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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Tyrant Avoid My Sight

Tyrant Avoid My Sight

by $8 blue check mistermix|  February 6, 20208:52 pm| 29 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Look, if nobody else is going to post, I’m going to give you the Handel aria for the Trump era. Giulio Cesare is a great opera by Handel, usually performed in Italian because back in the day all opera was performed in Italian, even though Handel was a Brit (obvs). This performance , by Dame Janet Baker as Caesar (because castrati performed the leading roles in baroque opera, due to the patriarchy, but since the last castrati died around the turn of the 20th century, we get a mezzo-soprano, seems fitting for our era), in English, is really good. Sir Charles MacKerras conducts, vigorously, as is appropriate for this aria.

Tyrant avoid my sight

Monster compact of spite

Who rules by fear and force

Open thread.

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Reader Interactions

29Comments

  1. 1.

    Jeffro

    February 6, 2020 at 9:02 pm

    I would just like to point out that according to Lou Dobbs this very evening, no president* since Lincoln has done as much for African Americans as one donald j trumpov.

    It’s intriguing, isn’t it, just how desperate trumpov and his minions are to try and peel off that AA support…or, more likely, to shore up their base (‘why, they ought to be grateful!’) and fool independents (‘no president since Lincoln…’)

    I think trumpov and Dobbs get a sadistic, psychopathic kick out of pulling the wool out of anyone’s and everyone’s eyes.  It’s why trumpov lies so constantly, even about things he doesn’t have to lie about.  It’s a substitute for achievement, in the dark void that is his psyche.

    Oh and I don’t like opera much but I’m listening to the “Where The Buffalo Roam” soundtrack and it really is a great joy musically and nostalgically and vice versa ;)

    Onward and upward, peeps!

  2. 2.

    Martin

    February 6, 2020 at 9:04 pm

    @Jeffro: There’s nobody better qualified to assess what’s been good for black people than the whitest people  you can find.

  3. 3.

    sdhays

    February 6, 2020 at 9:06 pm

    @Jeffro: You misspelled Loud Obbs.

  4. 4.

    Catherine D.

    February 6, 2020 at 9:07 pm

    Handel, born Händel, became a Brit. But hey, the Hanoverians were imports too.

  5. 5.

    Miss Bianca

    February 6, 2020 at 9:07 pm

    Wow, this sounds interesting, never heard of it, and I thought I knew my Handel!

  6. 6.

    download my app in the app store mistermix

    February 6, 2020 at 9:13 pm

    @Catherine D.: Yeah should have said he was a brit when it was composed.

    @Miss Bianca: He was prolific.

  7. 7.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 6, 2020 at 9:16 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Thought you had a handle on Handel, eh?

  8. 8.

    BSR

    February 6, 2020 at 9:16 pm

    Small nitpick: Handel was in fact German, but did spend most of his career in Britain, where he died.  He is buried in Westminster Abbey in London.

    Ach!  Others already pointed this out.

  9. 9.

    Timill

    February 6, 2020 at 9:20 pm

    That takes me back; this must have been one of the first operas I saw at ENO.

  10. 10.

    oatler.

    February 6, 2020 at 9:22 pm

    Herbert Pocket nicknamed his friend Pip Handel after “The Harmonious Blacksmith”.

  11. 11.

    prostratedragon

    February 6, 2020 at 9:26 pm

    Wow, have long admired Janet Baker from recordings, but don’t think I’d ever seen her before. Talk about commanding a stage — and those high heels!

  12. 12.

    Leto

    February 6, 2020 at 9:31 pm

    @sdhays:  You misspelled Lou Blobs.

  13. 13.

    Barbara

    February 6, 2020 at 9:34 pm

    Handel was born in the same year as Bach and Vivaldi.  When I listen to works from the period I play a game to see if I can tell them apart.  Vivaldi is easy because he so often sounds like an argument set to music.  Lovely clip. Thanks.

  14. 14.

    Dan B

    February 6, 2020 at 9:43 pm

    Has anyone else seen a report that Trump is withholding $30 million dollars in aid to Ukraine?

    Fast worker, huh?*

    *if it’s true…

  15. 15.

    Barbara

    February 6, 2020 at 9:47 pm

    Actually, that’s Scarlatti who was born in 1685. Vivaldi was born a few years before in 1678. Scarlatti is unmistakable.

  16. 16.

