#Margaret Redlich

[opera-ghosts]

The singer Frida Leider was born on April 18th 1888 during the 99-days reign of emperor Friedrich the 3rd in Berlin (more exactly: Granseer Str.9, close to Arkonaplatz) as daughter of carpenter Ernst Leider and his wife Anna, born Redlich. Although always poor, the hard working parents ensured an excellent education for her sole gifted child. The intended training for becoming a teacher however could not be completed because of the early death of her father. Instead she began her working career as a bank employee but soon she took the decision to become a singer and in spite of financial difficulties she clung to that idea. After an education by different teachers - a period which was not always easy - she finally gave her debut in 1915 as Venus (Tannhäuser) in Halle. After several short engagements in Rostock and Königsberg she was finally engaged at the opera house in Hamburg. In the years 1919 to 1923 she built up a wide repertoire including so diverse roles as Bellinis  Norma, the Countess in Figaro and Wagners Isolde. Many recordings with Deutsche Grammophon appeared also in these years. As early as 1921 her dream to be engaged at Berliner Staatsoper came true, allthough she had to wait until 1923 to fullfill this engagement because meanwhile she had become totally irreplaceable at the opera house in Hamburg. After the first great successes in Berlin her international career began. She performed at La Scala di Milano (where she had to study the three roles of Brünnhilde in Italian language), Grand Opera de Paris, Wiener Staatsoper, in Munich and at many other important opera houses. From 1924 to 1938 she became the celebrated star of Wagner representations at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, but she also represented Donna Anna (Mozart), Armida (Gluck) and was especially celebrated as Leonora in Verdis Trovatore at the same house. At this time political events began to overshadow the career as well as the private life of the artist. Since 1930 Frida Leider was married to Professor Rudolf Deman, concertmaster  of Berliner Staatskapelle. Deman was jewish and after Hitler’s seizure of power he and his wife got more and more under pressure. At the beginning his Austrian citizenship provided some protection, but after the "Anschluss" in 1938, the unification of the Austrian and the German state, Deman was in high danger and could flee to Switzerland only at the very last moment. The events of these days caused a severe psychological crisis for Frida Leider which prevented her from appearing on stage for a longer period of time. In her autobiography "Playing my part" which was published in 1959 the artist went over this difficult period in her life with kind neglect as she had to suffer a lot from colleagues very close to the Nazi regime. During the years of war Professor Michael Raucheisen, the famous pianist and accompanist, finally managed to arouse Frida Leider’s interest in a new artistic occupation, the singing of Lieder. Very quick again the artist reached the highest level of perfection. The registrations of Lieder from 1940 to 1944 are giving proof of this achievement until today and next to the Wagner registrations they remain as undeniable documents of this singular voice. After the german capitulation in 1945 Leider is back in Berlin, having survived the bombs by staying in her country house at Pausin, a small village near Berlin. When the Russian army occupied this part of Germany they confiscated the house and Leider was obliged to turn back to her totally destroyed hometown. After destruction the Staatsoper found accommodation at Admiralspalast as a temporary solution and started playing again under incredible primitive conditions. Leider was offered another contract as high dramatic soprano, but at this difficult time she opted for a completely different challenge: she led the singing studio of Staatsoper until 1952 and she directed some operas, "Tristan and Isolde" with Wilhelm Furtwängler as conductor among them. This event became one of the highlights in after-war Berlin opera history. Leider finally worked as professor for singing at the Berlin college of music from 1948 to 1958. Her last public appearance as a singer took place - contrary to other sources - in a concert at Renaissance Theatre together with her colleague and friend Margarete Klose on February 10th, 1946. Frida Leider died after a rich and full life on June 4th, 1975 in her hometown Berlin. She rests in a grave of honour at the Heerstraße cemetery, close to the Olympic stadium.

