Tongue, part 2
1 hour ago
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Pronunciation
Robert Berger from the horn tells me I had it right the first time. "It should be KAR-i-ta. In Finnish, as well as in Hungarian and Czech, the accent is always on the first syllable." "Saying Zsa Zsa ga- BOR is as wrong as saying Ronald rea- GAN." So it's dactyls. KAR-i-ta MA-ti-la. So does that make it KIGH-uh SA-ree-a-ho for Kaija Saariaho, who is also Finnish? Maybe trochees would work: KIGH-uh SA-ree-AH-ho.
He recommends languagehat.com for this type of thing.
He goes on to say, "Kirsten Flagstad should never be pronounced Flagshtad, as in German. The great lady used to go ballistic when people used the German pronunciation." Wow. This would really be hard to change. It's not really our fault. She is inextricably linked to German repertoire, and by extension German pronunciation. I remember how I laughed the first time I heard shpagetti, but I soon got over it.
"With Russian, the accentuation is so unpredictable it's enough to drive you to distraction. It often falls where you least expect it. It should be vla-DI-mir, ser-GEI, an-DREY, kir-IL, and gen-NA-di rozh-DEST-vensky, mi-kha-IL, Kh is as in Chutzpah, etc. In Polish, the stress is on the next to last syllable." I know the tennis player is actually called Sha-RAP-o-va from watching Russian news.
In French there is no accent to speak of. Just accent everything. DE-BEW-SI. I never got past French, German and Italian.
He recommends languagehat.com for this type of thing.
He goes on to say, "Kirsten Flagstad should never be pronounced Flagshtad, as in German. The great lady used to go ballistic when people used the German pronunciation." Wow. This would really be hard to change. It's not really our fault. She is inextricably linked to German repertoire, and by extension German pronunciation. I remember how I laughed the first time I heard shpagetti, but I soon got over it.
"With Russian, the accentuation is so unpredictable it's enough to drive you to distraction. It often falls where you least expect it. It should be vla-DI-mir, ser-GEI, an-DREY, kir-IL, and gen-NA-di rozh-DEST-vensky, mi-kha-IL, Kh is as in Chutzpah, etc. In Polish, the stress is on the next to last syllable." I know the tennis player is actually called Sha-RAP-o-va from watching Russian news.
In French there is no accent to speak of. Just accent everything. DE-BEW-SI. I never got past French, German and Italian.
Dessay
Quote from Natalie Dessay, "I want to act. I don't care about singing." This is from an interview in Chicago.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Violence
Every thoughtful American must speak out. The Democrats are always so respectful of McCain, while at McCain rallies they call Obama a Muslim, a terrorist, a traitor and shout that he should be killed. Every American must speak out. This is incitement to violence. It is disgusting and evil, a word I don't use lightly.
I hope everyone realizes that when I make jokes about Tina Fey, this is just in fun. We must speak out. Shouting out "Kill him" at rallies must stop. Olberman made a speech about it this evening and I sat in my living room sobbing. We're all just Americans here.
I lived through the bad old times, the times of race riots, lynchings, mysterious disappearances, violence and hatred, and I hoped never to see them again. I remember when I was in Alabama not too many years ago that the people I met, no matter what they had thought when George Wallace was alive, were glad to be rid of institutionalized racism, that things were better now, more just, more truly American. The current events are just too much the same as they were then. It makes me very sad. It brings shame on anyone even remotely associated with it.
I hope everyone realizes that when I make jokes about Tina Fey, this is just in fun. We must speak out. Shouting out "Kill him" at rallies must stop. Olberman made a speech about it this evening and I sat in my living room sobbing. We're all just Americans here.
I lived through the bad old times, the times of race riots, lynchings, mysterious disappearances, violence and hatred, and I hoped never to see them again. I remember when I was in Alabama not too many years ago that the people I met, no matter what they had thought when George Wallace was alive, were glad to be rid of institutionalized racism, that things were better now, more just, more truly American. The current events are just too much the same as they were then. It makes me very sad. It brings shame on anyone even remotely associated with it.
Pronunciation
According to AllAboutOpera.com, Kaija Saariaho is pronounced KIGH-uh Sa-ree-AH-ho. I think I had the Saariaho part right. At Salome they were saying Kar-EE-tuh MA-til-ah. I don't think I got the Karita right. It is easy to find anything on the internet.
Rioting
There are reports of rioting at the opera in Leipzig--see here. I will definitely have to look into this. It's been almost a century since anyone has reported this. It would appear that German audiences have limits after all.
According to various sources there was rioting at the opera:
25 August 1830, at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, an uprising followed a performance of Daniel Auber's La Muette de Portici.
September 10, 1838, in Paris at a performance of Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini with Gilbert Duprez in the title-role.
May 30 1913, in Paris, the premier performance, by the Ballets Russes, of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.
"To my knowledge, there hasn't been a significant classical music riot since 1973, when New Yorkers inside the beautiful Carnegie Hall booed so loudly at the US premier of Steve Reich's Four Organs that conductor Michael Tilson Thomas had to abandon the performance halfway through." See here Stretching the definition.
I think I was referring to the Ballets Russes riot. I haven't witnessed any riots at the opera.
According to various sources there was rioting at the opera:
25 August 1830, at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, an uprising followed a performance of Daniel Auber's La Muette de Portici.
September 10, 1838, in Paris at a performance of Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini with Gilbert Duprez in the title-role.
May 30 1913, in Paris, the premier performance, by the Ballets Russes, of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.
"To my knowledge, there hasn't been a significant classical music riot since 1973, when New Yorkers inside the beautiful Carnegie Hall booed so loudly at the US premier of Steve Reich's Four Organs that conductor Michael Tilson Thomas had to abandon the performance halfway through." See here Stretching the definition.
I think I was referring to the Ballets Russes riot. I haven't witnessed any riots at the opera.
Technique series
In my technique series I'm trying to document the change from light to heavy, where it came from and when. This discussion doesn't really include buffa since heavy singing would simply not be suitable there.
I frequently go back and change the entries, add detail, etc. I will continue to do this. I haven't written enough about style in Bellini and Donizetti, for instance.
I frequently go back and change the entries, add detail, etc. I will continue to do this. I haven't written enough about style in Bellini and Donizetti, for instance.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
