"Carmen" has an American version played by an all Negro cast. I think it is pretty good. I also think I have figured out pop culture. Its project is to invert all values as an indirect war against Christianity.
Carmen Jones, originally on Broadway with words by Hammerstein, became a film directed by Otto Preminger. Lefty singer Harry Belafonte wasn't good enough and had to be dubbed, as was everyone but Pearl Bailey. I enjoyed it.
I suppose in the days of de facto (and de jure) segregation all-black versions of popular plays were a thing. Two of Neil Simon's plays (The Odd Couple and Barefoot in the Park) have all-black versions as well as Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with James Earl Jones as Big Daddy, Phylicia Rashad as Big Mama, and Terrence Howard as Brick
Opera has long had relatively colorblind casting, much like the Los Angeles Dodgers aren't all locally-recruited surfer dudes and cholos, but instead are chosen from all over on baseball talent. For example, in this production of Fra Diavolo, the best voice in the show belongs to the black soprano playing the ingenue, the inn-keeper's daughter. Granted, in the Italian countryside in 1806 there were few blacks, but then there weren't a lot of singing bandits either, so demanding historical accuracy from an opera is a losing game.
They cast a black baritone-bass as the ingenue's father, the innkeeper. I rather like that logic: don't worry about historical accuracy, but do worry some about simple genealogical accuracy. If your leading lady is clearly some particular race, try to cast her blood relations in the lesser roles to be plausible looking.
Similarly, it helped that because the goofy plot had the Italian bandit leader getting away with pretending to be an English marquis, they cast a 6'2" tenor who looks a lot like Benedict Cumberbatch.
On the other hand, if it were 1975 and you had the budget to cast Luciano Pavarotti as the fake English milord, yeah, sure, well, the audience is just going to have to pretend that the 300 pound Italian legend looks like Errol Flynn while glorying in Pavarotti's singing. Singing comes first in opera, realism 17th.
“ Challenging our inherent biases and organizational structural barriers in order to holistically diversify POP's stage performers, Board of Directors, volunteers, audiences, and administration.”
Here is Murray's "Human Accomplishment" list of French composers born before Appomattox, for those who want to explore what Americans have been missing. (Auber is #15.) Probably the only name Americans recognize before Debussy besides Bizet is Berlioz and maybe Saint-Saëns. Most probably have heard of Rousseau too but didn't know he wrote music. (Also, he's Swiss.)
Perhaps Gluck & Meyerbeer, though German, & worked primarily in France, ought to be included. Berlioz attributed much of his inspiration to Gluck. Fun list , though. Might read the book.
Satie is famous, but if we're including born-post-1865 French composers, Maurice Ravel may be the best known. His "Boléro" premiered in 1928, though, so perhaps he is too modern to compare to the others.
Jean-Baptiste Lully (although born in Italy) should be on the list alongside Charpentier. Also Leonin, who invented polyphony during the 12th century--a century which, by the way, belonged to the French. Between 1100 and 1200 the French also invented Gothic architecture, Scholastic philosophy, "modern" stage drama, and King Arthur as a literary figure.
Since you and Terry Quinn feel strongly about it, here is the 'jus soli' list of pre-Appomattox musical talent who worked in France irrespective of ethnicity.
The big new interlopers are Chopin, Lully, Meyerbeer, Cherubini, and some Flemish guys that Americans probably didn't realize were not technically French.
Note that 27% of the 'jus soli' list is non-French (31% non-French by Index Score). France being the center of culture had its perks.
Name . . . Birth . . . Index . . . BirthCountry . . . Ethnicity
Debussy, Claude . . . 1862 . . . 45.36 . . . France . . . French
Berlioz, Hector . . . 1803 . . . 40.60 . . . France . . . French
I agree that French music is its own thing. When I was a teenager, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how that worked. I could see that Francois Couperin, who died in 1733, had started a lineage that led to the twentieth century French composers I so admired, but I didn't have a strong enough background in theory and composition to produce explanations for what was going on. I never got beyond, "Well, just listen to this, you'll hear the difference!"
