staatsoper a while back and found it so incredulous that Werther keeps rolling around in bed with Charlotte while dying... for 15 minutes, that I sort of wish that a chandelier would fall on them or something and end the agony for us all). ;o)
Glad you enjoyed this bit from Verdi's Requiem! :o) Most people like that work for its fiery Dies irae section, but I really like the more settled bits like this Agnus dei more. They're harder to pull off properly, I think.
Cheerio,
Smorgy :o)
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