I had intended only to write about musical matters, a film about the life of Celine Dion and the 1950’s Hollywood production of the Jazz Singer sandwiched between the original Al Jolson version and that of Neil Diamond half a century later. There is also the Rock Concert for children and the X Factor. Then there is I Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana.
There has also been an excellent England 50 over win against South Africa and Sunderland beat Arsenal at home and one Monday Newcastle had long drawn out and hard fought win over Preston away from home. I have eaten well but wasted nearly an hour trying to find the renewal form for car tax as well as attending to other financial matters. It was Wednesday before I got round to ringing the renewal office in Wales and discovered that there has now been further improvement. Last year I spoke to a human being who while taking details checked electronically that I was insured to drive the vehicle which had a Ministry of Transport Test Certificate regarding road worthiness. This year I was relayed to a different number where everything was done electronically in a matter of minutes as fast as automated instruction options were given and I could key in the information. What brains who designed the system folks, this marks a step in the evolution of humanity.
The main development which overshadowed music is the extensive flooding and damage to property in neighbouring Cumbria and which in turn is overshadowed by the death of a service policeman, married with four children. Last night regional TV was holding a competition arranged by the national lottery in which the general public can vote for one of pairs of good projects to allocated the funds for a needy addition to their voluntary work.
One was a Mental Health Charity based on a town in Northumberland, Blythe which I passed through earlier in the year in search of Wilkinson’s and folders for holding display sets. The Other was the North East Rescue service in which volunteers are prepared to go out in all conditions, locations and times in search of missing persons. They use four wheeled land rover but need a command vehicle in which they store their equipment, house electronic communication and information and hold meetings to organise a search undercover, all of which has to be done in the vehicle cabs or outsider at present. Sadly the Blythe project will miss out because of coincidence however unfortunate and tragic. One of the additional problems this time is the destruction of bridges such has been the force of water, cutting the town of Workington into so those living on the North side have a journey of over 40 miles and up to two hours because of traffic jams to reach the town centre for which some could walk across the bridge. Fortunately the Train line is working and that mains services which were carried under the bridge have been re-laid or relayed. I was not sure which applies.
I also want to note the most interesting of the four episodes of Garrow’s Law which appeared on Sunday night Sir William Garrow PC that Privy Councillor of State not Personal or public computer! The programme deals with his first years as a barrister appearing for defendants in criminal proceedings where the common outcome was death and the second transportation. Barristers could ask questions of a witness against the accused but could not address the jury directly. Prosecuting barristers and judges frequently dined socially at which the political and social approach to the law was discussed. This was the era of the rotten borough when a community with a handful of voters could send one or two Members of Parliament to Westminster while the new cities such as Birmingham with sixty thousand males eligible to vote sent no one. The franchise was restricted to male property owners. There were jury trials who were hand picked and were expected to reach decisions quickly while sitting in the open court.
On real life Sir William did set out to change the system into a fairer one and through his rise to power and standing was able to do so, He lived for eighty years from 1760. After his success in winning many hopeless causes at the Old Bailey he became a Member of Parliament, the Solicitor General and the Attorney General and then a Judge and when he retired at the age of seventy two he was appointed to the Privy Council. He was responsible for the development of the Adversarial system here in the UK and which also developed in the USA where elsewhere, notably in France there is the Inquisitorial system which I believe is a better approach.
The BBC attempted to convey something of the era in which he first worked as a barrister with four hour long dramas. How far he was involved. if all in the actual cases used in the programme and drawn from Old Bailey records was not stated but the last was the most engaging and I suggest important because it concerned one of the leaders of the London Corresponding society, prosecuted for High Treason and where if found guilty he would have been hung drawn and quartered. In fact two of the leaders were found guilty in one instance and transported for 14 years. The purpose of the society, largely formed of trades people with tailors, watchmakers, shoemakers and weavers forming about a third of its recorded membership of 347 was to widen the Franchise, although many were also against organised religion hold the view that reason and nature were the way to experience God and the issue which provoked the government most into action was their opposition to the wars with France. There was concern about the spread of branches to Manchester, Sheffield Stockport and Norwich and in particular plans to hold a UK national convention when meetings began to attract thousands of interested people
In the fourth drama the emphasis was an unscrupulous juridical system heavily influence by the state for political reasons and where the best friend of the accused was a government spies. In fact the government then used planted informed widely as it has done ever since and which all governments always do. The extent of monitoring and intelligence gathering is extensive and today the state has extensively greater powers to do so in relative secret through the development of electronic communications and monitoring systems as well as national and international databases.
