#the swedish Nightingale

[opera-ghosts]

M'lle Christina Nilsson by S J Mason

"Here we heard for the first time Christine Nilsson, who made her debut in " Traviata," at the Theater Lyrique. The beautiful, slender form, the clear, bell like voice of the young artiste secured for her immediately the warmest sympathies of the public , which Adelina, among the first, encouraged by her liberal applause. Christine Nilsson achieved an overwhelming success with " The Queen of the Night, " which, after the execution of the great air, which she sang in the style of the original music , increased to an imposing triumph. Madame Carvalho, the wife of the director, was a Pamina of the very first rank. Accustomed herself to triumph, the situation imposed by the role of Pamina did not seem especially to please the artiste, as, during the entire delivery of the great air, she was obliged to stand stock still at the side of her dazzling Madame Mamma, and , in addition , be the witness of the countless outbreaks of applause on the part of the public. The full house , however, was for the Directress Carvalho balsam for the wounds which the salvos of applause for the " Queen of the Night " gave her; and so well did Christine Nilsson fill this so fatal pause for Pamina that Madame Carvalho smiled upon her in the most friendly manner."

From Fourteen Years with Adelina Patti (1884) by Louisa Lauw

[fuzzysparrow]

The Swedish Nightingale

Jenny Lind, nicknamed the Swedish Nightingale, was a remarkable soprano singer who captivated audiences during the 19th century. Her voice propelled her to stardom at a young age, making her one of the most celebrated opera singers of her time. Born in Klara in Stockholm, Sweden, on 6th October 1820, Johanna Maria Lind was the illegitimate child of Niclas Jonas Lind (1798-1858) and Anne-Marie…

[kingsbridgelibraryteens]

Exploring NYC: Castle Clinton, September 2023

(With a BONUS Penguin Pool Murder Connection!)

Just in case you've never heard of the 1932 murder/mystery/comedy film called Penguin Pool Murder, here's a link to the post where I went into a lot of detail (some might say too much!) about this funny and weird movie. Anyway, this movie used the New York Aquarium as a filming location. But back in 1932, the aquarium had not yet moved to its current location in Coney Island. In the 1930s, it was still located in a building that had been rebuilt and repurposed several times over many years.

Today we know that building as Castle Clinton, and I decided to make it one of my staycation destinations last week, just to create more Tumblr content for YOU.

You're welcome!!!

If you're visiting Castle Clinton today, it's more than likely that you're there because you want to buy tickets to visit the Statue of Liberty, since that's the main function of this place now. Castle Clinton doesn't look fancy or special today. It basically looks like a donut made out of stone, with a big empty space inside that contains a booth for buying tickets and a small gift shop. But if you look around, you'll see some small exhibits that explain the history of this place.

Let me start by sharing the pictures that I took last week, and then we can look into some historical highlights ...

FUN FACT: Years ago, I read that Jenny Lind, "The Swedish Nightingale," performed for thousands of people at a place called Castle Garden (which would one day be transformed into the aquarium, and later into Castle Clinton). That is one of the many useless pieces of trivia that's been rattling around in my brain for years. It's so embedded in my mind that if you asked me what I had for dinner last night, I might or might not remember, but if you ask me about Castle Garden or Castle Clinton, I WILL REMEMBER that Jenny Lind "The Swedish Nightingale" once sang there!

Anyway, I know that I promised some more Penguin Pool Murder pictures of the aquarium in 1932, so here you go:

WHERE TO LEARN MORE INFORMATION AND FIND MORE COOL PICTURES:

One of the best overviews I've found of the history of Castle Clinton is this page from the National Park Service website. It gives a great overview of the building's history over the past 200-plus years (Southwest Battery / Castle Garden as an entertainment center and then as an immigrant landing depot / New York City Aquarium / Castle Clinton).

Here's a short video from the National Park Service about the history of the aquarium, which shows lots of interior shots ... including several from Penguin Pool Murder!!!

You can also find more information and pictures through the Manhattan Historic Sites Archive!

In conclusion, when you think about Castle Clinton, remember that it has very deep roots in over two hundred years of history. So, when you think about Castle Clinton from now on, you should really visualize something more like THIS!

[vidavalor]

You know what I just noticed? Hastur and Ligur aren't going to have to lurk around the graveyard all night. They're only there for a quick meeting with Crowley?

Yes. 😂 The scene ending is kind of the punchline to the narration there that is not exactly about Hastur & Ligur... Not entirely anyway. *sets you up with a plate of nachos*

The Voice of God is largely narrating using passages from the novel and those passages contain a lot of unique phrasing, yes? This lady goes on about nightingales, about the speculated tropical fish of the surplus baby, about the Russian cultural attache's black bread. There's a purpose to this beyond just that it's entertaining.

These types of sentences are all what's known as la plume de ma tantes-- those things Aziraphale makes a joke about in French to Crowley in S2. That is the name for those weird, awkwardly-phrased sentences you might learn when you're learning to speak a new language that you know you will never, ever have to say in that way in your real life. The purpose of the existence of la plume de ma tantes is to teach you more vocabulary than you would otherwise learn so you can learn to speak the language more quickly. This is how they are relevant to Good Omens.

One of the primary jobs of The Voice of God in the series is to teach us how language works in the series. She's speaking Crowley and Aziraphale's cant-- their hidden language-- for the entirety of her narration in order to help us pick it up. There are other keys to it in the series in everything from Demon's Guide to Aziraphale's magic words to the words on the tv in the opening of 1.01 but one of the best ways to learn it is to just listen to The Voice of God.

Even though the visuals on the screen when God give us a lesson on lurking are Hastur and Ligur, the joke is in them doing a literal version of about what God is speaking figuratively. It takes place early on in the series and the point is to show that the narration has other levels besides just recapping what we're seeing happen on screen in front of us. It also helps to reinforce the idea that the literal and the-figurative-and/or-euphemistic are all always very present things at once in the story-- as would be the case with a witty story from a queer-coded novel that is using the ultimate in debate over literal vs. figurative-- The Bible-- as part of what it is satirizing.

