Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, musical, and ballet. The term “libretto” is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata. Libretto (pl. libretti) is the diminutive of the Italian word “libro” (book).
Image: Front cover of the original 1899 libretto of the Tosca opera. Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Victorien Sardou’s drama, La Tosca. The text of the Tosca libretto can be found here.
Odalisque
An odalisque (Turkish: Odalık) was a virgin female slave in an Ottoman seraglio. She was an assistant or apprentice to the concubines and wives, and she might rise in status to become one of them. Most odalisques were part of the harem, that is, the household, of the sultan.
During the 19th century, odalisques became common fantasy figures in the artistic movement known as Orientalism, being featured in many erotic paintings from that era.
Example – La Grande Odalisque by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, painted 1814:
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I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.
– Jorge Luis Borges, Poema de los Dones, from El Hacedor, 1960.
Original text: “yo, que me figuraba el Paraíso bajo la especie de una biblioteca”.
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Τοὐλεύθερον δ’ ἐκεɩ̂νο· εἴ τις θέλει πόλει
Χρηστόν τι βούλευμ’ εἰς μέσον ϕέρειν ἔχων.
Καὶ ταν̂θ’ ὁ χρῄζων λαμπρός ἐσθ’, ὁ μὴ θέλων
Σιγᾳ̑. τί τούτων ἔστ’ ἰσαίτερον πόλει
This is true liberty, when free-born men,
Having to advise the public, may speak free,
Which he who can, and will, deserves high praise;
Who neither can, nor will, may hold his peace:
What can be juster in a state than this?
–Euripides, extract from The Suppliants (423 B.C.) , loosely translated by John Milton (1644).
Mantras for modern times
Tara Brabazon on the rise of the soundbite over analysis.
Some extracts:
- Currently, the only way to express ideas is through a micro soundbite. This problem – which I term two-word Tourette’s – dominates media and popular culture.
- The contractions in our culture will not only restrict the language circulating through popular culture, but also the range and scope of what it is possible to read, write and assess in education. Encouraging the development of well-constructed sentences, paragraphs and arguments is a challenge. But if we do not intervene, then our prose will drip away, leaving only punctuation and the symbol of the musician formerly known as Prince.
Naumachia
The naumachia (in Latin naumachia, from the Ancient Greek ναυμαχία/naumachía, literally “naval combat”) in the Ancient Roman world referred to both the re-enactment of naval battles and the basin (or more broadly, the complex) in which this took place.
More about naumachia at Pruned.
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Your pretty empire took so long to build.
Now, with a snap of history’s fingers down it goes.
– V for Vendetta, page 208.
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Philosophy is questions that may never be answered.
Religion is answers that may never be questioned.
Anonymous; quoted in Dennett, Daniel C. (2006). Breaking .the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon;
Thanatology
Thanatology is the academic, and often scientific, study of death among human beings. It investigates the circumstances surrounding a person’s death, the grief experienced by the deceased’s loved ones, and larger social attitudes towards death such as ritual and memorialization. It is primarily an interdisciplinary study, frequently undertaken by professionals in nursing, psychology, sociology, psychiatry, social work and veterinary science. It also describes bodily changes that accompany death and the after-death period.
The word is derived from the Greek language. In Greek mythology, Thanatos (θάνατος: “death”) is the personification of death. The English suffix -ology derives from the Greek suffix -logia (-λογια: “speaking”).
Source: wikipedia
Ophidiophobia
Ophidiophobia refers to fear of snakes. The word comes from the Greek words “ophis” (ὄφις) which refers to snakes and “phobia” (φοβία) meaning fear.
Some of the oldest tales and wisest mythology allude to the snake as a mischievous seducer, dangerous foe or powerful iconoclast; however, the legend surrounding this proverbial predator may not be based solely on fantasy. As scientists from the University of Virginia recently discovered, the common fear of snakes may well be intrinsic.
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For me an object is something living. This cigarette or this box of matches contains a secret life much more intense than that of certain human beings.
— Joan Miró
It ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings
Just heard Bart Simpson use this expression… It ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings is a proverb, essentially meaning that one shouldn’t assume the outcome of some activity (frequently a sports game) until it has actually finished.
This phrase in turn refers to the impression by many that at the end of every opera, an aria is sung by a heavy-set woman dressed like a valkyrie. A famous example of this is Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (aka the Ring cycle). This is a set of 4 separate operas (lasting about 15 hours), in which the final scene includes Brünnhilde (a very large Valkyrie) singing, and then riding onto Siegfried’s funeral pyre. The set collapses and the entire cycle ends up in the Rhine river, where it started. The “fat lady” is often illustrated with a horned helmet, a spear, possibly a shield, and possibly blond braids (to suggest Scandinavian ancestry).
Source – wikipedia
The Super Bowl and Super Tuesday: How’d They Get So “Super”?
Americans have two “super” events coming up on the national agenda: Super Bowl XLII on Sunday between the Giants and Patriots, followed two days later by Super Tuesday, when about half the country will vote in Democratic and Republican presidential primaries. Fox, the network that is broadcasting the Super Bowl, is even creating a Super mashup before the game begins, with two hours of coverage on Sunday morning mixing politics and football. It’s all quite super, some might say super-duper. So how did we get to this level of superheated superabundancy? An explanation at the OUP blog.
Epistemology
Defined narrowly, epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief. As the study of knowledge, epistemology is concerned with the following questions: What are the necessary and sufficient conditions of knowledge? What are its sources? What is its structure, and what are its limits? As the study of justified belief, epistemology aims to answer questions such as: How we are to understand the concept of justification? What makes justified beliefs justified? Is justification internal or external to one’s own mind? Understood more broadly, epistemology is about issues having to do with the creation and dissemination of knowledge in particular areas of inquiry.
Much of the debate in this field has focused on analyzing the nature of knowledge and how it relates to similar notions such as truth, belief, and justification. It also deals with the means of production of knowledge, as well as skepticism about different knowledge claims. In other words, epistemology primarily addresses the following questions: “What is knowledge?”, “How is knowledge acquired?”, and “What do people know?”
Introductory resources:
Both links come with links for further reading.
La donna è mobile
“La donna è mobile” (“Woman is fickle”) is the cynical Duke of Mantua’s canzone from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Rigoletto (1851). Its reprise in the last act is chilling, as Rigoletto realizes from the sound of the Duke’s lively voice coming from within the tavern (offstage), that the body in the sack is not that of the Duke after all (he had paid Sparafucile, an assassin, to kill him but was deceived, as he killed Gilda, Rigoletto’s daughter, instead).
The canzone is famous as a showcase for tenors. It has been recorded by Enrico Caruso (see video below), Mario Lanza, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and hundreds of others.
Libretto
La donna è mobile
Qual piuma al vento,
Muta d’accento — e di pensiero.
Sempre un amabile,
Leggiadro viso,
In pianto o in riso, — è menzognero.
Refrain
La donna è mobil
qual piuma al vento
Muta d’accento e di pensier!
e di pensier!
e di pensier!
È sempre misero
Chi a lei s’affida,
Chi le confida — mal cauto il core!
Pur mai non sentesi
Felice appieno
Chi su quel seno — non liba amore!
Refrain
La donna è mobil
qual piuma al vento,
Muta d’accento e di pensier!
e di pensier!
e di pensier!
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