An the end of the trial Garrow makes an impassioned speech about the ideals of democracy, justice and freedom to as well as freedom from and on what should be the limits of the power state which was intended to have relevance to day as it did then. The programme was timed with the opening of the independent commission into the causes of British involvement in the Iraq War. The BBC News channel Red button and the Internet are providing live coverage of the open sessions and there is to be a site where some background papers are to be made available.
So to the music with first the film, an unauthorised biography of the Canadian singer Celine Dion. A singer whose name I knew well but knew nothing of her life or that she had won the European Song Contest or remembered she was the voice behind the song in Titanic. My impression is that the film set to be an honest and frank account of her early life as a singer life. She was brought up in French speaking Canada as part of a huge Catholic family where she was the youngest of fourteen children who were all brought up musically minded and both parents sang popular music and encouraged their children to perform with them at was has been described as a local piano bar. They also composed songs and with the help of her mother and a brother, Dion created a tape of her first song in French- It was only a dream when she was twelve years of age. The brother discovered that the manager/agent for someone whose record album they had purchased was called Rene Angelil and sent him the recording. He was so impressed with the voice of the girl and that he decided to devote himself to making her a star, mortgaging his family home to finance her first record.
At first in Quebec and then throughout Canada and then the rest of the world her work as an adolescent singer became known and appreciated and as she was the first Canadian artist to achieve a Gold record sale in France. At eighteen after seeing a Michael Jackson concert she told Angelil she wanted to be an International Star like him. He realised that there had to be changes so she he arranged for her to become internationally English speaking, she had surgery to improve her features and she concentrated on creating a new adult image from that of the child star. While her status progressed it was not until the late 1990’s and in her mid twenties that she achieved the international stardom which was her ambition and which has continued to this day.
The film appears to have dealt with her relationship with Angelil in an honest way in that when it became evident that the relationship between the two was becoming close her mother is alleged to have stepped in to ensure that the relationship remained professional given the difference in ages. The film suggests that the relationship developed later but was kept secret from the public until Rene had a heart attack. The factual aspect is that Rene had married twice before wedding Celine, the first in the year that the singer was born and that he had a child by each of his wives. He is well known to have become a successful high stakes gambler and poker player. Celine gave up her worldwide engagements when her husband developed throat caner from which he recovered. I liked the film and will look out for her records.
I have now seen three versions of the Jazz Singer. The first was the Al Jolson 1927 version and the second the 1980 Neil Diamond. I was disappointed by the Neil Diamond when I saw it in theatre film because I had forgotten that it was a remake of the Jolson and thought it was about a Jazz singer which it is not. I have now seen the 1952 version which has Peggy Lee playing the famous singer who became his wife. There is a fourth version made in 1959 as part of a TV series and with Jerry Lewis in the title role, although there are no copies now of the production.
The story should be known to most people of my generation as it follows closely that of the early of Al Jolson himself. The story is of a good Jewish singer who is expected to follow in the footsteps of his father the Cantor at their synagogue. The young man has other ideas and wants to go into show business variety and leaves home to do so, with his father effectively disinheriting him as his son as a consequence. The young man retains contact with his mother. He establishes a relationship with a established singer who is not Jewish with adds further to the alienation with his father. Just when he is about to open in a big show his father becomes dangerously ill and the return home for a conciliation, taking his place temporarily in the Synagogue for one of the most important religious dates in the Jewish Calendar. Father recovers sufficiently to accept his son’s vocation and to hear him sing in public. In terms of choice of music and singing voice this is the weakest of the three films although Peggy Lee was one of the great Jazz singers of my generation who died at the age of 80 in 2002. The Jolson and Neil Diamond films are worth seeing several times in any lifetime.
