| Grex > Books > #83: mysterious quote item |
| response 204 of 278: | 
May 21 17:20 UTC 1999 |
Well, at least that one didn't have zephyrs.
| response 205 of 278: |
May 21 17:22 UTC 1999 |
(just covering my rock opera options)
| response 206 of 278: |
May 21 17:30 UTC 1999 |
Zephyrs sell...it might help to know the work has been made into a movie.
| response 207 of 278: |
May 22 01:09 UTC 1999 |
Well, *that* one sounds a bit like Gilbert, but the first one did not. But I guess I'll guess him anyway.
| response 208 of 278: |
May 22 04:24 UTC 1999 |
Not Gilbert, but you got them both pegged as comic opera librettists, and they also flourished in the same period.
| response 209 of 278: |
May 22 11:35 UTC 1999 |
This response has been erased.
| response 210 of 278: |
May 22 23:51 UTC 1999 |
Okay, a dead white male who wrote comic opera libretti in the late 19th century in some language other than English. Does anyone have a list of them guys?
| response 211 of 278: |
May 23 00:53 UTC 1999 |
This guy wrote or collaborated on the libretti for at least seven operas, if that helps....
| response 212 of 278: |
May 23 03:55 UTC 1999 |
It deosn't sound much like Menotti...he's not quite as cliche... And I'd guess Kurt Weill, though that's a shot in the dark...
| response 213 of 278: |
May 23 05:03 UTC 1999 |
Not Weill. Maybe if I hum a little of the melody.... mm m mm m | m-m m mm m | m-m m mm m | mmm mm o |
| response 214 of 278: |
May 23 05:52 UTC 1999 |
I meant to also say that, while Weill was a composer, this libettist was not, to my knowledge, a composer (though it is hard to find biographical information about librettists, as you have probably found out...).
| response 215 of 278: |
May 23 11:18 UTC 1999 |
R. Strauss's librettist was Hofmannsthal. Bizet's librettist for Carmen I don't know, but it was based on a novel by Merimeee'. Is it Offenbach's librettist?
| response 216 of 278: |
May 23 16:12 UTC 1999 |
Who was Offenbach's librettist?
| response 217 of 278: |
May 23 18:37 UTC 1999 |
who was Lotte Lenya?
| response 218 of 278: |
May 23 18:49 UTC 1999 |
Not Lenya.
| response 219 of 278: |
May 24 00:29 UTC 1999 |
Possibly Berthold Brecht?
| response 220 of 278: |
May 24 04:53 UTC 1999 |
A very good notion - an actually well known librettist (and author and poet...). But a several generations later, so not Brecht.
| response 221 of 278: |
May 24 10:37 UTC 1999 |
I think he means Brecht was several generations later. Was this person French?
| response 222 of 278: |
May 24 15:39 UTC 1999 |
Yes...this author is several generations *earlier* than Brecht. Sorry. Direct questions have not been the traditional way to play this game, but rather to draw interpretations from quotes, or comparative deductions, and then have those affirmed or denied. I've been struggling with how to answer direct yes-no questions (apart from those about the author's name). Michael asked earlier whether this author was Offenbach's librettist. Offenbach wrote more than 100 operas and had dozens of librettists....was this author one of them? OK, yes. [I have already confirmed that in a Jeopardian manner.] Now, can you deduce from the quotes given, which librettist of those dozens this is? I thought the author's work I've been quoting would have been the best clue to his identify, but here is an original quote from a different work: Rien!.. - En vain j'interroge, en mon ardente veille, La nature et le Createur; Pas une voix ne glisse a mon oreille Un mot consolateur! J'ai langui triste et solitaire, Sans pouvoir briser le lien Qui m'attache encore a la terre!.. Je ne vois rien! - Je ne sais rien!.. (There are few more famous opening lines in opera.)
| response 223 of 278: |
May 24 21:52 UTC 1999 |
Another yes/no question: Is this person well known in his own right?
| response 224 of 278: |
May 25 00:13 UTC 1999 |
Jules Barbier?
| response 225 of 278: |
May 25 01:03 UTC 1999 |
Jules Barbier it is - or Michel Carre'. The "sugary hackneyed verse" of the first selection (_O NIght of Love_) is accompanied by the Barcarolle, from Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman. The second selection is also from Tales, while the last are the opening area from Gounod's Faust. Carre is better known as a dramatist and poet, and his later librettist career was mostly in collaboration with Barbier. My RCA Book of the Opera lists only Barbier as the Tales librettist, while a playbill I have from a recent performance lists both Barbier and Carre'. I haven't dug further to straighten this out. You're up, flem. What was your route of deduction?
| response 226 of 278: |
May 25 02:02 UTC 1999 |
I knew those seemed familiar.. (Opera Grand Rapids produced "Tales of Hoffmann" this winter and Gounod's "Faust" last year..) Just couldn't place them..
| response 227 of 278: |
May 27 05:37 UTC 1999 |
Cool! The French version seemed very familiar to me, and I was almost certain that I had heard it sung at some point (I have). Thinking on it, I realized that the only Offenbach opera I've heard is "Tales of Hoffmann", and from there it wasn't hard to find the name of the librettist. Also, by way of confirmation, a quick internet search revealed his name in connection with several other operas, which would seem to confirm another clue. I'll have something tomorrow (er, today...), as I just stepped out of the car after a fourteen hour drive. Ugh.
| response 228 of 278: |
May 27 17:33 UTC 1999 |
Okay, here we go.
As has already been explained, our camp was between the two rivers
----- and -----, which were about thirty miles apart. Neither of
these rivers could be crossed, and so we were forced to remain in this
confined space. The states which were on friendly terms with us were
unable to send us grain; some of our own people, who had gone out for
quite a distance to bring in supplies, were cut off by the floods and
could not get back; and the large convoys of provisions coming in from
----- and ---- could not reach the camp. It was also the worst
possible time of the year. There was no grain left in the winter
stocks, and the new harvest was not quite ripe. The neighboring
tribes had been drained of supplies, since A------- had had nearly all
the grain taken to ------ before I arrived, and what little was left
had been used up by us in the last few days. Meat might have been a
possible substitute for the grain which we lacked, but we could not
even get meat because the people of the neighborhood had driven off
their cattle as soon as the war began. And those of our men who went
out to look for fodder and grain were attacked by ---------- light
infantry and ------- targeteers, who knew the country well and had no
difficulty in crossing the rivers, since they regularly carried with
them on active service bladders which could be used as floats.