vilaine fille

Pensée du mercredi 28 novembre

Soave sia il vento
Tranquilla sia l’onda
Ed ogni elemento
Benigno risponda
Ai nostri desir…

Senza titolo XLVII

277. the staunch love and support of ROL, KMA, and other beloved friends
278. G-d’s sweet mercy (repeat)
279. true friends who are on my side (especially BP, MHS, and AKS)
280. opportunities to practice patience in hope, hope in patience (repeat)
281. opportunities to grow, even with pain
282. dopo tutto il male che
     c’è nel mondo intorno a te
     com’è bello ritrovarti accanto a me…

Pensée du dimanche 25 novembre

Don’t ever change, don’t ever worry
because I’m coming back home tomorrow
to 14th Street, where I won’t hurry,
and where I’ll learn how to save, not just borrow.
And there’ll be rainbows,
and we will finally know…
—Sancta Rufola, “14th Street”

Sancta Rufola, ora pro nobis. Oremus pro benefactoribus nostris. Oremus pro fidelibus defunctis. Pro fratribus nostris absentibus. Mitte eis, Domine, auxilium de sancto. Exaudiat nos omnipotens et misericors Dominus. Amen.

Thanksgiving 2007

To all who keep Thanksgiving, vilaine fille sends warmest wishes for a happy and healthy holiday blessed with love and togetherness.

I have so much to be thankful for this year—in particular, the cherished friends I’ve made thanks to this blog, “real” and “virtual” and virtual-turned-real.

Thank you to you; thank you to G-d. Thank you.

Pre-programmed updates will continue through the end of Thanksgiving weekend. Then I hope to be back!

Senza titolo XLVI

271. KMA, prayer warrior (grazie)
272. beauty, wisdom, and inspiration
273. idem
274. woo hoo hoo (thanks, S)
275. Non ridere, abbracciami…
276. felicità (merci, e anche a voi)

Pensée du dimance 18 novembre

Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire…

We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same… One becomes in some area an athlete of G-d.
—Martha Graham

Senza titolo XLV

265. the yoga teacher who said that symbolic gestures count
266. “you can’t beat death, but you can beat death in life, sometimes” (grazie)
267. brother Victor’s take on it, too
268. abject terror, inasmuch as it can lead to constructive, purposeful activity
269. L, G, M, and the other fabulous women who have changed my life
270. being alive to hear this, in concert and on disc (download here)

What I did during my blog vacation

Sorry for the thin posts of late! I’m very busy these days, with a nearly two-hour daily commute to “work,” a new and passionately absorbing avocation, and the resumption of my former gym-bunny ways (must… get… that… endorphin… fix!).

Oh, yes, and I’m trying to have a bit of a life.

Some of my recently published work:

• My Newsday review of NYCO’s Vanessa
• My Newsday advance on the Berlin in Lights festival
• My Newsday review of the Met’s Macbeth
• My Newsday review of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Miller Theatre Composer Portrait (now in the archives, zut)
• My TONY roundup of monster deals in classical music, including Juilliard’s upcoming Comte Ory, New York’s operatic event of the year as far as I’m concerned. (Note that I haven’t recently heard Cheryl Evans, to whom I extend best wishes, and that I try never to mix food and music. An editor added the bit about Caffè Taci.)
• My TONY review of Mozart’s Don Giovanni led by René Jacobs. It did not rock my world à la the Jacobs Nozze di Figaro.
• My TONY roundup of sights and blights among New York classical and opera venues. I like Japan Society best. How about you?

A younger friend persuaded me to sign up for Facebook. Here’s how I’m doing:

Please forgive the crowing: On days when I’m dragging and discouraged, this immensely silly thing rejoices the cockles of my heart. Thank you.

I hope to post soon about Rufus Wainwright’s “Release the Stars” tour (which I caught in Montréal, back in August!!) and Patricia Racette’s overwhelming portrayal of Madama Butterfly. I’m doing my best here!

P.S. Did I mention laryngitis? Blech.

Pensée du dimanche 11 novembre

Not to discriminate every moment some passionate attitude in those about us, and in the very brilliancy of their gifts some tragic dividing of forces on their ways, is, on this short day of frost and sun, to sleep before evening. With this sense of the splendour of our experience and of its awful brevity, gathering all we are into one desperate effort to see and touch, we shall hardly have time to make theories about the things we see and touch.
—Walter Pater

Senza titolo XLIV

259. the chance to see M and M growing into such lovely young women
260. meeting yet another impressive, intelligent, and inspiring artist
261. Ollie’s steamed vegetable dumplings (even tastier when shared with cherished friends)
262. opportunities to practice patience in hope, hope in patience
263. ce qui est plus fort que moi
264. un p’tit coin d’paradis