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Off Topic: Favorite Music?


MissGoddess
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h5. _Warning!_ Team America -style offensive images.

Barbie sings this morning, in a video produced by a very precocious school girl.

This song gets irritating so quickly,...

 

 

h5. Don't you ever underestimate the power of a woman. - the late, great Jimmie Dean

 

Edited by: casablancalover on Jun 15, 2010 10:29 AM

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There is an interesting musical irony in Five Graves to Cairo recently shown on TCM. Fortunio Bonanova plays an Italian General who is fond of singing and who early on sings an Italian aria. When he is asked to stop singing by the powers that be in the story, namely the Germans, he mutters something to the effect that those Germans don?t understand etc., and as I grappled with identifying this familiar tune I realized to my surprise that the aria, though ?Italian,? was actually written by a German, the great Richard Strauss (1864-1949). The irony lies in the fact that it would have seemed a better choice to have the Italian General sing something more quintessentially Italian, like Verdi or Puccini, for instance, to better drive home the Nationalism theme of this war movie. That they chose something by Strauss, a German, and then have the General rail against the Germans for their bad taste is, well, interesting.

 

So how did it come about that Strauss would compose an Italian aria in the first place? Der Rosenkavalier, like all Strauss? operas is as German as you can get, has a brief scene where a character billed as ?An Italian Tenor,? comes on stage and provides entertainment by singing an Italian aria. Strauss did not choose something from an existing Italian opera, but rather composed the aria himself, in the Italian style. A wonderful pastiche whereby Strauss abandons his German music making and fashions his own Italian idea. After this number, the ?Italian Tenor? leaves the stage and his heard from no more.

 

The aria ?Di Rigori Armato? is exquisitely beautiful. It is very difficult to sing. It has a tortuously high tessitura that puts demands on the singer because he must sing all those high notes and at the same time in a lyrical style. There is highly regarded performance of Der Rosenkavalier from 1969 in which Luciano Pavarotti is the ?Italian Tenor.? The link below is Luciano singing this beautiful piece, probably a little later. Have a listen.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEG8gzTsO8U

 

L.

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Hi, Lafitte-

 

I think you are finding irony that everyone else misses. If the aria is so difficult (it sounds like it is-it's beautiful) then maybe the singer wanted to showcase his talent? Maybe the inside joke is the Italian is like the character in Der Rosenkavalier and is the Italian performing for the Germans...

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>I think you are finding irony that everyone else misses. If the aria is so difficult (it sounds like it is-it's beautiful) then maybe the singer wanted to showcase his talent? Maybe the inside joke is the Italian is like the character in Der Rosenkavalier and is the Italian performing for the Germans...

 

Hi Casablanca, thanks for responding.

 

There may be an inside joke there, true?but perhaps not the one you suggest. The Italian General was singing to himself in his room and the German carping came from other rooms. Also, I failed to mention that only a few lines were sung, and in a baritone rather than a tenor voice, making the effort seem much easier than the Pavarotti clip. Nevertheless, the inside joke could be that here we have the Germans making these complaints without realizing that the music is actually coming from one of their own (i.e., Strauss).

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Back at ya, Lafitte!

 

I guess to me it just points out the difficult job of the continuity person in the crew. I bet they use Google, and it makes the job a little easier. I love research, and I think your observations are very astute! Thanks for sharing. Any other music strike your fancy today?

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>Any other music strike your fancy today?

 

How about this! My favorite version of this song. Sadly, this one is not available on ITunes...or anywhere for that matter. Unless I'm not looking hard enough.

 

 

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Hi! Ah, leave it to the Good Cinemaven to offer such a greeting! Thanks! At the moment I am fine and I hope to continue that way (who was it who said that life is too short to be mysterious, hmm). Hope all is well with you too? :) I must catch up with some of your more recent musings around here.

 

laffite

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Well, my latest musing is in the Western thread: "MANN'S BEST FRIEND...IS HIS MOVIES." I needed suggestions about which Anthony Mann films are must-sees at an upcoming festival

here in NYC. ( http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/thread.jspa?threadID=153951&start=15&tstart=0 )

 

Perhaps you have a suggestion you might offer. But if you do...make a good case for it.

 

WELCOME BACK!! Here's hoping you stay a while. :-)

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