[korrektheiten]

Fußnoten zum Mittwoch

LePenseur:"von Fragolin   Unvaccinated lives matter. *** Heute jährt sich zum 130. Male der Geburtstag von Agatha Christie. Die Frau, der wir Margaret Rutherford als die einzig wahre und unsterbliche „Miss Marple“ verdanken. Einfach großartig. *** Buntheit und Vielfalt müssen gefördert werden, Rassismus hat keinen Platz! Deswegen werden in England Orchestermusiker gefeuert, die nicht die Buntheit und Vielfalt repräsentieren, weil sie die Sünde begehen, eine helle Hautfarbe zu besitzen. So geht Antirassimus! Hoffentlich zeigen sie bei ihren zahlenden Kunden ebensolche Konsequenz und lassen Cis-Weiße nur noch rein, wenn ausreichend People of Color, Schwule und Transen im Konzertsaal sitzen. So hört wenigstens keiner mehr, wie sich die Zwangsdurchbuntung auf die Qualität der Musik auswirkt. *** Das propere Schnatterinchen hat die Richtung ihrer Partei mit einem einzigen Satzdeutlich gemacht: „Jedes Verbot ist auch ein Innovationstreiber“, flötete Annalena Baerbockin bekannter intellektueller Unbekümmertheit in die Mikrofone. Und genau das bringt die grüne Parteilinie auf den Punkt: „Wir verbieten, und ihr müsst euch dann etwas einfallen lassen, wie ihr die dadurch entstehenden Probleme löst!“ So stellt sich die kleine Trampolina das Wesen des Fortschritts vor: Der Mensch ist innovativ durch Mangel, und wenn wir den künstlich erzeugen, fördern wir die Innovation. Verbiete den Leuten, die Dinge zu benutzen, die Ingenieure in den letzten hundert Jahren entwickelt haben, und sie sind gezwungen, sich was Neues zu entwickeln. Der satte Stimmenzuwachs für die dralle Völkerrechtlerin der Herzenin den Umfragen nach diesen TV-Realsatireshows mit den Kanzlerkandidatsdarstellern zeugt davon, dass immer mehr Deutsche genau dieses System wollen und begrüßen. Ich wünsche ihnen Rot-Rot-Grün, denn erstens haben sie es sich in satter Mehrheit redlich verdient, zweitens ist die derzeitige herumkanzelnde Altkommunistin dann glücklich, die richtigen Erben gefunden zu haben und drittens geht der Crash dann etwas schneller. Es wird eh nur noch grausiger, je weiter man den hinausschiebt. Lieber ein Ende mit Schrecken als einen Schrecken ohne Ende. *** Eine „Geberkonferenz“ hat beschlossen, Afghanistan mit 1,2 Milliarden Dollar zu beglücken. Also an die Taliban zu überweisen. Gestern noch Unterstützung des Terrorismus, heute schon humanitäre Hilfe. Oder Reparationszahlung. Wer weiß. *** Der Wiener City-Marathon ist gelaufen. Der vermeintliche Sieger hatte die falschen Schuhe an und wurde disqualifiziert. Wann immer man über die Dummheit des Menschen diskutiert, sollte man solche Fälle nicht aus dem Blick verlieren: Da bereitet sich einer wochenlang vor, reist um die halbe Welt, rennt sich dann zwei Stunden lang das letzte Atömchen Sauerstoff aus dem Leib, kommt als erster durchs Ziel – und hat dann vergessen, vorher das Regelwerk zu lesen. Da bekommt der Begriff „dumm gelaufen“ eine ganz reale Bedeutung. *** Auf der Ziellinie ist ein Läufer des Halbmarathon plötzlich überraschend tot zusammengebrochen. Und wieder ein Fall des neuen „überraschenden Todes“. Es häuft sich irgendwie in letzter Zeit mit den „Überraschungen“, auch wenn die Medien neuerdings nur sehr verschämt über solche Dinge, die früher reißerische Schlagzeilen abgegeben hätten, berichten. *** Und zum Abschluss noch ein Zitat zum Tage von der oben erwähnten großartigen Agatha Christie: „Ich habe Journalisten nie gemocht. Ich habe sie alle in meinen Büchern sterben lassen.“ http://dlvr.it/S7bKKy "

[bollywoodnewbie]

What I’m reading right now

Don’t Call it Bollywood: This blog by Shah Rukh Khan super fan Margaret E. Redlich (she literally has a shrine to him in her living room) is a great primer on the history of Hindi cinema. It has an active and very opinionated commentariat made up of both Desis and non-Desis.

