Music Monday ~ Composer of Opera & "the Caruso of Rock" - Two Birthdays.

Is there any reason to compare Leoncavallo and Roy Orbison ? It's an unlikely pairing. Both were born today, 23 April, 79 years apart - is that where similarity ends?

Ruggero Leoncavallo 23 April 1857 – 9 August 1919) was an Italian opera composer and librettist. Although he produced numerous operas and other songs throughout his career it is his opera Pagliacci (1892) that remained his lasting contribution, despite attempts to escape the shadow of his greatest success. Pagliacci owes its continuing success in part to the composer’s ability to balance humour, romance, and darkly violent moods. My post on Leoncavallo from 2012 is HERE.

Born 79 years later, in Texas on 23 April 1936:
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer-songwriter known for his distinctive, impassioned voice, complex song structures, and dark emotional ballads. The combination led many critics to describe his music as operatic, nicknaming him "the Caruso of Rock" and "the Big O". While most male rock-and-roll performers in the 1950s and 1960s projected a defiant masculinity, many of Orbison's songs instead conveyed vulnerability. His voice ranged from baritone to tenor, and music scholars have suggested that he had a three- or four-octave range. During performances, he was known for standing still and solitary, and for wearing black clothes, to match his dyed jet black hair and dark sunglasses, which lent an air of mystery to his persona.

"Caruso of rock" eh? Something there to consider? A quick look at both natal charts.

Leoncavallo born 23 April 1857 in Naples, Italy at 4 PM (Data from Astrodienst)

Orbison born 23 April 1936 in Vernon, Texas, USA, at 3.50 PM (Data from Astrodienst)

The very obvious similarity: lots of emphasis in both charts on Taurus, sign ruled by Venus, planet of the arts. Leoncavallo had Sun conjunct Pluto (darkness and intensity), Venus and Mercury conjunct Uranus (the unexpected and/or modern) along with Mars nearby also, all in Taurus.

Orbison had Sun conjunct Uranus, with Mercury and Mars conjoined, all in Taurus.

What they were thought to share - that gravitaion towards a classic style with operatic tone - where's the astrological signature? I could be wrong on this, but I'd look towards Saturn for this kind of thing. Orbison had Saturn in Watery, emotional Pisces somewhat uncomfortably yet workably semi-sextile Venus in Aries, and helpfully sextile Mercury and Mars in Taurus - so Saturn does link to his personal planets.

Leoncavallo's Saturn was also in a Water sign, Cancer and linked to Mercury and Mars in Taurus by helpful sextile. So both men had a Watery Saturn making aspect to personal planets.

Music Monday ~ When the right mix of guys sing together.....

When thinking of classical/pop-opera-type male vocal groups Il Divo has to be my "true north"; there's an archived post about them here. Since their success others have emulated their style, and while still lacking polish, glamorous settings and international followings, they still do a darn good job! Several groups of this style have been discovered via TV talent shows: America's Got Talent (AGT), and Britain's Got Talent (BGT). One such group appeared on AGT auditions just last week, they call themselves Vox.




A group called Collabro competed in BGT last year:



Anybody notice the "we've only been together for a month" thing in both the AGT and BGT clips? Oh, and those phoney expressions captured on the faces of BGT judges. There was a hint of the same at AGT too, not shown in the clip. (LOL!!!) Oh the manipulation! But the lads are good.


The Texas Tenors performed for the judges of AGT in 2009




3 Redneck Tenors came from AGT's second season, in 2007. "Redneck" is a gimmick, but it possibly brings them audiences who could otherwise have dismissed this music style as "not our thang".




Finally, one from my "true north", singing one of my favourite songs too, all the while glad-handing ladies of the audience:

The Count, Leonora & the Troubadour -- Oh my!

Long ago and far away - the 1950s in England - I was in grammar school, an all-girls establishment it was. I disliked school intensely, not that I didn't enjoy learning - I did; or found it difficult - I didn't. I disliked what I saw as the regimentation of school. One happy memory of those days I've retained is of our school choir's presentation of Giuseppe Verdi's 1853 opera Il Trovatore. The version performed had to have been a shortened English translation of the original, with basic plot kept intact, making the most of all the best melodic arias - good tunes - Il Trovatore has several of these.

Some of us, hearing choir members rehearsing their parts, immediately fell in love with the music, lurking by music room doors and windows became a regular pastime. When time for dress rehearsals on stage in the main hall arrived, we'd riskily be late for, or sneak out of, lessons to watch and listen from the balcony.

Because our school was all-female, male roles in the opera had to be taken by deepest voices available. This didn't faze us, we'd grown up with Christmas pantomime as part of our experience. Genders in pantomime are mixed or matched randomly. My favourite school prefect, Judy was her name, focus of a schoolgirl crush, was to play the part of Manrico.....oh, wait a minute...

In case a passing reader isn't familiar with the story told in Il Travatore (The Troubadour): it is set in 15th century Spain, near Zaragoza, capital of Kingdom of Aragon. The Count di Luna, a nobleman, is in love with Leonora also of a noble background. Leonora, though, is in love with a troubadour, Manrico. There had been some nasty business in the past involving a gypsy woman who had cast a spell upon a baby son of the elder Count di Luna, that baby was brother of the present Count. Further nasty business ensued with each party promising revenge upon the other. These promises have reverberated from the past into present operatic scenarios. Mancico's stepmother, Azucena is involved in the revenge plot, via her mother who had been murdered by the elder Count di Luna. It's all a bit medieval soap-opera-ish, far fetched, tragic and vastly overdone. There's no happy ending. Leonora eventually promises herself to the Count in order to save Manrico's life, but then she takes a fatal dose of poison to save herself from the Count. Melodrama aplenty, but some wonderful meoldies among the more mundane-sounding narrative bits. The story itself was based on a play El trovador (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez.

Some of the most memorable of Verdi's melodies:

Here Ferrando, Captain of the Guard, tells his men the story of the elder Count's two sons.
Many years ago, a gypsy was wrongfully accused of having bewitched the youngest of the di Luna children; the child had fallen sick and for this the gypsy had been burnt alive as a witch, her protests of innocence ignored. Dying, she had commanded her daughter Azucena to avenge her, which she did by abducting the baby. Although the burnt bones of a child were found in the ashes of the pyre, the father refused to believe in his son's death; dying, he commanded his firstborn, the new Count di Luna, to seek Azucena.





Here's a familiar one....The Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles thrills an audience with Verdi's "Anvil Chorus", English name for the Coro di zingari ("Gypsy chorus"), from act 2, scene 1. Spanish Gypsies strike their anvils at dawn and sing the praises of hard work, good wine, and Gypsy women -
See how the clouds melt away
from the face of the sky when the sun shines, its brightness beaming;
just as a widow, discarding her black robes,
shows all her beauty in brilliance gleaming.

So, to work now!
Lift up your hammers!




Also in Act 2 is Azucena's aria Stride la Vampa, the old gypsy woman recounts her undying vow of vengeance on the Count di Luna who murdered her mother years before. She tells of the blazing flames among which her mother was put to death. Part translation:
Evil shines
upon horrible faces
beside the gloomy flame
that rises to the sky!
Screeches the blaze!
The victim arrives
dressed in black,
disheveled, barefoot!
A fierce shout
of death arises;
the echo repeats
from hill to hill!





Di quella pira', Manrico sings at the end of act 3. He is with Leonora in a room adjoining the chapel. They vow their love, and are about to take marriage vows when Manrico's comrade enters to report that Manrico's mother Azucena is to be burned at the stake. Manrico calls together his soldiers and sings of how they will save Azucena from death: "Di quella pira l'orrendo foco tutte le fibre m'arse avvampò!..." ("The horrible blaze of that pyre burns, enflames all of my being!...")

This aria is particularly famous for it's high C's which, for a tenor, is a very difficult note to hold. Malaysian tenor Solomon Chong sings the aria in this video.





Miserere - Manrico has failed to free Azucena and has been imprisoned himself. Leonora attempts to free him by begging Count di Luna for mercy. She offers herself in place of her lover. She promises to give herself to the Count, but secretly swallows poison from her ring in order to die before di Luna can possess her.

Music Monday ~ Pagliacci ~ Ruggero Leoncavallo

In the language of today's pop world Ruggero Leoncavallo (born 155 years ago today) could be termed "a one-hit wonder". His two-act opera Pagliacci, just one of around 20 of his compositions, operas and operettas, is the only one to have hit a strong communal nerve in audiences through the decades.
(Illustration: Cover of the first edition of Pagliacci published by E. Sonzogno, Milan, 1892)


Cavallo, at the time a little known composer, is said to have been inspired to write an opera in the verismo (= realistic) style which had brought success to Pietro Mascagni with his Cavalleria Rusticana - verismo being a push-back against the old-style romantic operas which until then had dominated the Italian operatic scene.

Leoncavallo's father was a judge; the plot of Pagliacci was, according to the composer, based upon a murder trial over which his father had presided. However, this proposition is questionable. Leoncavallo was accused of plagiarism by the author of a play La Femme de Tabarin which had a similar theme to that of Pagliacci. Perhaps there was some truth in both possibilities.

First performed in Milan in 1892, in London and New York the following year, Pagliacci was an immediate success. The aria "Vesti la giubba" (= "Put on the costume" or sometimes "On with the motley") has been sung at some time by any male opera star one could name.

The story of Pagliacci is set in 19th century southern Italy. A company of travelling players/clowns is led by Canio whose wife Nedda is lusted after by the opera's villain Tonio, but loved by Silvio, a local lad. When Nedda rejects Tonio’s advances but is seen in Silvio's embrace, Tonio tells Nedda's husband Canio, resulting in double murder and tragedy. The opera's style of a play-within-a-play adds to the intrigue of it all. Shakespeare showed how this style could be successful in, for example, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

I'm not going to miss an opportunity to feature one of my own first musical heroes: Mario Lanza. The first record I ever bought using my own saved pocket money was an LP by Mario Lanza! He may not have been lauded by the starched shirt operatic "in-crowd" but he always reached me - still can. This video is from his last movie: For the First Time.





Translation:

To act! While out of my mind,
I no longer know what I say,
or what I do!
And yet it's necessary... make an effort!
Bah! Are you not a man?
You are Pagliaccio!

Put on your costume,
powder your face.
The people pay to be here, and they want to laugh.
And if Harlequin shall steal your Colombina,
laugh, Pagliaccio, so the crowd will cheer!
Turn your distress and tears into jest,
your pain and sobbing into a funny face - Ah!

Laugh, Pagliaccio,
at your broken love!
Laugh at the grief that poisons your heart!

Leoncavallo's natal chart is interesting. He was born in Naples on 23 April 1857. No time of birth is available, the chart here is set for 12 noon.




This is a good example of a natal chart with planets in what astrologers term "bundle" shape: all planets within a 120* span, the outside planets in trine aspect - here the outside planets are both in Water signs: Pisces and Cancer. Characteristics of people with this, quite rare, configuration are thought to include an unusual intensity of focus, concentrated energies, specialising in areas indicated by signs/houses involved.

In Leoncavallo's case his energies are focused on Taurus, ruled by Venus planet of the arts, and dynamic Aries, where his Moon would be, with Jupiter whatever time he was born. Neptune in Pisces and Saturn in Cancer are the only planets outside of the Taurus/Aries cluster. Creative Neptune at home in Pisces harmoniously sextiles Venus and likely semi-sextiles Moon/Jupiter too. Saturn in Cancer sextiles most of the Taurus planets.

He even looks very Taurean - as did Paul Poiret (Friday's post) - a commenter described Poiret as "a bull of a man", and here's another! With such emphasis on Taurus, even if we were unaware of its owner's identity, this would have to be the chart of someone involved in art or music.

Sun conjunct deathly dark Pluto, and Uranus conjunct the allegedly unfortunate/intense Fixed Star Algol, which lay around 24/25 Taurus, are elements of his natal chart which exactly match the tragic storyline of Pagliacci.

Music Monday ~~ The Flower Duet from Lakmé by Léo Delibes

I'm continuing to rummage through classical music, looking for pieces which, due to their inclusion in movies, TV drama, or commercials have found their way into the consciousness of those of us usually not classically inclined - musically that is.

Next up: The Flower Duet from the opera Lakmé written by French composer Léo Delibes in 1883. The theme of Lakmé, is the love of a British officer and the daughter of a Brahmin priest in mid-19th century India. The piece has been included as background music in TV, movies and in advertising . There's long list of such inclusions at the Flower Duet page of Wikipedia, along with a rough English transation of the lyrics.

A sample from the list of movies, etc featuring this music: True Romance, Private Parts, The American President, The Oh in Ohio, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, Meet the Parents, Superman Returns, Five Corners, Someone to Watch Over Me, The Hunger, Carlito's Way, I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Also often recognised for its use in British Airways TV commercials, from 1989 onwards, and in several Godiva (chocolate) commercials in the USA; and in a few episodes of The Simpsons. The music has been interpreted by popular artists such as (among others) Mike Oldfield, Yanni, LL Cool J and The Rhapsody. In early 2008, 15 year old Australian classical-crossover, soprano Grace Bawden recorded a rendition, using her own English lyrics.

What of Léo Delibes ? Information, other than a bare skeleton of his career and compositions is extremely hard to come by on-line. From the little I've gleaned: he was born Clément Philibert Léo Delibes in Saint-Germain du Val (near La Fleche) France on February 21, 1836. Son of a mailman (who died early in Léo's childhood) and a musical mother, he was also grandson of an opera singer. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, became accompanist and chorus master for the Théâtre-Lyrique, and later second chorus master at the Paris Opéra. He was also organist at Pierre de Chaillot from 1865 to 1871. In 1871, at age 35, he married Léontine Estelle Denain. In 1881 he became professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire.