Hastur and Ligur begin the scene by both coming up to the surface, right? In their case, they've literally come up from Hell to arrive on Earth. They have sullen menace in the fact that they're gloomy and a bit evil and, if necessary, they could sulk and lurk around with their negative attitudes all around the graveyard all night but all of this is very literal. Hastur and Ligur are just *literally* coming up to a surface and then *literally* prowling around the actual edge of an actual graveyard.

They are showing us a visual example of the literal side of what The Voice of God is talking about but what she says is worded very intentionally in such a way as to be applicable to Hastur and Ligur in this scene, yes, but really more to send us on a more figurative and euphemistic track with what she's saying as well.

Look at what she says again and, in addition to applying it literally to Hastur & Ligur, also apply it more figuratively & euphemistically to our main characters, using the same word hints we are shown in different scenes:

Two demons lurk at the edge of the graveyard. They are pacing themselves and can lurk for the rest of the night, if necessary, with still enough sullen menace left for a final burst of lurking around dawn.

Demons are also people who are god-like/genius-level skilled at a particular thing and who have great enthusiasm for something. What are these demons in question really good at doing, according to The Voice of God? Lurking, yes? To lurk is to lie hidden away, to escape observation, and to move about in secret. It comes from the Swedish lurka, which means: to be slow in one's work... all going along with the fact that these demons are pacing themselves this evening. They can lurk all night, we are told! And where are they lurking?

At the edge of a graveyard.

A graveyard is a resting place for the dead and an orgasm is, as the French long ago put forth, a "little death", making this an example of death/destruction/Armageddon as sexual metaphor. Two demons lurking for the night and pacing themselves = two skilled and enthusiastic secret lovers spending the night in bed and taking their time. If they're lurking at the edge of a graveyard all night, they're bringing each other to near-orgasm without release repeatedly aka the word that's also just there in the sentence already-- edging.

They can do this all night-- "if necessary" (lol)-- with still enough what left? Sullen menace.

Sullen is connected to the word soul and derived from that word's homophone-- sole-- a word that is a kind of a fish, a part of both the foot and of a shoe (some Bildad/walking the Earth in there), and which also most frequently means someone's one and only of something. Menace = men + ace. Ace is rooted in word relating to being one and to unity and is slang for being a highly-skilled expert. Menace = being good at being people/being one together. The demons still have enough sullen menace left for a "final burst" (climatic innuendo) "around dawn"-- just before Romeo has to leave before they get caught lurking.

As Crowley once said, sometimes...

[galleryofart]

Death of Chopin

Date: Félix-Joseph Barrias (French, 1822–1907)

Date: 1885

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: The National Museum in Krakow, Poland

Description

The French artist Felix-Joseph Barrias, since he painted this work 46 years after the composer's death, may have used an account of Chopin's dying moments that was conveyed to posterity by Solange, George Sand's daughter and the sculptor Clésinger's wife: "One October afternoon in 1849, on the 16th, around twenty people were apprehensively waiting in the drawing room […]. Chopin wanted to know whether Countess Potocka was also in the drawing room and if she would like to sing closer, the door was wide open, and the beautiful countess started to sing. She was singing with her heart broken, with a voice full of tears! The people in the room dropped to their knees, choking back their sobs.”

The refined lady in white, standing by the piano, is probably Countess Delfina Potocka, who, according to tradition, sang the song "Pieta Signore" (Have Mercy Upon Me), which at the time was attributed to Alessandro Stradelli and is now attributed to the 19th-century composer Niedermayer. At one side of the bed, on the left next to a nun, Solange herself is kneeling; at the other side of the bed, Chopin's sister Ludwika is holding the dying composer's hand; in the foreground to the right, Marcelina Czartoryska, Chopin's pupil, and further at the window, Father Aleksander Jełowiecki, the painter Teofil Kwiatkowski (he left a series of beautiful pencil and watercolor sketches representing Chopin both at the piano and on his death bed) and Wojciech Grzymała.

Two Swedish researchers, Cecilia and Jens Jorgensen, argue that Barrias created the painting in collaboration with his pupil, Countess Winnaretta de Polignac (1865–1943), Edmond de Polignac's widow and a philanthropist and patron of artists and scientists. She was the daughter of Isaac Singer, the inventor of the sewing machine. Reportedly, he wanted to name the first model of the sewing machine he constructed after Jenny Lind (1820–1887), an eminent Swedish soprano singer and, since Hans Christian Andersen dedicated one of his fairy-tales to her, also known as the Swedish nightingale. She met Chopin in 1848 in London during one of his last tours in the city and was intending to marry the composer.

Two weeks after the artist's death, she arranged and paid for an extremely ceremonious funeral, which started with a mass held at l'Église Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, during which she sang arias from Bellini's opera. In 1851, she met Countess Winnaretta de Polignac, and it is possible that they made a decision together to commission a painting that represents Chopin in his dying moments. We know a little about how the work was created, but we know that it was the property of Countess Winnaretta, and later Count Campofelice. According to the Jorgensens, the woman that the painting represents in white while standing at the piano is not Delfina Potocka, but Jenny Lind.

[scratchwake]

me and my friend @junipertheberry started talking about an Alan Wake Muppet AU where Alice is Camilla the Chicken and Alan is Kermit, (Sarah is the token human) but then that led us down the rabbit hole of Barry being miss piggy, which in turn led to them saying in an awful NY accent:

"GADDAMMIT KERMIE, WE DONT WANT ANOTHA INCIDENT WIT THE PAPARAZZI"

(also other notable characters include Evil Russian Kermit as Scratch, Animal as ALL OF THE TAKEN or potentially both Anderson brothers with him running across the screen to play each one, the Swedish Chef as Hartman and Gonzo as Agent Nightingale)

remedy when are you making the movie come on now

[betweenthetimeandsound]

自2024年元旦凌晨[恐惧]

坠地的酒杯漾起回荡的铃声 夜莺！这北欧夏日歌手 怎么会在这里会在这季节出现？ 是因为我逃离了瑞典冬天？ 是因为我回到了我逃离的故土？ 抑或是因为我刚刚 从一个长长的噩梦中惊醒 躺着，像殡仪馆屈从的尸体 我竖起耳朵。死寂！ 除了我的呼吸，空巷里轰鸣的脚步

Dawn of New Year's Day, 2024

A falling wine cup brings up reverberating rings, Nightingales! How would this Midsommar singer appear here, in this time of year? Is it because I escaped Swedish winters? Is it because I returned to the homeland I escaped from? Could it be that I just roused up from a long nightmare? Lying down, like a corpse surrendered at funeral parlor, I strain to hear something. A deathly silence! Other than my breathing, I only hear the rumbling of footsteps. Translated by Elda Mengisto/孟乐达

[roo-bastmoon]

In Defense of Our Nightingales

When I was a child, I'd spend each weekend with my Nana, and she would take me to the library for books and then read to me every evening.

