Open Thread May 14, 2023

Yesterday, the radio opera was Verdi’s “Aïda.” It was commissioned by the Egyptian government of the time to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. IIRC, it was a bit on the late side, but it was a hit anyway (which suggests that Egyptians of the day didn’t know their history much more accurately than we know ours today.) I got to thinking about how tastes can change over time. A hundred years ago, Gounod’s “Faust” was so popular, and therefore performed so often, that one critic nicknamed the Met “Das Faustspielhaus” – a pun on Wagner’s “Festspielhaus” at Bayreuth (a story in its own right). Both Aïda and Boheme existed (1874 and 1895 respectively), but they weren’t all that popular. Fifty years ago, the three most performed operas at the Met were Aïda, Boheme, and Carmen, in that order. The ABCs of opera. Today, Boheme is the most performed, followed by Aïda, and there may not be a clear third. This is not a bad thing. If tastes didn’t change, new operas would not have a chance of success. But I digress. Aïda is a love trianglein which all three apexes are doomed. Aïda is a POW from the last war between Egypt and Ethiopia, and has been given to Amneris, the Pharaoh’s daughter as a slave. Both are (secretly) in love with Radames, a general in the Egyptian army. Egypt receives intelligence that Ethiopia is planning to attack them, and decides to hit Ethiopia back first.Radames is chosen to command the attack. Egypt wins and Radames brings home prisoners, including Aïda’s father. There is a huge triumphal scene, notorious for the number and variety of animals on stage, inclidng a march which is so famous and so often played on its own that you have probably heard it. The Pharaoh rewards Radames for his success by giving him Amneris’s hand in marriage (not exactly what he was hoping for.) Radames and Aïda consider running away to escape this fate, but her father shows up at their meeting place before Radames does, and puts the screws to her to get Radames to tell her the Egyptian battle plan. Unwillingly, she does so, and at that moment Amneris and the High Priest show up and condemn Radames as a traitor. There’s an off stage trial, Radames does not defend himself and is condemned to be locked into a tomb (and asphyxiated.) Aïda sneaks into the tomb first and they die together while Amneris prays for peace for her soul. Aïda’s music in the final scene is written in such a way that musicologists have suggested it demonstrates she has been waiting for him in the tomb long enough to already be noticeably low on oxygen, and I think they are on to something. Totally unrelated: I bombed the Conversation’s quiz this week – only 4 correct out of eight. Told you I couldn’t keep it up. 🙂

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Short Takes –

The Brighter Side – Breakthrough antibody kills all known variants of SARS-CoV-2
Quote – Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital have made a significant breakthrough with the development of a new antibody. This antibody, during laboratory examinations, effectively neutralized all presently recognized variants of SARS-CoV-2, which includes all known variants of Omicron.
Click through for some medical detail. However, this is not a journal, so it’s pretty well simplified.

Crooks & Liars – Shocker: NYT Headline Admits Biden Didn’t Do Anything Wrong
Quote – And in a rare turn of events, the NY Times ran this story with a completely unambiguous headline: “House Republican Report Finds No Evidence of Wrongdoing by President Biden.” Man bites dog! It’s a low bar, but I’ll take it.
Click through for a bit more. This is good news, but it’s still sad when an accurate headline is itself newsworthy for its accuracy alone.

Food For Thought