I know this is not primarily a sports blog, but I enjoy those diversions when they come. I would enjoy a post about this year's MLB MVP vote where both leagues had a repeat winner for the first time ever
If 10 percent of the AL voters had switched their votes, the award would have gone to Cal Raleigh. I will say that it's more interesting when an award is up for debate rather than simply going to the player with the highest WAR. The last time we had a close one was the 2021 NL when Bryce Harper (PHI) received 17 first-place votes (and 10 for second place) while Juan Soto (WAS) received 6 (and 14) even though Soto had the higher WAR 7.3 vs 5.9. Showing how long ago 2021 was, for Soto that was literally three teams ago
I'm probably reacting to the discomfort of living through the Dodger's hitting droughts...especially with runners in scoring position. Will Smith seems to know when to swing for a hit vs. a"hero" swing.
I’d like to see Ohtani purposely shorten and flatten his swing to reduce his strikeouts and hit for average instead of home runs. Judge’s ability to do both is extraordinary.
I don't know about this. I looked up SO's numbers, and he hit .282 this past year, and has averaged .282 over his career. His OPS this past year was 1.014 (which is certainly MVP level), while his career OPS is .957.
Just putting those numbers together, it suggests that, since coming into MLB, Ohtani has been able to increase his power while maintaining his batting average. Seems like a successful outcome to me, not to mention the multiple MVPs, WS wins, etc.
I agree it's hard to believe Judge hits for the average he does considering his height.
He's like the Randy Johnson of hitters, i.e. in being a very tall player who flashed huge potential for quite a while, but bloomed relatively late. Judge didn't really get started in MLB until he was 25, when he had a fantastic rookie season. But then he had a series of very-good-but-not-quite-great seasons until, when he turned 30, he finally emerged as AARON JUDGE.
"This is true even though Bizet’s Carmen is the second most often staged opera in this country in this century"
In 1915, filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille filmed Carmen, with superstar opera diva Geraldine Ferrar. DeMille included the famous fight in a factory, which, up to that point the Opera never had included. Due in no small part to the 1915 filmed version of Carmen, most or nearly all staged operatic productions of Carmen now include the fight scene.
So basically, Steve's point appears to be that what the French lack in composers they more than make up for in Art and Literature as well. From Jean Fouquet, LeBrun, to Monet and Manet; from
Moliere, Racine, to Balzac, Flaubert, France is definitely amply represented in the visual and verbal arts.
However in the Classical music age Marc-Antoine Charpentier being another example of artistic composers from France.
Ravel has always been my favorite French composer, largely because I was introduced to his music when it was played in the background while Bo Derek was taking off her clothes in Ten (and I was about ten).
When I saw the preview trailer in 1984 for Rosi's "Carmen" at the downtown movie theater across Michigan Avenue from the Chicago Art Institute, the young audience (who might have been there to see the Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense" concert film) spontaneously clapped along to the the Toreador Song.
In the second episode of The Simpsons, Bart switched aptitude tests with Martin so everyone thought he was gifted. To encourage his gift his family took him to see Carmen where it goes as you might imagine...
I saw Carmen at the Met in NYC last night with Isabel Leonard and Matthew Pollenzani, both of whom were excellent. I sat in the first row. This is a new production set in a gritty urban town and the toreador is a rodeo rider! Not as good as the previous production which was set is Spain.
The 1984 movie version was filmed in the exact spots in Spain, like the Seville bullring, that Gustave Dore illustrated and Bizet, who hadn't visited Spain, might well have gotten his conceptions of Spain from.
On the other hand, it can be fun to move a familiar opera to some random place and time that the set and costume designers are really into. For example, POP's version of a Donizetti opera from the early 19th Century was set in a brand new fashionable hotel in Paris in 1960. Why Paris in 1960? It looked like the people who worked on it were really into the look of Paris in 1960, so why not?
