The sun is so clear and beautiful, and it is cool enough to be outside. So we will sing “Ecco mormorar l’onde,” lyrics by Torquato Tasso, music by Claudio Monteverdi. We can hear it in a lovely, complete piano version. We have available a fragment of Nadia Boulanger’s 1937 recording, in the intended five voices. … More Ecco mormorar l’onde
Cupressus sempervirens are the cypress you see as fences, at the edges of fields in Tuscany and Spain. Their true picture has been painted by Van Gogh and many others. When my new cupressus sempervirens grow they will protect my house from the street, like this. Now they are very small. They came from Oregon, … More Italian Cypress
Heresy 1 would be what I said about Al-Anon on this comment thread yesterday afternoon, adding random points and thoughts in between grading papers and updating departmental websites. A boil-down of those comments might be to say that I find the formulaic nature of the program very constraining. Formulas, guidelines, and paradigms all have their … More Heresy 2
When J. M. Bordaberry was president of Uruguay, I was a foreign exchange student in Scandinavia. Soon after I arrived there, Pinochet took over in Chile. There were Chilean students on my program. Their parents spoke to them by telephone–in that era, when international long distance calls were far from common–to say, do not come … More J. M. Bordaberry
Now it is the weekend, so it is time to sing! It is said that Allons à Lafayette is the first Cajun song ever to have been recorded. The recording was made in 1928 by Cleoma Breaux Falcon and her brothers. We can listen to some of the 1963 recording by Joe Falcon, made at … More Creole Violin
Here is a new picture of the re-emerging god/dess, Tlaltecuhtli, and here are two other, already excavated, gorgeous images of him/her. I would like to finish learning Arabic, and take up Náhuatl. Axé.
Welcome to Wobegon’s Post-Katrina University, where all the men are good-looking, all the women are intelligent, and all the players are injured. All the veterans are decorated, and each decoration consists of something more than a purple heart. Axé.
The first time I heard the word subaltern was in the context of postcolonial literary studies. The subaltern classes seemed to be colonized peoples. I thought “subaltern” was a good term, for that Other (alter) which is, of course, always Underneath (sub). I then discovered that “subaltern” was originally a military term, referring to lower … More The Word Subaltern
Algo de música I like the way Monteverdi’s music moves between chant, polyphony, and dance. Voice and lyrics are foregrounded, but suffused with lilting and jumping. Now I am playing the instrumental introduction to Chiome d’oro [Chiome d’oro, bel tesoro, tu mi leghi in mille modi…], whose lyrics I will reproduce, illustrated with Botticelli’s Birth … More Secret Lives
The best recordings of Claudio Monteverdi‘s madrigals are those directed by Nadia Boulanger, whose studios in Paris were referred to infomally as “La Boulangerie.” Here it is possible to listen to a minute of “Zefiro Torna,” which I am playing now. Zefiro torna e di soavi accenti L’aer fa grato e’l pie discoglie a l’onde … More Zefiro Torna
coldhearted scientist وداد 