Saturday Afternoon Opera

A Lifelong Companion

For many, even those who enjoy classical music, opera is a yet to be acquired taste in music. Remember Tony Randall of "The Odd Couple" and way earlier "Mr. Peepers" fame on TV? He was an opera lover of the first order even to being one of the expert panelists during the Opera Quiz intermission feature of the Saturday afternoon Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. He did not discover opera until in his early 20s when my father, his unit buddy in the U.S. Army Air Corps stationed on Guam during World War II, challenged him to put aside his Beethoven and "try some really great stuff"; to join him in listening to a recording of Puccini's La Boheme. The rest is history.

Opera was not a taste I had to acquire over time. Rather, it was in the air I breathed from the very beginning. My first memory of listening to records at home comes from around 1952 when my parents purchased a Magnavox TV console which also included a radio and a turn table. In 1990 my father converted it into a cabinet for his stereo and later his CD player. Two recordings stand out in memory; the cast recording of South Pacific ( Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza) and Lily Pons' 78 rpm recording of the Mad Scene from the opera "Lucia di Lammermoor" with the Bell Song from "Lakme" on the flip side.  Pretty interesting combination, isn't it. My father's tastes were very eclectic.

Early on I was introduced to the very best, not at the opera house but by recordings and the Saturday afternoon Met broadcasts on the radio. Wherever my father was at that time his radio was tuned into WQXR with Milton Cross mellifluously giving a synopsis of each act and offering commentary. Occasionally Saturday afternoon might find me in my uncle's Buick sitting next to my Aunt Millie and begging her to tell the story of what ever Met opera was coming through the car radio. I listened to these opera lovers rate performances and compare singers. Soon I learned what to listen for and who I should be sure to hear.

Each year I check the Met broadcast schedule for the season and try to plan Saturdays based on the days of performances of favorite operas or singers. Yesterday was the regular "Cav/Pag" double header of two short operas, "Cavalleria Rusticana" by Pietro Mascagni and "Il Pagliacci" by Ruggero Leoncavallo. Yesterday I planned my long trip to visit my mother in a Brewster nursing home around the first half of the broadcast. "Cavalleria Rusticana" set in a Sicilian village and sung with a libretto true to the Sicilian dialect with which I am so familiar.

This opera is a small gem. The melodies are moving and soaring communicating beauty in a bucolic countryside, passionate love, religious devotion in Easter morning worship, destruction wrought by jealousy, and prayer of utter despair. The opera also sports a huge chorus which is used to full effect.

I few years ago I discovered a You Tube video of Franco Zefferelli's film production of the opera featuring Domingo, Obraztsova, Bruson and Pretre. It was filmed largely out doors in an Italian village. In this way the way film builds upon what is called the "verismo" quality of the opera which provides for a portrayal of Sicilian culture and customs with great realism. It is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeQBY_ZpejI. The technical quality of the film does leave a great deal to be desired but the music and the singing is great. But what makes it even more special are the visuals of the village and Sicilian customs of the period. This may be a small sip that will begin your process of acquiring a 'taste' for this evocative art form.

Note: Link to a synopsis of "Cavalleria Rusticana" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalleria_rusticana

Immaculate Heart of Mary

The following hymn was sung at the opening of our prayer this morning. The words were written by our very creative Sr. Moira Quinn, OSsR. The text is very moving whether as a spoken prayer or sung to the tune of Sibelius' "Finlandia". May it bring you closer to Our Mother in Faith.

White is the Rose


White is the rose of beauty of beginnings.
Woman of joy, you heard and you believed.
You share our dreams of what the future offers;
Pray we be one: a people full of joy.
Walk with us now, our Mother and our Sister,
We follow you, our guide in times of joy.


Red is the rose of sorrows deep and lasting.
Woman of faith, you saw and you were grieved.
You share our tears when all we see is horror;
Pray we be one: a people full of faith.
Walk with us now, our Mother and our Sister,
We follow you, our guide in times of tears.


Gold is the rose of triumph unimagined.
Woman of hope, you sensed all would be well.
You shared that trust in One who came to save us;
Pray we be one: a people full of hope.
Walk with us now, our Mother and our Sister,
We follow you, our guide in times of hope.


True is the rose of wonder in God’s presence.
Woman of love, you sought Home in your heart.
You shared that grace and rest in the Beloved;
Pray we be one: a people full of love.
Walk with us now, our Mother and our Sister,
We follow you, our guide in times of grace.


Text: 11 10 11 10 11 10; Moira Quinn, OSsR © October 7, 2005
Redemptoristine Nuns of New York, Inc.
Tune: FINLANDIA by Jean Sibelius 1865-1957

Another Contemplative CD

Stefan at Jade Music out in California has sent me another CD; one that could be called 'Sounds for Contemplation.' Jade produced the CD of the soundtrack of the documentary film Into Great Silence by the German film maker Philip Groning which was such a hit last year. This new CD is a recording of Sunday Matins, three Nocturnes and Lauds (Offices of the Liturgy of the Hours). The monks enter the choir at quarter past midnight to chant this Office of the Night. Absent is the sanitized purity of studio recordings. The sound of foot steps, coughs, creaking floor boards, and knees hitting wood are the ambient noises accompanying the other worldly Latin chant of the Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse monastery in France. Close your eyes and you are in their midst. It is a sound not just for the souls of contemplative nuns and monks but for those who wish to be transported into another world designed only to support the search for God.

Along with the CD comes a booklet in which all the of Psalms, hymns and readings appear in Latin and English should one wish to pray along. An introduction entitled "Who Is a Monk?" concludes with these words:

Because of his small but significant part, the Carthusian monk

is a canal of life: a very thin artery that has the capacity

to spread the spiritual energy of the divine grace

all over the surface of the earth and even in the whole body of Creation.

Something Very Different

Responses to this blog are coming from some very interesting people and places. Recently, a representative of Jade Music http://www.jade-music.com/ sent two CDs asking that I listen to them and perhaps write a review. Me! A contemplative nun! I feel rather like a pretender in even attempting such a thing.

I have no, absolutely no, formal musical training except for school choruses and the community choir of this monastery. My sisters can tell you how well, or not so well I do in the choir. My first musical memories consist of the themes of various radio soap operas and Teresa Brewer singing "Put another nickel in. All I want is music, music, music." As for recorded music, that began with my father's first LPs of the original Broadway cast album of South Pacific and the lilting tones of Lily Pons operatic soprano in the Bell Song from Lakme and the mad scene from Lucia di Lammermoor. So early on I was hooked on rock and roll, light classical music and opera. Then came the movie Amadeus with its announcement that there was a world of heavier classical music being missed. I was off and running.

I had heard of Olivier Messiaen 1908-1992) only a few weeks before receiving the CD. There was a big article about him in the Arts and Leisure Section of the Sunday New York Times. The following is from his web page:

From very early on it was clear that Messiaen would be a composer who would stand alone in the history of music. Coming not from any particular 'school' or style but forming and creating his own totally individual musical voice. He achieved this by creating his own 'modes of limited transposition', taking rhythmic ideas from India (deci tala), ancient Greece and the orient and most importantly adapting the songs of birds from around the world. He was a man of many interests including painting, literature, and the orient where he took in not only the musical culture but theatre, literature and even the cuisine of foreign countries! The single most important driving force in his musical creations was his devout Catholic faith.

In my amateurish way I describe his music as avante garde. Judging from the responses I have received from a few who have heard his works he is either adored or dismissed. Perhaps in the way that Philip Glass's modern operas are embraced by some and ignored by others. Since I am a simple melody-type person some of the pieces on this CD, Olivier Messiaen -Never Before Released, did not have much appeal to me but I found the organ pieces to be wonderful. The artists rendering Messiean's compositions are superb. Since this significant composer of the 20th century is receiving such attention these days, this CD would be a good place to find an introduction.

About the second CD, The Marriage of the Heavens and the Earth, modern renderings of the words and music of the medieval mystic Hildegard of Bingen, I feel a bit more competent to make comment. I have long been a student of Hildegard, a genius by any definition; woman of faith, leader, author, playwright, natural healer, preacher, musician, composer, as well as friend and critic of monks, clerics, and bishops.

In the last twenty-five years many recordings of her chant, unusual for its range and patterns, have been released. The CD mentioned here is very different in straying from historical authenticity and venturing into new expressions of words and melody along with interesting accompaniment by variety of percussion instruments. Along with the dulcimer there are bells, mbira, tanpura, Tibetan bowls, cymbals, Burmese gongs, bendirs and darabuka. In addition, the voice of Catherine Braslavsky has an unusual quality which I attribute to her experience not only with Gregorian chant but also Indian and Judeo Spanish harmonic chant. At times the vibrato in her voice reminded me of Arabic keening, that high pitched undulating wail. The use of Oriental percussion instruments was very appealing. Perhaps Hildegard purists would disagree about these adaptations. But I think Hildegard would be delighted. I particularly liked the Kyrie Eleison.

Listening to these CDs was an exploration into the previously unknown. It was an interesting and pleasurable journey. Perhaps it is one you'd like to take.