I do not have any objection to new opera productions being relocated in time and space. I saw Rigolleto in 2019, with Matthew Polenzani and Nadine Sierra, where it was set in what looked like 1960s Mob Las Vegas, and it was fine. Of course, I would pay to see Matthew Polenzani and Nadine Sierra sing the phone book.
And the Met still shows the Franco Zefferelli productions of La Boheme and Turandot, which I think were first done in the 1980s, because they are superb.
The Met spared no expense on scenery in the current production of Carmen. In Act 3, the smugglers' truck has crashed, and on the stage there is a mockup of a truck lying on its side, complete with lights, that must be 35 feet long on a turntable that rotates as the act progresses.
But it didn't feel right to me. And the dance of the cigarette girls now is singers and dancers flailing around in the cargo box of a truck. YMMV.
But thanks for the tip on the filmed version of Carmen.
I had to look up “lacuna”. I thought it sounded like a rejected Chevrolet model name from the early sixties. I don’t think it was in my “Building Word Power” SAT study guide from 1966.
Steve, the recognized world expert in noticing, could spend a year cataloging cultural lacunas around the world; interesting stuff like why Germans are unable to behave in a ski-lift queue.
Thank you for posting this! I looked up the Ebell organization and it is still in business after 125 years…dedicated to ladies uplift…nice to see more opera in LA…a ray of hope after the Palisades fire…
I'm wondering if you could make more money in Paris than in other European cities, so classical music tended toward being popular music in France, which meant it wasn't as enduring. Paris in 1800 had more than twice the population of Vienna.
"Carmen" has an American version played by an all Negro cast. I think it is pretty good. I also think I have figured out pop culture. Its project is to invert all values as an indirect war against Christianity.
Carmen Jones, originally on Broadway with words by Hammerstein, became a film directed by Otto Preminger. Lefty singer Harry Belafonte wasn't good enough and had to be dubbed, as was everyone but Pearl Bailey. I enjoyed it.
I suppose in the days of de facto (and de jure) segregation all-black versions of popular plays were a thing. Two of Neil Simon's plays (The Odd Couple and Barefoot in the Park) have all-black versions as well as Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with James Earl Jones as Big Daddy, Phylicia Rashad as Big Mama, and Terrence Howard as Brick
Opera has long had relatively colorblind casting, much like the Los Angeles Dodgers aren't all locally-recruited surfer dudes and cholos, but instead are chosen from all over on baseball talent. For example, in this production of Fra Diavolo, the best voice in the show belongs to the black soprano playing the ingenue, the inn-keeper's daughter. Granted, in the Italian countryside in 1806 there were few blacks, but then there weren't a lot of singing bandits either, so demanding historical accuracy from an opera is a losing game.
They cast a black baritone-bass as the ingenue's father, the innkeeper. I rather like that logic: don't worry about historical accuracy, but do worry some about simple genealogical accuracy. If your leading lady is clearly some particular race, try to cast her blood relations in the lesser roles to be plausible looking.
Similarly, it helped that because the goofy plot had the Italian bandit leader getting away with pretending to be an English marquis, they cast a 6'2" tenor who looks a lot like Benedict Cumberbatch.
On the other hand, if it were 1975 and you had the budget to cast Luciano Pavarotti as the fake English milord, yeah, sure, well, the audience is just going to have to pretend that the 300 pound Italian legend looks like Errol Flynn while glorying in Pavarotti's singing. Singing comes first in opera, realism 17th.
So close, media is an inversion of good things to create plot.
Camille Saint-Saëns (b. 1835), Hector Berlioz (b. 1803)
Pacific Opera Project has jumped onto the DIE bandwagon:
https://www.pacificoperaproject.com/our-story
I got a laugh out of this line:
“ Challenging our inherent biases and organizational structural barriers in order to holistically diversify POP's stage performers, Board of Directors, volunteers, audiences, and administration.”
