Never Give Up

Carmen
By
George Bizet
Carmen Jones
Adapted by
Oscar Hammerstein II

A few months after my 16th birthday, two of my friends, Denny Quillen and Warren Coleman, and I attended a matinee movie at the Wayne Theater in Waynesboro, Virginia. The movie, Carmen Jones, starred Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge.

Carmen Jones was an adaptation of the famous French opera, Carmen. Oscar Hammerstein II (from the famous pair ? Rogers and Hammerstein) had taken the original story and placed the story in American and featured an all Negro (that is the labeled used in the 1950's) cast. Oscar's production was on stage and now it had moved to the cinema.

Hammerstein attended his first opera when he was about five. He said that he loved the music, but he was puzzled and frustrated that he could not understand the words being sung. As an adult he knew that some operas had been translated into English, however, Oscar said the translators often did not create ?singable lyrics.'

Hammerstein obviously knew how to create ?singable lyrics.' He had already written Old Man River among many other classic tunes.

Denny, Warren and I had no experience with opera. However, all three of us were transfixed by this movie. I quickly bought the record of the movie score. Denny did the same ? that was his first LP (long playing record), the first of many.

Why were we so fascinated? I attribute it to the musical score. George Bizet had written the opera, Carmen, which then became the best known Opera in the world.

Elena and I viewed Carmen at the Utah Festival Opera this July. Their production was outstanding. I quote from Elena's blog:

"We arrived in Logan in time to eat supper at the Bluebird Restaurant and then go to "Carmen." I did not expect to like it, but the singing and acting were so great and our seats were so good that I was very moved by it and enjoyed it very much. Having good seats really makes a difference. They are worth the extra money."

I will review just a few of the arias. I will use the Carmen Jones names, since I do not speak French.

"Stand Up and Fight" (the Toreador song from Carmen) ? this is one of the best known selections from all opera. It is impossible not to like this vigorous song. The Toreador at our production had a beautiful baritone voice. He played Lancelot in Camelot the next day.

"You Talk Just Like My Ma" This duet is sung by Joe (the male lead) and Cindy Lou, his girlfriend before Carmen seduces Joe (Don Jose) away. I love this duet, very moving.

"That's Love" The song in which Carmen does her evil deed and draws Don Jose away from all that is good. Our production's Carmen was superb . Not only did she have an impeccable voice, but she was beautiful and athletic. The latter trait was used nicely in this stage production.

"Dis' Flower" This has been described as the perfect aria. Our Joe was from the Utah Opera. I found his rendition so delicately beautiful that I wanted to shout?"Bravo."

"Beat Out That Rhythm on a Drum" This number is one that Hammerstein changed the most. In the Opera this a vigorous dance number sung by Carmen. The basic tune and chorus are sung three times each time increasing the speed of the rhythm. The chorus in the opera needs no translation ? "Tra, la, la-la ala." Hammerstein changed these lyrics to "Beat Out That Rhythm on a Drum" and gave the song to one of the minor characters in the play?the selection is now a jazz number. In the movie Pearl Bailey sang it with gusto in her alto voice. Life magazine called this number ? "a show stopper."

"My Joe" ? This is my personal favorite. It is sung by Cindy Lou, the spurned girl friend. It begins with a haunting French horn solo. She is pleading that God bring her Joe back to her. When I saw this at age 15, I was naďve. I felt "GOD HAS TO ANSWER HER PRAYER." I had yet to learn that God would never force Joe to come back. The actress in the movie, Olga James, did her own singing. None of the other major actors used their own voice for the musical selections.

Since this is an opera, of course Joe (Don Jose) does not come back. The final lyrics in the movie are sung by Joe just after he has strangled Carmen. He killed her because she had already moved onto another boyfriend ? the Toreador. The lyrics ?

"Hang me high on a tree, so that soon I will be with my love, my Carmen."

So I was introduced to tragic opera. Again paraphrasing Life magazine ? "Carmen Jones will be the best advertisement for opera since Enrico Caruso."

Opera is not my favorite venue, not even my favorite classical genre, but my life has been enriched by the exposure to the operas that I have experienced. The three hour production in Logan, Utah was a draining experience ? a night to remember.

