tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6644918126688721788.post4216812491310676196..comments2024-03-29T07:54:24.161+00:00Comments on TONE DEAF: Wanting to be twoRoderick Robinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6644918126688721788.post-60669899792703816022022-06-29T06:51:01.825+01:002022-06-29T06:51:01.825+01:00MikeM: I deliberately didn't look up the opera...MikeM: I deliberately didn't look up the opera, even though its name was printed on the score I used. Operas of that vintage (Purcell's dates: circa 1659 - 1695) are often completely static, usually presented these days in concert form with the singers ranged up in front of the orchestra. Sometimes they are forgotten altogether with the exception of a single song which carries especial merit.<br /><br />The thing about <i>My Dearest</i> is that its sentiments are complete and as relevant to the oughties as they were to the seventeenth century. As to its difficulties these are mainly confined to the first twenty bars with the intertwining of the verb "languish" between the singers. Elsewhere it's merely a matter of getting the timing right<br /><br />The soprano gets the best single line "Ah why are love's hours so short and so sweet". A couple of bars later I come in with a response to the soprano's "And loving" with my somewhat raunchier "... and kissing" and I need to be careful I don't give in to that oh-so poignant earlier line.<br /><br />Rehearsing a duet alone is a real bastard. It's logical for me to hum the soprano's lines but the words themselves are so simple and persuasive. Never mind, I'm determined to nail this oneRoderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6644918126688721788.post-43861323682978757382022-06-28T23:46:56.462+01:002022-06-28T23:46:56.462+01:00Sounds difficult and I can't quickly ascertain...Sounds difficult and I can't quickly ascertain what this has to do with Pausanias. An early chapter in his life, before he betrayed Sparta and was bricked up to starve to death (the first brick set by his mother)?MikeMnoreply@blogger.com