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FReeper Canteen - Tunes For Our Troops - 30 March 2013
Our Troops Rock!!!
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Posted on 03/29/2013 6:00:29 PM PDT by AZamericonnie
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To: AZamericonnie; ConorMacNessa; Drumbo; Kathy in Alaska; MS.BEHAVIN; LUV W; left that other site
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
by ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER & TIM RICEIn 1970 a musical event swept the English-speaking world, the release of a rock concept opera by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and librettist Tim Rice. Many thought they might just be a flash in the pan, but both men went on to distinguished musical careers.
The Libretto
A quick look at the libretto for this opera shows that Rice was attempting to write The Passion According to Judas. After all, why not? Hes the prime actor in the death of Yeshua ibn Yussef, Joshua Josephson in English, known to Christendom by his Greek name, Jesus Christ. Judas emerges from the Gospels as more of a symbol than a real person, so there was room to flesh out the details. Fulton Oursler had done much the same thing in The Greatest Story Ever Told, so there was ample precedent.
Rice conflates Mary Magdalene and the woman taken in adultery, a passage from the Gospel of John that some scholars, both current and early in Church history, considered to be of suspect provenance. This wasnt anything new, for this conflation has survived almost two millennia. Nikos Kazantzakis, in his novel The Last Temptation of Christ, continued this tradition. Rice accepts it because it adds a layer to the story and provides room for a female singer, something an opera cannot do without. Consider it dramatic license.
The Music
Good composers borrow, but great composers steal.
Andrew Lloyd Webber steals from the basics of rock, Mendelssohn, Gershwin, Stravinsky and Ray Charles, and he does it without shame. By definition, I suppose that makes him a Great Composer.
Andys output has parallels with Puccini. In Jesus Christ Superstar and La Boheme, the two composers are profligate with their melodic material. You can excerpt large chunks of these early operas and turn them into concert pieces. Each man later in his career became more parsimonious, and both men settled for writing operas with one big commercial hit and padding the remainder of the opera with lesser material. Its a case of pacing yourself.
Andy knows how to use the basic building blocks of opera: recitative, aria, chorus and various ensemble pieces. He understands the concept of flow. He deploys unusual time signatures such 5/4 and 7/4. He steals a lot, but he steals ingeniously.
Reception
At the time, modernist Catholics and mainstream Protestants embraced the new work joyfully. Evangelicals and traditionalist Catholics looked at it with a jaundiced eye. Not much has changed since then.
What rankled was the use of non-biblical material by Rice. Bachs two Passions, those of Matthew and John, used prose from the Gospels, as did Handel in Act 2 of Messiah, his contribution to the Passion repertory. In that era any other approach would have been considered blasphemous. Rice, with the very title, was thought to be questioning Jesus divinity. For two millennia theologians have attempted to grasp the exact nature of the God/Man balance in Jesus, and in the early Byzantine Era entire tankers of blood were spilled over that debate. However much some might have disagreed with Rices approach, no one suggesting skinning him and dragging him behind a horse-drawn chariot through the streets of London.
The English-speaking world was more biblically literate in that era. Today the opera prompts people to go to the original source, much like the History Channels series The Bible. That may be a good thing.
Staging
This became the greatest challenge. Hector Berlioz wrote a cantata, The Damnation of Faust, that was not an opera because it could not be staged in the theaters of the day. Berlioz used quick cuts, like a film director, something that can be done in the movies but not on stage. The kind of work done in the recording studio, in this case a rock concept opera, is difficult to translate to the stage. It took two years for producer Robert Stigwood and Andy to figure out how to do that.
Versions
Like Handels Messiah, Jesus Christ Superstar has undergone revisions over the years as the opera has been revived again and again. Numbers have been extended, a new number was written in the Nineties, and one number has been completely revised. Im using the 2000 version.
Overture
In the days of Mozart and Beethoven, opera overtures were written in sonata format with two themes in contrasting keys, development and recapitulation. Later, light operas used overtures with excerpts from the themes used in the opera. In his overture to Die Meistersinger, Wagner combined both ideas brilliantly.
