 | | | Subject: How I Love the (Queen of the) Night
Posted Apr 13, 2012 by  Dmitri Gheorgheni
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 | | It's a slow 'news' day here. I am determined to think my own thoughts, some of which are musical. What follows is mostly the fault of AlwaysLunchtimeSomewhere and Cactuscafe,. They're very musical people.
Over in ALS' journal, they've been trading the names of groups they like, along with stories about musical misadventures. I will freely admit to having weirder tastes than they do, and an uneducated ear when it comes to Jethro Tull. I'm eclectic, but off-kilter - so what else is new? - and I know a bit about folk, old-fashioned hillbilly and country music, religious music, world music, and 'classical' music. I'm also fond of parodies and musical jokes of all kinds, such as PDQ Bach and the songs of Tom Lehrer.
Which means I like odd stuff. I like a good singer, but after about 15 minutes of Wagner, I'll turn down the sound. Wagner is the Heavy Metal of opera. Mark Twain said somebody told him he could get used to it. Twain, who was at the premiere of 'Lohengrin', replied that you could get used to having your teeth drilled without anaesthetic, too, but he didn't intend to.
Now, over in *her* journal, CC recommended Lily Pons. I blush to say I didn't know anything about this singer, apart from her name, but I live to learn. So I looked her up on Youtube. I see why she was popular: a coloratura with a figure like that is a novelty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZjwRN6v9bE
Guys, I'll bet you watch that all the way, even if you don't like opera...
Now, la Pons was a pretty girl. Her voice? Not my cup of  , but that's why there's vanilla and chocolate. Elektra happened by, and said the same thing, so we decided to do a taste test.
Rather than hunt out 'The Bell Song' from Lakme, we've chosen to use our favourite song from 'The Magic Flute': the Queen of the Night aria also known as 'Der Hoelle Rache', or 'The Vengeance of Hell'.
A word about this song: It's like listening to a VERY cheesed-off nightingale. Remember what Sir Terry Pratchett said about birds? They're really singing, '[Expletive deleted] off, this is MY bush.' The Queen of the Night is like that.
Now listen and decide: which singer do you like best? What floats your musical boat? (Yeah, I know: you'd rather listen to Jedward. I wonder if we could get THEM to sing this aria?) 
Here goes:
Lily Pons, just for CC. (Note: That's not Lily Pons in the picture.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ40SyTxoBc
Diana Damrau. Boy, can that bayrisches Maedel rrrrroll those r's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvuKxL4LOqc
Lyubov Petrova, from Kenneth Branagh's film. This is the stuntwork-and-CGI version. Good thing opera singers are tougher than your average action hero.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_FCYzv383o
Florence Foster Jenkins. This is the closest we can come to the Jedward version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h4f77T-LoM
If Ms Jenkins has inspired you to try this at home, you may seek out the karaoke version (and learn the words in German):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5_kVFVkP0c
For lovers of instrumental brass, here's the Swift Street Brass of Santa Cruz, California. We would like to introduce them to Ms Jenkins, preferably in a jail cell:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znnzzyC63a4
Florence has serious competition from Calista, the singing chihuahua. (Now tell me that dog doesn't think she's at the Met):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQmLZ41_hXI
Okay, just for a palate cleanser, a more serious version, albeit with the most remarkable hat...managing to sing all those high notes while balancing two feet of whatever-that-is on your head should qualify for extra pay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxGy83aipbY&feature=related
As you reflect on which version you like best, I'll leave you with this sweet sampling from the late Menino.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWh_2Iit3Ek&feature=fvwrel
Oh, how I love that Queen of the Night.
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| | | Subject: How I Love the (Queen of the) Night
Posted Apr 13, 2012 by cactuscafe
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 | | Hah! This is the jukebox a-plenty for the weekend.
Splendid! I shall eat peanuts and jujubes, consider Calista the singing Chi,  , and crank up the volume. You might, or might not, just turn me onto Wagner. Which is different from turning me into Wagner.  .
