Universalis, your very own breviary in pixels...

Sunday 29 January 2012

Oh, to be in...

...Miami, this coming weekend!

And the recitals sound out of this world.

Wadsworth, Ryan, Lebounsky, Prowse, (and that barely scratches the surface, the CMAA is developing a deep bench,)... a newly composed motet by Paul Weber....
And His Excellency Archbishop Wenski presiding over Solemn Pontifical High Mass for the Feast of Candlemas -- EF!
It's just a little too far to drive with current familial obligations.
I do hope some of the presentations
will be posted on line.
http://pipedreams.publicradio.org/gallery/us_southeast/florida/images/miami_epiphany_ruffatti_sm.jpg

Monday 23 January 2012

Elizabeth DeShong

First off, anyone who loves baroque music, charming stagecraft, a rollicking good time, or just something a little out of the ordinary in classical music, go see the encore performance of the HD broadcast of the Met's Enchanted Island, http://www.metoperafamily.org/opera/the-enchanted-island-tickets.aspx (supposing you are not so fortunate as to see it in person.)

But secondly, though there was tons of both interesting a great singing, because no one else seems to be mentioning her, OMG Elizabeth DeShong!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.elizabethdeshong.com/

I have never HEARD such articulation. her coloratura was simply amazing!

Sunday 15 January 2012

My Italian, She is Not So Good....

... but doesn't that mean "BREAD of Angels"?

For the first time ever, a selection of paintings and tapestries from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, by such Renaissance and Baroque masters as Sandro Botticelli, Il Parmigianino, Lorenzo Monaco, Il Guercino and Cristofano Allori, is coming to the United States. The museums participating in the national tour are the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale, Florida (November 20, 2011 through April 8, 2012), the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania (April 21, 2012-August 11, 2012), the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Wisconsin (August 18, 2012-November 12, 2012) and the Telfair Museum in Savannah, Georgia (December 15, 2012-April 1, 2013).

Il Pane degli Angeli (Offering of the Angels) was such an enormous success in Florence that the Uffizi's curators decided to make it available to an international audience. The exhibition opened the following year in Spain; first in Madrid in 2008 and later, in Barcelona in 2009, where it was visited by a half million people.

All of the forty-four works of art in Offering of the Angels are related to the theme of angels and the Eucharist. The paintings and tapestries portray scenes from the Old Testament, including the Creation of Adam, the Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, and the Miracle of the Manna, as well as events from the life of Christ, including the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Rest on the Flight into Egypt, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. All the subjects are tied together by the theme of forgiveness.

For the first time ever, a selection of paintings and tapestries from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, by such Renaissance and Baroque masters as Sandro Botticelli, Il Parmigianino, Lorenzo Monaco, Il Guercino and Cristofano Allori, is coming to the United States. The museums participating in the national tour are the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale, Florida (November 20, 2011 through April 8, 2012), the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania (April 21, 2012-August 11, 2012), the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Wisconsin (August 18, 2012-November 12, 2012) and the Telfair Museum in Savannah, Georgia (December 15, 2012-April 1, 2013).

Il Pane degli Angeli (Offering of the Angels) was such an enormous success in Florence that the Uffizi's curators decided to make it available to an international audience. The exhibition opened the following year in Spain; first in Madrid in 2008 and later, in Barcelona in 2009, where it was visited by a half million people.

All of the forty-four works of art in Offering of the Angels are related to the theme of angels and the Eucharist. The paintings and tapestries portray scenes from the Old Testament, including the Creation of Adam, the Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, and the Miracle of the Manna, as well as events from the life of Christ, including the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Rest on the Flight into Egypt, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. All the subjects are tied together by the theme of forgiveness.

Anyway, sounds like a winner
http://www.michenermuseum.org/press/?item=2011-07-27

Friday 6 January 2012

Must Read

http://www.devinrose.heroicvirtuecreations.com/blog/2012/01/03/adversus-catholic-praise-and-worship/
Thus, this post is not so much a generic argument as it is an exposé of how I went from a world that made “praise and worship” the terminus of the Christian life to a Catholic who would shudder at thinking of taking up his guitar to do “praise and worship” as a faithful son of the Catholic Church.

Question #1: Does

+

=

??????

Disconnect maybe?...The Eucharist and the Liturgy is the solution. Why? For starters, it is what Our Lord gave us! At one point in my journey, I was overcome with joy by this truth. Watching a grandmother with a third grade education, a distinguished professor, and field welder, all receive the SAME gift of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist was overwhelming. This truly is a Church of grace! No one got the benefit of some kind of spiritual inside track, goose bump meter, or the like. You did not get “more Jesus” if you got “more chill-bumps” nor were you left out if you just showed up. “The Body of Christ” is the source and summit of our life as Catholics–and must always be the centre of our worship. Nothing can distract from this.

My old hobby horse - music that thwarts recollection. (And this can include "good" music that is too much about being good, and being music.)

Anyway, a new (to me) blog to read! (In my ever shrinking interwebs time :oP)

Being Pleased

It occurs to me that many people would would wish to be pleased shoot themselves in the foot by being, instead of difficult to please, so patently impossible to please that reasonable people who might otherwise earnestly wish to please them, absolve themselves of any need to even make the effort.

I'm just sayin'....

This has nothing whatever to do with my life right now.

Nothing.

I am pleased to say....