One story that deeply impacted me was The Emperor's Nightingale by Hans Christian Anderson, which he wrote in tribute to Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind.

There are many versions and retellings, but it is essentially the tale of a Chinese emperor and his beloved nightingale that goes something like this:

Once upon a time in China, there was a great palace made of porcelain and surrounded by beautiful gardens. Behind the gardens was a wooded area that stretched to water. Within the woods lived a nightingale with the most beautiful song. So beautiful, in fact, travelers would come from all over to hear the bird.

When the Emperor received word of this, he immediately commanded that the nightingale be brought to court so that it could sing for him. The nightingale was put in a gilded cage and presented to the Emperor. He was quite surprised that it was such a simple-looking bird that could make such an incredible tune.

He fell in love with the bird and its abilities and would cry when he heard it sing. Everyone at court celebrated the wonderous creature.

One day, a rich merchant gifted the Emperor with a mechanical nightingale made of gold and bedecked with gems. Overjoyed by this modern technical marvel, the Emperor had the real bird and mechanical bird attempt to sing together.

It did not work because the real bird sang its own melodies, not a predictable string of notes.

When the mechanical nightingale sang alone, the melody imitated the beauty of the real bird well enough, and it was much more attractive to look at. It didn't tire. It didn't need to be tended. It didn't long to fly. So the Emperor preferred it.

Heartbroken, the real nightingale decided to fly back to the woods.

Upon realizing his departure, everyone slandered the bird for deserting the court. They threw all of their loyalty to the new mechanical bird, harshly besmirching the real nightingale in the process.

The mechanical bird was given a seat beside the Emperor's bed and gave public concerts each week, while the real nightingale was banished from court.

Over the years, the emperor became bored with the mechanical bird's repetitive songs, and eventually the machine wore down and fell silent anyway.

Then one day, the Emperor fell ill. On his death bed, he begged for his golden bird to sing a comforting song, but it did not. Yet outside his window, the real nightingale sat perched on a branch watching over him.

The bird sang a tune so lovely, that Death itself agreed to leave the emperor alive in exchange for more music.

(In other versions I've come across, the nightingale died of a broken heart, and so the emperor succumbed to his illness.)

This story DEEPLY DISTURBED me as a kid. I refused to go anywhere near life-like baby dolls or animatronic toys from then on. (Huge robotic rats at Chuck E. Cheese or miniature stuffed animals never bothered me--but if it looked like something fake was imitating real life, I absolutely rejected it.) I went to Disney years ago for my 30th birthday and the Tiki Room honestly made me break out in a flop sweat and hives--that's how visceral my reaction is to this fable, even as an adult.

That's great, Roo, but why are you bringing this up?

Lately, I keep thinking about Hybe's plans to embrace AI.

I understand that Artificial Intelligence is inevitable, and when it comes to practicum (like dissecting virtual animals so the real ones are spared, or using simulation labs to teach medical students how to perform complicated procedures that won't put live patients at risk), I'm generally on board. Technology is a useful tool.

But the idea that a lifeless, soulless, hollow machine could ever replace our artists, our writers, our singers...?

It sickens me.

Don't people understand, it's the unique foibles, the fragile propensity to make and then overcome errors, and the ability to evolve and change during the acts of creation that separates art from product?

The world is filled with sound. The same musical notes will exist long after humanity is wiped out.

But without a soul to appreciate it, without a beating heart to create music based on real emotion, without a spirit to put a unique signature on it... it's just noise.

The music industry wants to sell repetitive noise, crafted expeditiously by modern technological marvels, packaged in fake gold and jewels.

People will tire of it quickly.

But by then... what will have happened to our artists' hearts?

Who will save us from death and despair?

I will always choose the real nightingales.

Always.

I hope you will, too.

[dear-indies]

so i've been looking around for awhile and havent come up with much! i'm looking for a fem fc whos in her 20s and is also a model -- but doesnt have the " typical " model build. pref. someone who's has a more athletic ? build ? but also open to body diversity in general !!! pref woc !! tysm < 3

Jade Cargill (1992) Afro Jamaican.

Red Velvet (1992) African-American.

Kiara Marshall (1992/3) African-American - is an amputee.

Jordan Alexander (1993) German, Irish, African-American - has spoken up for Palestine!

Arsema Thomas (1994) Nigerian / Ethiopian - has spoken up for Palestine!

Aliyah (1994) Syrian and Iraqi.

Kiera Hogan (1994) African-American.

Willow Nightingale (1994) African-American.

Ryan Destiny (1995) African-American.

Megan Thee Stallion (1995) African-American - is bisexual.

Lyric Mariah (1995/6) African-American - is an amputee.

Ayo Edebiri (1995) Yoruba Nigerian / Barbadian - is queer.

Tati Gabrielle (!996) African-American 1/4 Korean.

Ajiona Alexus (1996) African-American.

Yumi Nu (1996) Japanese / Dutch.

Naiomi Glasses (1996/97) Navajo.

UraN / luv02_uran (1997) Japanese.

Lori Harvey (1997) African-American.

Riho (1997) Japanese.

Alaqua Cox (1997) Menominee and Mohican - is deaf and an amputee.

Joanna Pincerato (1998) Mexican, Syrian, Swedish and Italian - has spoken up for Palestine!

Samara Joy (1999) African-American - has spoken up for Palestine!

Aaron Rose Philip (2001) Afro-Antiguan - is a trans woman who has cerebral palsy - has spoken up for Palestine!

Trying to find muscular women in this economy? Wrestlers to the rescue! Here are some suggestions though including disabled and fat women!