Hmm, excuse me, well I'm not exactly a fan of Lily Pons. It was just something to do with attics, and 78 records.
And the 79th record is .... haha.
.But she might be an angel. Or maybe she isn't.
hah! ah yes, 
I have no Lily Pons tracks in my i-pod shuffle, (or even in my attic). . I would just like to announce this fact to the world at large. Now ....
... Thick as a Brick, now there's another matter ...
But wait! wait! This is the DG Jukebox, and I must gather my jujubes then settle in.
Goodbye world as we know it. Happy weekend
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| | | Subject: How I Love the (Queen of the) Night
Posted Apr 13, 2012 by cactuscafe
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| | Hey DG, friend, on a serious note, I'm a bit worried, I'm not trying to upstage anyone by talking about music all the time, with my friend a-l-s, or anyone. And I'm not a Lily Pons fan, I was trying to write about the atmosphere of hearing that rather disconcerting voice, aged seven. I didn't recommend her.
Damn, I blew it, , have to rewrite, work on communication. And music is my life, and holds me together. I love to listen to all kinds of music, but I'm not setting myself up as any kind of connoisseur.
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| | | Subject: How I Love the (Queen of the) Night
Posted Apr 14, 2012 by AlwaysLunchtimeSomewhere - "at ALS's restaurant" (thanks DG!)
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| | (*wakes at 4:30am for some reason - probably because he fell asleep on the sofa!!!*)
hey Mrs Caf-ay! (spoken as the Genii character, voiced by Robin Williams, in the Aladdin cartoon) don't be a worry-guts! 
i'm sure i can speak for both Dmitri and myself when i say that we've been enjoying your posts greatly - they're stimulating and charming
can i join Dmitri in his request? please don't change what you're doing
see the interest and enjoyment which you're generating in others: Dmitri and Elektra have been stirred to delve into, and extend, their knowledge of and love for opera, and your mention of JT happily brought back to mind one of the most influential songs from my early years of personal musical development
i only bought a handful of albums in those years, so they had to have been pretty significant for me to own them (i still have the vinyls now: 'Stand Up' & 'TAAB')
although TAAB was groundbreaking in approach, and very clever, i preferred the individual songs on 'Stand Up' - RfW, of course, being my favourite
a few years back, when JT announced a '40th (?) anniversary re-union' tour i discovered that one of my colleagues at work had also been a JT fan, and since neither he nor i would have attended the local concert on our own we went together (ah - bless!)
the music was still as inventive and emotive as ever!
many thanks for triggering those happy memories of much-loved music, cactus flower
...i'd better try & get to sleep - it's almost time to wake up! LOL
ciao bella
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| | | Subject: How I Love the (Queen of the) Night
Posted Apr 14, 2012 by Dmitri Gheorgheni
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| | If you run into trouble with that GuideML, give a holler - if I don't know the answer, I'll ask another Editor. 
Now, CC needs to be here. I just saw the Google doodle, and I am in thrall. It's Robert Doisneau's 100th birthday.
Do an image search on his name, and feast the eyes. This is 'capturing the moment'. I don't know if you know this, ALS, but CC is no mean photographer herself:
Texts, poems and challenge logos are my fault, but here are some great photos:
A87748870, A87309921, A83519067, A60672026, A64861879, A71710607.
Doisneau would be her cup of .
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| | | Subject: How I Love the (Queen of the) Night
Posted Apr 14, 2012 by Dmitri Gheorgheni
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| | Yep. There are worlds in there. It's easy to get lost.
Blowing our horn at  : the Post is really well archived. If you go into the Back Issues pages, you'll find that Beatrice has written entertaining summaries of issues. You can also find archives for everything: cartoons, fiction, poetry, and etc.
This is a dozen years of internet history, mind, from different Post teams and editors.
Then, of course, you can use the Infinite Improbability Drive to randomly surf through the Edited Guide...sleep deprivation can result.
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