DIANE'S CORNER ..
A crash course in opera
While many of us would recognize an opera if we heard one, we may not be as familiar with the definitions and distinctions surrounding this complex musical genre. In short, an opera is a piece of performance art that combines music with text to create a dramatic enactment of a story, complete with acting, scenery, costumes and dance. The term opera is in fact the Italian for “work”, and the text is called the libretto, meaning “small book”. There are a whole range of types, from opera seria (noble and serious) and opera buffa (comedic) to operetta (light opera) and semi-opera (combining spoken dialogue with masque-like sections).
Generally speaking, operas consist of two kinds of music: recitatives and arias. Recitatives closely resemble speech and are there to help move the plot along, whereas arias are elaborate and often long songs for individual characters, allowing them to express their thoughts and emotions to the audience. This is one of opera’s defining characteristics compared with most musicals; whereas the more modern genre tends to intersperse its hits with spoken dialogue, operas are pretty much entirely sung, even if this means the recitative passages aren’t always especially tuneful!
History of Opera Day
Opera developed as part of the classical music tradition in the West, first springing up in Italy and quickly spreading across Europe, including France, England, Germany and Russia. The first operas aimed to rekindle Ancient Greek drama, especially the role of the chorus, and it wasn’t long before opera became popular entertainment, with the first opera season taking place in Venice in 1637.
This versatile art form has evolved and diverged in numerous ways throughout its history. For much of the 18th century, opera seria, with its elevated style and virtuoso performances, was the prevailing force in Italy. Yet as with all artistic movements, others reacted against this trend – Mozart is well-known for his comic operas such as The Marriage of Figaro, while Verdi is famous for confident, patriotic operas. Wagner meanwhile was one of the most influential opera composers, dissolving the distinct recitatives and arias into “endless melody” and developing the idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk (“complete artwork”), a synthesizing of different art forms into one.
Composers in the 20th century continued to push musical boundaries, experimenting with concepts such as atonality and dissonance. And of course the modern era saw the explosion of musical theater, the younger sister of opera. While there are a number of key differences, some musicals closely resemble opera – look no further than Les Misérables for plenty of recitative passages! The genre has also influenced current entertainment, with soap operas revolving around personal dramas in much the same way that opera has always done.
The power of opera singers
Another particularly distinctive aspect of opera is its singing style – opera singers are renowned for their powerful voices, able to belt out melodies to such a volume that they fill a whole opera house without a microphone!
Famous performers include Luciano Pavarotti, Maria Callas, Andrea Bocelli and Jenny Lind (also known as the ‘Swedish Nightingale’ and familiar to modern-day audiences thanks to The Greatest Showman). Singers are categorized according to their range: male singers with the lowest voices are known as basses while female singers with the highest voices are called sopranos. In fact, the term prima donna (literally “first woman”) stems from opera, originally meaning the leading female singer but nowadays usually meaning someone who’s a bit of a diva!
Of course, what we all really want to know is whether opera singers can truly shatter glass – and it turns out they can! By singing at the same resonance of very fine glass, opera singers are able to reach a volume at which the vibrations generated cause the glass to break. The trick takes volumes of over 100 decibels (normal speech being around 50) and requires years of training, so probably not one to try at home – plus spare your neighbors!
thanks, Michele, Picture Coordinator
JOKE OF THE DAY
How do you make an egg-roll?
You push it!
In some areas, it's now easy to spot their prints on the trails
WORD OF THE DAY
lipography
MEANING:noun: The omission of a letter or syllable in writing.
ETYMOLOGY:From Greek lipo- (lacking) + -graphy (writing). Earliest documented use: 1888.
NOTES:In spite of what it sounds like, lipography is not writing with lips. Instead, it’s the omission, inadvertent or on purpose, of a letter or syllable in writing.
Imagine you’ve just started your great epic novel and one of the keys on your keyboard is broken. It would be trivial to manage without a Q, X, or Z, but writing without a single E -- that’d be some challenge. If it sounds undoable, consider that whole books have been written without an E, the most used letter in the English language. Without an E, one has to give up some of the most common pronouns such as he, she, we, me, and so on. What’s more, even the article “the” is barred.
Coming back to books written without Es (not something one can do with ease), Ernest Vincent Wright’s 1939 novel Gadsby is written without the second vowel. One of the best known E-less works is Georges Perec’s lipogrammatic French novel, La Disparition (The Disappearance). Its plot is full of wordplay, puzzles, and other word fun. For example, a character is missing eggs, or is unable to remember his name because it needs E in the spelling.
Though it may be hard to believe considering the restriction under which it is written, the novel is said to be quite engrossing. Apparently, many reviewers were not even aware that a special constraint was used in writing it. After writing the novel, Perec faced a protest from the A, I, O, and U keys on his keyboard that they had to do all the work and E was leading an e’sy life. Perec had no choice but to write a short work called Les Revenentes, where he put to work all those idle Es: the only vowel used was E.
If that doesn’t sound incredible enough, here is more. La Disparition has been translated into English as A Void by Gilbert Adair. Of course, the translation also doesn’t have any E in it. And A Void’s protagonist is named Anton Vowl.
Here’s a way to try lipography: write numbers from zero, one, two,... onwards. You wouldn’t need the letter A until reaching thousand. As for the literary merit of that composition, I’m not very certain.