Utah Festival Opera, Larry Miller, Carmen & More
Part II ? Larry Miller
Larry Miller? He could not like opera, could he?
No, he did not particularly like opera, but the Festival dedicated this season to him. Why? Because the Festival would not exist if it was not for Larry Miller?
I wrote a few months ago, at Larry's death, how much I admired the man. Michael Ballam described him as the most generous man he had ever met?and not just with money.
I quote directly from Michael's production notes:

"Their (the Miller family) generosity was usually anonymous, as Larry said ?we're blessed enough to be part of this, we need no recognition.'

"Larry approached me in 1993, the year after the?Festival?was founded?He drove to Logan and asked me to explain my vision?
he asked: ?How can we help?' ?
I told him three things;
housing for our artists,
a building?where we could rehearse?design and build costumes, props...
and an endowment fund large enough to guarantee our perpetuity."

The Miller provided all three items; the cost has to be in the many millions. Quoting further from Ballam's production notes:

"In the summer of 1994 Larry and Gail(Larry's wife) attended their first opera with us, Madama Butterfly. Larry was concerned that he would have to wear a tie but we supplied him with his traditional polo shirt and replaced the Utah Jazz logo with Utah Festival Opera. I seated them?on row 4 center and I watched?from the back of the house. He didn't move a muscle and I feared he had fallen asleep. At intermission, I high-tailed it to Larry's side. He was sitting still weeping, drenching his polo shirt with tears.

I asked, "What's wrong? ?it is a tragic story, but not until the next act."

"STORY!" he said, "I can't understand anything they're saying. They're singing in Spanish or something."

I asked why he didn't read the supertitles above the stage.

He said, ?wiping tears. "I couldn't take my eyes off the stage!"

I asked then, "Why are you crying?"

He said?"The EXCELLENCE! Those people down in the pit?are the best?those sets?are works of art! And that soprano, every high note she hits is a THREE POINTER!"

Then he said the most beautiful phrase imaginable. "Every child in the state needs to see this. Let me help you accomplish that."

Last Wednesday right before "Carmen" was to be performed, Michael Ballam came out in front of the curtain and told a little about Larry. He then commented that whenever Larry accomplished anything, he gave Gail equal credit. And then he told us that Gail was with us tonight and had her stand up to our applause. She was three rows behind Elena and I.

Larry Miller is truly a role model for all of us. He was blessed with a genius for business and hence made money. He used that money to help us all in MANY, MANY ways.

I will include reviews of the three productions that Elena and I attended in later blogs.

Utah Festival Opera, Larry Miller, Carmen & More
Part I ? The Utah Festival Opera

Elena and I attended the 2009 Utah Festival Opera a few days ago. We viewed three performances in 2 days and stayed a couple of nights at Ron and Laurene's (Elena's sister.)

We both labeled the Festival terrific. Michael Ballam started this yearly tradition 17 years ago. Each year they put on 4 or 5 productions, two of which are operas. The others can be described as musical theater. I give Michael enormous credit for having the vision to tackle such a large undertaking. First he had to get a theater in Logan remodeled to create a place where these theatrical productions could be performed before about 1000 people.

Then Michael has to hire the major performers for these productions. One thing I like about repertoire theater is the audience sees the same performing playing different roles. For example this year the baritone who played the Toreador in Carmen, which we viewed Wednesday night, played Lancelot in Camelot, which we saw the next afternoon.

These principal artists, as the program calls them come from all over the country. This year he had singers from many of the opera companies around the country including the New York Opera.

Then they need 20-50 ensemble singers; people who sing in the chorus and/or take small parts. Ballam is proud of his ensemble singers?they really can sing. Let me illustrate with a brief story.

When we returned from the Festival Friday we went to one of our favorite restaurants that evening?Octavios who is closing their doors after this weekend. This Italian restaurant has a man who plays the accordion and sings Italian songs on some evenings. While he was singing to the table next to us, our waiter, David, stood by him and joined in on this particular piece.

We later asked: "David, where did you learned to sing like that?"