[singeratlarge]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Paul Badura-Skoda, singer-songwriter Bruce Barr, composer-guitarist Glenn Branca, William Butler (Arcade Fire), Roseanne Cash’s 2009 album THE LIST, Le Corbusier, Kevin Cronin, Britt Ekland, my cousin Daniel Ertel, The Fisk Jubilee Singers (1871), Ioan Gruffudd, Fannie Lou Hamer, Thor Heyerdahl, David Hidalgo (Los Lobos), the 1929 film THE JAZZ SINGER (the first major “talkie”), Mylon LeFevre, “Swedish Nightingale” Jenny Lind (she filled concert halls before microphones were invented), Carole Lombard, Thomas McClary (Commodores), The Monkees 1969 appearance on the LAUGH-IN TV show, Meg Myers, producer Jim Pierson, Shostakovich’s 6th Iron Quartet (1956), Fay Spain, Millie Small, Matthew Sweet, Karol Szymanowski, George Westinghouse, and the 1965 single by The Supremes, “I Hear a Symphony.” The song is a romantic idyll for the wonders of a lover, and it was the 6th #1 hit single for The Supremes. It was composed by the incomparable Motown Records songwriting team of Brian Holland, his brother Eddie, and Lamont Dozier. They’d been writing since they were teenagers and wrote hits for The 4 Tops, Marvin Gaye, Martha Reeves, and others. Dozier said, “We were keeping up not only with what was going on at Motown, but in the world, meaning The Beatles, The Beach Boys…There was definitely a standard…Everything that came out had a signature as well as it had to sound like a hit.” Dozier said they’d regularly go to chamber, opera, and symphony concerts “for song concepts.” Baroque, electronic, ethnic, and orchestral influences became part of “the Motown sound.”

“I Hear a Symphony” was a turning point. Early Motown hits like “Money” and “Please Mr. Postman” were rooted in r’n’b, rock’n’roll, and gospel, and they sold mostly to teens, but Motown President Berry Gordy envisioned a broader audience. Ray Charles had already merged “strings with soul,” but his audience was older. The Beach Boys, Phil Spector, The Beatles, and other British Invasion pop acts cherry-picked ideas from musicals, classical, and the avant-garde (perhaps prophesying the “progressive rock era” when Keith Emerson would do Bartok, Bernstein, and boogie-woogie in one flash). By comparison, Motown was even more pro-active about marrying classical, jazz, and pop/rock to “soul music.” Motown arrangers (Paul Riser, etc.), were inspired by Broadway and the jazz orchestrations of Duke Ellington and George Gershwin. They hired musicians from the Detroit Symphony to connect elegance with The Funk Brothers, the Motown house band. “I Hear a Symphony” features the muscular drumming of Benny Benjamin and the distinctive baritone sax solo of Mike Terry. 

Singing it demanded an exuberance that stretched the vocal abilities of then-22 year old Diana Ross. She still claims it’s one of her favorite Supremes songs to do, and it’s on my list of 12 pieces of music that changed my life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpL1TTxffO0

#birthday #dianaross #supremes #symphony #motion

[opera-ghosts]

Jenny Lind - THE "METHOD."

The voice was a brilliant and powerful Soprano, combining the volume and sonority of the true Soprano drammatico — to which class of voices it unquestionably belonged — with the lightness and flexibility peculiar to the more ductile and airy Soprano sfogato, with the characteristic tenuity of which it had, however, nothing in common.

Its compass extended from B below the stave, to G on the fourth line above it — in technical language, from b to G ; that is to say, a clear range of two octaves and a sixth.

The various registers of this extended compass were so skilfully blended into one, by the effect of art, that it was impossible for the most delicate or attentive ear to detect their points of junction. In fact, after the completion of its cultivation under the guidance of Signer Garcia, the entire voice became one homogeneous whole, so even in its calibre, that the notes were avowedly sung without a thought as to the best way of "placing" them.

Certain regions, however, possessed marked aesthetic qualities, very clearly distinguishable, though they could be modified, at will, in accordance with the demands of the passages into which they were introduced. For instance, three notes of the middle register, were invested, in piano passages, with a veiled tone of ravishing beauty — as in the long-drawn A, in the middle register, which forms the opening note of Casta diva. These three notes were more seriously iu jured than any other region of the voice, by the hard work and faulty method of production that had been forced upon Mdlle. Liud before her journey to Paris. It is well known to every experienced Maestro di Canto, that more voices are injured by the attempt to sing these three important notes in the lower instead of in the middle register, than by any other error of production whatever ; and there can be no doubt that it was this error that caused so much trouble to Mdlle. Lind, who, notwithstanding the beautiful tone by which the notes in question were afterwards characterised, assured Froken Signe Hebbe * that she believed that they " never became quite right."

Of the F# so much admired by Mendelssohn, the A above it, brought prominently forward in a syncopated passage in the same slow movement of Casta diva, and the same A, with the C above it, used as the first two notes in the Taitzlied aus Dalelcarlien, we have already spoken in former chapters.

It was remarkable that these exceptionally high notes, though brilliant beyond description, when used at their full power, could be reduced to a pianissimo as perfect as that of the veiled tones of the middle register. The pianissimo, indeed, was one of the most beautiful features of Mdlle. Lind's singing. It reached to the remotest corner of the largest theatre or concert-room in which she sang ; it was as rich and full as her mezzo forte ; yet it was so irnlj piano that it fell upon the ear with the charm of a whisper, only just strong- enough to be audible. The reader will not have forgotten that Her Majesty regarded this pianissimo as one of the most beautiful characteristics of Mdlle. Lind's singing, and that, in the letter , Chopin spoke of its " charm " as " indescribable."

A wholly different effect — though bearing a certain sort of analogy to this — was produced in the Koricef/ian Echo Song by a pecuhar tightening of the throat, which Madame Goldschmidt once tried to explain to the writer, though the process was so purely subjective that she said it was almost impossible to describe it in words. The effect produced so nearly resembled that of a natural echo, reverberated from the opposite wall, that it never failed to mystify an audience before which it was presented for the first time.

The notes, C, D, E, F, G, A, marked (g) in our diagram, were noticed by Mdlle. Lind, at a very early period, as the best notes of her voice. And judging, from their position in the scale, that her voice was intended by Nature to develope into a Soprano of exceptional height, she practised these notes, with the semitones between them, more diligently than any others, with the full determination to extend the process until the tone of the remaining portions of the voice became as rich, as pure, and as powerful, as that of the six notes which she regarded as forming the fundamental basis of the whole. How fully she succeeded in carrying out this intention we know already ; and it is scarcely too much to say, that it was to this firm resolve, and the clear foresight which prompted it, that her ultimate success is mainly to be attributed.

