Update: Trump’s first concert is dumbed down
mainOn the assumption that Beethoven’s Fifth might be too heavy for the US President, the Filarmonica della Scala has changed next Friday’s programme to scoops of gelato .
Andrew Powell has sent us this rundown:
Puccini – Madama Butterfly: Act III Sunrise
Rossini – Overture to L’italiana in Algeri
Rossini – Overture to Guillaume Tell
Verdi – La traviata: Act I Prelude
Verdi – Overture to La forza del destino
UPDATE: We have received this clarification from the Filarmonica della Scala:
No modifications to the program have been made by Filarmonica della Scala. Even if we have a tour with Dvorák/Bruch – Beethoven program, from the beginning we decided to play in Taormina a full italian program. Italy host the summit and the concert is a “welcome” to all the other country with the most known Italian Opera Masterpieces.
With any luck he’ll behind bars.
Hillary first
If and when they should find anything she’s done that was illegal, sure.
Meanwhile, Trump has committed multiple illegal acts, and treason.
He actually DOES belong in jail.
The only thing Hillary has done is be a woman, and people like you just can’t handle that.
What absurd tripe. As with Obama, who the Left thought should be insulated from criticism on account of being black, the Left also seems to think Hilary should be insulated from criticism for being a woman. Criticize either and you must be a racist of misogynist. That’s the way the Left stifles all debate and criticism.
The Clinton family, both Hilary and Bill – and especially their foundation slush-fund – have committed a litany of crimes for a quarter century and gotten away with it. That she wasn’t prosecuted recently for the email server scandal and her complicity in the deaths in Bengazi was purely politically motivated on behalf of a compliant Justice Department. And that’s just a couple of her most recent crimes while serving as Secretary of State.
“That she wasn’t prosecuted recently for the email server scandal and her complicity in the deaths in Bengazi was purely politically motivated on behalf of a compliant Justice Department. And that’s just a couple of her most recent crimes while serving as Secretary of State.”
And you have proof of these “facts”??
Her behaviour was unwise and incompetent but not illegal.
If and when blah blah blah. Billary protected by deep state and MSM. Trump – blithering idiot that he is – has done nothing illegal or treasonous.
I’ll await while your greater wisdom is shown to prevail (haha)
It’s sick fun, to see the American sheeple go at each other like this. they really think there is a major difference between plutocratic candidate A who is assigned to the left shop window to sell to one group, and candidate B who sells his stuff to another group through the right window.
Same shop, sales men all vetted by the shop owners, the plutocratic elite.
But holy buddha are these sheep serious about going at each other which shop window is the real deal.
Them top plutocrats have designed that totalitarian system very well. The dialectics of manipulating the stupid. Give the stupid something to fight over with themselves, and they will leave you alone.
He won’t be impeached. The party in power would have to have the will to do it, and they have already made it clear that there is nothing he could do that would motivate them to remove or impeach him.
There is no reason to assume that the Republicans will control one or both houses after 2018. That said, it will take a lot of luck to see this most incompetent president leave office before 2020.
I think Pence would be a good leader. Pot him into the top job and this will ensure stability.
My problem with Pence is that he has an agenda that is unfriendly to people like me, and if he becomes president he won’t have to worry about keeping the puppet happy while he manages things behind the scenes.
On the other hand, he’d probably be less likely to blab security secrets or use military academy commencement ceremonies as a platform to whine about his unfair treatment.
Oh no, not him, that would mean the end of the Gay wedding planning industry….
Scoops of gelato indeed, but a generous scoop of oltralpino snobbery here too.
Good Point.
Saying Forza or Traviata are “scoops of gelato” is condescending and flatly incorrect.
Dumbed down, or simply made more ‘Italian’? I admit it is somewhat lightweight Italian (some Respighi would have been a stronger addition than these overtures, but I’d never expect anybody to look to put Berio in front of him).
That said, it has been observed by us on our side of the pond that Trump simply, literally, has no culture. At all. No music, no poetry, no philosophy, no aesthetics, nothing. Even his idea of going “outdoors” is limited to the golf course – Nature tamed into a child playground that can do no harm, but provides no beauty.
So it really doesn’t matter what they play. He’ll still be sitting there fidgeting the whole time, waiting for the moment he can whip out his phone and get back on Twitter.
^ Or just get on his phone and start tweeting during the concert. I have seen no indication that he has good enough manners to stay off his phone, let alone sit quietly for a whole hour-plus and pretend to enjoy something that bores him. (I say that because it’s not a celebration of him, which is the only thing that seems to hold his interest for more than a few minutes)
The Short Attention Span Symphony Presents: “The Most Beautiful Eyetalian Opera Music, Without the Horrible Singing.”
SAD! (But in a good way).
What happened to Sol Gabetta – did she have any say in this? She did not want to play for Trump, or did they just dump the Dvorak concerto without her input?
I’m guessing that they dumped the piece without input from her. If she didn’t want to play for Trump, she could have refused the gig in the first place and they could have asked someone else.
On the other hand, she’s probably relieved that she doesn’t have to worry about getting grabbed by the pussy. So it’s not all downside.
https://slippedisc.com/2017/03/star-cellist-calls-a-baby-break/
She may well soon get grabbed — and by small hands.
Well… baby hands on an actual baby are different,.
Who the **** wants to play for this so-called president?
Rossini, I see. Maybe the Trump is trying to seduce and entrap Macron.
I hope Macron has studied the video of Trump’s handshake with Trudeau, so if they meet he doesn’t get yanked around.
what a pitiful program. he’ll probably leave after william tell anyway only to miss the encore of “that’s amore”…
Ahem. You mean the “Lone Ranger.”
