Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Best classical music orgies
Berlioz, Ravel, Wagner, Saint-Saens
Perhaps the greatest bacchanale ever written is from Camille Saint-Saëns Samson et Dalila.
Lent came quickly this year. With no buildup to Carnival and Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday, because of you know what, Ash Wednesday suddenly appeared. I thought we’d explore a few musical carnivals since the season didn’t exist this year.
Video:
Ravel Daphnis et Chloe - Danse generale
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France Myung-Whun Chung
Carnival festivities can start anytime after the Christian celebration of Epiphany. Epiphany is on January 6. Most Carnival celebrations happen in February and March depending on when Lent starts. Lent is the 40 days before Easter and is symbolic of Jesus’ 40 days and nights in the wilderness before he started his ministry.
As an aside, 40 days and nights is a significant amount of time. I’m not sure what the significance is but in addition to Jesus, we have Budhha sitting under the Bodhi Tree for 40 days and nights. Buddha is tempted by the evil one at this time. There is Noah and the Ark with 40 days and nights of rain. Moses spent 40 days and nights on Mt. Sinai receiving the 10 Commandments, and Muhammed spent 40 days and nights in the cave before his first revelation.
Before the 40 days of Lent, during which time Christians are supposed to fast and give up worldly pleasures, most of Europe decided to get all the partying out of their systems during the Carnival season. This tradition started in the Middle Ages.
There is no official carnival music except for Hector Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture. However, there are a few bacchanals that work quite well for capturing the spirit of Carnival and Mardis Gras. A bacchanal is a musical representation of a wine-soaked orgy presided over by the spirit of Bacchus.
Video:
Wagner-Tannhauser Venusberg
Metropolitan Opera
It’s difficult to find an orgy these days since they go against so many Covid-19 protocols. We shall have to fulfill ourselves with musical representations.
Our first bacchanal is from Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe. At the start of the ballet, youthful girls entice Daphnis with their dancing before the altar of the nymphs. Chloe is swept up into the dance and Daphnis approaches her “passionately” at the end.
Video:
Bacchanale from opera Samson et Dalila
Met Centennial 1983
Next is the Venusberg scene at the beginning of Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser. The Venusberg is “The Mountain of Sex” in Tannhäuser. Tannhäuser has been spending his time reveling in the benefits of the flesh.
Tannhäuser was written about 70 years before Daphnis et Chloe. Wagner’s depiction with its swirling themes clearly influenced Ravel’s depiction.
Perhaps the greatest bacchanale ever written is from Camille Saint-Saëns Samson et Dalila. While Samson is held captive by the Philistines, they have a blood orgy before the god Dagon. The music has the same swirling and whirling themes but with an exoticism that is impossible to miss. The choreography helps drive the point home.
Now that we have assuaged the desires of the flesh, it's back to facemasks and social distancing and Lent.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Best classical music orgies
Berlioz, Ravel, Wagner, Saint-Saens
Best classical music orgies
Berlioz, Ravel, Wagner, Saint-Saens
Perhaps the greatest bacchanale ever written is from Camille Saint-Saëns Samson et Dalila.
Lent came quickly this year. With no buildup to Carnival and Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday, because of you know what, Ash Wednesday suddenly appeared. I thought we’d explore a few musical carnivals since the season didn’t exist this year.
Video:
Ravel Daphnis et Chloe - Danse generale
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France Myung-Whun Chung
Carnival festivities can start anytime after the Christian celebration of Epiphany. Epiphany is on January 6. Most Carnival celebrations happen in February and March depending on when Lent starts. Lent is the 40 days before Easter and is symbolic of Jesus’ 40 days and nights in the wilderness before he started his ministry.
As an aside, 40 days and nights is a significant amount of time. I’m not sure what the significance is but in addition to Jesus, we have Budhha sitting under the Bodhi Tree for 40 days and nights. Buddha is tempted by the evil one at this time. There is Noah and the Ark with 40 days and nights of rain. Moses spent 40 days and nights on Mt. Sinai receiving the 10 Commandments, and Muhammed spent 40 days and nights in the cave before his first revelation.
Before the 40 days of Lent, during which time Christians are supposed to fast and give up worldly pleasures, most of Europe decided to get all the partying out of their systems during the Carnival season. This tradition started in the Middle Ages.
There is no official carnival music except for Hector Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture. However, there are a few bacchanals that work quite well for capturing the spirit of Carnival and Mardis Gras. A bacchanal is a musical representation of a wine-soaked orgy presided over by the spirit of Bacchus.
Video:
Wagner-Tannhauser Venusberg
Metropolitan Opera
It’s difficult to find an orgy these days since they go against so many Covid-19 protocols. We shall have to fulfill ourselves with musical representations.
Our first bacchanal is from Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe. At the start of the ballet, youthful girls entice Daphnis with their dancing before the altar of the nymphs. Chloe is swept up into the dance and Daphnis approaches her “passionately” at the end.
Video:
Bacchanale from opera Samson et Dalila
Met Centennial 1983
Next is the Venusberg scene at the beginning of Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser. The Venusberg is “The Mountain of Sex” in Tannhäuser. Tannhäuser has been spending his time reveling in the benefits of the flesh.
Tannhäuser was written about 70 years before Daphnis et Chloe. Wagner’s depiction with its swirling themes clearly influenced Ravel’s depiction.
Perhaps the greatest bacchanale ever written is from Camille Saint-Saëns Samson et Dalila. While Samson is held captive by the Philistines, they have a blood orgy before the god Dagon. The music has the same swirling and whirling themes but with an exoticism that is impossible to miss. The choreography helps drive the point home.
Now that we have assuaged the desires of the flesh, it's back to facemasks and social distancing and Lent.
Comments