Mdlle. Lind's voice was not by nature a flexible one. The rich sustained tones of the soprano drammatico were far more congenial to it, than the rapid execution which usually characterises the lighter class of soprano voices. But this she attained also, by almost superhuman labour. Her perseverance was indefatigable. Among the Cadenze with which she was accustomed to embellish Jier favourite Airs was one adapted to a Movement from Beatrice di Tenda, introducing a scale passage ascending chromatically to the upper E flat, and then descending in the same manner. She once, while at the zenith of her career, told Froken

Signe Hebbe that she had practised this passage all her life, but that it was only quite lately that she had succeeded in satisfying herself with it ; adding, that she never allowed herself to indulge in singing such difficult passages before the public, until she had thoroughly mastered them, but preferred simplifying them to running the risk of an imperfect rendering of the notes.

Another remarkable feature in Mdlle. Lind's singing was the shake, which she delivered, at will, either with unapproachable brilliancy, or in the form of a whisper, more like the warbling of a bird than the utterance of a human voice.

Though it is necessary that a perfect shake should always begin with, and lay the metrical accent continuously upon, the written note, it is notorious that most shakes fail through want of attention on the part of the singer to the upper auxiliary or unwritten note. The general tendency is to let this note gradually flatten, until, in very bad cases, the distance between the two notes is diminished from a tone, to little more than a semitone. So well is this fact known, that the late Mr. Cipriani Potter once told the writer how he had been taught, in his youth, to separate the notes so widely that " a cocked hat could be thrown between them." Mdlle. Lind devised a cure for this corrupt delivery of the shake. In teaching, she legem by impressing the upjjer note upon the ear, as the most important, both as to strength and duration, at this early stage of the process ; leaning, as it were, upon it, and slurring up to it from the lower interval. She employed for this purpose, first, the leap of a fifth, then that of a fourth, and so on, until she reached the semitone, continuing the shake exercise between the two intervals, ivhatever their distance, for some time, before proceeding from the wider intervals to a lesser one ; always adhering to the upper note as the most important one ; and always making beginners practise it with extreme slowness.*

The following exemplification of this particular exercise, written, by herself, a few years ago, for the guidance of a young vocalist, has been found among her music : —

At a later period of instruction, the notes marked {a) and (b) were to be omitted, and the succession of intervals blended into one continuous exercise, thus : —

But it was not until after considerable advance had been made, that the exercise was allowed to be sung with any degree of quickness.

When, at last, after diligent practice, the perfect shake was attained, it was sung with the rhythmic accent on the real or written note, thus : —

not thus : —

The various effects we have here attempted to describe would have been impossible, but for that skilful management of the breath of which we have before had occasion to speak when treating of Mdlle. Lind's studies under the guidance of Signor Garcia. Her chest had not the natural capacity of Mdlle. Alboni's, or Signor Enbini's ; but she renewed her breath so rapidly, so quietly, so cleverly, that the closest observer could never detect the moment at which the lungs were replenished ; and, by the outside world, her extraordinary sustaining power was attributed to abnormal capacity of the lungs. The apparent ease with which she attained this difficult end was due to an artfully-studied combination of the processes technically termed "costal" and "clavicular" and " davicular * breathing " ; in the first of which — used only after the completion of a distinct phrase of the vocal melody — the lower part or " base " of the lungs, freed from the last remains of the previous breathy is refilled, to its utmost capacity, without undue precipitation, yet with sufficient rapidity to answer all practical purposes ; while in the second — used for the continuation of phrases too long for delivery within the limits of a single inspiration — the lungs are neither completely emjjtied, nor completely refilled^ but replenished only, by means of a gentle inhalation, confined to that portion of the organ which lies immediately beneath the davicuJce, or collar-bones. The skill wdth which these two widely different processes were interchanged, when circumstance demanded their alternate employment, was such as can only be acquired by long and unwearied practice, untrammelled by prejudice either for or against any special method W'hatever ; and it is not too much to say, that it was to the sustaining power, acquired by this careful management of the breath, that Mdlle. Lind owed her beautiful pianissimo, and that marvellous command of the messa di voce which enabled her to swell out a crescendo to its utmost limit, and follow it, without a break, by a diminuendo which died away to an imperceptible point, so completely covering the end of the note that no ear could detect the moment at which it faded into silence.

And no less complete was Mdlle. Lmd's command over the difficulties of articulation than over those of vocalisation pure and simple. Her delivery of the difficult — we had almost said, impossible — passage in the grand Scena from Der Freischiitz — Tduscht das Licht des Monds mich nicht ! f — though so clear and distinct that not a syllable lost its full meaning, was nevertheless so soft and smooth that it could scarcely have been surpassed in Italian. We do not hesitate to say that she was the only great singer by whom we have heard tliis famous crux surmounted without a trace of harshness in the delivery of the words. On one occasion Madame Birch-Pfeiffer left her, alone, practising the word zersplittre (" to shiver to pieces "), on a high B flat, in the opening Recitative in Norma; and, returning several hours afterwards, found her still practising the same word. And she continued to practise it, until she succeeded in pronouncing it quite perfectly on the high note, though few even of the best German vocalists attain a better pronunciation than zerspldttre. But she never erred in the delivery of even the most difficult word in any language whatsoever. So perfect was the mastery she exercised over larynx, throat, lips, tongue, teeth, soft palate, each and all, that never a syllable was stifled at its birth, never a vowel-sound corrupted in its passage through the longest groups of mingled leap, arpeggio, or scale. It was this high quality that lent so potent a charm to the complicated " divisions," the rapid passages of ftoritura of which Lablache, in describing them to Madame Grisi, said that " every note was a pearl." The purity of the vowel-sound, by which the pearls were strung together, secured their perfect equality of tone and timbre ; and, whether the most rapid notes were sung legato, or staccato, they either ran on velvet, or rang out sharply and clearly as the touch of a m.andolme. The tecJmique, in either case, was absolutely faultless, and its perfection was entirely the result of hard work, indefatigable practice, unwearying study. To the end of her career, she never sang in the evening without preparing for the performance by practising for . a long time, earlier in the day — generally, a mezza voce, to avoid fatiguing the voice unnecessarily, but, never sparing the time or trouble. And herein lay the secret of her victory over difficulties which tempt so many less courageous aspirants to despair.