    Sab

    February 6, 2020 at 9:49 pm

    @Barbara: Argument set to music. That does fit Vivaldi ( I love Vivaldi, but I hadn’t thought of his music that way before.)

  17. 17.

    Barbara

    February 6, 2020 at 9:56 pm

    @Sab: Whether it is actually the case that he was inspired thusly, I can imagine the Paduan street life, with lively conversation, yes, including arguments, and sharp gesticulations when I listen to Vivaldi.

  18. 18.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 6, 2020 at 9:57 pm

    @Dan B: Sounds like he learned his lesson.

  19. 19.

    Ken

    February 6, 2020 at 10:04 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: As Senator Collins assured us.  Did even 24 hours elapse?

  20. 20.

    Sab

    February 6, 2020 at 10:05 pm

    I can’t do links. Did anyone see comment last night from Mary G? Our TSA completely dissassembled (i.e. pretty much destroyed) Malian musician Ballake Sissoko’s kora (African harp lute) just before it was being loaded on the plane back to Paris from NYC at the end of his American tour.

    Beautiful amazing instrument. He only discovered it when he opened his instrument case in his apartment in Paris the next day. Snide notice in Spanish from TSA included in the case with the remains of his instrument. They, of course, deny it (so where did the notice come from?)

    I am aghast. Professional level stringed instruments are almost like an extension of the musician’s body, and also incredibly expensive.

  21. 21.

    Miss Bianca

    February 6, 2020 at 10:20 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: *groooaaann…

  22. 22.

    J R in WV

    February 6, 2020 at 10:27 pm

    @Sab: 

    Republican fascist racists destroyed a black African super-star’s instrument. Huge shock!!

    I have to believe they did it with glee!!

    Hey, guys, look at this African bullshit! Watch this!!

  23. 23.

    Dan B

    February 6, 2020 at 10:32 pm

    @Sab:  Saw the destruction of Sissoko’s Kora.  It’s equivalent to “opening up” a Stradivarius.., maybe not quite as pricey.  TSA is likely to get even worse now thst abuse of power is not illegal.

    I felt a wave of shock, horror, and sadness.  There are some wonderful videos of his music.

  24. 24.

    Dan B

    February 6, 2020 at 10:34 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:   Was the lesson “Move fast and break things”?

    Nevermind… Farsebook..

  25. 25.

    Sab

    February 6, 2020 at 10:38 pm

    @Dan B: Yes. He is 52, has been a professional musician since he was 13. It’s like busting up Yo Yo Ma’s cello. And he was leaving the US on Air France. Not even a fake security reason to do that. Pure ignorant malice.

  26. 26.

    Matt

    February 6, 2020 at 10:55 pm

    Just read the NYT on Sissoko’s busted kora. The TSA’s denials seemed worth listening to until they tried claiming that somebody else may have forged their note left in the case.

  27. 27.

    Sab

    February 6, 2020 at 11:02 pm

    @Dan B: I have been listening to them off and on all day, often in tears.  I am in shock. Such a talented, peaceful man.

    The age old question: “Why would they even do that? He was threatening no one and playing wonderful music.”  Answer:? Idiots? Monsters?

    Who knows. I really hate being in a perpetual state of rage. I want to turn off all sources of information, but we need to bear witness to what our government is doing.

    This guy has been peacefully touring the world, playing wonderful music for decades all over the world, and he comes here, completes a successful tour, and some low level punks destroy his instrument on the way out of our country, knowing that our President may snicker when he hears, and that the punk will face no repurcussions.

    And hardly a peep out of anyone anywhere in this country. Just a collective shrug.

    I am so ashamed to be American lately.

  28. 28.

    Sab

    February 6, 2020 at 11:13 pm

    @Matt: How could “somebody else” have had access in their custody? So the TSA has no security? What is even the point of them existing?

    They took custody his instrument for the security of a departing foreign plane, and then some unknown person destroys said instrument and is able to  leave a “fake” note behind in said instrument before it is loaded on the plane, and we are all thereby safer flying out of Kennedy.

    Yes, I am totally buying that story.

  29. 29.

    Basilisc

    February 7, 2020 at 7:01 am

    The TSA apologized profusely, said they’re reviewing their procedures, and offered compensation, while acknowledging that this would always be inadequate.

    LOL, just kidding. Of course not. No one apologized any more, least of all uniformed US government officials vis-a-vis foreigners.

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