A film review in Weekend on Friday about "Le Pont des Arts" misspelled a word in the title of a Monteverdi madrigal that a character sings on a recording. It is "Lamento della ninfa," not "ninja."
Is this the kind of thing Gelb has in mind to bring in younger audiences, do you suppose?
In another department....With a tip of my hat to Victor Borge, whose account of Wagner's early attempts at theater rendered me absolutely helpless with laughter when I was 17 (ou sont les neiges indeed) I am leaving the world of toy department, title-wise.
Meanwhile in the world of limericks we have been asked to contribute our limping wit to the following:
A young man from Bashkortostan
Whose wife was a Mezzosopran...
how about:
A young man from Bashkortostan
Whose wife was a Mezzosopran
Worked mostly when she did-
She was the more feted-
So he may never sing Gurneman(z)
Um, because she's not likely to sing Kundry. Get it? Well, I gave it a shot. The comments section is open and the bar has not been set very high if you're feeling in the spirit for a little lyric cage match.
Your mother certainly did, in a manner of speaking.
ReplyDeletelol ...
ReplyDeleteA for effort, Maury! Sorry I didn't get it at first, not being up on my Wagnertrivia...
ReplyDeleteGo for it, do another one!
Maury: swell new design/layout. The blue suits you.
ReplyDeleteAnd bravo to the limerick. Because no, she certainly would not sing Kundry. I mean..right guys?
Where's your scansion, dear!
ReplyDeleteThere was a young bass from Bashkortostan
Whose wife was a noted mezzósopran
When all the Bashkiris
Went wild for Amneris
He replied, "You should hear her _________"
Ahhhh. Thank you, anonymous! I was bothered. And..."Oktavian"?
ReplyDelete"Oktavian"! Well done, Brett!! Why didn't I think of that? Maury's at Magic Flute tonight, I believe. He'll be relieved that, like little elf workers, we've fixed his limerick while he slept.
ReplyDeleteI think the problem could lie in the tendency of the -an suffix to refer to males. However, this is a mezzo we're talking about, so one is bound to come up...
ReplyDelete(If it helps, I had to look at a list of typical mezzo roles to think of it. And then I was annoyed with myself, as R. Strauss is my favorite operatic composer.)
What, I get no credit for "she did" and a slightly mispronounced "feted"? Tough room.
ReplyDeleteI think I stick by my scansion though. The important part is that they're amphibrachs.
ReplyDeletethere ONCE was a MAN from nan TUCK et
whose...yeah.
Mine cuts off mid-amphibrach but Bashkortostan (assuming Bashkortostan like let's say Dagestan, has ultimate word stress.)
Yours sounds like it's assuming Bash-KORT-o-stan which throws in a dactyl, and with the next line, you've got a pair-o'-dactyls.
Ninjas are so 80s.
ReplyDelete(fhmmb: a Bashkiri vocal ornament)