Bollywood is for Lovers:  This biweekly podcast by Canadian film fans Matt Bowes and Erin Fraser explores Hindi cinema. Frequent guests and themed episodes like the recent Halloween horror episode keep this show lively and super entertaining. 

Access Bollywood: Film critic Kathy Gibson covers current Indian cinema, including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films.

Pardesi: YouTuber Melanie posts Indian movie reviews and trailer reactions 

Split Screen Podcast: Podcaster Shah Shahid compares remakes with the original films. Covers both Bollywood and Hollywood. You can also check him out at his website Blank Page Beatdown. 

Rob Cain covers non-Western film markets for Forbes.com, including India and China.

[foodieworldmelbourne]

Victoria Police lose $4m in funding over faked roadside breath tests

Updated May 31, 2018 15:40:46 Victoria Police has had $4 million of road safety funding suspended after an investigation revealed officers falsified more than 250,000 roadside breath tests in the state over a five year period. Key points:More than 258,000 preliminary breath test falsifiedTAC suspends $4 million in road safety fundingFormer chief commissioner Neil Comrie to investigate issue further The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) alerted Victoria Police to "anomalies" in preliminary breath testing data last year before a police internal investigation uncovered fake testing was "widespread". It found that officers were placing a finger over the straw entry hole of breath testing equipment, or blowing into the straw themselves. The results of breath tests conducted on the public were not affected, police said. After reviewing 1,500 preliminary breath test (PBT) devices and more than 17.7 million tests conducted over five years it found more than 258,000 PBTs, or 1.5 per cent of all tests, had been falsified. Professional Standards Command assistant commissioner Russell Barrett said the TAC had put $4 million of road safety funding on hold. "This practice will stop and stop immediately," he said. "From today on, this practice will not be tolerated. "We've let ourselves down, we've let the community down, we've let our road safety partners down." It is believed the fake tests were largely made by general duties and highway patrol officers, particularly in rural areas. There is no suggestion officers misused breath testing devices while working at supervised drug and alcohol buses. Mr Barrett said former police chief commissioner Neil Comrie would be appointed to look into the issue further. "We're going to ask why this has occurred so we can learn from that and prevent repetitions of it and like practices in the future," he said. Mr Barrett said Victoria Police was working with the TAC to "give them assurance". "Our reputation's tarnished in the eyes of TAC and in the Victorian community. We can't walk away from that," he said. TAC chief executive Joe Calafiore said he was supportive of the investigation to "get to the bottom of it". "I think anything that has the potential to undermine confidence in what we do in road safety is a concern, and I share police's disappointment in what we've seen," he said. Officers may have made false tests to 'highlight productivity' Mr Barrett said he believed officers may have falsified the tests to meet targets. "The question we all asked was why? There could be a number of reasons but the main rationale I believe is to hide or highlight productivity. Whatever reason our workforce may come up with, it isn't acceptable," he said. He said there was no evidence to suggest officers had committed fraud, or any criminality has occurred. "Similarly, there is nothing to suggest that any of this activity has impacted on any prosecutions," he said. Mr Barrett said more oversight of preliminary breath testing would be put in place.

Photo: The investigation found 1.5 per cent of all tests had been falsified over five years. (ABC News: Margaret Burin ) He said no individual members had been spoken to about the falsified tests, but all officers would need to attend a "guidance" session. Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said the finding was disappointing but highlighted the need for more resources. "It comes as little surprise that when unrealistic targets are placed on our members that this sort of thing might emerge," he said. Culture allowing fake tests 'deeply concerning' Victoria Police said it was in contact with the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) about the issue. IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich, QC, said evidence of a culture that allowed fake tests to occur over time without being detected was "deeply concerning". Mr Redlich said he was concerned that no police officers reported the misuse of breath test devices. "Victoria Police officers have a clear obligation not to turn a blind eye to any police misconduct, and to report it to Victoria Police or to IBAC so it can be thoroughly dealt with," he said. Police Minister Lisa Neville said the false testing was unacceptable and "some action" should be taken. "It has really breached trust with the Victorian community, but also breached the trust of those members who do the right thing," she said. She said she had "complete confidence" in Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton and senior police managers to deal with the issue. Topics:police,law-crime-and-justice,melbourne-airport-3045,vic First posted May 30, 2018 22:16:21 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-30/victoria-police-record-fake-roadside-breath-tests/9817846

[racialicious]

I wanted to compare a review from an Indian publication with a review from the New York Times, but I could not because the New York Times never fully reviewed 3 Idiots. I guess they didn’t think a singing-and-dancing movie made by and starring brown people was worthy of a review, no matter how successful it was. I was able to find a short review in the Village Voice which described it as a “tuneful, enjoyable college comedy.” Compare that summation to the review in the Times of India which called the film “the perfect end to an exciting year for India: the year when the aam aadmi [common man] voted in progress, liberalism, secularism and turned his back to corruption, communalism, regionalism.” So, what did the Village Voice miss? Let’s start with “tuneful.” 3 Idiots actually only has two true musical sequences, although there are two other songs that play in the background and are intercut with dialogue. The first song, “Aal Izz Well,” shows the hijinks of the three heroes (Madhavan, Aamir Khan, and Sharman Joshi) while in college. The second is “Zoobie Doobie,” a euphoric fantasy put into song by a young girl in love (Kareena Kapoor, granddaughter of nine-time Filmfare Award winner Raj Kapoor). Both songs heighten the emotions of the scenes surrounding them by contrasting joy with sorrow. The happy “Aal Izz Well” ends with the discovery of a suicide. “Zoobie Doobie” has a bouncy tune, but its visuals reference the famous “Pyar Hua, Ikrar Hua” sequence from the classic film Shree 420 (1955), foreshadowing a difficult end to the love affair in 3 Idiots. Traditional Indian drama theory encourages the creation of multiple emotions in one piece; today that is described as a “masala film.” Just because 3 Idiots includes multiple comedic scenes alongside its serious ones does not mean it is a “college comedy.” Once the songs are given their proper weight as support to the narrative rather than a distraction from it, once the comedy is considered as merely a part of the film–not its whole–the recurring theme becomes visible, and that is what The Times of India (and the Desi audience in general) appreciated. At the beginning of the film, a college student is found having hung himself; later, one of the main characters jumps from a third floor window. Towards the end, it is revealed that the heroine’s brother throws himself in front of a train. All of them were promising middle-class college students, driven to suicide by the pressure to succeed. A recent study in The Lancet found that suicide was the second leading cause of death among Indians between the ages of 15-29. The successful “tuneful” song from the film, “Aal Izz Well”, inspired a website aimed at helping Desis considering suicide. If the NYT had considered the film worthy of review–and had been open-minded enough to get past the songs and the comedy–they might have had to acknowledge the film’s underlying commentary: that India is not the promised land of academic superiority and happy-up-by-their-bootstraps entrepreneurs it desperately wants it to be; that it might have social issues more serious than can be solved by a song. But then the NYT would never seriously review an Indian movie anyway, because that would be an acknowledgment that the leading creative force for many people in the world comes not from Los Angeles but from Bombay. Indian films are shown all over Africa, and Asia, and the former USSR. They are popular in Britain, Australia, and Canada, and are breaking into South America; a telenovela set in India, for instance, recently debuted in Brazil. During its aforementioned “golden age,” Indian films frequently deal with the basic economic issues and the “where do we go from here?” questions the country faced after winning its independence. The withdrawal of Britain from India was an especially shoddy colonial retreat; there was very little plan in place for the transition of power; and, while the violence on the border between the newly created Pakistan and India was the most blatant result of this policy, the films from this time point to other, more subtle, problems such as lack of infrastructure, sustainable economies, and a national identity. And these were the hugely successful films that established the “Bollywood” style. From the very beginning, people wanted to see problems onscreen.

Hee! Guest contributor Margaret Redlich does a great read on why the West fails to even grasp the political ideas in Bollywood films and cast them as merely "song-and-dance" flicks on the R today.