Here is Murray's "Human Accomplishment" list of French composers born before Appomattox, for those who want to explore what Americans have been missing. (Auber is #15.) Probably the only name Americans recognize before Debussy besides Bizet is Berlioz and maybe Saint-Saëns. Most probably have heard of Rousseau too but didn't know he wrote music. (Also, he's Swiss.)
name . . . birth year . . . index score
Debussy, Claude . . . 1862 . . . 45.36
Berlioz, Hector . . . 1803 . . . 40.60
Rameau, Jean . . . 1683 . . . 21.96
Josquin des Prez . . . 1440 . . . 16.98
Fauré, Gabriel . . . 1845 . . . 13.31
Gounod, Charles . . . 1818 . . . 13.01
Couperin, François . . . 1668 . . . 12.86
Saint-Saëns, Camille . . . 1835 . . . 12.67
Machaut, Guillaume de . . . 1300 . . . 11.79
Bizet, Georges . . . 1838 . . . 10.32
Indy, Vincent d’ . . . 1851 . . . 9.24
Massenet, Jules . . . 1842 . . . 8.53
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques . . . 1712 . . . 7.59
Pérotin . . . 1090 . . . 6.30
Auber, Daniel . . . 1782 . . . 5.32
Janequin, Clément . . . 1475 . . . 5.30
Méhul, Étienne . . . 1763 . . . 5.19
Chabrier, Alexis . . . 1841 . . . 5.01
Boieldieu, Adrien . . . 1775 . . . 4.92
Leoninus . . . 1070 . . . 4.91
Charpentier, Marc . . . 1643 . . . 4.26
Adam de la Halle . . . 1244 . . . 4.12
Lesueur, Jean . . . 1760 . . . 3.81
Goudimel, Claude . . . 1510 . . . 3.47
Philidor, François . . . 1726 . . . 3.31
Chambonnèires, Jacques de . . . 1601 . . . 3.28
Campra, André . . . 1660 . . . 3.25
Arcadelt, Jacques . . . 1505 . . . 3.24
Le Jeune, Claude . . . 1528 . . . 3.21
Chausson, Ernest . . . 1855 . . . 3.17
Thomas, Ambroise . . . 1811 . . . 3.14
Monsigny, Pierre . . . 1729 . . . 2.97
Duparc, Henri . . . 1848 . . . 2.95
Cambert, Robert . . . 1628 . . . 2.90
Verdelot, Philippe . . . 1495 . . . 2.80
Sermisy, Claudin de . . . 1490 . . . 2.69
Mouton, Jean . . . 1459 . . . 2.64
Couperin, Louis . . . 1626 . . . 2.54
Certon, Pierre . . . 1510 . . . 2.40
Delibes, Clément . . . 1836 . . . 2.39
Charpentier, Gustave . . . 1860 . . . 2.25
Hérold, Louis . . . 1791 . . . 2.08
Compère, Loyset . . . 1450 . . . 1.74
Mauduit, Jacques . . . 1557 . . . 1.66
Costelely, Guillaume . . . 1530 . . . 1.66
Bruneau, Alfred . . . 1857 . . . 1.64
Grenon, Nicolas . . . 1380 . . . 1.53
Benevoli, Orazio . . . 1605 . . . 1.52
Clérambault, Louis . . . 1676 . . . 1.48
David, Félicien . . . 1810 . . . 1.44
D’Anglebert, Jean . . . 1635 . . . 1.42
Berton, Henri . . . 1767 . . . 1.41
Dalayrac, Nicolas . . . 1753 . . . 1.39
Bourgeois, Loys . . . 1510 . . . 1.37
Reyer, Ernest . . . 1823 . . . 1.34
Gaveaux, Pierre . . . 1760 . . . 1.25
Boësset, Antoine de . . . 1586 . . . 1.19
Catel, Charles . . . 1773 . . . 1.18
Destouches, André . . . 1672 . . . 1.15
Du Caurroy, Eustache . . . 1549 . . . 1.06
Besard, Jean . . . 1567 . . . 1.00
Carpentras . . . 1470 . . . 1.00
Dandrieu, Jean . . . 1682 . . . 1.00
Daquin, Louis . . . 1694 . . . 1.00
Isouard, Nicolas . . . 1775 . . . 1.00
Lambert, Michel . . . 1610 . . . 1.00
Lecocq, Charles . . . 1832 . . . 1.00
Thibaut de Champagne . . . 1201 . . . 1.00
Titelouze, Jean . . . 1563 . . . 1.00
Perhaps Gluck & Meyerbeer, though German, & worked primarily in France, ought to be included. Berlioz attributed much of his inspiration to Gluck. Fun list , though. Might read the book.
