Category Archives: Personal ruminations & essays

Berlioz, Wagner, love

Posted on February 11, 2013 by barczablog

January 16th I promised to explore connections between Berlioz’s Les Troyens (an opera I’d been obsessing over) to Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, currently sharing the Canadian Opera Company stage with Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito.  When music stays inside your … Continue reading →

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Inclemenza

Posted on February 7, 2013 by barczablog

We’re expecting snow here in Toronto, but it’s already somewhat inclement, if we think chilly or unmerciful. I am expanding on the experience of La Clemenza di Tito Sunday in Toronto.  I was enraptured, as were the audience: until the … Continue reading →

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Wagner and Adaptation: Linda’s Legacy

Posted on February 2, 2013 by barczablog

I use surnames in this blog.  Everyone calls him “Topher”, but when I wrote about him it was “Mokrzewski”.  Some aspects of the naming convention are absurdly obvious.  We call RW and RS “Wagner” and “Strauss not “Richard” and “Richard”, … Continue reading →

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Night before…

Posted on January 23, 2013 by barczablog

The child who goes to bed on Christmas Eve awaiting a visit from Santa Claus may have given clues.  Sometimes Santa gets a letter.  Sometimes he gets a visit in the department store. I’m just like that kid, awaiting the … Continue reading →

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Creative ecology

Posted on January 19, 2013 by barczablog

As I examined the choices for music in a play, I thought of a great scene in a film.  Now I am not talking about the music in that film, oh no.  I am talking about that classic scene in … Continue reading →

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AS: seeing red with Dr. Alan Ebringer

Posted on January 12, 2013 by barczablog

Discovery is a funny business.  Sometimes explorers set out for the new land, braving dangers & going where no one has gone before.  And sometimes the process is much more serendipitous than that. And it can be funny. I am … Continue reading →

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Adaptation: plus and minus

Posted on January 3, 2013 by barczablog

That plus or minus in the title is a less controversial way of phrasing something that came up among friends recently.  Someone was asking why people make adaptations: meaning, the kind they dislike of course. There is always going to … Continue reading →

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A remembered tune: Les Troyens

Posted on January 2, 2013 by barczablog

Melodies are time-machines.  I can hear a song and instantly I go back in time. Composers know this.  It’s why films often employ compositions we’ve heard before to invoke a whole set of meanings.  In Forrest Gump Robert Zemeckis accomplishes … Continue reading →

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Mornings after and music

Posted on January 1, 2013 by barczablog

Caution: some of this essay may stick in your head. As I write this on the first morning of the year, it’s a time when many of us are still feeling the after-effects of our celebrations, and may feel literally … Continue reading →

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Body Language

Posted on December 22, 2012 by barczablog

I was having a crabby episode this Friday morning. I was running late.  It’s ridiculous to admit. I didn’t have any appointments, but I just had hoped to be downtown already, and everything about the morning seemed to add to … Continue reading →

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