Andy, however, opts to use only one idea for his overture. He writes an instrumental version of the duet and mob chorus where Jesus and Pilate confront each other. His instrumentation is rock band and orchestra with just a hint of Shostakovich. At the end, he states the Superstar motif, and a choral introduction quiets everything down for a recitative and aria for Judas.
Overture
21
posted on
03/29/2013 6:17:01 PM PDT
by
Publius
To: Kathy in Alaska; laurenmarlowe; BIGLOOK; alfa6; EsmeraldaA; SandRat; mylife; TMSuchman; PROCON; ...
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Welcome To All Who Enter This Canteen, To Our Serving Military, To Our Veterans, To All Military Families, To Our FRiends and To Our Allies!
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Missing Man Setting
"The Empty Chair"
By Captain Carroll "Lex" Lefon, USN (RET), on December 21st, 2004
"In the wardroom onboard the aircraft carrier from which I recently debarked was a small, round table, with single chair. No one ever sat there, and the reasons, both for the table being there, and for the fact that the chair was always empty, will tell the reader a little bit about who we are as a culture.The wardroom, of course, is where the officers will dine; morning, noon and evening. It is not only a place to eat it is also a kind of oasis from the sometimes dreary, often difficult exigencies of the service. A place of social discourse, of momentary relief from the burdens of the day. The only things explicitly forbidden by inviolable tradition in the wardroom are the wearing of a cover or sword by an officer not actually on watch, or conversation which touches upon politics or religion. But aboard ships which observe the custom, another implicit taboo concerns the empty chair: No matter how crowded the room, no matter who is waiting to be seated, that chair is never moved, never taken.
The table is by the main entrance to the wardroom. You will see it when you enter, and you will see it when you leave. It draws your eyes because it is meant to. And because it draws your eyes it draws your thoughts. And though it will be there every day for as long as you are at sea, you will look at it every time and your eyes will momentarily grow distant as you think for a moment. As you quietly give thanks.
AS YOU REMEMBER.
The small, round table is covered with a gold linen tablecloth. A single place setting rests there, of fine bone china. A wineglass stands upon the table, inverted, empty. On the dinner plate is a pinch of salt. On the bread plate is a slice of lemon. Besides the plate lies a bible. There is a small vase with a single red rose upon the table. Around the vase is wound a yellow ribbon. There is the empty chair.
We will remember because over the course of our careers, we will have had the opportunity to enjoy many a formal evening of dinner and dancing in the fine company of those with whom we have the honor to serve, and their lovely ladies. And as the night wears on, our faces will in time become flushed with pleasure of each others company, with the exertions on the dance floor, with the effects of our libations. But while the feast is still at its best, order will be called to the room we will be asked to raise our glasses to the empty table, and we will be asked to remember:
The table is round to show our everlasting concern for those who are missing. The single setting reminds us that every one of them went to their fates alone, that every life was unique.
The tablecloth is gold symbolizing the purity of their motives when they answered the call to duty.
The single red rose, displayed in a vase, reminds us of the life of each of the missing, and their loved ones who kept the faith.
The yellow ribbon around the vase symbolizes our continued determination to remember them.
The slice of lemon reminds us of the bitterness of their fate. The salt symbolizes the tears shed by those who loved them. The bible represents the faith that sustained them. The glass is inverted they cannot share in the toast. The chair is empty they are not here. They are missing.
And we will remember, and we will raise our glasses to those who went before us, and who gave all that they had for us. And a part of the flush in our faces will pale as we remember that nothing worth having ever came without a cost. We will remember that many of our brothers and sisters have paid that cost in blood. We will remember that the reckoning is not over.
We many of us will settle with our families into our holiday season, our Christmas season for those who celebrate it, content in our fortune and prosperity. We will meet old friends with smiles and laughter. We will meet our members of our family with hugs. We will eat well, and exchange gifts and raise our glasses to the year passed in gratitude, and to the year to come with hope. We will sleep the sleep of the protected, secure in our homes, secure in our homeland.
