"The Soul of Philosophy, or Orpheus and Euridice"

First of all, ain't that the cutest little Taruskinian* title you've ever heard? Last night, TW and I went to hear the Handel and Haydn Society perform a concert version of the above-named opera. This little known opera is quite the little chestnut: it was written in 1791, right before Haydn went off to London, and despite getting paid to compose it, Haydn never saw the opera staged...seems like the cultural bureaucracy of London was a little disorganized and didn't grant the proper permits to stage the production.

I know that most of you know of Haydn (he's my dissertation topic, by the way), but I bet you didn't really think of him as an opera composer. That little shit -- Mozart -- stole a lot of the operatic thunder at the end of the 18th century. This opera, in particular, has a lot of precedents: the Orpheus myth is pretty much the oldest opera in existence.**

Last night's conductor, Sir Roger Norrington, is pretty much a rock star in the world of hip music. That's right, a Haydn opera written in 1791 is considered hip -- as in, Historically Informed Performance. He controlled an orchestra that featured historical instruments, such as Baroque flutes and clarinets, string instruments played with no vibrato, and my favorite: cellists with no endpins!

But last night's highlight was Sarah Coburn, as Euridice. She handled the coloratura passages with aplomb, and she's a looker to boot. Her partner, as Orpheus, Andrew Kennedy over-gesticulated a little too much for my taste. Maybe I'm a little biased, but I thought the music was on par with any Mozart opera out there...check out it and come back to me. I'm sure you haven't heard any Haydn operas, so it might take a little while. Good things come to those who wait...

In a slightly different cultural experience, TW and I went to see "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans." This prequel to the "Underworld" series was pretty entertaining; it was pretty violent, but when you're talking about vampires and lycans.*** We're both in the mood to re-watch the earlier movies now to see how they connect up to the prequel.

Haydn's Orpheus and a vampire flick in 12+ hours; not too shabby...

* Richard Taruskin is one of those people that knows juuuust how smart he is; he often titles his article with 2+ clauses, such as: "“Chernomor to Kaschei: Harmonic Sorcery; Or Stravinsky’s Angle,” JAMS 38/1 (1985).

** Something about the lyre, or something -- I'm not really sure why...

*** In case you don't know, lycans are man/werewolve mixes that originated as slaves to the vampires.