Ned Henry January 20, 2021 · nedhenry.medium.com
It’s 4 AM. I’m up. can’t sleep. cold feet. Thought I’d type for a while while I see if the ambien I took 5 minutes ago can kick in and let me have a couple more hours. Jeff is going to go shopping for me. He sent a text last night and I sent him a list. We’ll see how he does. David across the street brought over a blueberry pancake with berries and syrup last night as I was heating up some chicken soup. It was an easy call. I went for the sweets. His sermon on Samson is actually very good. It is short and to the point. And he said I could post it here so why not. It’s 9 minutes long. This is the guy that came over and built and installed my new mailbox last summer. Hope you enjoy it.
Feats of strength. Feets of strength. The holy spirit within.
CIM Lesson 19 — I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts.
Lucia was incredible last night.
12:15 PM — Well I am in the Zoom room for Yunus’ tutoring session and he hasn’t shown up. I’ve called him and his sister and left messages and sent him an email. We’ll see if he comes or not. So I thought I’d just write awhile while I waited. I did get a few more hours sleep. Got up at 10ish, got a load of laundry in, ate a bowl of cereal, made sure of my rides for tomorrow and Friday’s chemo treatments and normal coffee and morning meds and wound cleaning. It’s kinda nice today so I’ll spend some time outside.
Lucia was wonderful last night. I hope you got to experience it. The soprano really had some serious singing chops and she could act as well. It was just full of wonder and drama and treachery. 2nd time I’ve seen this production. The story as is the case with most opera is over the top with tragedy and trickery and the heroine as usual ends up being the victim of ruthless men. No different here. The music though, you can just listen to that music and not think or care a whit about the story. It is just so entrancing. Tonight is Norma. I might skip that one so I’m not too saturated for La Traviata on Thursday night. La Traviata is the other big opera that I have sung in. In both Lucia and Traviata I was just one of those anonymous guys in the background that sang in the chorus. This is one of things I love about Alaska. I never in a million years would have had the opportunity to experience that kind of collaboration in the lower 48, that much pure fun. But in Anchorage, a small city trying to grow and keep it’s people there and give them some kind of entertainment at night in the winter, the opportunity for someone like me — a plain Joe — were just there. Right place at the right time. All I had to do was show up and sing. But the experiences were as rich and rewarding as any I have had in my life.
I have seen 2 different productions of La Traviata at the Met this past year both excellent. One is a very traditional treatment like Lucia was. Very period very good. I have that one recorded on my Tivo since GPB showed it once and I taped and didn’t erase it after I watched it. The other is a more modern interpretation with the entire opera playing out on one set. The chorus is non-gendered so gender neutral and there is a new silent character added to the opera that the director put in it. It is Germond’s father who just observes (and influences) everything going on. In the final act he does sing the very small role of Dr. Grenville as Violetta dies, but he IS Germond’s father. And if you watch it you will see why that is important. It is an excellent version and a very creative vision of the opera and the one I hope they show tomorrow. Both have wonderful sopranos. And well the MUSIC. It’s all about the music anyway. Remember that. Listen listen listen. So that’s Thursday and you can call this another commercial. I love both of these operas and I know them the best of any because I learned all the music way back when I was in Anchorage. Tocsca is Friday another really excellent opera. I might miss that one since I have the full blown 7 hour chemo on Friday and don’t know how I will be feeling that night. And then Saturday is Wagner’s Die Walküre. I will probably skip the first half and join for the beginning of the third act. The first act is good, just long. Same with second as Brünnhilde and the god Wotan enter the story. But the opening of the third act, I know you know that music and it will set you on fire with excitement especially if it is the production I saw this summer. Talk about woman power — I mean WOMAN POWER!! This is the real deal. Don’t miss the Ride of The VALKYRIES on Saturday night. It’s a long opera (and you do have to be pretty hard core to get into Wagner) but do catch The RIDE in the third act if you can’t make it through it all.
So I hope you take advantage of this free all star opera week on demand at the Met. Your life will be richer for it.
12:45 and Yunus has not come to his tutoring yet. 14 years old. God love him but I want him to start taking responsibility for his life by like showing up when he is supposed to. He’s gonna have to learn that sooner or later if he’s going to get along in this country. It’s hard enough for a refugee. Well it’s almost 1 PM. I’ll keep the room open so I can hand it off to the next tutor who will be tutoring Yunus’ sister. She should be showing up soon. The thing with Yunus is that you never know what is going on with him. He lives in an abusive situation and there are things going on his life that he can’t control. Especially at age 14 when he’s confused about everything anyway. Thank god for the easy life we all have in comparison.
Too funny. I just heard from Louisa by email that this week Dekalb county has in person school on Wednesday. Usually Wednesday is an online day. But since Monday was a holiday, they made Wednesday this week an in person school day. And they forgot to include me on the email last night to tell me. Oh well. I just sat here and wrote so the time was not wasted at all.