As gala charity raising rock and pop concerts go that for Children in Need last week was pretty good with Robbie Williams taking the stage immediately after Take That, and Cheryl Cole doing a raunchy version of her recent hit, Kathryn Jenkins proving what singings is really about and Annie Lennox continuing to show what a class act she is as well as good soul. I tend to feel Paul McCartney is overrated although I enjoyed his Hey Jude led finale. I also saw Sunday‘s Antique Road show on the i player and which came from Bletchley were the first computer was built and sued as part of British intelligence. Why all the records and evidence was destroyed remains a mystery but enthusiasts have rebuilt the computer and some of those who worked there and who are still alive have been able to admit that they did. During the programme two women who had met the Beatles when children were interviewed. Paul had been at a pub when asked about food in the days before this became the main function of Inns and he had been taken back to their home by his parents and he had entertained them afterwards with the guitar the girl was learning to play and had sung Hey Jude before it had been recorded and released to the public. The other girl had attended a meal provided the Beatles after they had done a gig at Stow school for which the quartet had been paid £100. The two women had photos, letters and signatures which were said to be worth between £1000 and £1500 but the memories were priceless.
What astounded me about the Children in Need concert is that it is usually difficult to hear the singers because the audience screams and shouts most of the time and for which the X factor is to blame. Last, and this, week the programme continues to show that the audience likes to ignore the advice of the judges, except Simon, and that it is a singing competition for those who can make a successful popular music record and album. The programme is timed to that the winner of the contest has the the most popular release at Christmas Time and more recently the charity song which includes the top ten performers also becomes the best seller for at least one week.
For the past six weeks we have been entertained by two Irish sixteen year old twin boys who have distinctive hair styles and are full of energy and have learnt to dance but cannot hold a tune. Originally they were also obnoxious but with the right team behind them and Louis Walsh doing his best to avoid being without anyone to mentor after first couple of weeks they survived to knock out a good singer from Wales but who lacked the charisma which is needed to break into the pop world these days and stay there. This week the boys got their comeuppance as the judges found that the public had also voted down what many regarded as the best make signer left although he again lacks charisma. Danny, the sister of you know who, mentors the very likeable single mother Jewish singer Stacey Solomon who has a voice on a par with Leone and last year’s winner. As the public clearly have not taken to Leon, the male challenge comes from Joe from South Shields who I agree with Louis is likely to be a good musical show lead performer and Simon’s school teacher who has plenty of attitude which did not work with the public which they interpreted as conceit. The dark horse is a pretty sixteen seventeen year old without a strong voice who despite attacks by the judges especially Louis the public has not placed in the bottom two. Louis hoped last week was that the choice between the lad and his duo the judges would keep John and Edward in because they were better entertainers that the pretty boy and in truth it is entertainment and commercial potential that Simon and the judges are looking for.
Most people know the aria from I Pagliacci although I suspect most are unaware that the composer was Ruggero Leoncavallo whose greatest known work is La Boheme. The one Act opera usually is usually performed with Cavallerria Rusticana, another one act opera by Pietro Masacani and which I experienced this week with the Met Opera Player and where both roles are performed by Placido Domino. The sound quality was not good which defeats the purpose and I will look to see if there is another video on the site. The Met Player site promised that last year’s finals of the National Auditions would eb broadcast from November 17th but so far no joy and similar the live Royal Opera House performance of Don Carlos where I caught only the first act is promised to be coming soon on the BBC i player for Channel 4. Both male lead tenor roles were performed by Placido Domingo
Turiddu is young villager returning from military service to find that his fiancée has married someone else who is wealthy and seduces another village girl in revenge. Equally jealous by this development Lola starts an adulterous affair with her former fiancée. The truth of the situation emerges and it is the young girl who is excommunicated from her church because of the affair. Lola goes into the church mocking the girl left outside and who then advises Lola’s husband of his wife’s infidelity. Turiddu comes out of the church and invites everyone to his mother’s wine shop. Lola’s husband arrives and the women leave. The husband issues a Sicilian challenge of a fight to the death. The opera ends with news of the death of Triddu. Among those who have made audio recordings of the opera are Beniamino Gili, Maria Callas, Victoria del las Angeles, Renata Tebaldi, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras. Franco Zeffirelli made a film in 1982 with Placido Domingo and the symphonic Intermezzo was used in the film Raging Bull and the Godfather Part III.
