I have received the good news that I was promoted from Lecturer level 5 to Lecturer level 7. This may sound like overprecision in a depressingly bureaucratic situation--and you may have something there (but my take on that is that it is ALWAYS something in Academe, so, like, whatevs)--but it hides the fact that I am now tenured [!!] because I went over the bar that exists between levels 5 and 6 [promotion over a bar renders one tenured like magic] and that I was given an accelerated pay raise in addition to the promotion, which is a stamp of approval from the committee over and beyond what was sought (it IS an honour---I should and do feel good about that).
To celebrate, I have a track by a New Zealand coloratura soprano, Mina Foley. This recording was probably made in the early 1950s. This singer evidently went koo-koo coa-coa-nuts crazy and therefore did not have the career all were expecting and that is why she is not more famous. In any case, it is THAT aria ("O luce di quest'anima") from Linda di Chamounix. You have got to hear this rendition to believe it. It starts off modestly enough and then she goes to town, way down-town , then up-town, then all-around town. One might say, one may, that she had a couple of high notes. Yes one could.
Here it is.
Let me know if it will not play, btw. My old solution stopped working and this is new.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Some Good News
Posted by Mark at 7:58 am
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10 comments:
Oh wow, that's really cool. Congratulations. :-)
Thanks. It feels good. Hey did you like the aria? Would it play on you computer?
Macte virtute!!!!!!
Listening to the Linda di Chamounix aria now -- I'm a bit peeved that I missed the performance of this opera at Caramoor this past summer :-(
btw Mina Foley is blowing my mind right now. HOLY SHIT what was that note -- my dogs' ears pricked up.
I am reminded of Rita Streich's Zerbinetta.
She does have a couple high notes. She is totally in the zone. It is wonderful to hear singing when it is there in the zone. I heard, of all people, June Anderson "in the zone" in a Lucia in LA back in the early 90s-- it was fucking amazing. It was before her voice got kind of acidulous.
Congratulations on the promotion, tenure, salary--all the good stuff!!
I like her. The top is secure but easy and she doesn't blast. She reminds me of some of the old-style Italian lyric coloraturas--tone that is lean, well focused but in her case without the strong sense of vinegar that excited some, drove others to distraction.
I saw Anderson in the infamous Francesca Zambello Lucia at the MET and she came out of it personally in fine shape. She just climbed down the pile of coffins, sat sown on the nearest tomb (there were SO many of both) and told her story directly and simply to the audience. At one point, the ornamentation was used to support miming the stabbing of Arturo. She was indeed something in those days (ditto her Semiramide).
Thanks Will! I am glad you enjoyed the Foley. It is a pretty nice thing and you are right about her tone missing the vinegar (which I don't miss much--- though I can stand a fair amount acid in the tone if it is focussed tone--- what I cannot abide is spreading or a pronounced wobble). Anderson's Semiramide was a triumph. She is super on that video from the MET, which I have, but which I watched on PBS when it was first broadcast. Horne and Ramey were super too, of course. That was golden age for Rossini which seems now to have passed for the time being.
If I recall correctly, this puts you about 18 months ahead of the track? Anyway, congratulations. It is well deserved. :)
Incidentally, has your book found a publisher yet?
Thanks! Actually it is right on target with what I was wanting this time last year. But I would get gloomy on occasion and I may have pushed the date back some in casual conversation with you. Anyway it is with U of Mich right now--- they will hopefully decide to publish it.
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