Undoubtedly, the " method " thus diligently cultivated was, in many points, subjective. Mdlle. Lind felt, but could not always explain, the principles upon which she worked. We possess, however, a letter written by her to Fraulein von Jaeger, which enters into some particulars connected with our present subject of consideration, so curiously interesting, that we cannot refrain from publishing them, though the communication bears a date far later than that at which the purely narrative portion of our work comes to a close.

" Ems, June 8, 1855. " And what is my good Gusti doing ? Is she working as industriously as ever at her singing ? " The chief thing that I have to say, today, concerns that part of Friedrich Schmitt's ' Singing-school ' of which you wish for an explanation.*

" I do not think you have rightly understood the point. Eead the paragraph again, and it will surely become clearer to you.

" Naturally, he does not mean that you are to attack a note twice ; but that, before you sound the note, the larynx must be properly prepared in the position in which the forthcoming sound lies, whether high or low. The result of this is a firm attack ; and, as soon as you have sounded one note, you must spring so nimbly on all those above — or below it — that no rift can be detected between the sounds ; and, in this way, the completion of the phrase is accomplished without a break. For instance, the notes

must so hang together that they make one whole ; and this results from binding and striking them, at one and the same time — ^if I may so express myself — though it is almost impossible to explain this clearly in words. But I have often spoken to my Ousti about this, and shown it to her. It lies in the flexibility of the larynx, and must therefore be practised. Sing your exercise, then, so that this flexibility of the throat may be quickly developed. The attack of the single notes will thus be improved ; and the string of notes will follow."

Madame Goldschmidt is quite right, when she says that " it is almost impossible to explain this clearly, in words." No one knew, better than she did, that the best ' Singing-schools ' that ever were published are useless without the aid of a teacher ; for until she found a teacher in Signer Garcia, she wandered daily farther and farther from the true path, until, in the end, her voice but narrowly escaped from utter destruction. When once the truth was pointed out to her, her quick perception and unerring musical instinct enabled her to grasp it at a glance ; and, when once she began to practise upon true principles, the difficulties she had formerly experienced with regard to the method of voice-production were at an end.

On one point she always insisted very strongly. She had an innate hatred of the contortions with which so many vocalists of inferior order disfigure their features when delivering the passages they wish to render most impressive. She was never satisfied with a song, unless the singer " looked pleasant." She regarded singing as a beautiful gift of Nature ; a gift for which those who possess it should feel truly thanlvf ul, and proclaim their thankfulness by the expression of their features. She had a horror of careless articulation, even in speaking. And she felt firmly persuaded that the practice of singing, on the true " method," tended to the invigoration of the body, and especially of a weak chest. She even thought that the lives of many persons with a tendency to consumption might have been prolonged, if they had learned to breathe, and sing, in the right way — an opinion which is held by many medical authorities of highest reputation, and the correctness of which is undoubtedly proved by recorded facts.

So deeply penetrated was Madame Goldschmidt with love for her Art, and faith in its ennobling influence, that, to the end of her life, she took the keenest interest in promoting its instruction, upon the true and well-tried principles of the pure Italian School.

The following letter to the late Mr. H. C. Deacon, in whose method of instruction she felt great confidence, is one of the last she wrote upon the subject : —

" Wynd's Point, Colwall, Malvern, July 31st, 1885. " Dear Mr. Deacox, " It was very kind of you to let me know about the Examinations.* I am glad to hear that my sheep did not badly. If would put her mind into her work she might become a singer. " I can but do my best ; and, with my enormous experience, and a life's study, I ought to be able to bring out singers. " Singing is as much moral and mental as it is mechanical. It is the combination of those qualities which alone can form the master and pupil. " I hope you and Mrs. Deacon are better, and that you will now have some rest. " Yours sincerely, " J. L. GOLDSCHMIDT."

We can scarcely close our present chapter more profitably than by presenting our readers with a summary of the work performed by Mdlle. Lind, in connection with the Operatic Stage, between her first appearance in Der Freiscliutz, on the 7th of March, 1838, and her last, in Rolerto il Diavolo, on the 10th of May, 1849 — a period of little more than eleven years, during which she appeared in 30 Operas, 677 times.

Jenny Lind the artist, 1820-1851 : a memoir of Madame Jenny Lind Goldschmidt, her art-life and dramatic career, from original documents, letters, MS. diaries, &c., collected by Mr. Otto Goldschmidt by Holland, Henry Scott, 1847-1918; Rockstro, W. S. (William Smyth), 1823-1895

[venicepearl]

Johanna Maria Lind (6 October 1820 – 2 November 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and across Europe, and undertook an extraordinarily popular concert tour of the United States beginning in 1850. She was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music from 1840.

Lind became famous after her performance in Der Freischütz in Sweden in 1838. Within a few years, she had suffered vocal damage, but the singing teacher Manuel García saved her voice. She was in great demand in opera roles throughout Sweden and northern Europe during the 1840s, and was closely associated with Felix Mendelssohn. After two acclaimed seasons in London, she announced her retirement from opera at the age of 29.

In 1850, Lind went to America at the invitation of the showman P. T. Barnum. She gave 93 large-scale concerts for him and then continued to tour under her own management. She earned more than $350,000 (equivalent to $12,311,600 in 2022) from these concerts, donating the proceeds to charities, principally the endowment of free schools in Sweden. With her new husband, Otto Goldschmidt, she returned to Europe in 1852, where she had three children and gave occasional concerts over the next three decades, settling in England in 1855. From 1882, for some years, she was a professor of singing at the Royal College of Music in London.

[rabbitcruiser]

Opera Day

Dust off your windpipes, take a deep breath and get ready to belt out your appreciation for Opera Day! Operas have been captivating audiences since the sixteenth century, and this highly revered art form continues to gain new enthusiasts, complete with its own special day…

A crash course in opera

While many of us would recognize an opera if we heard one, we may not be as familiar with the definitions and distinctions surrounding this complex musical genre. In short, an opera is a piece of performance art that combines music with text to create a dramatic enactment of a story, complete with acting, scenery, costumes and dance. The term opera is in fact the Italian for “work”, and the text is called the libretto, meaning “small book”. There are a whole range of types, from opera seria (noble and serious) and opera buffa (comedic) to operetta (light opera) and semi-opera (combining spoken dialogue with masque-like sections).