USAGE:“It fell upon these saints of adultery, Robert Barker and Martin Lucas, to accomplish by art, or by the error that is art, a masterpiece of lipography. For the omission of the word ‘not’ from Exodus XX:14 -- ‘Thou shalt commit adultery’ -- they received a fine of £300 and then, it seems, they were lost in history.”
Cliff Fell; The Adulterer’s Bible: Poems; Victoria University Press; 2003.
the babies were playing...
Imagine you’ve just started your great epic novel and one of the keys on your keyboard is broken. It would be trivial to manage without a Q, X, or Z, but writing without a single E -- that’d be some challenge. If it sounds undoable, consider that whole books have been written without an E, the most used letter in the English language. Without an E, one has to give up some of the most common pronouns such as he, she, we, me, and so on. What’s more, even the article “the” is barred.
Coming back to books written without Es (not something one can do with ease), Ernest Vincent Wright’s 1939 novel Gadsby is written without the second vowel. One of the best known E-less works is Georges Perec’s lipogrammatic French novel, La Disparition (The Disappearance). Its plot is full of wordplay, puzzles, and other word fun. For example, a character is missing eggs, or is unable to remember his name because it needs E in the spelling.
Though it may be hard to believe considering the restriction under which it is written, the novel is said to be quite engrossing. Apparently, many reviewers were not even aware that a special constraint was used in writing it. After writing the novel, Perec faced a protest from the A, I, O, and U keys on his keyboard that they had to do all the work and E was leading an e’sy life. Perec had no choice but to write a short work called Les Revenentes, where he put to work all those idle Es: the only vowel used was E.
If that doesn’t sound incredible enough, here is more. La Disparition has been translated into English as A Void by Gilbert Adair. Of course, the translation also doesn’t have any E in it. And A Void’s protagonist is named Anton Vowl.
Here’s a way to try lipography: write numbers from zero, one, two,... onwards. You wouldn’t need the letter A until reaching thousand. As for the literary merit of that composition, I’m not very certain.
Cliff Fell; The Adulterer’s Bible: Poems; Victoria University Press; 2003.
TODAY'S ARTIST thanks, Natalie
IDIOM OF THE DAYWhat does 'bridge the gap' mean?
Meaning: If you bridge the gap, you make a connection where there is a great difference.
they DO learn to survive in the cold!
thanks, Patsy
well momma, he said that he was cold...
(Not So) TOTALLY USELESS FACTS OF THE DAY
Mariah Carey is the only artist in history to have a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in four different decades.
The rarest blood type in the world is Rh-null blood; also known as "golden blood". It's only been identified in 43 people during the last 50 years.
In Denmark, starting pay at McDonald’s is about $22 an hour. Workers get life insurance, maternity leave, a pension, and six weeks of paid vacation each year.
as we age...
Blender Mayonnaise
The whey gives this an indefinite shelf life because of its acting as a starter for probiotic fermentation.
Ingredients
1 fresh egg at room temp
2 T. yogurt whey
2 t. fresh lemon juice
1 t. Dijon
1/2 t. salt
1-1/4 c. avocado/grapeseed oil
(1 clove garlic, fresh herbs)
Recipe
Put into a large Mason jar in order given, and put stick blender right at the bottom to start the emulsification process, then up and down until completely emulsified, and very creamy.
Leave out on counter at room temperature, covered, for six hours before putting in fridge.
The whey gives this an indefinite shelf life because of its acting as a starter for probiotic fermentation.
Ingredients
1 fresh egg at room temp
2 T. yogurt whey
2 t. fresh lemon juice
1 t. Dijon
1/2 t. salt
1-1/4 c. avocado/grapeseed oil
(1 clove garlic, fresh herbs)
Recipe
Put into a large Mason jar in order given, and put stick blender right at the bottom to start the emulsification process, then up and down until completely emulsified, and very creamy.
Leave out on counter at room temperature, covered, for six hours before putting in fridge.
repurpose old jewelry for a Valentine decor piece
Stores 'might' lie???
PICTURES OF THE DAY
At the tip of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula
knit
thanks, Doris
knit
thanks, Phyllis
knit
knit
CROCHET PATTERNS OF THE DAY
crochet
crochet
PANTRY RECIPE thanks, Debbie
CROCKPOT RECIPE thanks, Carol
Both vegetarian and vegan diets may provide health benefits, including reduced body weight, lower cholesterol levels, and decreased risk of cardiovascular disease. However, it is important for vegetarians and vegans to ensure that they are meeting all of their nutritional requirements.
SWEETS RECIPE thanks, Anna
ADULT COLORING
CRAFTS thanks, Kathy
- Spread a paste of equal parts flour and water over the pillow cover. The paste will crack as it dries (you can create more cracks by crunching the fabric in your hands).
- Use a foam brush to coat the area with black fabric paint, pushing it into cracks when necessary.
- When dry, run the pillow under water and peel off the paste, then heat-set the painted pattern according to the paint manufacturer's directions.
CHILDREN'S CORNER thanks, Lillian
PUZZLE
WORD SEARCH
| agency balsa bounce consumption defect dependence | easily ellipse emphatically famine feel forest former frame | gentle horde ideal instead intend irate lend | matron neat oases pays quest rims | seep shone staid storm tough tragedy tumble white worthy |
SUDOKU .. easy
solution:
What Makes Someone A Hero?
where did the colour go? ah, winter...
CLEVER thanks, Agnes
not enough snow for a snowman...
OPTICAL ILLUSION
www.DianesDailyCorner.Blogspot.com
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