tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661713330037197238.post639271591517602464..comments2024-02-26T10:32:49.849-05:00Comments on Opera and Beyond: BUOSO'S GHOSTMichael Chinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07547590256773766816noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3661713330037197238.post-91527585413791710642007-11-08T08:15:00.000-06:002007-11-08T08:15:00.000-06:00Reading M. Grover-Friedlander's abstract was truly...Reading M. Grover-Friedlander's abstract was truly painful. I'm glad I have a brain the size of a pea and would not be expected to listen to the presentation of this paper at the World Music Days conference later this month.<BR/><BR/>Every idiot (I include myself in this multitudinous company) understands that artists acknowledge the work of their predecessors, often by explicitly incorporating elements of that work -- form, structure, plot, characters, philosophical themes, whatever. It is a way of honoring our common cultural heritage, is it not?<BR/><BR/>Consider an example in literature such as Homer's Odyssey and Joyce's Ulysses.<BR/><BR/>Nor is it unknown for an artist to actually appropriate works in the public domain. Consider Aaron Copland's score for Appalachian Spring and the Shaker melody Simple Gifts.<BR/><BR/>An artist might also extend or elaborate upon a work in the canon. Consider Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea.<BR/><BR/>Certainly in the cases cited above, these subsequent works stand on their own merits. Likewise, I highly doubt that Michael Ching wrote Buoso's Ghost secretly hoping he could force it into the canon by specifying that it should be staged in repertoire with Gianni Schicchi. We know that artistic directors do whatever they damn well please (translation: do whatever fills the seats and the coffers). Management might heed the opinions of the Times' music critic, but the composer's staging directions would barely register as a factor in their decisions on what to offer [perhaps dwindling] audiences.<BR/><BR/>Canonization of Buoso's Ghost? Michael is right: wait 50 years.<BR/><BR/>P.S. Yesterday I listened to a recording of Maria Callas singing O Mio Babbino Caro -- it's got my vote for inclusion in the canon. Does another blog reader have a sense of whether posting such a clip to YouTube is legal? Thank you, S.Suehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11376251876216401358noreply@blogger.com