Generally speaking, operas consist of two kinds of music: recitatives and arias. Recitatives closely resemble speech and are there to help move the plot along, whereas arias are elaborate and often long songs for individual characters, allowing them to express their thoughts and emotions to the audience. This is one of opera’s defining characteristics compared with most musicals; whereas the more modern genre tends to intersperse its hits with spoken dialogue, operas are pretty much entirely sung, even if this means the recitative passages aren’t always especially tuneful!

History of Opera Day

Opera developed as part of the classical music tradition in the West, first springing up in Italy and quickly spreading across Europe, including France, England, Germany and Russia. The first operas aimed to rekindle Ancient Greek drama, especially the role of the chorus, and it wasn’t long before opera became popular entertainment, with the first opera season taking place in Venice in 1637.

This versatile art form has evolved and diverged in numerous ways throughout its history. For much of the 18th century, opera seria, with its elevated style and virtuoso performances, was the prevailing force in Italy. Yet as with all artistic movements, others reacted against this trend – Mozart is well-known for his comic operas such as The Marriage of Figaro, while Verdi is famous for confident, patriotic operas. Wagner meanwhile was one of the most influential opera composers, dissolving the distinct recitatives and arias into “endless melody” and developing the idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk (“complete artwork”), a synthesizing of different art forms into one.

Composers in the 20th century continued to push musical boundaries, experimenting with concepts such as atonality and dissonance. And of course the modern era saw the explosion of musical theater, the younger sister of opera. While there are a number of key differences, some musicals closely resemble opera – look no further than Les Misérables for plenty of recitative passages! The genre has also influenced current entertainment, with soap operas revolving around personal dramas in much the same way that opera has always done.

The power of opera singers

Another particularly distinctive aspect of opera is its singing style – opera singers are renowned for their powerful voices, able to belt out melodies to such a volume that they fill a whole opera house without a microphone!

Famous performers include Luciano Pavarotti, Maria Callas, Andrea Bocelli and Jenny Lind (also known as the ‘Swedish Nightingale’ and familiar to modern-day audiences thanks to The Greatest Showman). Singers are categorized according to their range: male singers with the lowest voices are known as basses while female singers with the highest voices are called sopranos. In fact, the term prima donna (literally “first woman”) stems from opera, originally meaning the leading female singer but nowadays usually meaning someone who’s a bit of a diva!

Of course, what we all really want to know is whether opera singers can truly shatter glass – and it turns out they can! By singing at the same resonance of very fine glass, opera singers are able to reach a volume at which the vibrations generated cause the glass to break. The trick takes volumes of over 100 decibels (normal speech being around 50) and requires years of training, so probably not one to try at home – plus spare your neighbors!

How to celebrate Opera Day

There is no better time to celebrate your passion for opera than Opera Day. And if you have yet to develop a passion for opera, then Opera Day is the perfect day to begin!

The most standard way of celebrating is to experience an opera for yourself. Check with your local theater and see if there is a performance you can attend. If this isn’t an option, the Internet has made it easy to experience the wonder of opera from the comfort of your own home. Try browsing YouTube for performances of masterpieces by the likes of Verdi, Mozart and Wagner or see if there are any livestreams available.

If you’re into architecture, then why not take a guided tour of your local opera house? Opera houses are usually very beautiful and elaborate buildings – picture the Sydney Opera House or the Vienna State Opera! And they may well offer show discounts on Opera Day so it’s definitely worth keeping an eye out for these. Also make sure to check out the café and see if you can get yourself a slice of delicious opera cake (layered almond sponge cake with coffee buttercream and ganache)!

If you’re musically inclined, you can take your Opera Day celebrations a step further. Get together with your most musical friends and put on an opera of your own. It is easy to find the text of famous operas online, and you can divide the parts up amongst yourselves and have a riot of a time.

Source

[lilartifex]

Ink and Fictober 2023 Day 3: "Okay, show me."

Inktober Prompt #3: Path

Rating: G

Warnings: None

Fandom: Good Omens

Character/s: Crowley, Side Characters, Mentioned Aziraphale

Additional Tags: Hurt No Comfort, Angst, Crowley is Good with Kids, Walks in the Park, Christmas, Inspired by Music

Summary: Christmas always reminded Crowley of angels (or a very special one, at least). Now it leaves a bitter, vile taste in his mouth and Crowley can't wait for it to end.

Quick Note: There is a piece of music embedded further down the story. It's a Swedish folk song and the English lyrics mentioned here aren't the same as those officially written because they're the ones my choir sang when I was a kid. I strongly encourage you to have it playing in the last few paragraphs if you can. :)

___

Crowley didn’t mind Christmas, usually. 

Technically, he should despise it and all it stood for - he was a demon, after all - but ever since the holiday had come about sometime in the third century, he’d found himself quite fond of it. Good food, good wine, plenty of plants and a whole day when Hell was guaranteed not to bother him. Although he could do with less of the carolling and choirs showing up on his doorstep (which he hadn’t actually had to worry about since he’d started living in the Bently, but still).

And it always reminded him of angels. Or one, very particular angel.

But this year, Crowley despised it. 

He hated it with his entire being, with every fibre of his demonic entity. Everything that had once made Christmas tolerable now made it insufferable to him; the lights were too cheerful, the gifts too full of love, and the little angels people still placed on top of their Christmas trees leered down at him mockingly. He <em>especially</em> hated the angels.

He found himself hiding away in the Bently, wishing he could just fall asleep and set a timer for January next year. Or maybe several years after that. But every time Crowley tried, his thoughts came back to haunt him. There were memories of other Christmases when he could convince Aziraphale to down bottles of wine ‘because it was the season’ and watch the angel try to drunkenly sing Christmas carols and fail atrociously. Or quieter times when they would simply have tea at the Ritz and stroll along the duck pond, chatting about nothing and everything at the same time. 