But for many families, there will be an empty chair at the table this year. A place that is not filled.
WE SHOULD REMEMBER."
Thanks To Alfa6 For Finding Capt. Lefon's Chronicle Of "The Empty Chair."
Robert Schumann Traumerei (Click) Never Forget The Brave Men And Women Who Gave Their Lives To Secure Our Freedom!!
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Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)
22
posted on
03/29/2013 6:18:04 PM PDT
by
ConorMacNessa
(HM/2 USN, 3/5 Marines RVN 1969 - St. Michael the Archangel defend us in Battle!)
To: The Mayor
The Mayor!!![](http://patriotden.com/favorites/round6.jpg)
23
posted on
03/29/2013 6:20:38 PM PDT
by
Kathy in Alaska
(((~ RIP Brian...heaven's gain...the Coast Guard lost a good one.~)))
To: Publius; AZamericonnie; All
24
posted on
03/29/2013 6:25:56 PM PDT
by
Drumbo
("Democracy can withstand anything but democrats." - Jubal Harshaw [Robert A. Heinlein])
To: Drumbo
"Great minds run in the same gutters..."
...or something like that.
25
posted on
03/29/2013 6:27:10 PM PDT
by
Publius
To: Publius
Wow...I had that album “back in the day” but I just noticed that the cover design is a combination of the Cherubim from the Ark of the Covenant (Old Testament) and a Chalice or Cup (New Testament).
How many years have I looked at that design, and I am just seeing that NOW?
Thanks again for this special Holy Week Music!
There was a lot more ROCK in Jesus Christ Superstar than in subsequent ALW musicals.
They sort of morphed into straight “Broadway”.
26
posted on
03/29/2013 6:27:49 PM PDT
by
left that other site
(Worry is the darkroom that developes negatives.)
To: AZamericonnie; ConorMacNessa; Drumbo; Kathy in Alaska; MS.BEHAVIN; LUV W; left that other site
Recitative, AriaJudas states his concern that everything is going sour. He hasnt signed up for this; its going to cause problems with the Romans. There is a strong hint of the professional politician pleading his case. In the middle eight bars of the aria, Andy switches from 4/4 to 7/4, a tip of the hat to Stravinsky.
Heaven on Their Minds
27
posted on
03/29/2013 6:28:00 PM PDT
by
Publius
To: Publius
My favorite overtures are by either Rossini or Sir Arthur Sullivan.
Sullivan’s are a perfect example of the “Excerpt Type” of overture that you describe.
28
posted on
03/29/2013 6:29:18 PM PDT
by
left that other site
(Worry is the darkroom that developes negatives.)
To: AZamericonnie
Thanks, Connie, for today's Tunes For The Troops!!![](http://patriotden.com/fotki/thankyous/thank_you_musicnote.gif)
29
posted on
03/29/2013 6:30:23 PM PDT
by
Kathy in Alaska
(((~ RIP Brian...heaven's gain...the Coast Guard lost a good one.~)))
To: left that other site
When a piece of music is great, we all continue to learn from it, even years later.
30
posted on
03/29/2013 6:32:21 PM PDT
by
Publius
To: Publius; AZamericonnie; All
31
posted on
03/29/2013 6:34:54 PM PDT
by
Drumbo
("Democracy can withstand anything but democrats." - Jubal Harshaw [Robert A. Heinlein])
To: AZamericonnie; ConorMacNessa; Drumbo; Kathy in Alaska; MS.BEHAVIN; LUV W; left that other site
Choruses, Arias, DuetsA skilled composer needs to know when to turn lyrical and when to use music that is rhythmically strong but melodically neutral. Andy shows a real gift here. The Apostles chorus lacks a genuine theme, asking whats going on. Jesus berates them, and Mary Magdalene tries to calm the situation. Judas interjects by condemning the kind of people Jesus hangs around with. Jesus responds with his own chastisement of Judas. The music underlying the chorus in 5/4 is later used to the words, Take him to Pilate. A tip of the hat to Wagner, perhaps. Mary Magdalene calms things down with her hit aria, turning into duets, also in 5/4. With his complaint about mis-allocation of resources, Judas comes across as a liberal politician. Andys deployment of the full orchestra at 7:24 is one of the great moments of this opera.
