Tag Archives: Claude Debussy

Symbolist horror

Posted on October 12, 2013 by barczablog

What’s in a name? Sometimes we grab onto something in a name, think we know what we have, and miss something else through our assumptions.  We’re so enamoured for instance with the mystique of the rose, but we don’t usually … Continue reading →

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Ready for Prime Time: Savitri & Sam

Posted on September 29, 2013 by barczablog

Okay, maybe the headline tells you what show i am about to watch on TV, coming home from a (hint hint) Saturday night opera.   But i really mean it, they’re ready. Tonight I went to see a public presentation … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Opera | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Exoticism –The Music of Karol Szymanowski

Posted on July 31, 2013 by barczablog

Earlier this summer I let someone pick the play I saw, observing how it’s valuable to let someone else choose what one will see and/or hear.  We circumscribe ourselves with our menu choices, our viewing habits, our purchases, boxing ourselves … Continue reading →

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Cat music

Posted on July 23, 2013 by barczablog

I’ve written about cats before in this space.  At one time there were two cats in my house, Tara & Scarlett.  They had been born feral but rescued, fixed and raised for years in our home. Then one day Tara … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, domestic & wild, Music and musicology, Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

The Geneology of Minimalism

Posted on July 21, 2013 by barczablog

A one word headline might be more minimalistic than this pretentious sounding title.  A friend cited Nietzsche’s Geneology of Morals, and it stayed in my head like a verbal ear-worm I suppose.  Or I could have emulated Darwin, to call … Continue reading →

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Wagnerian Bicentennial

Posted on May 22, 2013 by barczablog

We’ve come to the first of the three important opera composer birthdays in 2013. May 22:  Richard Wagner’s bicentennial October 10:  Giuseppe Verdi’s bicentennial November 22: Benjamin Britten’s centennial You may prefer Britten’s operas. You may point to the box … Continue reading →

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Topher and “The French Connection”

Posted on April 9, 2013 by barczablog

I couldn’t help understanding Topher Mokrzewski’s concert today at the Richard Bradshaw Auditorium (the intimate concert space in the upper lobby of the Four Seasons Centre) as a goodbye.  As is usual, the introduction told us a bit of the … Continue reading →

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U-Carmen eKhayelitsha

Posted on October 28, 2012 by barczablog

Last weekend I was fortunate to see U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, a 2005 adaptation of Bizet’s opera Carmen. The score is a mix of Bizet & South African music, which is only natural considering that the adaptation is set in a South … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Debussy by Design

Posted on August 23, 2012 by barczablog

Today is Debussy’s 150th birthday, the occasion for a recent series of posts about the seminal composer & writer: Unfinished Sympathy (Aug 21) Debussy and the writers  (Aug 19) Debussy Sesqui (Aug 16) I’m going to talk about another aspect of the composer … Continue reading →

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Unfinished Sympathy

Posted on August 21, 2012 by barczablog

In the Tuesday gatherings of Mallarmé and his followers, poems, plays, or songs might be performed to an appreciative audience.  Nobody minded if the work being auditioned was unfinished.  A glimpse of a dream could be every bit as powerful.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Essays | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment