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| Author |
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| 25 new of 278 responses total. |
md
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response 215 of 278:
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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?
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rcurl
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response 216 of 278:
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May 23 16:12 UTC 1999 |
Who was Offenbach's librettist?
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omni
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response 217 of 278:
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May 23 18:37 UTC 1999 |
who was Lotte Lenya?
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rcurl
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response 218 of 278:
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May 23 18:49 UTC 1999 |
Not Lenya.
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rtg
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response 219 of 278:
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May 24 00:29 UTC 1999 |
Possibly Berthold Brecht?
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rcurl
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response 220 of 278:
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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.
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md
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response 221 of 278:
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May 24 10:37 UTC 1999 |
I think he means Brecht was several generations
later. Was this person French?
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rcurl
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response 222 of 278:
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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.)
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remmers
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response 223 of 278:
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May 24 21:52 UTC 1999 |
Another yes/no question: Is this person well known in his own right?
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flem
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response 224 of 278:
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May 25 00:13 UTC 1999 |
Jules Barbier?
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rcurl
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response 225 of 278:
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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?
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mcnally
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response 226 of 278:
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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..
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flem
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response 227 of 278:
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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.
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flem
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response 228 of 278:
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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.
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md
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response 229 of 278:
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May 27 20:12 UTC 1999 |
Grant or Sherman?
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swa
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response 230 of 278:
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May 28 01:42 UTC 1999 |
Whassisname. Greek guy.
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flem
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response 231 of 278:
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May 28 04:18 UTC 1999 |
Not Grant, not Sherman.
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rcurl
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response 232 of 278:
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May 28 04:58 UTC 1999 |
I think it might be 18th century.
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mcnally
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response 233 of 278:
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May 28 17:21 UTC 1999 |
re #230: perhaps you're thinking Thucydides?
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rcurl
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response 234 of 278:
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May 28 18:20 UTC 1999 |
Washington
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flem
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response 235 of 278:
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May 29 06:53 UTC 1999 |
Not Thucydides, not Washington.
I'd post another quote, but I don't have the book handy. I'll try to
get one tomorrow (again, technically today), but may not succeed.
The author is, as all authors guessed so far have been, deceased.
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remmers
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response 236 of 278:
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May 29 12:10 UTC 1999 |
I suspect the setting is the American Civil War, but beyond that I have
no clue.
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rcurl
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response 237 of 278:
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May 29 16:27 UTC 1999 |
Clark
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swa
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response 238 of 278:
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May 30 03:20 UTC 1999 |
Re 233: Actually, I'm not sure if I was thinking Thucydides or Herodotus...
I had a weird mingling of names running through my head.
Did someone guess Grant yet? Grant! <swa enjoys randomly throwing names into
the air... ignorance is bliss>
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flem
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response 239 of 278:
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May 30 21:29 UTC 1999 |
Not Clark, Thucydides, Herodotus, or Grant.
Here is another quote, from a different but similar writing.
I myself was a long way away from the scene of action when I
received the news of these events from C------. For the time being I
ordered warships to be built in the river L----, which flows into the
Atlantic, crews to be raised in the Province, and steersmen and
sailors to be assembled. These orders were quickly carried out, and
as soon as the season allowed, I set out myself to join the army. The
V----- and the other states allied with them heard of my arrival. At
the same time they began to realize the gravity of the crime which
they had committed. The title of envoy has always among all nations
been a uarantee of safety; yet they had detained our envoys and thrown
them into prison. So now they began to prepare for war on a scale
proportionate to the danger with which they were faced. They gave
particular attention toward fashioning every kind of provision for
their fleet, all the more hopefully because they relied very much on
the strength of their position geographically. They know that on land
the roads were intersected by tidal estuaries and that on sea our
navigation would be handicapped by our ignorance of local conditions
and by the scarcity of harbors. They felt sure too that the mere
shortage of grain would prevent our army from staying in their country
for long. And even if things turned out quite differently from what
they expected, they still had their very formidable sea power, whereas
we had no ships available and no knowledge of the shoals, harbors, and
islands in the area where fighting would have to take place. They
could see too that to carry out naval operations in the vast open
spaces of the Atlantic was a very different thing from sailing in a
landlocked sea like the Mediterannean.
This should make it clear, among other things, that the setting is not
the American Civil War. In fact, the author did not write in English at
all.
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