Whats the Buzz, Strange Thing, Everythings Alright
32
posted on
03/29/2013 6:35:39 PM PDT
by
Publius
To: Publius
I loved it when music came in a 12’ x 12’ package. My ambition as an art major was to degn record album covers. My senior high school project was a incredible double album cover for Symphonie Fantastique.
It was QUIT Psychadelic! LOL!
33
posted on
03/29/2013 6:35:40 PM PDT
by
left that other site
(Worry is the darkroom that developes negatives.)
To: Kathy in Alaska; laurenmarlowe; BIGLOOK; alfa6; EsmeraldaA; SandRat; mylife; TMSuchman; PROCON; ...
![]( http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i25/Conormacnessa/Religious/Healing_Wings.jpg?t=1350610134 )
HOLY SATURDAY THE HARROWING OF HELL
![]( http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i25/Conormacnessa/Religious/a6e8abd2-fe0e-4192-b77a-dff14346fb2b.jpg )
The Descent into Hell - Jacopo Comin (Tintoretto) (1518-1594)
CRUCIFIXUS Mass in B Minor Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) (Click)
Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorem caeli et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium. Et in unum Dominum Iesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum, et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo, Lumen de Lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero, genitum non factum, consubstantialem Patri; per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de caelis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine, et homo factus est. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est, et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas, et ascendit in caelum, sedet ad dexteram Patris. Et iterum venturus est cum gloria, iudicare vivos et mortuos, cuius regni non erit finis.
Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem, qui ex Patre Filioque procedit. Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur: qui locutus est per prophetas. Et unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam. Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum. Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum, et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.
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Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)
34
posted on
03/29/2013 6:37:53 PM PDT
by
ConorMacNessa
(HM/2 USN, 3/5 Marines RVN 1969 - St. Michael the Archangel defend us in Battle!)
To: left that other site
35
posted on
03/29/2013 6:39:46 PM PDT
by
left that other site
(Worry is the darkroom that developes negatives.)
To: left that other site
I would have liked to see that.
36
posted on
03/29/2013 6:39:57 PM PDT
by
Publius
To: Publius
Good evening, Publius...looking forward to tonight’s fare.
37
posted on
03/29/2013 6:40:33 PM PDT
by
Kathy in Alaska
(((~ RIP Brian...heaven's gain...the Coast Guard lost a good one.~)))
To: Publius; AZamericonnie; All
38
posted on
03/29/2013 6:42:40 PM PDT
by
Drumbo
("Democracy can withstand anything but democrats." - Jubal Harshaw [Robert A. Heinlein])
To: AZamericonnie; MoJo2001; 007; 1 FELLOW FREEPER; 11B3; 1FreeAmerican; 1stbn27; 2111USMC; ...
~ Tunes For Our Troops! ~
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39
posted on
03/29/2013 6:43:14 PM PDT
by
Kathy in Alaska
(((~ RIP Brian...heaven's gain...the Coast Guard lost a good one.~)))
To: AZamericonnie; ConorMacNessa; Drumbo; Kathy in Alaska; MS.BEHAVIN; LUV W; left that other site
Recitative, QuintetThe action shifts to the conference room of the Jerusalem Temple. Caiaphas (basso profundo) and Annas (countertenor) discuss what needs to be done about Jesus. The crowds line in the recitative appears later in the scene where the people demand crucifixion. Andy was already thinking ahead to the irony of the situation.
This Jesus Must Die
40
posted on
03/29/2013 6:43:38 PM PDT
by
Publius
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