But those memories were tainted now. Tainted with the grief and knowledge that they won’t happen this year, or indeed, ever again. There won’t be a friendly, angelic face waiting for him in the next year like there had been in recent years. There would be no warm bookshop or dinners at the Ritz. No strolls along the lake or picnics under trees. No nightingales to sing their song in Berkley Square.

There was just Crowley. And a shattered, broken heart.

So, after failing for the third time in a row to quiet his loud thoughts (and possibly setting a nearby Christmas tree on fire by accident), Crowley decided to go for a walk.

He locked the Bently and let his feet carry him wherever they wanted to go, his shoes making soft crunching noises as he trod over a thin layer of frost and snow. There weren’t many people out tonight. It wasn’t quite Christmas yet, but Crowley still passed a few children’s choirs, all bundled up to sing their little hearts out. Crowley blocked them out.

It wasn’t until he found himself standing in front of a familiar pond that he realised where his feet had been taking him. They’d been instinctively walking to one of the few places he hadn’t felt alone, even when he didn’t have Aziraphale beside him. 

The duck pond was frozen over now, and most of the ducks were gone. Crowley wasn’t too sure if they were the kind that migrated, and he didn’t really care anymore. Everything felt numb and fuzzy, save for the frigid air that he drew into his lungs, burning with each breath and clouding in front of his eyes with each exhale.

He stood there, alone, for a few minutes. Just breathing. Then, as he turned to leave, something small wrapped around his hand. 

Crowley looked down, a little surprised.

“Hi there mister,” said the little girl that had grabbed his hand. “You look sad. Want to come with us?”

Crowley blinked at her slowly, then looked around. A couple were standing a few metres off, clearly waiting for her. For him?

Crowley stared at her. “...Why?” he croaked.

The girl grinned. “We were going to watch the choir and you looked lonely and sad. Nobody should be lonely and sad at Christmas.”

Crowley wanted to point out that yes, people were lonely and sad at Christmas, and yes, he was one of them, and no, he did not want to come, but she started pulling him along anyway, in the direction of whom he guessed were her parents. He was about to tell her that she really shouldn’t be walking up to random strangers and pulling their hands, but she gazed up at him with wide, cheerful eyes. Crowley sighed. He’d always had a soft spot for kids.

“Okay. Show me,” he relented. The girl’s grin widened.

“This way!” she called happily, dragging him along. Her parents gave him apologetic smiles but he just shrugged at them and shoved his hands in his pockets. He’d had nothing better to do anyway.

As they walked down the path, the sound of children singing drifted through the air around them, getting louder as they approached.

“Who can sail without the wind?”

“Without oars who can row?”

Crowley frowned. This didn’t sound like a Christmas carol. 

The girl and her parents joined a small crowd that had already gathered around the choir, made up of small children aged between eight and twelve. A black-clad conductor was instructing the children with a baton. The girl waved at another who was standing among the choir’s rows, each sharing a goofy, best-friend smile with eachother. Crowley’s heart clenched painfully.

“Who can leave a friend behind?”

The choir girl made a face and her friend in the audience laughed. 

“Without the tears that flow?”

When the choir had finished their song, the girl looked over her shoulder, beaming.

Crowley was gone.

[tetcny]

#Sanditon #Season3

Miss Greenhorn is based upon the real

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield (1809 – March 31, 1876), dubbed "The Black Swan" (a play on Jenny Lind's sobriquet, "The Swedish Nightingale),was an American singer considered the best-known black concert artist of her time.

[hellhoundmaggie]

✨, 🌺, 🎯, 🥊, 🍀 and 🍩 for your Fallen London OC!

Some basic info to start:

If Katrine Nilssen were an official FL character, she'd probably be called the Impulsive Soprano or something like that. My least autistic OC, Katrine is a true social butterfly, going wherever the tales of Fallen London take her. A True Child of the Neath, heroine of the Battle of Wolfstack Docks, former governor, devotee of the Nocturnal artistic movement, assaulter of the Wilting Dandy. Will always do the right thing...when it's convenient. Currently pursuing her Heart's Desire. Ask her to sing at your party!

✨- How did you come up with the OC’s name?

I think it sounds Swedish!

🌺- Do they have any love interest(s)?

Katrine is currently married to the Master Jewel Thief, but doesn't have strong feelings for him. She remembers her romance with the Once-Dashing Smuggler fondly, but her heart truly lies with Mr. Pages. She conceived a passion for Pages and its creative vocabulary when working as one of its Reliables; she will do almost anything for it, even against her own Revolutionary sympathies. She imagines becoming Pages' mistress and basking in its attentions in their book-laden love nest. She has no idea that Pages is 1) asexual and 2) probably still fondly reminiscing over its time with my MotR OC Effie, whom I imagine is now one of those Resolute Governesses who take over player townhouses. But hope springs eternal!

🎯 -What do they do best?

Katrine is a coloratura soprano, which means she has a light voice suited to the kind of virtuosic leaps, runs, and trills popular in 18th/19th century opera music. Her favorite song to perform is the Jewel Song ("Ah! je ris de me voir") from Gounod's Faust:

But she is happy to bring her talents to popular music as well.

🥊 -What do they love to do? What do they hate to do?

Katrine loves being in the middle of things! Whether she's brawling with one of Feducci's champions, on the track of some murderer, or having one of her operas performed at Court, she loves knowing secrets and being the center of attention. Her biggest weakness is her impatience: she wishes she could do everything right now! (Me too, Katrine. But the candle refills on its own time.)

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC?

Katrine is very loosely based on Jenny Lind, "The Swedish Nightingale" who is thought to have inspired several of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales.

Her dynamic with Pages is also a bit of a reversal/subversion of the Christine/Erik ship in The Phantom of the Opera. This time, it's the beautiful soprano targeting the monster that hides its face. But Katrine isn't nearly as unhinged as Erik, nor does she have his resources and drive.

🍩 -Who is your OC’s arch-nemesis or rival?

None that Katrine knows of, though I'm sure she's made some enemies during her adventures. Maybe if Pages' and Effie's romance restarted in earnest, she'd target the poor old woman. But she'd probably prefer to bide her time and wait for Effie to either die permanently or get decrepit enough to earn a one-way trip to the Tomb-Colonies. Then Katrine can make her move.