Category Archives: Uncategorized

Finale 7 – Lucia Di Lammermoor Act 2

The finale to Act 2 of Donizetti’s masterpiece starts immediately after the conclusion of the famous sextet. Edgardo has stormed into Lammermoor Castle outraged that Lucia is about to marry someone else. She has been tricked into agreeing to a marriage favorable to her brother’s straightened situation. When Edgardo is shown the marriage contract that…


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Otello Opens the Met 2015-16 Season

There’s nothing like a live performance of an opera, especially when you can’t see it. I listened to the Met’s Otello over the Sirius network tonight and thus can’t say anything about Bart Sher’s new production which moved the story to the late 19th century. But judging by the tepid reaction to the production team’s appearance during…


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Margaret Juntwait 1957-2015

Margaret Juntwait died June 3, 2015. She had been the host of the Met’s broadcasts since 2004. The company’s announcement is below. The Metropolitan Opera mourns the death of our radio host Margaret Juntwait, who passed away this morning after a long battle with ovarian cancer. For millions of listeners around the world, Margaret was…


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Placido Domingo’s Birthday

This is a repeat of last year’s observance of Placido Domingo’s birthday To mark the 72nd anniversary of Placido Domingo’s birth (January 21, 1941), here are eleven photographs of the great artist taken by Robert Cahen. There is little to say about Domingo’s career that isn’t self evident. He’s had more roles than Parker House. He’s a…


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Giuseppe Di Stefano – Candid Photos

The photos of Pippo were provided to me by Robert Cahen. The one, just below, with the late tenor and his cigarette holder is priceless. Note the gloves.


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On Climate

July of this year was the hottest July in US history. This  heat, as usual, was attributed by some to man-made global warming. Interestingly, this July was substantially cooler than last July in Lubbock where I live. Go here for all the data. What does this prove? Nothing other than selectively choosing data can give you almost any result…


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Site Back Up

The site was unavailable for about 42 hours. I’m working hard to prevent a recurrence of this glitch. This cause of the outage is still not known to me, but I will get to the bottom it. New material will shortly be posted.


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Verdi – Father and Son

Of Verdi’s mature masterpieces none is less performed than I vespri siciliani (originally Les vêpres siciliennes). Verdi, of course, is best known for his father-daughter interactions, but in this opera it’s a father and son who come into an intense and emotional conflict. Montforte the French governor of conquered (1282) Sicily has just discovered that the…


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Verdi and Father’s Day

I know I’m a bit late, but I’ll post a few excerpts from Verdi’s operas that depict some of his portrayal of fathers. No other composer, in fact no other artist, offered so many compelling examples of paternal love as did the “Bear of Busseto” – his wife’s appellation. Beneath his ursine exterior there was…


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Final Prostate Cancer Recommendations

Though I’ve outlined them earlier in their preliminary form, The final U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement on screening for prostate cancer has been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The one page statement is appended below. Prostate Cancer screening recommendations


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