You left out Eric Satie! Quel dumage!
Oui!
Satie was born after Appomattox. But yes, he is probably a recognized name by Americans.
Satie is famous, but if we're including born-post-1865 French composers, Maurice Ravel may be the best known. His "Boléro" premiered in 1928, though, so perhaps he is too modern to compare to the others.
If the list were to include post-Appomattox French composers, Ravel, Messiaen, Milhaud, Poulenc, and Varèse, would all pop in above Satie.
I used Murray's "ethnicity" flag for Frenchness.
So maybe we have a jus soli vs. jus sanguinis contest.
Pole F. Chopin also worked mostly in France, enough that no one knows how the Poles pronounce or spell his name.
Berlioz was also a prolific music critic for the Paris newspapers, so he gets quoted a lot in music history works about the Germans and Italians.
Gounod and Massenet are well known
Jean-Baptiste Lully (although born in Italy) should be on the list alongside Charpentier. Also Leonin, who invented polyphony during the 12th century--a century which, by the way, belonged to the French. Between 1100 and 1200 the French also invented Gothic architecture, Scholastic philosophy, "modern" stage drama, and King Arthur as a literary figure.
Since you and Terry Quinn feel strongly about it, here is the 'jus soli' list of pre-Appomattox musical talent who worked in France irrespective of ethnicity.
The big new interlopers are Chopin, Lully, Meyerbeer, Cherubini, and some Flemish guys that Americans probably didn't realize were not technically French.
Note that 27% of the 'jus soli' list is non-French (31% non-French by Index Score). France being the center of culture had its perks.
Name . . . Birth . . . Index . . . BirthCountry . . . Ethnicity
Debussy, Claude . . . 1862 . . . 45.36 . . . France . . . French
Berlioz, Hector . . . 1803 . . . 40.60 . . . France . . . French
Chopin, Fryderyk . . . 1810 . . . 31.77 . . . Poland . . . Polish
Lully, Jean . . . 1632 . . . 24.34 . . . Italy . . . Italian
Rameau, Jean . . . 1683 . . . 21.96 . . . France . . . French
Josquin des Prez . . . 1440 . . . 16.98 . . . France . . . French
Franck, César . . . 1822 . . . 15.24 . . . Belgium . . . Flemish
Meyerbeer, Giacomo . . . 1791 . . . 14.14 . . . Germany . . . Jewish
Fauré, Gabriel . . . 1845 . . . 13.31 . . . France . . . French
Gounod, Charles . . . 1818 . . . 13.01 . . . France . . . French
Couperin, François . . . 1668 . . . 12.86 . . . France . . . French
Saint-Saëns, Camille . . . 1835 . . . 12.67 . . . France . . . French
Machaut, Guillaume de . . . 1300 . . . 11.79 . . . France . . . French
Bizet, Georges . . . 1838 . . . 10.32 . . . France . . . French
Cherubini, Luigi . . . 1760 . . . 10.22 . . . Italy . . . Italian
Indy, Vincent d’ . . . 1851 . . . 9.24 . . . France . . . French
Massenet, Jules . . . 1842 . . . 8.53 . . . France . . . French
Ockeghem, Johannes . . . 1410 . . . 8.45 . . . France . . . Flemish
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques . . . 1712 . . . 7.59 . . . Switzerland . . . French
Pérotin . . . 1090 . . . 6.30 . . . France . . . French
Grétry, André . . . 1741 . . . 6.08 . . . Belgium . . . Flemish
Offenbach, Jacques . . . 1819 . . . 5.70 . . . Germany . . . Jewish
Auber, Daniel . . . 1782 . . . 5.32 . . . France . . . French
Janequin, Clément . . . 1475 . . . 5.30 . . . France . . . French