Pagliacci is a play within a play. It features a troupe of touring players where the wife of the head of the troupe is having an affair with a member. The troupe perform a play in which the wife of Pagliacci played by the head of the troupe is also having an affair but with a different member of the troupe. In the opening Prologue Pagliacci reminds the audience that actors have feelings too and that the show is about real life. The players arrive in a village where they are invited to the local Inn for a drink before the evening performance. Observing the interaction between the wife of the troupe head, Canio and a member villages draw this to the attention of the Cano. He laughs this away saying that what happen in the performance is one thing but in real life he will not tolerate anyone making advances to his wife. Another member of the cast says he is in love the wife while the husband is away drinking in the tavern. She scorns him but is afraid of what her husband will do if he finds out that she is having an affair. Her lover comes and asks her to run away with him. The husband returns hoping to catch the adulterous couple together but the lover escapes with the wife saying. I will always be yours. Canio threatens his wife with a knife but his friend disarms and says the man will give himself away in the play. It is at this point that Cano sings Venti la grubba-Put on the costume.
The play follows closely what has been happening off stage and at crucial point Canio cannot go and demands to know who his wife’s lover is. She asks Pagliacci to remember that they have an audience and he sings the famous No! Pagliaccio non son! and explains that he is pale because of the shame she has brought him. The crowd believing this is still the play cheer his emotional performance in the play. He is still distraught demanding to know her lover and he grabs a knife and stabs her and then as her lover comes to her aid Canio stabs him and says- The play is over.
The most famous recordings have been by Maria Callas, Tito Gobbi, Pavarotti and Domingo, Gigli, Victoria de los Angeles and Montserrat Caballe. The opera has had major impact on popular culture from music to film and TV
There has also been an excellent England 50 over win against South Africa and Sunderland beat Arsenal at home and one Monday Newcastle had long drawn out and hard fought win over Preston away from home. I have eaten well but wasted nearly an hour trying to find the renewal form for car tax as well as attending to other financial matters. It was Wednesday before I got round to ringing the renewal office in Wales and discovered that there has now been further improvement. Last year I spoke to a human being who while taking details checked electronically that I was insured to drive the vehicle which had a Ministry of Transport Test Certificate regarding road worthiness. This year I was relayed to a different number where everything was done electronically in a matter of minutes as fast as automated instruction options were given and I could key in the information. What brains who designed the system folks, this marks a step in the evolution of humanity.
The main development which overshadowed music is the extensive flooding and damage to property in neighbouring Cumbria and which in turn is overshadowed by the death of a service policeman, married with four children. Last night regional TV was holding a competition arranged by the national lottery in which the general public can vote for one of pairs of good projects to allocated the funds for a needy addition to their voluntary work.
One was a Mental Health Charity based on a town in Northumberland, Blythe which I passed through earlier in the year in search of Wilkinson’s and folders for holding display sets. The Other was the North East Rescue service in which volunteers are prepared to go out in all conditions, locations and times in search of missing persons. They use four wheeled land rover but need a command vehicle in which they store their equipment, house electronic communication and information and hold meetings to organise a search undercover, all of which has to be done in the vehicle cabs or outsider at present. Sadly the Blythe project will miss out because of coincidence however unfortunate and tragic. One of the additional problems this time is the destruction of bridges such has been the force of water, cutting the town of Workington into so those living on the North side have a journey of over 40 miles and up to two hours because of traffic jams to reach the town centre for which some could walk across the bridge. Fortunately the Train line is working and that mains services which were carried under the bridge have been re-laid or relayed. I was not sure which applies.
