I thought that since tomorrow is Christmas Eve and it is a holiday I celebrate, I would share a bit of holiday cheer in the form of music.
I came across this video and was left speechless. I love it!! I hope you do as well. And I hope everyone reading has a safe and amazing holiday season…whatever holiday it is you may celebrate.
The Medium by Gian Carlo Menotti is one of my all time favorites…Here is a brief synopsis of the opera followed by my favorite aria; The Black Swan.
Act I
In the parlor of the medium, Madame Flora, Monica, her daughter, and Toby, a mute servant boy rescued from “the streets of Budapest” play dress-up. When Madame Flora, or “Baba” as they call her, arrives home drunk, she violently chastises them for not preparing for that night’s seance. Soon the guests arrive, Mr. and Mrs. Gobineau, regulars, and the widow Mrs. Nolan who is attending for the first time. With Madame Flora in a trance in her chair, a fake seance is held where Mrs. Nolan speaks with what she thinks is her deceased sixteen-year-old daughter but is really Monica behind a screen. As Monica disappears, Mrs. Nolan rushes to toward the figure and is restrained by the Gobineaus. When order is restored, Mr. and Mrs. Gobineau “communicate” with their deceased two year old son Mickey who does nothing but laugh. After they say goodbye to him, Madame Flora “suddenly, with a loud gasp… clutches at her throat with both hands.” She feels a phantom hand clutching her throat and is “terror-stricken.” After demanding that the guests leave, she calls for Monica and tells her what she felt, eventually blaming Toby who was in the other room the whole time. In an effort to calm Baba’s drunken rage toward Toby, Monica sings her the dark lullaby “The Black Swan” which is interrupted by a voice that Baba hears causing her to fly into a terrified rage at Toby for not telling her where the voice is coming from. The Curtain comes down on Monica again singing the lullaby while Baba recites her Hail Marys.
Act II
“A few days later” Toby is giving a puppet show for Monica, their mutual love becomes more obvious. When Baba comes home, she resumes her accusations on Toby, sure that he knows what went on that night. The guests again arrive, expecting another seance but are driven away by Madame Flora who tries to convince them that the whole thing was a sham by revealing all the tricks that she and Monica used. But the guests are not convinced and leave claiming that while she might have thought she was cheating them, she in fact was not. Once the guests are gone, she drives Toby out despite Monica’s pleas on his behalf. With everyone gone, and Monica in her room, Baba pours herself another drink and questions her own sanity, becoming wild with drink and eventually passing out. Once she has fallen asleep, Toby sneaks back in and tries to get into Monica’s room, but finds it locked and eventually goes to the trunk to find his tambourine. While searching, he knocks the lid of the trunk down waking Baba. Toby quickly hides in the puppet theater. As Baba tries to see where the noise came from and fetches a revolver from a drawer in the table. “Hysterically” she shouts out “Who is it? Speak or I’ll Shoot!” and the puppet theater curtain moves. “Baba screams and fires at it several times.” As Toby’s bloody body collapses grasping the curtain, Baba says “I’ve killed the ghost! I’ve killed the ghost!” Monica, hearing the gunshots, enters, sees Toby’s lifeless body and runs for help. As the final curtain falls “very slowly” Baba asks “in a hoarse whisper,” “Was it you?”
Saying goodbye is never easy, especially to a family member. My father-in-law passed on Friday 12/12/08 after several days in the hospital and open heart surgery. This holiday season will not be an easy one.
Ronald Jay Moore
1949-2008
Leader of the Band
An only child
Alone and wild
A cabinet makers son
His hands were meant
For different work
And his heart was known
To none –
He left his home
And went his lone
And solitary way
And he gave to me
A gift I know I never
Can repay
A quiet man of music
Denied a simpler fate
He tried to be a soldier once
But his music wouldnt wait
He earned his love
Through discipline
A thundering, velvet hand
His gentle means of sculpting souls
Took me years to understand.
The leader of the band is tired
And his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through
My instrument
And his song is in my soul –
My life has been a poor attempt
To imitate the man
Im just a living legacy
To the leader of the band.
My brothers lives were
Different
For they heard another call
One went to chicago
And the other to st. paul
And Im in colorado
When Im not in some hotel
Living out this life Ive chose
And come to know so well.
I thank you for the music
And your stories of the road
I thank you for the freedom
When it came my time to go –
I thank you for the kindness
And the times when you got tough
And, pap, I dont think i
Said i love you near enough –
The leader of the band is tired
And his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through
My instrument
And his song is in my soul –
My life has been a poor attempt
To imitate the man
Im just a living legacy
To the leader of the band
I am the living legacy
To the leader of the band.
a captured eye
focus lost
a mangled heart
fruitless cost
one soul drawn in
wanting more
one dream shattered
wilting core
