The Fixed Period is the title of the second audiobook to which I contributed in the LibriVox project. It is a strange story, to say the least, written by the prolific Victorian novelist, Anthony Trollope, and first published in 1882. Kirk and I, since we joined The Folio Society back in the 90's, have collected all of Trollope's 48 novels and have read most of them through the years. The Fixed Period, however, was one that I tried in vain several times to read but could not get past the first few chapters. It was very different from the usual themes of Trollope's stories about love, marriage, inheritance, lawsuits, impetuous and stubborn men and women, greed and ambition in some of his more unsavory characters, etc. It has been called a dystopian fiction, set in 1980, long since passed without any such event, fortunately, ever having happened. The story itself, though grim enough, was narrated in a matter of fact tone, mundane and argumentative, though what sends a chill down one's spine is not so much the dystopian society it depicts, but the realization how one can be led astray on a grand scale by mistaken beliefs and an inflexible will.
When I saw the book in the Readers Wanted list of LibriVox's catalog, I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to find out, finally, what the story was about and how it ended. I actually started reading, my first attempt at voice recording, from the last two chapters of the book. After satisfying myself that nothing more disastrous happened than the frustration of a misguided idealist, I gradually read my way back up, and eventually recorded six chapters of the book in total. I'm afraid my reading is rather mechanical, not like story-telling; I've a lot to work on still.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Opera 101, Re-broadcast
[The following post is for people who may be interested in finding out more about western operas. If you're well versed in this subject, please read no farther.]
For opera newbies out there, me included, I'd like to bring your attention to a new series of video podcasts this summer by Nicolas Revels of the San Diego Opera Company in which he introduces some of the basic elements of operas. (Hat-tip to Marija for first telling me about this podcast a couple of years ago.)
Opera for most people is an acquired taste, like bitter greens that take a little getting used to. In addition to its unfamiliarity, there are several obvious reasons why it is not a more popular form of music theatre than, say, Broadway Musicals in the U. S.-- e.g., the fact that live operas are not readily available unless you live in big cities, that they are sung in languages other than English about 90 percent of the time, that opera singers do not normally enjoy the same cachet as pop idols, except in their own rarefied world, and that operas can be interminably long, and so on. It was not until the Metropolitan Opera started showing opera productions live in HD at movie theaters that I got exposed to this musical/performing art form, just a couple of years before we moved from Gainesville to Bloomington.
Luckily for me, Bloomington's IU School of Music happens to be one of the hot beds, and the best schools, for opera studies in the U.S. Each year they stage seven full-fledged opera productions at the IU Musical Arts Center. As a result, since moving to Bloomington, though a small town, I've been to see several live opera performances, by semi-professional opera students with all the accompanying fanfare and pageantry of live orchestra, gigantic movable sets, dramatic lighting, and period costumes, etc. I can't say that I've now become a bona fide opera buff; my knowledge about operas is in truth minuscule--barely scratching the surface. But I have caught the opera bug.
I hope that the following introductory podcasts about operas by Nicolas Revels may perchance become the entry point to the world of [western] operas for some, who perhaps think it not to their taste, while providing, for others, an opportunity to dig a little deeper into the subject. I don't know if there will be more podcasts in this series coming, but the followings are what have already been broadcasted -
1. Summer School for Opera Fans
2. Words and Music
3. What is an Aria?
4. I've Heard this Before!
5. The Duet
6. How do you say "I Love You" in music
7. Homework?!!
By the way, the schedule for the 2014 Met Opera Live in HD season is out; you may catch a few of the performances "live" in the movie theaters near you this Fall!
Opera for most people is an acquired taste, like bitter greens that take a little getting used to. In addition to its unfamiliarity, there are several obvious reasons why it is not a more popular form of music theatre than, say, Broadway Musicals in the U. S.-- e.g., the fact that live operas are not readily available unless you live in big cities, that they are sung in languages other than English about 90 percent of the time, that opera singers do not normally enjoy the same cachet as pop idols, except in their own rarefied world, and that operas can be interminably long, and so on. It was not until the Metropolitan Opera started showing opera productions live in HD at movie theaters that I got exposed to this musical/performing art form, just a couple of years before we moved from Gainesville to Bloomington.
Luckily for me, Bloomington's IU School of Music happens to be one of the hot beds, and the best schools, for opera studies in the U.S. Each year they stage seven full-fledged opera productions at the IU Musical Arts Center. As a result, since moving to Bloomington, though a small town, I've been to see several live opera performances, by semi-professional opera students with all the accompanying fanfare and pageantry of live orchestra, gigantic movable sets, dramatic lighting, and period costumes, etc. I can't say that I've now become a bona fide opera buff; my knowledge about operas is in truth minuscule--barely scratching the surface. But I have caught the opera bug.
I hope that the following introductory podcasts about operas by Nicolas Revels may perchance become the entry point to the world of [western] operas for some, who perhaps think it not to their taste, while providing, for others, an opportunity to dig a little deeper into the subject. I don't know if there will be more podcasts in this series coming, but the followings are what have already been broadcasted -
1. Summer School for Opera Fans
2. Words and Music
3. What is an Aria?
4. I've Heard this Before!
5. The Duet
6. How do you say "I Love You" in music
7. Homework?!!
By the way, the schedule for the 2014 Met Opera Live in HD season is out; you may catch a few of the performances "live" in the movie theaters near you this Fall!