Méhul, Étienne . . . 1763 . . . 5.19 . . . France . . . French
Chabrier, Alexis . . . 1841 . . . 5.01 . . . France . . . French
Boieldieu, Adrien . . . 1775 . . . 4.92 . . . France . . . French
Leoninus . . . 1070 . . . 4.91 . . . France . . . French
Halévy, Fromental . . . 1799 . . . 4.38 . . . France . . . Jewish
Charpentier, Marc . . . 1643 . . . 4.26 . . . France . . . French
Gossec, François . . . 1734 . . . 4.14 . . . France . . . Flemish
Adam de la Halle . . . 1244 . . . 4.12 . . . France . . . French
Dukas, Paul . . . 1865 . . . 3.96 . . . France . . . Jewish
Lesueur, Jean . . . 1760 . . . 3.81 . . . France . . . French
Goudimel, Claude . . . 1510 . . . 3.47 . . . France . . . French
Philidor, François . . . 1726 . . . 3.31 . . . France . . . French
Chambonnèires, Jacques de . . . 1601 . . . 3.28 . . . France . . . French
Campra, André . . . 1660 . . . 3.25 . . . France . . . French
Le Jeune, Claude . . . 1528 . . . 3.21 . . . France . . . French
Boito, Arrigo . . . 1842 . . . 3.20 . . . Italy . . . Italian
Chausson, Ernest . . . 1855 . . . 3.17 . . . France . . . French
Thomas, Ambroise . . . 1811 . . . 3.14 . . . France . . . French
Brumel, Antoine . . . 1460 . . . 3.12 . . . France . . . Dutch
Monsigny, Pierre . . . 1729 . . . 2.97 . . . France . . . French
Schobert, Johann . . . 1735 . . . 2.96 . . . Germany . . . Germanic
Duparc, Henri . . . 1848 . . . 2.95 . . . France . . . French
Cambert, Robert . . . 1628 . . . 2.90 . . . France . . . French
Lalo, Édouard . . . 1823 . . . 2.79 . . . France . . . Flemish
Adam, Adolphe . . . 1803 . . . 2.73 . . . France . . . Jewish
Sermisy, Claudin de . . . 1490 . . . 2.69 . . . France . . . French
Mouton, Jean . . . 1459 . . . 2.64 . . . France . . . French
Couperin, Louis . . . 1626 . . . 2.54 . . . France . . . French
Reicha, Antoine . . . 1770 . . . 2.43 . . . Czech . . . Czech
Certon, Pierre . . . 1510 . . . 2.40 . . . France . . . French
Delibes, Clément . . . 1836 . . . 2.39 . . . France . . . French
Charpentier, Gustave . . . 1860 . . . 2.25 . . . France . . . French
Crécquillon, Thomas . . . 1480 . . . 2.24 . . . Belgium . . . Flemish
Hérold, Louis . . . 1791 . . . 2.08 . . . France . . . French
Agricola, Alexander . . . 1446 . . . 2.02 . . . Belgium . . . Flemish
Flotow, Friedrich von . . . 1812 . . . 2.01 . . . Germany . . . Germanic
Févin, Antoine de . . . 1470 . . . 1.79 . . . France . . . Dutch
Mauduit, Jacques . . . 1557 . . . 1.66 . . . France . . . French
Costelely, Guillaume . . . 1530 . . . 1.66 . . . France . . . French
Bruneau, Alfred . . . 1857 . . . 1.64 . . . France . . . French
Grenon, Nicolas . . . 1380 . . . 1.53 . . . France . . . French
Clérambault, Louis . . . 1676 . . . 1.48 . . . France . . . French
David, Félicien . . . 1810 . . . 1.44 . . . France . . . French
D’Anglebert, Jean . . . 1635 . . . 1.42 . . . France . . . French
Berton, Henri . . . 1767 . . . 1.41 . . . France . . . French
Dalayrac, Nicolas . . . 1753 . . . 1.39 . . . France . . . French
Bourgeois, Loys . . . 1510 . . . 1.37 . . . France . . . French
Reyer, Ernest . . . 1823 . . . 1.34 . . . France . . . French
Gaveaux, Pierre . . . 1760 . . . 1.25 . . . France . . . French
Boësset, Antoine de . . . 1586 . . . 1.19 . . . France . . . French
Catel, Charles . . . 1773 . . . 1.18 . . . France . . . French
Destouches, André . . . 1672 . . . 1.15 . . . France . . . French
