P.S. That's a good song, and a good thought: I'll shower your heart with tenderness and leslee. Thanks for sharing. It sounds good.

The words are usually the last thing to which I attend in music. I grew up listening to AM radio.

I don't like scat. I don't like vowel calisthenics, either. I think Luther Vandross was the only one who could make it sound good. Maybe a few others did. I prefer Justin's clean, clear, powerful, "I love you," or is it, "I'll love you;" to Whitney's, "Hiiiiiiiiiii will always love you-oohooh--oah-wa." The security guard who saved the world by rummaging through my bag at my second-to-last Moodies concert called that song by Whitney his last favorite, and griped that they were playing it on the PA.

I am now listening to the sound of silence. Funny, a robin hopped in front of my car as I came in here this morning. I was hoping he would sing, but he didn't.

Now, why would you want me to listen to something a little dirty?

I enjoy Enya, decreeing her music to be beautiful and scat to be agitating. I suppose there are some artists, as always, who can turn it into something glorious. It is probably like a Bach fugue - a blast to perform but not particularly redeeming to hear. My, I'm cross today. Servant! Another tub of Ha!

I simply thought the music to LOTR was lovely and beautiful all the way through. I know there's people out there who are good at dissecting music structure, but that's one thing I can't do. I do enjoy listening however. Marvelous voices through out. Mostly on a Gregorian spectrum somewhere, which is probably mathematical and Bach-ian. I loved Enya's "Evenstar" in the first movie very much.

Same with art, I have a tough time being structured with it. Sometimes I turn out decent stuff, sometimes I don't.

This particular set of music is mostly wallpaper, background stuff that is to set a mood, not convey a message. But it IS nice.......

Notes: Tales of Hoffmann (Offenbach), April 19, 2014

Offenbach was born in Koln in 1819 to Jewish parents, his father was a Kantor. Offenbach went to a conservatory (school) in Paris, at a very young age he was recognized as gifted on the violin. He dropped out after a year, and became a local musician. He started writing French comic operas. One was Orpheus in the Underworld (Orphee aux enfers, 1858). His affairs began to decline (terrible at handling money) and he went to America (Philly) in 1876.

The era was referred to as "the Beautiful Era" le Belle pah (? a term I didn't know and will have to look up) but it would tie into the Latreuc era, and the Moulin Rouge, the Can Can. Bohemians.

Tales of Hoffman was originally a play, and came from stories by ETA Hoffman, who was insanely popular in the late 1700s and very early 1800s all across Europe.... Coppelia and Nutcracker are two ballets which come from Hoffman. Hoffman was typically German and noted for finding the mysterious, the magical and the grotesque in everyday things, somewhat through the eyes of an innocent child.

Offenbach picked up the play (the name of the writer escapes me) and turned that into his opera. Offenbach was 61 when he died, and he hadn't really finished "Tales" but he had laid out the vocal and piano part of it, in three acts. Later people, students and so forth put together the orchestrations.

The Sandman: The Tale of Olympia is the first act. It's a story about a girl who is really a wind up doll (an automaton). I would refer everyone to the story of Coppelia, the ballet at this point, it's a well known story. (Quite funny in the right hands too).

Act II: The Tale of Antonia: a young girl is drawn into a portrait of her mother, and tempted by the violin song of the devil (???), sings herself to death. Dr. Morabula is the villain and the mother is a ghost, a "willis" sort of figure, a will o' the wisp. This speaker tied in "Tartini's Dream" which I need to look up, it was fascinating. Basically it was about a young girl dealing with the Thanatos principle before it had been invented by Dr. Freud. Long musical discussion with this one about dim 7th chords (lost me, but yes I agree it was a bit dissonant). He DID make an interesting observation about how "Wood never dies, it's alive. Musical instruments change and warp, move with heat and moisture". I thought about it in terms of certain modern guitarists who love their main guitars so much... might ownership of a musical instrument make it more sympatico with its master??? what a concept!!!

Act III: The Tale of Giulietta (Julietta) the courtesan. The famous "Barcarolle" is from this act (done in a lilting 6/8 time). The clip I put up earlier is from a 1951 movie by Powell and Pressburger (Pressburger did the movie The Red Shoes which is familiar to many). In the end, she dumps him.

The three acts taken together are the disappointments in love that ETA Hoffman allegedly suffers in his life. In the end, his true Muse reveals herself (she's been disguised as a male student, and I was deeply tempted to ask if Offenbach and/or Hoffman was/were gay, but there were some older folks there, no sense in stirring them up, poor dears). It ends a bit like the movie Xanadu did, "For the artist, your muse is always with you, you're never alone" sort of ending.

I love music, stories, art, design etc etc............. but MAN some of the overpowering over-trained voices in the clips he played were too much for me. And some were very enjoyable (I liked the mechanical doll's singing, sounded like birdsong). It was all in French anyway so it would be lost on me if I went to see the opera. I honestly never did like opera as an art form.... ballet makes so much more sense to me. I like musicals too. Anyway the current Seattle Tales of Hoffman production looked really good design-wise. If I think of it, I might go over and see it (would depend on the ticket costs).

I'm going to see Arlo Guthrie tonight like a 10 min drive from me in my home town, so I'll report back on that next. Just thought you'd enjoy knowing how my musical weekend was going! REALLY GOOD so far!!! What an enjoyable afternoon!!!

Happy Easter to all!

That's another question we could ask Justin: Is the muse still in the chair?

I thought of Jung's onion today. I had a Reece's peanut butter cup today. It sat in ten paper cupcake papers.

I took a walk with dog-pog again today in the woods. Actually, she pulled me. It was lovely. The sky was blue and the temps were in the 70s. We walked along the stretch of parkway I used to frequent when I was new here, about 25 years ago. I recognized the spot where I realized I couldn't run in these-har hills, being a flatlander. The most exquisite part of the trip was approaching an overpass. It had a big, muddy puddle under it. The sun was hitting it just right to form the most exquisite image of interference on the ceiling. In all my years teaching physics, I never saw such a grand display of interference. I took dog-pog back to admire it. There was even a single-slit. The constructive and destructive interference were in perfect focus 10' or so above the puddle. Unlike apparatus used to make waves in the lab, patterns formed as water dropped from the roof, but the wave fronts were not all of the same thickness. I was mesmerized. Yes, I was capturevated by it. I stared long, and dog-pog respected my need for reverence.

I also thought about poor Amy's song. She told of breaking every commandment in the book. The 10 Commandments, I thought, foster harmony in human relationships. The lyrics to Amy's song made a Dm7 in my mind.

Ah! You speaka my language!