David replied: "I am studying opera in school."

We said: "We just got back from the Utah Festival Opera."

He said: "I was in it last year. I was part of all five productions."

So this opera major is one of the 30 or so high quality ensemble singers.

Back to describing the Festival. Michael has to hire 65 people to be in the orchestra. These people come from orchestras all across the country including one which was from The Radio City Music Hall orchestra. I list that one because many readers of this blog have seen that orchestra. The Festival's large orchestra is one reason I am so fond of the experience. Broadway plays of today only utilize 13 piece orchestras?the rest are synthesized. There is no substitute for live performers.

He needs directors for his productions. This year he had two orchestra conductors, both women incidentally.

He needs to have elaborate sets and costumes for each production.

Finally, he has to have a place that can house all these performers and musicians for six weeks. The effort to put on the musical productions each year is enormous.

One little touch that I like is that an hour before the performances, Michael Ballam himself (or a substitute if Ballam is performing in that production) comes to front of the auditorium and answers our questions and tells us some details about the show we are about to see.

I do not think I am exaggerating when I say that there are no better musical productions in the whole country than the ones produced in this small Utah town.

If you have any chance to be a part of the Festival this year or a subsequent year, do so. The performances usually take the month of July. If interested, go to the web address: www.ufoc.com.

In subsequent blogs I will give reviews for each of the three shows we saw and describe what Larry Miller has to do with this subject.

Dogs That Know When Their Owners are Coming Home
And Other Unexplained Powers of Animals
by
Rupert Sheldrake
I found this book fascinating. Many dog watchers report that their dog goes to the window to watch some minutes before the dog's owner (or some other person to which the dog is attached) comes home. The owner may have an irregular time for coming home and may be miles away when they start coming home yet the dog seems to know that they are coming home.
The author, Rupert Sheldrake, is an established scientist; biology is his field. He publishes regularly in the scientific journals.
Sheldrake investigates the anecdotal evidence for dogs behaving as described in the first paragraph. He finds many such stories. Shortly after reading this book, I heard an identical story from a nephew. This nephew volunteered the dog story out of the blue unaware that I just read a book on the subject.
Sheldrake then sets up designed experiments to determine if such reported activity actually occurs as opposed to the people just imagining it. He arranged for some owner's to agree to come home at random times determined by the experimenter. At the same time the dog at home would be videotape all day.
Sheldrake's experiments confirmed that this dog behavior certainly does occur! The owner would be so far away to rule out smell being the trigger for the dog. The owners would sometimes come home in strange cars to rule out the possibility that the dogs recognize the sounds of a familiar car. Sheldrake also ruled out other ?logical' explanations.
Dogs are not the only animal that exhibit this behavior. Some cats, horses, and parrots also have this ability, but apparently not as frequently as dogs.
The author then describes MANY other ?unexplained powers of animals." I will mention just three.
 

He found pet owners who claim that their cat would run to the phone when it rang and the person calling was a person for whom the cat was particularly fond. The cat(s) would run to the phone before it was picked up by whoever was home. When someone for whom the cat was not strongly bonded called, the cat ignored the phone ring. Some dogs also seem to know who is calling.
Many animals seem to have an ability to find their way home even when they are miles away in a place they have never been before. This ability provided the basis for Walt Disney's movie, "Incredible Journey." Sheldrake's researchers took one such dog to a strange place in a crowded city; left the dog alone and then had some people observe his behavior without the dog's knowledge. The dog wandered around his dropped off spot for about 30 minutes seemingly trying to find his bearings. And then the dog headed to home in nearly a straight line. Interestingly, during the 30 minutes of ?finding his bearings,' the dog showed no sign of sniffing or smelling. For completeness I mention that many dogs (and other animals) seem to have this ability, but some dogs did not have this ability to find their home.
The last example I will give is the fact that certain epileptic persons have dogs that warn the owner about 30 minutes before the person is to have a seizure. Such warnings are very important to the owners because they can go lie down and prevent falling and injuring themselves during a seizure. No one knows how the dogs know a seizure is coming, but these owners have learned to depend on their dog. Some even take the dog with them when they live their house; somewhat like a blind person having a seeing eye dog. One important difference between the ?epileptic' dogs versus the seeing eye dogs is that the seeing eye dogs are trained for their behavior whereas the epileptic people's dog seem to know by instinct. No training is involved.
What does all this animal behavior mean? For the author it means that there is a method of communication between living things that is outside of the electro-magnetic spectrum. Sheldrake speculates what this method of communication might be in one of his Appendices. I did not find his speculation helpful.
I agree with the author; a communication system undiscovered by western science seems to exist. After all, science only discovered the electro-magnetic spectrum a couple centuries ago. A person viewing television 200 years ago would have called it magic. Why should we be surprised that there are still things about the universe not understood?
This is a very readable, exciting book. I highly recommend it.