Stamitz, Carl . . . 1745 . . . 1.12 . . . Germany . . . Germanic
Du Mont, Henri . . . 1610 . . . 1.10 . . . Belgium . . . Flemish
Du Caurroy, Eustache . . . 1549 . . . 1.06 . . . France . . . French
Duni, Egidio . . . 1709 . . . 1.03 . . . Italy . . . Italian
Carpentras . . . 1470 . . . 1.00 . . . France . . . French
Dandrieu, Jean . . . 1682 . . . 1.00 . . . France . . . French
Daquin, Louis . . . 1694 . . . 1.00 . . . France . . . French
Isouard, Nicolas . . . 1775 . . . 1.00 . . . France . . . French
Lambert, Michel . . . 1610 . . . 1.00 . . . France . . . French
Lecocq, Charles . . . 1832 . . . 1.00 . . . France . . . French
Thibaut de Champagne . . . 1201 . . . 1.00 . . . France . . . French
Titelouze, Jean . . . 1563 . . . 1.00 . . . France . . . French
I agree that French music is its own thing. When I was a teenager, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how that worked. I could see that Francois Couperin, who died in 1733, had started a lineage that led to the twentieth century French composers I so admired, but I didn't have a strong enough background in theory and composition to produce explanations for what was going on. I never got beyond, "Well, just listen to this, you'll hear the difference!"
I know this is not primarily a sports blog, but I enjoy those diversions when they come. I would enjoy a post about this year's MLB MVP vote where both leagues had a repeat winner for the first time ever
Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge are really, really good.
If 10 percent of the AL voters had switched their votes, the award would have gone to Cal Raleigh. I will say that it's more interesting when an award is up for debate rather than simply going to the player with the highest WAR. The last time we had a close one was the 2021 NL when Bryce Harper (PHI) received 17 first-place votes (and 10 for second place) while Juan Soto (WAS) received 6 (and 14) even though Soto had the higher WAR 7.3 vs 5.9. Showing how long ago 2021 was, for Soto that was literally three teams ago
I'm probably reacting to the discomfort of living through the Dodger's hitting droughts...especially with runners in scoring position. Will Smith seems to know when to swing for a hit vs. a"hero" swing.
I’d like to see Ohtani purposely shorten and flatten his swing to reduce his strikeouts and hit for average instead of home runs. Judge’s ability to do both is extraordinary.
I don't know about this. I looked up SO's numbers, and he hit .282 this past year, and has averaged .282 over his career. His OPS this past year was 1.014 (which is certainly MVP level), while his career OPS is .957.
Just putting those numbers together, it suggests that, since coming into MLB, Ohtani has been able to increase his power while maintaining his batting average. Seems like a successful outcome to me, not to mention the multiple MVPs, WS wins, etc.
I agree it's hard to believe Judge hits for the average he does considering his height.
He's like the Randy Johnson of hitters, i.e. in being a very tall player who flashed huge potential for quite a while, but bloomed relatively late. Judge didn't really get started in MLB until he was 25, when he had a fantastic rookie season. But then he had a series of very-good-but-not-quite-great seasons until, when he turned 30, he finally emerged as AARON JUDGE.
Operas were the movies before movies.