I am going to go put the clothes in the dryer and do a few things around the house. Back later.
Just saw this:
3 PM — Here is a synopsis of The Valkeries coming on Saturday. Just for those interested. It’s kind of another one of those pesky archetypes. Remember those?
ACT I
Pursued by enemies during a storm, Siegmund stumbles exhausted into an unfamiliar house. Sieglinde finds him lying by the hearth, and the two feel an immediate attraction. They are interrupted by Sieglinde’s husband, Hunding, who asks the stranger who he is. Calling himself “Woeful,” Siegmund tells of a disaster-filled life, only to learn that Hunding is a kinsman of his enemies. Hunding tells his guest they will fight to the death in the morning.
Alone, Siegmund calls on his father, Wälse, for the sword he once promised him. Sieglinde reappears, having given Hunding a sleeping potion. She tells of her wedding, at which a one-eyed stranger thrust into a tree a sword that has since resisted every effort to pull it out (“Der Männer Sippe”). Sieglinde confesses her unhappiness to Siegmund. He embraces her and promises to free her from her forced marriage to Hunding. As moonlight floods the room, Siegmund compares their feelings to the marriage of love and spring (“Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond”). Sieglinde addresses him as “Spring” but asks if his father was really “Wolf,” as he said earlier. When Siegmund gives his father’s name as Wälse instead, Sieglinde recognizes him as her twin brother. Siegmund pulls the sword from the tree and claims Sieglinde as his bride, rejoicing in the union of the Wälsungs.
ACT II
High in the mountains, Wotan, leader of the gods, tells his warrior daughter, the Valkyrie Brünnhilde, that she must defend his mortal son Siegmund in his upcoming battle with Hunding. She leaves joyfully to do what he has asked, as Fricka, Wotan’s wife and the goddess of marriage, appears. Fricka insists that Wotan must defend Hunding’s marriage rights against Siegmund. She ignores his argument that Siegmund could save the gods by winning back the Nibelung Alberich’s all-powerful ring from the dragon Fafner. When Wotan realizes he is caught in his own trap — he will lose his power if he does not enforce the law — he submits to his wife’s demands. After Fricka has left, the frustrated god tells the returning Brünnhilde about the theft of the Rhinegold and Alberich’s curse on it (“Als junger Liebe Lust mir verblich”). Brünnhilde is shocked to hear her father, his plans in ruins, order her to fight for Hunding.
Siegmund comforts his fearful bride and watches over her when she falls asleep. Brünnhilde appears to him as if in a vision, telling him he will soon die and go to Valhalla (“Siegmund! Sieh auf mich!”). He replies that he will not leave Sieglinde and threatens to kill himself and his bride if his sword has no power against Hunding. Moved by his steadfastness, Brünnhilde decides to defy Wotan and help Siegmund. Siegmund bids farewell to Sieglinde when he hears the approaching Hunding’s challenge. The two men fight and Siegmund is about to be victorious, when Wotan appears and shatters his sword, leaving him to be killed by Hunding. Brünnhilde escapes with Sieglinde and the broken sword. Wotan contemptuously kills Hunding with a wave of his hand and leaves to punish Brünnhilde for her disobedience.
ACT III
Brünnhilde’s eight warrior sisters — who have gathered on their mountaintop bearing slain heroes to Valhalla. They are surprised to see Brünnhilde arrive with a woman, Sieglinde. When they hear she is fleeing Wotan’s wrath, they are afraid to hide her. Sieglinde is numb with despair until Brünnhilde tells her she bears Siegmund’s child. Now eager to be saved, she takes the pieces of the sword from Brünnhilde, thanks her, and rushes off into the forest to hide from Wotan. When the god appears, he sentences Brünnhilde to become a mortal woman, silencing her sisters’ objections by threatening to do the same to them. Left alone with her father, Brünnhilde pleads that in disobeying his orders she was really doing what he wished. Wotan will not give in: she must lie in sleep, a prize for any man who finds her. She asks to be surrounded in sleep by a wall of fire that only the bravest hero can pierce. Both sense this hero must be the child that Sieglinde will bear. Sadly renouncing his daughter (“Leb’ wohl, du kühnes, herrliches Kind”), Wotan kisses Brünnhilde’s eyes with sleep and mortality before summoning Loge, the god of fire, to encircle the rock. As flames spring up, the departing Wotan invokes a spell defying anyone who fears his spear to brave the flames.
It’s 5:30 PM and I’m watching the taped coverage of the inauguration on PBS. Biden is talking now. Gaga was great and I was really happy to hear This Land is Your Land added. So I’m gonna just let this fly and start again later if I want to. I want to hear the poet. I saw her interviewed on PBS a couple of days ago.