Grand: Jessye Norman
Sad: Dido and Aeneas
Really, I can't imagine anything that could fill the bill more perfectly. The wild visuals are a nice bonus.
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- BitterGrace
- TN, United States
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11 comments:
Thank you! :) Watching this was a beautiful way to start the work day! The mood underlying it, tinting my own mood, is perfect background for some hours of reading..
Aren't you a strange girl...
I was singing this yesterday, as I was doing my yoga.
You smell good !
[I need to have B burn you a CD- and I will send it to you]
How beautiful! That was an incredibly moving piece. I usually feel quite ignorant when I see opera, as I'm not very musically inclined, but that performance just whapped me on the head and said "listen! open your heart!"
Eileen
I'm glad you enjoyed it, Stella--I also find that a touch of deep sadness somehow puts me in the frame of mind for study. Odd, isn't it?
Chaya--I do hope you'll send me a CD--you know you promised before ;-)
Hi, Eileen. Ms. Norman has the gift for whapping people on the head--at least, I find she has the same effect on me. And Dido and Aeneas is a wonderful opera, which helps. I'm glad it moved you.
My Grove Book of Operas says that Dido and Aeneas was performed only once during Purcell's lifetime. Presumably he was present, but who knows? Can you imagine in the days before recordings, ease of travel, even the ease of getting scores that great composers heard their works only infrequently? Many of the more prolific composers-- e.g. Mozart--probably never heard some of their work at all. Those were days when a musician could read a score and imagine how the music would sound, perhaps even better than an actual performance might be. It's a pity, though, that Purcell never heard Norman.
That's so interesting, Bozo. I never considered the fact that composers might never have heard their work performed. Think of all the possibilities, with notation errors and such--maybe some things have never been played as intended. I do marvel at people who can "hear" music just from reading it on the page. I can't begin to do that.
Norman is such an amazing force. I wonder what Purcell would have made of her.
The Romantics are good for longing, but nothing beats Baroque for sad. That was perfection.
I've played this 4 or 5 times so far and it's mesmerizing.
Great choice of music and performance too :-) Thank you!
(and btw, does Norman has AMAZING skin or is it just me?)
An interesting factoid in relation to the matter brought up by Bozo is that musicians had often had to walk and ride for miles to go hear a performance in difficult situations (JS Bach comes to mind who traveled for days to hear an organ performance) and hard weather conditions.
Not to mention those Concerti Grossi on which it was customary to attend on one's feet: now that was a trial for the sake of great music!
"does Norman has"......duh.....
*sheds the vulgar barbarism costume for the grammatical one and inflicts a smack of the ruler on the palm*
Well, we all seem to agree on la Norman. She isperfectly mesmerizing, and she has great skin. I love her looks as well as her voice.
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