Every year KBYU classical radio station holds a contest to select the listener's top 40 favorite classical pieces. Listeners can vote for their top five choices (in order.) This year in addition to selecting the top 40, the station is comparing male versus female choices.
You can cast your ballot at http://www.classical89.org/ I am curious to know any of your choices.
I already listed my choices on Facebook, but I will give more detail here.
1) Tchaikovsky -- Symphony #5
I feel in love with this piece in my 16th year and it never tires.
The first movement starts out with a haunting dark melody. This theme repeats itself in all four movements. The rest of this first movement has several vigorous, upbeat themes with a repeat of the haunting melody.
The second movement begins with the French horn playing a beautiful romantic melody. This is followed by a second romantic tune. These two melodies compete with each other for about ten minutes with a beautiful intensity until they are interrupted by the haunting melody mentioned above. In a 1937 movie with Nelson Eddy and Jeannette McDonald this entire movement was made into a dramatic opera scene.
The third movement is a restful waltz which is also interrupted by our haunting theme.
The final movement starts and ends with the haunting melody, but it has been changed from minor to major key. This movement is vigorous and upbeat. It contains one of the best endings I have ever heard. When I hear the last three or so moments of this symphony I want to stand up and conduct the orchestra.
I have two recordings of the 5th. On one CD the conductor, Daniel Barenboim (Chicago Symphony Orchestra) calls this work "a perfect piece" ? I heartily agree.
2) Handel ? The Messiah
Everyone knows the "Hallelujah Chorus" and "Unto Us a Child is Born", but many of the other numbers also stir heavenly feelings.
I remember my brother, Bill, once stating that "And He Shall Feed His Flock" was the best of the program.
When the alto sang "A Man of Sorrows" in the first performance of the Messiah centuries ago, one of the audience told her "God will forgive your sins for that performance."
In the first grade once a week we had a music teacher come to our classroom. I still recall one day she played "Behold, the Lamb of God."
Elena and I attended a live performance of "The Messiah" at Carnegie Hall two years in a row when we were living in New Jersey?truly one of the highlights of our theater attending life.
3) Beethoven ? Piano Concerto # 5
This work, also known as "Emperor Concerto", begins with a thrilling mixture of piano and orchestra that does indeed sound royal. The second movement is soft and beautifully ethereal piano melody and then introduces the spirited final movement. Beethoven was a genius and he was growing deaf when he wrote this gem which I find I play over and over.
4) Rachmaninoff ? Piano Concerto #2
Selections from the first two movements of the concerto have been included on a CD of mine entitled "Sensual Classical Music" or some such title. Has does a composer make a piano/orchestra sound that can legitimately be labeled sensual, I do not know, but Rachmaninoff certainly has done it. He closes with a beautiful romantic third movement; this is certainly one of the most romantic compositions for which I am aware.
5) Beethoven ? Symphony # 5

The first movement starts off with the famous dot-dot-dot-dash introduction; probably the best know introduction in all classical musical. However, the beginning listener will not be aware that Beethoven uses the same four note theme to base three of symphony's four movements. He does it so cleverly that the listener is unaware. I find the final movement one of the most stirring pieces in all music.

There is more than you want to know about my list. Every year my top five differs a bit as my taste change slightly. I am so glad my parents both a stereo when I was a teenager; it really made my life richer. Thanks for listening.