No Cappuccini for Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch

25 Tuesday Sep 2018

Posted by jturner@mi-connection.com in Travel

: Espresso all around

Grazie, Grazia

25 Tuesday Sep 2018

Posted by jturner@mi-connection.com in Food

A debt of gratitude to Grazia, our favorite chocolatier,
Who not only concocted this most wonderful confection
Of pistacchio and cioccolato in the perfect proportions,
But when I tried to express my appreciation for her art
She punctuated my part with an uncommon hint of almond.

: The Messenger we perused was special too.

Straighter Dope

23 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by jturner@mi-connection.com in Education

≈ Leave a Comment

1) When La Traviata was first conceived, Verdi wanted the opera to be staged in “modern dress.” Yet for reasons unclear to me, the Venice opera scene insisted that it be set “in the era of Richelieu.” In a gesture befitting the Italian maestro, Spoleto’s 72th Stragione Lirici Sperimentale has done up his ambition proud.

2) When La Traviata was first performed, the audience jeered at the casting of an aging, overweight soprano in the lead role of Violetta. In an ironic reversal of gender roles tonight, the casting of the tenor somewhat strained credulity. No one, so far as I could tell, except Rebecca and me seemed bothered by the girth.

3) When Verdi’s Il Trovatore finally comes to Spoleto, I should be in a far better position to go to work seriously on A Night at The Opera, a Marx Brothers’ film that sticks true to its name. In the meantime, when I get home, I can check out the operatic straight dope in Stanley Cavell’s A Pitch of Philosophy.

Lording It Over the Manor

23 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by jturner@mi-connection.com in Art

≈ 3 Comments

Summarily the queen has delivered her orders.
A plot summary, my wiki.vassal, of La Traviata:

Act I
The courtesan Violetta, recovering from an illness, throws a lavish party.
There, her current lover and would-be one vie for the favors of her affection.
By night’s end, Alfredo the usurper has Violetta singing to herself differently.

Act II
After the lovers live together in the country, they naturally fall apart.
Then they get back together. Then they fall even further apart. Etc.
All this time, in the country and the city, they keep up their singing.

Act III
Almost together, the lovers keep singing in the grim face of death.
Alfredo survives a duel with the Baron, the wicked former lover.
Lovers reunite. Violetta regains her strength to sing. She expires.

Waylaid, The Best Made Plans

23 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by jturner@mi-connection.com in Art, Travel

≈ Leave a Comment

Our annual trip to Treviso, homestead of our Italian friends,
Was on tap for this weekend. The best laid plans, the locals say, Sometimes go astray. And so we snared opera tickets instead
At the last minute. Of course the first box office that we tried
Was chiuso at the time we went: a small matter of us failing
To read the fine print. Hardly surprising. What threw us for a spin,
Though, was learning the box office at the opera house was open
Long before the performance last night. We will be going then
To see La Traviata, a Verdi classic which I’d thought we’d seen
Before. Just goes to show: if casting aside the best-made plans,
The show’s the thing wherein to catch the favors of the queen.</p>