Entry #11- Music

This music is in 4/4, the solid green note gets one beat, the open green note will get two beats. The two dark lines at the end of the piece are called a double bar. This song is Mozart's "Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman" or Twinkle Twinkle little star.

Prokofiev wrote "Peter and the Wolf". Stringed instruments play Peter, the wolf is played by french horns. The bird is a flute, the duke an oboe, and the grandfather is a bassoon. There is no alligator...there is a cat though and the cat is played by a clarinet.

Entry #10- Opera

Turnandot is an Opera that was written by Puccini. The general idea of the story is that by Mandarin law, anybody who wants to wed the princess is given three riddles to answer. If they cannot answer the three riddles, then they are beheaded. There is to be a beheading at dawn, and a crowd has gathered to see the beheading. In the process a blind beggar man is thrown to the ground, and a young prince (of Tartary) recognizes his displaced father. The father introduces the young prince to the only servant who has been faithful to him, Liu. When she is asked why, she says that once the prince smiled at her (she is secretly in love with him). At the beheading of the Prince of Persia, the prince of Tartary sees Turnandot and falls in love with her. Before he can announce his intention of requesting her hand, three advisers come out and tell him that he shouldn't want to lose his head for her but he refuses to listen.
In the second act Turnandot explains that her ancestor was happy ruling until she was ravished by the prince of another kingdom, and that she refuses to wed because of her ancestor. The Emperor poses the three riddles to the Prince and the prince gets all three correct. In this Turnandot begs her father to have mercy on her and to not make her marry the Prince, but she has given the Emperor her word and the Emperor says that the oath is sacred. The prince says that he has a proposition for her, if she can find out his name before sunrise then she can cut off his head.
In the third act, Turnandot is desperately trying to find out the Prince's name. She has guards bring her the Prince's father and Liu. Turnandot commands Liu to tell the prince's name but she won't. She says that even Turnandot will learn to love, and then Liu kills herself. The Prince tries to make Turnandot love him, and so he kisses her. Feeling herself falling in love with him, she tells him to leave, but instead he reveals his name to her (Calaf). She and Calaf approach the Emperor's thrown and she says that she knows his name. She says that his name is Love.

Mozart wrote many operas two of which are Don Giovanni and the Marriage of Figaro

Light Opera is different from Opera in that not all of it is sung. There is more singing than that of musical theater but there are spoken words as well. In regular Opera there is no speaking, the whole story is sung.

Entry #9- The South Carolina Philharmonic

I went to see the SC Philharmonic in their show, "Song and Dance." The point of this show was to celebrate the Greek Festival. The repertoire included Nikos Skalkottas Five Greek Dances, Copland's suite from Appalachian Spring, and Brahms' Symphony no. 2.
The performance was beautiful, each piece being very different from the last. The musicians were superb, each musician's face was different. Varying stages of concentration and joy showed on each face. The first piece, Five Greek Dances,was more upbeat. It was written and published in the 30s by Skalkottas. The music itself is based loosely on 36 Greek dances. The second piece was Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland (my personal favorite!!!). The music is really beautiful, slow and melodic in the beginning, then becomes more upbeat, and then resolves with the simple tune Simple Gifts (instantly recognizable and very touching.) The third piece is Symphony no. 2 by Johannes Brahms. It opens softly, and moves to a more minor and melancholic tune. The end is still gentle, but seemingly happier. It is a beautiful piece that could be used to describe the fluctuation of somebody's mood, and perhaps that is what Brahms intended.
I will always love Aaron Copeland (although I have a love of Brahms as well) and his piece was my favorite of the evening, with Brahms coming in a close second. I didn't enjoy the Greek dances as much, perhaps because it was my first time hearing it and I wasn't really sure what I was listening to, until I read the background notes in the program later.
The Philharmonic performed beautifully and I really enjoyed the whole performance.

Entry #8- Reduced Shakespeare Company

I went to see the Reduced Shakespeare Company at the Koger Center. This particular play is the plays of William Shakespeare reduced into a couple of hours. It is designed to appeal to the general public, because the players use goofiness and a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor to educate people on the basic plots of the Bard's plays.
They condense plays such as "Hamlet," "Romeo and Juliet," and "That Scottish Play" as they call it. They go through all the "kings" such as "King Lear," "Henry IV" and "King John." They also go through "Othello," and perhaps a good example of the humor used over-all is in Othello. Shakespeare mentions that Othello is a "moor" and the actor portraying Othello comes out with boats tied to his neck. The play on words being the difference between "moor" (people from North Africa) and "moor" a place to tie up boats.
I believe the interpretation for this play lies in the Company's desire to spread Shakespeare to the general public. They get the audience involved, and because of the humor even children can understand the interpretation of these plays. The performance was fun to watch, and very engaging. The fact that it was free for USC students was also nice.
I love Shakespeare and the RSC (Reduced Shakespeare Company) managed to accurately portray the characters (albeit exaggerated caricatures of Shakespeare's characters) and the plot lines with humor in a really fantastic way. I would love another opportunity to see them perform again.