Dang that was funny
He’ll probably yell “Hi Ho Silver”
I really hate when politics enters the music world. Surprise, surprise the leader of our country is a musical idiot. What else is new? Do you really think Obama could tell the difference between Mozart and Brahms? Hey, Nixon was a pretty good pianist. No comment on Bill’s saxophone playing. Can we just discuss music or musical politics, but refrain from falling into senseless talk radio babble?
I totally agree. Slippedisc has totally dumbed down commenting on politics every chance they can. Time to get a new editor and concentrate on God’s music.
I agree, sort of, but really can’t begrudge NL his increased click count.
If something doesn’t interest me, I don’t read it.
Since art never exists in complete isolation from history, politics, religion, and other aspects of the wider culture, I don’t see why this blog should avoid its forays into the field of politics. If people had been blogging about classical music in earlier decades and centuries I’d have expected them to have covered state intervention in music (and other art forms) in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union or during the Cultural Revolution in China. I’d have expected them to comment on the role of music in the struggles of the various peoples of central and eastern Europe against their oppression under Germany, Austria/Austria-Hungary, and Russia during the 19th and early 20th centuries. I’d also have expected them to comment on acts of protest by Eastern Bloc composers, such as by setting religious texts in defiance of state atheism.
A lot of people do think that music should be about the music and the music alone. It is not, however, that simple. I love Wagner and, especially, Strauss, and yet I can also understand that for some Jewish people (and perhaps others affected by the Nazi atrocities) it does not feel possible for them to listen to the music of composers so closely connected (fairly or otherwise) with the regime. Valery Gergiev and Valentina Lisitsa have become controversial figures, not because of their musicianship, but because of their politics. For many people a musician is not just a musician, but a person whose actions and beliefs are also significant. When a friend of mine learned that Philip Pickett was now a convicted rapist he said that he wouldn’t ever be able to listen to The Bones of All Men again. Robert King has also been boycotted by some following his convictions for child sexual abuse offences.
In this instance, music clearly serves a diplomatic purpose. The choice of the venue, the performers, and the programme will all have been carefully considered. Was the original choice of Beethoven supposed to flatter Germany? Was the choice of a concerto composed in the USA by a Czech composer and performed by an Argentine soloist intended to encourage a global perspective and international co-operation? Perhaps one reason for the all-Italian programme is not just that it panders to one man’s allegedly short attention span, but that it gives the Italian hosts an opportunity to showcase some of the finest of its cultural achievements. Given Russia’s suspension from the G8, the inclusion of a Russian work would have conveyed a particularly interesting message (it does not escape me that Sol Gabetta is of partly Russian background). Given Russia’s history of intervention in what is now the Czech Republic, perhaps the inclusion of the Dvořák was intended to strike a note of defiance (though a Finnish or Baltic work would probably have been more effective). Personally, I think that the fact that the G7 summit is being covered on a classical music blog is a worthwhile reminder of the importance of music in the world.
some of my favs in the programme … as for gelato, I’ve heard there is a small gelato popbar in NYC – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyUrZWjX7bY
after that you,Norman, never say you are not stuck with Trump 😉
Has it actually been confirmed anywhere that the change of programme is solely (if at all) for President Trump’s benefit? I have to admit that I’d much rather hear Beethoven 5 and the Dvořák cello concerto, but the new programme is perfectly good music, albeit packaged in an easy listening format.
Maybe my decades old fantasy will come true: there will be a ruckus in the audience, in response to which the orchestra will start playing the William Tell ouverture.
Pinkerton – the stereotypical American immoral coward, suits him. subtle.
And what wonderful classical music did Obama ever sit through?
Usher Sings “Georgia on My Mind” ?
Who cares?
Not for nuthin’, Bill Clinton was the last sitting President to officially attend the Met Opera, and the Clinton family–on their own tab–have attended the opera numerous times since his Presidency. They apparently enjoy it. Imagine that.
President Obama was quite knowledgeable about classical music and had many classical musicians perform at the Whitehouse in addition to seriously supporting the arts in the US.
Really? What statements did Obama make about classical music and, aside from his inaugural, what “many classical musicians” performed at the White House? I’m not being accusatory, just curious as I don’t remember.
http://www.wfmt.com/2016/11/07/classical-music-and-musicians-at-the-white-house-by-presidential-administration/
Verdi’s La traviata Act I Prelude may still be too much for him. He’ll either fall asleep or tweet about his “bigly” portion of tiramisu. He may also wonder why his “great friend” Pavarotti is not singing.
Trump twitters:
“Italian opera, so weak, no national pride. Hearing symph concert right now in Sicily in Spain with Italian music. Small theater. Only stories that take place in other countries or are about foreigners. Sad!”
What happened to the intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana? I guess the Teatro Antico di Taormina doesn’t have an organ, but then nor do most opera houses.
The Orange one does not strike me as a.person who has the patience to listen to slow pieces of music: I’m sure he’ll find the first and third sections of the Guillaume Tell overture excruciating, and the prelude to Traviata will be almost unbearable.
Breaking News: Secret White House tape leaked.
“Trump: Why are Putin and Travolta there?
Priebus: Puccini and Traviata, Sir. La Traviata is an opera, about a Parisian whore.
Trump: Ohhh, is there a golden shower scene? Will there be a Pussy Riot?
Priebus: Different country, Mr. President.”
Wagner’s “Götterdämmerung” would be most appropriate. But The Witless Manchild would certainly get bored before the Norns’ rope comes apart… The piece should be given on the steps of Capitol Hill. The one in DC, not Rome.