Léo Delibes was the first to write music of high quality for the ballet, opening up a new field for serious composers. His influence can be traced in the work of Tchaikovsky and others who wrote for the dance. His music for Coppélia and Sylvia, are noted as works that moved ballet music a major step forward.

Delibes died 20 in 1891.

Natal chart shown below, set for 12 noon - time of birth isn't known.



Key here is the stellium (cluster)in gentle, dreamy Pisces linking Sun/Uranus/Mercury; but there's more: Pisces' ruler, creative Neptune links via semi-sextile to the stellium from Aquarius (sign ruled by Uranus, part of the stellium). There's a semi-sextile flanking the stellium from the other side: Venus (planet of the arts) in Aries. All the named planets lie between 0 degrees and 4 degrees of their signs, and blend the characteristics of signs and planets. So we have a blend of: dreamy/emotional/gentle/creative/inventive/new/pioneering/artistry. Moon was almost at the end of Aries at 12 noon, so if Delibes was born later it would have been in Taurus. Either Moon placement would match what we know of him : Aries (pioneer of beautiful ballet music)- Taurus is ruled by Venus, so Moon in early Taurus would form yet another link to his Pisces stellium.

There's yet another link to that stellium to be noted: a Grand Trine (a harmonious circuit) in emotion-driven Water signs linking the Pisces stellium to Jupiter in Cancer and Saturn in Scorpio.

This is a chart filled with gentle emotion spiked by a (still gentle) pioneering spirit.

Examples of how the music has been used during the 20th century and beyond.
First, a classic version:

In a British Airways Commercial

A pretty version by the Modern Mandolin Quartet

And, here the music was used in a promotional video for Nichi Vendola, Italian politician and president of the Apulia region.

NOTE For the next 2 days posts, by Gian Paul and myself will, if things go to plan, be published automatically, via the Blogger scheduling facility. I'll not be around to comment or respond after today, until Wednesday/Thursday.

PPS: Gian Paul reports that he has internet difficulties in Brazil, has not been able to see the blog for some days - so he too might not be able to respond to comments.

Tuning into the Planets ?

I'm noticing recently that I'm itching to listen to more classical music. Not the really obscure heavy stuff though. I'm drifting into it, not leaping headlong!

We saw "No Reservations" at the cinema this week. The soundtrack is really nice -there's some opera among it which I enjoyed - the movie's not bad too. It's a nice, gentle story and there are lots of shots of yummy gourmet food.

I'm wondering if this veering of my musical taste could be due to feeling celestial shifts. "As above, so below". Saturn has moved into into Earthy Virgo and Pluto is heading ever nearer to Earthy Capricorn, the next eclipse is due in an Earthy area too. Classical or classical-type music probably belongs to Earth more than do pop, rock, or jazz. Country may well have Earthy tones too, but on a different level.

Coincidentally, I stumbled yesterday upon some YouTube videos of performances on "Britain's got Talent" - Paul Potts, a shy cellphone salesman, won the final of the series singing opera! He does a great version of Nessun Dorma. The audience went crazy, even Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan were effusive in their praise. Perhaps I'm not the only one feeling this classical yen! I've already ordered Paul's new CD !

Maybe all of this is due to vibes from above...or maybe it's me just searching for something new - or something old. Perhaps it's regression. My first ever LP, bought with pocket money back in the 1950s, was of Mario Lanza singing opera and operetta. I loved his voice, and his passion - still do.

Mario Lanza's birthday was 31 January (mine is 27 January). In all these years I never did realise he was a fellow-Aquarian. Some old fashioned astrologers used to tell us that Aquarians are cold and unemotional. WRONG! Listen to Mario Lanza for proof! Of course, in Lanza's case, Scorpio Moon and the Pisces planets were very much involved too. Water is the predominant element in his natal chart. I have no birth time for him, but I'm pretty sure that the Moon would have been in Scorpio whatever time he was born.

Lanza's life and career were all too short. He died aged only 38 after several health problems culminating in a pulmonary embolism. His widow died from a drug overdose five months later, and their younger son died aged 37 of a heart attack. Sad stories. Lanza's chart shows several oppositions including: Saturn and Jupiter in Virgo opposing Venus and Mars in Pisces (perhaps that big voice of his was involved here), and Sun opposite Neptune. Obviously, with his great talent came great challenge.

A YouTube video of Mario Lanza singing Nessun Dorma.