Originally posted by Roger Webb
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The latter have gone the way of rag and bone men, knife sharpeners , onion Johnnies and local village (in London ) grocery stores doing home deliveries. All very useful services. -
I lived there for a few years . A great town but I really didn’t like the sectarian nature of those Nov 5th displays. One year a women was handing out anti Catholic leaflets that might have been produced by the UDA at the height of the troubles. One reason why half my family left County Armagh in the thirties.Originally posted by Roger Webb View PostComment
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I too left Lewes, but when I was ten, so have no strong recollections - although I remember the rolling of tar barrels as the high spot - it seems rather tame now! I watch it a bit on 'Rocket TV' online, and we usually pay a visit for a week later in November. I do love the town though...and so handy for Glyndebourne!Originally posted by Ein Heldenleben View PostComment
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Not around 1900 it couldn't. And the drinks are sold on stage, in any case. We have to read between the lines, when "unequivocal" is not morally allowable, even in (for example) Morgot la Rouge. The same had been true of La traviata. This is not a matter of "interpretation", but respect for historical coding. "Gypsy" and "vagabond" are coded words too for the time, as I've said.Originally posted by smittims View Post
(And remember I said "semi-brothel". There's no mention of a Madame here, and the Dark Fiddler hardly acts like a paid pimp. It's much more informal than that.)
Like it or not, Delius regularly dips into the demi-monde, whether in Paris, Switzerland or indeed in the Idyll.Last edited by Master Jacques; 09-01-25, 20:06.Comment
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I don’t think they burn the pope in effigy any more . It tends to be politicians and notorious celebrities …Originally posted by Roger Webb View PostComment
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Yes, I remember Truss, Trump, Farage and I think Vennells put to the flame....what's the betting Elon Musk for this year's!Originally posted by Ein Heldenleben View Post
Must try and get down for the World Pea Throwing Championships at The Lewes Arms...and a pint of Harvey's, now restored!Comment
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Here on Blackheath, they once burned an effigy of Andrew Lloyd-Webber. He got a peerage the following year, so it didn't work.Originally posted by Roger Webb View PostComment
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George Graham, Arsenal’s manager in the 90s was called the Tinkerman when he changed the team around! I think the term has been applied to other managers since then!Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
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Thanks, Master Jaques. I know I'm a little slow sometimes but but even I feel now that you're starting to tease me!
As I don't go in for that sort of thing, I'll content myself with listening to Delius' music. I have enjoyed our discussion.
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re political correctenss, vinteuil, I corresponded with a Lakota man a few years ago who reassured me it was OK to refer to 'original Americans' as Indians or even Red Indians. I was recently assured by someone who worked with the Afro-Caribbean community in a large English city that 'negro' is still acceptable, and I still hear 'gypsy' in common parlance and see it in print.
As I've said before I find it dificult to keep up with the changes people like to make to my native language . Is a list of recently-become-banned words published in the London Gazette or some other medium which makes them illegal ? I think not. Maybe we can make up our own minds. I wish I could decide that 'incredible', 'yunnow' , and 'kine of' were illegal
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No teasing - that's not my style, smittims. My hope is, that next time you listen to A Village Romeo and Juliet, our conversation may enrich rather than diminish your pleasure: I know it will mine. That's what matters, after all.Originally posted by smittims View PostThanks, Master Jaques. I know I'm a little slow sometimes but but even I feel now that you're starting to tease me!
As I don't go in for that sort of thing, I'll content myself with listening to Delius' music. I have enjoyed our discussion.
For me, Delius is one of the great opera composers, dealing with the depth and breadth of human experience in a special way not quite like any other. I think of him as the musical equivalent of his great friend Munch, whose work of course extends far beyond the extreme of The Scream. Delius presents us with something like the musical equivalent of Munch's masterly Frieze of Life: they share the same concerns, centred firmly on the big things - love, sex and death.Comment
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An apt comparison. The 'northern' influence in Delius is often overlooked. By 'northern' influence I don't just mean that of his upbringing in Yorkshire, but that which he gained from many visits to Scandinavian countries, and from the interaction with many Scandinavian friends (his wife Jelka was Scandinavian). But it seems those works that have become popular, In a Summer Garden - in fact anything with Summer in the title! - First Cuckoo (although based on a Norwegian folk tune), are the ones most likely to be played. This, I think, gives a rather false picture of Delius oeuvre - or at least an incomplete one. To listen to those works inspired by Delius's many adventures in Norway (his holiday diaries from the years 1888-91 in Carley's Delius:A Life in Letters are an eyeopener: Delius often walked 45 miles a day....sometimes the hard way; up the coast, crossing each fjord and climbing the intervening hills!Originally posted by Master Jacques View Post
This put some steel into his soul....along with the discovery of Nietzsche, and his tough character was set - An Arabesque, Fennimore and Gerda (perhaps the most Munchian!....excepting the happy ending!) and Song of the High Hills (stated quite knowledgeably as representing his Yorkshire upbringing by someone on Radio 3!).
The above will never be the most popular Delius....I holidayed many times in Grez sur Loing, and visited the 'Summer Garden', and love those works associated with that side of this most original of composers...but I'm more intrigued by the side of him shaped by his 'Northern' influences....Glenn Gould's 'The Idea of North', although related to the Canadian wilderness, could equally be applied to those ideals that shaped Delius's personality.
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I like AND AGREE WITH, most OF this paragraph, Master Jacques, but take exception to DELIUS IS ONE OF THE GREAT OPERA COMPOSERS. He isn’t and, maybe THE WALK TO THE PARADISE GARDEN is key to his weakness: his vocal soloists are 2-dimensional and convey insufficient psychological insight into their characters and motivation. THE WALK with its subtle allusions to three bleeding chunks of Wagner, isn’t a late interlude to cover scene changes but an apotheosis and explanation of what the vocal parts have failed to convey in the preceding acts. Yes, Delius has big concerns which his wonderful and allusive orchestral scores capture fully, but hus vocal lines are bland and incapable of conveying the full message and meaning that the character and situation demand. The entr’acte is the real deal and can stand alone, without it the Opera is demeaned. No, for me. Delius joins Franck and Fauré in the also rans of operatic history.Originally posted by Master Jacques View Post
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It would be nice to get an opportunity to make a judgment on Delius and opera in live performance wouldnt it ? One might almost conceive of an organisation devoted to the performance of works in English and with British opera composers regularly presented .
I’ve never seen AVRAJ
What’s Koanga like live ? It seems fairly lurid on the page which is a good start. But would it pass the thought police these days ?Comment
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Here's a little taster of Koanga.....don't worry about political purity, this is a Jamaican production with all black cast....and mostly black audience.Originally posted by Ein Heldenleben View Post
And here's a review of the Wexford perf.
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