I also want to note the most interesting of the four episodes of Garrow’s Law which appeared on Sunday night Sir William Garrow PC that Privy Councillor of State not Personal or public computer! The programme deals with his first years as a barrister appearing for defendants in criminal proceedings where the common outcome was death and the second transportation. Barristers could ask questions of a witness against the accused but could not address the jury directly. Prosecuting barristers and judges frequently dined socially at which the political and social approach to the law was discussed. This was the era of the rotten borough when a community with a handful of voters could send one or two Members of Parliament to Westminster while the new cities such as Birmingham with sixty thousand males eligible to vote sent no one. The franchise was restricted to male property owners. There were jury trials who were hand picked and were expected to reach decisions quickly while sitting in the open court.
On real life Sir William did set out to change the system into a fairer one and through his rise to power and standing was able to do so, He lived for eighty years from 1760. After his success in winning many hopeless causes at the Old Bailey he became a Member of Parliament, the Solicitor General and the Attorney General and then a Judge and when he retired at the age of seventy two he was appointed to the Privy Council. He was responsible for the development of the Adversarial system here in the UK and which also developed in the USA where elsewhere, notably in France there is the Inquisitorial system which I believe is a better approach.
The BBC attempted to convey something of the era in which he first worked as a barrister with four hour long dramas. How far he was involved. if all in the actual cases used in the programme and drawn from Old Bailey records was not stated but the last was the most engaging and I suggest important because it concerned one of the leaders of the London Corresponding society, prosecuted for High Treason and where if found guilty he would have been hung drawn and quartered. In fact two of the leaders were found guilty in one instance and transported for 14 years. The purpose of the society, largely formed of trades people with tailors, watchmakers, shoemakers and weavers forming about a third of its recorded membership of 347 was to widen the Franchise, although many were also against organised religion hold the view that reason and nature were the way to experience God and the issue which provoked the government most into action was their opposition to the wars with France. There was concern about the spread of branches to Manchester, Sheffield Stockport and Norwich and in particular plans to hold a UK national convention when meetings began to attract thousands of interested people
In the fourth drama the emphasis was an unscrupulous juridical system heavily influence by the state for political reasons and where the best friend of the accused was a government spies. In fact the government then used planted informed widely as it has done ever since and which all governments always do. The extent of monitoring and intelligence gathering is extensive and today the state has extensively greater powers to do so in relative secret through the development of electronic communications and monitoring systems as well as national and international databases.
An the end of the trial Garrow makes an impassioned speech about the ideals of democracy, justice and freedom to as well as freedom from and on what should be the limits of the power state which was intended to have relevance to day as it did then. The programme was timed with the opening of the independent commission into the causes of British involvement in the Iraq War. The BBC News channel Red button and the Internet are providing live coverage of the open sessions and there is to be a site where some background papers are to be made available.
So to the music with first the film, an unauthorised biography of the Canadian singer Celine Dion. A singer whose name I knew well but knew nothing of her life or that she had won the European Song Contest or remembered she was the voice behind the song in Titanic. My impression is that the film set to be an honest and frank account of her early life as a singer life. She was brought up in French speaking Canada as part of a huge Catholic family where she was the youngest of fourteen children who were all brought up musically minded and both parents sang popular music and encouraged their children to perform with them at was has been described as a local piano bar. They also composed songs and with the help of her mother and a brother, Dion created a tape of her first song in French- It was only a dream when she was twelve years of age. The brother discovered that the manager/agent for someone whose record album they had purchased was called Rene Angelil and sent him the recording. He was so impressed with the voice of the girl and that he decided to devote himself to making her a star, mortgaging his family home to finance her first record.
At first in Quebec and then throughout Canada and then the rest of the world her work as an adolescent singer became known and appreciated and as she was the first Canadian artist to achieve a Gold record sale in France. At eighteen after seeing a Michael Jackson concert she told Angelil she wanted to be an International Star like him. He realised that there had to be changes so she he arranged for her to become internationally English speaking, she had surgery to improve her features and she concentrated on creating a new adult image from that of the child star. While her status progressed it was not until the late 1990’s and in her mid twenties that she achieved the international stardom which was her ambition and which has continued to this day.
