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dut-dut-goose:

musicalmelody:

Happy Birthday

(found by: miss-schilke)

This actually isnt the version Im remembering. The one I know had like crazy time signatures that changed every measure. But this one is obnoxious also. 

I’ve never felt more uncomfortable

(via vedrai-carino)

Nico Castel showing off after a director wanted him to audition for the role of Hauschhofmeister in Die Fledermaus. 

dichterliebe:

Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Op. 31, “Prologue” & “Pastoral”
Ian Bostridge, tenor
Radovan Vlatkovic, horn
Norwegian Chamber Orchestra

The day’s grown old; the fainting sun
Has but a little way to run,
And yet his steeds, with all his skill,
Scarce lug the chariot down the hill.

The shadows now so long do grow,
That brambles like tall cedars show;
Mole hills seem mountains, and the ant
Appears a monstrous elephant.

A very little, little flock
Shades thrice the ground that it would stock;
Whilst the small stripling following them
Appears a mighty Polypheme.

And now on benches all are sat,
In the cool air to sit and chat,
Till Phoebus, dipping in the West,
Shall lead the world the way to rest.

thefullmonteverdi:

Frederica von Stade sings Ravel’s “5 Melodies populaires grecques”

Posted because I’m feeling very Greek (and very sad :()

Ellada mou :(

(via parmandil)

The second half began with a scene from Rossini’s Otello. Just a she was reach­ing the touch­ing (and quiet) end of Desdemona’s prayer a phone went off. Loud and clear from the stalls, with one of those annoy­ing retro ring­tones. As DiDonato left the stage dur­ing the applause (mixed with calls of “ver­gogna” — “shame”!) someone shouted out, “If you go home to tele­phone it would be bet­ter,” which was greeted by bra­vos, and more applause. But as the Amer­ican diva returned she dif­fused the atmo­sphere effort­lessly by ask­ing whether, by chance, it was Rossini who had called to see how the aria had gone, adding, in Italian, ‘They say that this theatre is full of ghosts: gra­zie Gioachino!’

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glitterboots:

auntiespaz:

I heartily approve of this thing and will reblog the crap out of it.

That shirt!

dailyclassicalmusic:

Happy Birthday, Edvard Grieg!

Composer: Edvard Grieg (1843 - 1907)

Work: Aften på høyfjellet from Lyriske Stykker (1899)

Performer: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; conducted by Jerzy Maksymiuk

(via peculiarmoomin)

When the music I need isn’t on IMSLP

auntiespaz:

parmandil:

Sarah Connolly and Marie-Nicole Lemieux singing Son nata a lagrimar from Handel’s Giulio Cesare.

And so continues the Sarah Connolly Birthday Spam!

donjuansrecklessdaughter:

The great Leontyne Price singing ‘Dis-moi que je suis belle’ or the ‘Mirror Aria’ from Massenet’s opera Thais.

An absolutely beautiful piece, brought to life in sparkling vocal form by Price. She has such gorgeously rich, expressive elements in her middle voice, and yet complete dramatic attack in the upper register, always with superb tonality. 

The way she ignites on the written High D6 is just fabulous. A firework display in her throat.

(via parmandil)

Singers and musicians show us human beings making sounds far more lovely than human beings really make.

donna-elvira:

This woman was crazy. The opera world will miss her dearly.

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idontgiveafach:

NATALIE DESSAY QUITS

“There’s nothing left for me to sing. I’ve done most of the roles I could do. I don’t want to play Juliette. At my age? Please! Or Lucia or Adina or anything else like that. That’s why I’m quitting. You have to love your repertoire. For a while I thought it was fun, but no. On to something else.”

Here’s to the end of a magnificent career of one of the most important artists of the past three decades. Natalie is an extraordinary singing actress and her contribution to the opera world will be sorely missed. Words cannot express how saddened I am by this. Opera will definitely not be the same.

(via beneboo)

And one of the most important things about what we call classical music is that it maintains the idea that we shouldn’t just be spoon-fed easy stuff, that we need to actually be given stuff that we can struggle with — and that if we do struggle with stuff we’ll get much more out of it.