In Farinelli’s Footsteps

So just it was name of Friday’s concert (13.11.2009) in Besedni dum in Brno, Czech Republic. Who was Farinelli? His proper name was Carlo Broschi and he lived between 1705 and 1782 year. Since in the time of baroque, the women characters were sang by men, so called castratos were needed. To boys, mostly from the poor families, the testicles were removed surgically just before the beginning of their puberty. It was almost at age of 8. In consequence of that, the boy voice was preserved and we are speaking about boy or male soprano. Since male has bit other physiologically ordered vocal cords and bigger volume of lungs, then such soprano has not only a big register but also a dynamic. Besides women may not sing in the cathedral choirs in Vatican and so the castratos were required, even if the church denounced it.

Farinelli, he himself, was considered as a star mainly due to his singing technique (mezza di voce, bel canto in his time. He sang in Italy, but also in Vienna, London and Madrid. Such greats of baroque music like Johan Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Händel or Antonio Vivaldi wrote just for the castratos.

Therefore, I was very curious about this concert. The reason for that was following. The male soprano Marian Radu (male soprano) sang with musical group called Ars Antiqua Austria form Austria. They play the period baroque instruments. I would like only mention that the last real castrato died somewhere in Spain in the middle of 20th century. Marian Radu is absolutely unique soloist. He was born in Romania. He has a pure natural soprano with register from c´ to c´´´ (C4 – C6). Strictly speaking, he is so called “Endocrinological castrato”, because he did not undergo the surgical operation, but testicle evolution was not finished by him. The timbre of his voice is absolutely unique and absolutely not comaparable with contratenor or women soprano.

So, I am giving you here two inspirations.

Absinthe

I never tasted the legendary drink of “cursed poets”, but I still have in my memory some scene from Total Eclipse movie. Artur Rimbaud (palyed by Leonardo DiCaprio) and Paul Verlain (played by David Thewlis) are drinking absinthe in twilight of some pub somewhere in France.

The typically conic goblet placed on small plate is partly filled with green liquid of absinthe. Then some special flat spoon – maybe of silver – is placed over the goblet and white sugar is put in the spoon middle. Old wiry host is pouring small amount of pure water over sugar into goblet. Absinthe is milk diming; however it is losing nothing from its sharply green color. And then this wild drink is moistening the lips and the throats of poets and their brains is going crazy due to an influence of a substance called thujon.

It is just thujon presented in “grande wormwood” (Artemisia absinthium), which is with anise (or anise essential oil) and huge amount of alcohol (close to 75 vol.%) part of absinthe. Thanks to thujon influence, absinthe was forbidden in 1915 and it was replaced by other similar drinks without wormwood – pernod and pastis. Its renaissance in original form begun in 1990, when it was produced in several European countries and also by us. Nowadays, it came back to home France and to the U.S.A.

My first meeting with absinthe in Second Life was maybe like this. I obtained somewhere a bottle with it. After wearing, there where tiny green fairies around me, they flew round and round in some hyper. Of course, it is reminiscence on famous music movie Moulin Rouge with Nicol Kidman and Ewan McGregor as main characters. The green fairy was beautiful Australian singer Kylie Minoque.

My second meeting with absinthe in SL was more artistic. There is one small exhibition of works of art in some way related with absinthe. By the way, it is placed on very nice sim with characteristic name – New Toulouse. You can find the exhibition in the library building. Chessboard floor and the hall walls are absinthe green. In the hall middle is small dance floor. What it captures for the first time, so it is a huge goblet filled to capacity by absint. I recommend you to test it.

And now whitherward? So just this way!

Water

If we were immortal, we would not respect the life so much. (Jacques-Yves Cousteau)

He gave human being knitted to Earth the key to the world of silence. (The epigraph on the National Geographic Society Gold Medal, which Cousteau received from the hand of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1961.)

For bee and even for dolphin, the life itself is happiness for them. For human being, it is happiness to see life and to be amazed at it. (Jacques-Yves Cousteau)

Today, I have begun my contribution with several citations, which have not only inspired me, but at the same time are fascinating for me. The see deeps are one big unexplored world. Unlike that we look at the stars and fly to them, but still we know about the underwater universe quite little. There is a micro- and macro-world around us that is maybe an analogy of space distances measured by kilometers, astronomic units and light years. The space, where the stars come to existence and die in a cataclysm of energies of mega-, giga- or terajoules, Energies, about which we know nothing.

Water is one of the Aristotle elements, where belong also fire, air and earth. No, he would assign them himself, but he talked as the first one about them in Greek philosophy. There is also some elements system in China philosophy. Unlike Aristotle, it includes wood and iron. And whole system becomes hexagon and connection of all six systematically placed elements in circle give a star symbol with its all relations.

The world of Second Life is of course closely connected with water. Except Mainland, all sims are placed on the surface of Second Life ocean. Water itself is also on the sims whether as free surface of lakes and ponds, or as part of rivers and waterfalls or fountains splashing water in the cities.

When I searched for suitable pictures I used in internal search word “elements”. So of course many links appeared for different places. The first one is sim named Elements, where I liked small lakes. But the hillside with a dance floor is bit cluttered up. But Dolce Valentina hides in some shop just these four elements. So, I made the snapshots for you.

SLurls: Elements, Dolce Valentina

Silence

Yesterday’s day (04.01.2009) was a little bit funny, but also even sadder and silent, at least by me. The funnier part was set in RL, I was at some degustation of wines from Vinofol Novosedly wine making. These wines was no any miracles, but we have tasted ten samples of white and red wine in an agreeable atmosphere of nonsmoking room in restaurant called in Czech “U zámečku” (Restaurant by manor). Humor was funny, in places too noisy.

After the degustation, I have already moved in Second Life. The 2^nd November has in calendar written All Soul’s Day. Even if it was on Monday, then Momo Seriman and Scalex Overton prepared nice audio evening consisted of songs and music only so for contemplation and silent. That all in La Fabrique club.

I will not name individually all interprets on playlist, because of course I do not remember all of them. I have found on YouTube three examples that were heard in this evening.

Marika Gombitová – Koloseum (Colosseum)
Hana Hegerová – Lásko prokletá (Cursed Love)
Věra Špinarová – Jednoho dne se vrátíš (Once Upon a Time in the West, music from this movie by Ennio Morricone, Czech text by Zbyšek Malý)

It was great day spent in very pleasant society.

(Source: YouTube)

Baphomet

Recently I have read some article about rock club Baphomet by xender Xenno at Globe blog (in Czech). Surprising I have received an invitation to party in this club. Behold, I was kindly surprised. The club has gone through several exterior and interior changes.

Two maybe fallen angels welcome you at the entrance. They stand on the pedestals with mysterious inscription in foreign language. The inscription symbols burn in color of fire. The column capitals are crowned by four big human skulls. There was only one fallen angel, was not there? I think so.

There is a big burning dance floor inside. Pictures and symbols move on this floor and one has spin head. After hard dance and music, everybody settles for some drink at very style bar. Possible one gives himself/herself to laze on a big sofa. There several possibilities to relax there on poseballs and also in pair. By the way, there are two sofas in club; one of them is near to dance floor.

Personally I am not fun of the music, which is played there, but if you switch off, it is never mind. The way is simple in club, use only this SLurl.

Do not burn yourself!