The film appears to have dealt with her relationship with Angelil in an honest way in that when it became evident that the relationship between the two was becoming close her mother is alleged to have stepped in to ensure that the relationship remained professional given the difference in ages. The film suggests that the relationship developed later but was kept secret from the public until Rene had a heart attack. The factual aspect is that Rene had married twice before wedding Celine, the first in the year that the singer was born and that he had a child by each of his wives. He is well known to have become a successful high stakes gambler and poker player. Celine gave up her worldwide engagements when her husband developed throat caner from which he recovered. I liked the film and will look out for her records.
I have now seen three versions of the Jazz Singer. The first was the Al Jolson 1927 version and the second the 1980 Neil Diamond. I was disappointed by the Neil Diamond when I saw it in theatre film because I had forgotten that it was a remake of the Jolson and thought it was about a Jazz singer which it is not. I have now seen the 1952 version which has Peggy Lee playing the famous singer who became his wife. There is a fourth version made in 1959 as part of a TV series and with Jerry Lewis in the title role, although there are no copies now of the production.
The story should be known to most people of my generation as it follows closely that of the early of Al Jolson himself. The story is of a good Jewish singer who is expected to follow in the footsteps of his father the Cantor at their synagogue. The young man has other ideas and wants to go into show business variety and leaves home to do so, with his father effectively disinheriting him as his son as a consequence. The young man retains contact with his mother. He establishes a relationship with a established singer who is not Jewish with adds further to the alienation with his father. Just when he is about to open in a big show his father becomes dangerously ill and the return home for a conciliation, taking his place temporarily in the Synagogue for one of the most important religious dates in the Jewish Calendar. Father recovers sufficiently to accept his son’s vocation and to hear him sing in public. In terms of choice of music and singing voice this is the weakest of the three films although Peggy Lee was one of the great Jazz singers of my generation who died at the age of 80 in 2002. The Jolson and Neil Diamond films are worth seeing several times in any lifetime.
As gala charity raising rock and pop concerts go that for Children in Need last week was pretty good with Robbie Williams taking the stage immediately after Take That, and Cheryl Cole doing a raunchy version of her recent hit, Kathryn Jenkins proving what singings is really about and Annie Lennox continuing to show what a class act she is as well as good soul. I tend to feel Paul McCartney is overrated although I enjoyed his Hey Jude led finale. I also saw Sunday‘s Antique Road show on the i player and which came from Bletchley were the first computer was built and sued as part of British intelligence. Why all the records and evidence was destroyed remains a mystery but enthusiasts have rebuilt the computer and some of those who worked there and who are still alive have been able to admit that they did. During the programme two women who had met the Beatles when children were interviewed. Paul had been at a pub when asked about food in the days before this became the main function of Inns and he had been taken back to their home by his parents and he had entertained them afterwards with the guitar the girl was learning to play and had sung Hey Jude before it had been recorded and released to the public. The other girl had attended a meal provided the Beatles after they had done a gig at Stow school for which the quartet had been paid £100. The two women had photos, letters and signatures which were said to be worth between £1000 and £1500 but the memories were priceless.
What astounded me about the Children in Need concert is that it is usually difficult to hear the singers because the audience screams and shouts most of the time and for which the X factor is to blame. Last, and this, week the programme continues to show that the audience likes to ignore the advice of the judges, except Simon, and that it is a singing competition for those who can make a successful popular music record and album. The programme is timed to that the winner of the contest has the the most popular release at Christmas Time and more recently the charity song which includes the top ten performers also becomes the best seller for at least one week.