"This is true even though Bizet’s Carmen is the second most often staged opera in this country in this century"
In 1915, filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille filmed Carmen, with superstar opera diva Geraldine Ferrar. DeMille included the famous fight in a factory, which, up to that point the Opera never had included. Due in no small part to the 1915 filmed version of Carmen, most or nearly all staged operatic productions of Carmen now include the fight scene.
So basically, Steve's point appears to be that what the French lack in composers they more than make up for in Art and Literature as well. From Jean Fouquet, LeBrun, to Monet and Manet; from
Moliere, Racine, to Balzac, Flaubert, France is definitely amply represented in the visual and verbal arts.
However in the Classical music age Marc-Antoine Charpentier being another example of artistic composers from France.
Ravel has always been my favorite French composer, largely because I was introduced to his music when it was played in the background while Bo Derek was taking off her clothes in Ten (and I was about ten).
In a huge heartbreak, Bo Derek was nominated in 2000 for the Worst Actress of the Century award but didn’t win.
The "Winners" were Sylvester Stallone, actor and Madonna, actress.
Bravo!
> Bizet’s Carmen is the second most often staged opera in this country in this century
Someone with no familiarity with opera would still instantly recognize the Toreador Song and Habanera; that's how much they are a part of pop culture
When I saw the preview trailer in 1984 for Rosi's "Carmen" at the downtown movie theater across Michigan Avenue from the Chicago Art Institute, the young audience (who might have been there to see the Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense" concert film) spontaneously clapped along to the the Toreador Song.
In the second episode of The Simpsons, Bart switched aptitude tests with Martin so everyone thought he was gifted. To encourage his gift his family took him to see Carmen where it goes as you might imagine...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6R7faC9e1s
I saw Carmen at the Met in NYC last night with Isabel Leonard and Matthew Pollenzani, both of whom were excellent. I sat in the first row. This is a new production set in a gritty urban town and the toreador is a rodeo rider! Not as good as the previous production which was set is Spain.
The 1984 movie version was filmed in the exact spots in Spain, like the Seville bullring, that Gustave Dore illustrated and Bizet, who hadn't visited Spain, might well have gotten his conceptions of Spain from.
On the other hand, it can be fun to move a familiar opera to some random place and time that the set and costume designers are really into. For example, POP's version of a Donizetti opera from the early 19th Century was set in a brand new fashionable hotel in Paris in 1960. Why Paris in 1960? It looked like the people who worked on it were really into the look of Paris in 1960, so why not?
I do not have any objection to new opera productions being relocated in time and space. I saw Rigolleto in 2019, with Matthew Polenzani and Nadine Sierra, where it was set in what looked like 1960s Mob Las Vegas, and it was fine. Of course, I would pay to see Matthew Polenzani and Nadine Sierra sing the phone book.
And the Met still shows the Franco Zefferelli productions of La Boheme and Turandot, which I think were first done in the 1980s, because they are superb.
The Met spared no expense on scenery in the current production of Carmen. In Act 3, the smugglers' truck has crashed, and on the stage there is a mockup of a truck lying on its side, complete with lights, that must be 35 feet long on a turntable that rotates as the act progresses.
But it didn't feel right to me. And the dance of the cigarette girls now is singers and dancers flailing around in the cargo box of a truck. YMMV.
But thanks for the tip on the filmed version of Carmen.
I had to look up “lacuna”. I thought it sounded like a rejected Chevrolet model name from the early sixties. I don’t think it was in my “Building Word Power” SAT study guide from 1966.
Steve, the recognized world expert in noticing, could spend a year cataloging cultural lacunas around the world; interesting stuff like why Germans are unable to behave in a ski-lift queue.
Thank you for posting this! I looked up the Ebell organization and it is still in business after 125 years…dedicated to ladies uplift…nice to see more opera in LA…a ray of hope after the Palisades fire…
I'm wondering if you could make more money in Paris than in other European cities, so classical music tended toward being popular music in France, which meant it wasn't as enduring. Paris in 1800 had more than twice the population of Vienna.