For the past six weeks we have been entertained by two Irish sixteen year old twin boys who have distinctive hair styles and are full of energy and have learnt to dance but cannot hold a tune. Originally they were also obnoxious but with the right team behind them and Louis Walsh doing his best to avoid being without anyone to mentor after first couple of weeks they survived to knock out a good singer from Wales but who lacked the charisma which is needed to break into the pop world these days and stay there. This week the boys got their comeuppance as the judges found that the public had also voted down what many regarded as the best make signer left although he again lacks charisma. Danny, the sister of you know who, mentors the very likeable single mother Jewish singer Stacey Solomon who has a voice on a par with Leone and last year’s winner. As the public clearly have not taken to Leon, the male challenge comes from Joe from South Shields who I agree with Louis is likely to be a good musical show lead performer and Simon’s school teacher who has plenty of attitude which did not work with the public which they interpreted as conceit. The dark horse is a pretty sixteen seventeen year old without a strong voice who despite attacks by the judges especially Louis the public has not placed in the bottom two. Louis hoped last week was that the choice between the lad and his duo the judges would keep John and Edward in because they were better entertainers that the pretty boy and in truth it is entertainment and commercial potential that Simon and the judges are looking for.
Most people know the aria from I Pagliacci although I suspect most are unaware that the composer was Ruggero Leoncavallo whose greatest known work is La Boheme. The one Act opera usually is usually performed with Cavallerria Rusticana, another one act opera by Pietro Masacani and which I experienced this week with the Met Opera Player and where both roles are performed by Placido Domino. The sound quality was not good which defeats the purpose and I will look to see if there is another video on the site. The Met Player site promised that last year’s finals of the National Auditions would eb broadcast from November 17th but so far no joy and similar the live Royal Opera House performance of Don Carlos where I caught only the first act is promised to be coming soon on the BBC i player for Channel 4. Both male lead tenor roles were performed by Placido Domingo
Turiddu is young villager returning from military service to find that his fiancée has married someone else who is wealthy and seduces another village girl in revenge. Equally jealous by this development Lola starts an adulterous affair with her former fiancée. The truth of the situation emerges and it is the young girl who is excommunicated from her church because of the affair. Lola goes into the church mocking the girl left outside and who then advises Lola’s husband of his wife’s infidelity. Turiddu comes out of the church and invites everyone to his mother’s wine shop. Lola’s husband arrives and the women leave. The husband issues a Sicilian challenge of a fight to the death. The opera ends with news of the death of Triddu. Among those who have made audio recordings of the opera are Beniamino Gili, Maria Callas, Victoria del las Angeles, Renata Tebaldi, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras. Franco Zeffirelli made a film in 1982 with Placido Domingo and the symphonic Intermezzo was used in the film Raging Bull and the Godfather Part III.
Pagliacci is a play within a play. It features a troupe of touring players where the wife of the head of the troupe is having an affair with a member. The troupe perform a play in which the wife of Pagliacci played by the head of the troupe is also having an affair but with a different member of the troupe. In the opening Prologue Pagliacci reminds the audience that actors have feelings too and that the show is about real life. The players arrive in a village where they are invited to the local Inn for a drink before the evening performance. Observing the interaction between the wife of the troupe head, Canio and a member villages draw this to the attention of the Cano. He laughs this away saying that what happen in the performance is one thing but in real life he will not tolerate anyone making advances to his wife. Another member of the cast says he is in love the wife while the husband is away drinking in the tavern. She scorns him but is afraid of what her husband will do if he finds out that she is having an affair. Her lover comes and asks her to run away with him. The husband returns hoping to catch the adulterous couple together but the lover escapes with the wife saying. I will always be yours. Canio threatens his wife with a knife but his friend disarms and says the man will give himself away in the play. It is at this point that Cano sings Venti la grubba-Put on the costume.
The play follows closely what has been happening off stage and at crucial point Canio cannot go and demands to know who his wife’s lover is. She asks Pagliacci to remember that they have an audience and he sings the famous No! Pagliaccio non son! and explains that he is pale because of the shame she has brought him. The crowd believing this is still the play cheer his emotional performance in the play. He is still distraught demanding to know her lover and he grabs a knife and stabs her and then as her lover comes to her aid Canio stabs him and says- The play is over.
The most famous recordings have been by Maria Callas, Tito Gobbi, Pavarotti and Domingo, Gigli, Victoria de los Angeles and Montserrat Caballe. The opera has had major impact on popular culture from music to film and TV
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