There is on the public radio's online site prms.org a very complete listing of Mascagni's music and operas.
Jay Ginsburg ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Mucci" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 10:49 AM Subject: [mascagni-interest] Act 4 of Parisina > > In Alan Mallach's bio of Mascagni --which I highly recommend-- he writes > about the three acts of Parisina that were performed on the second night, > Act 4 being excised for being too long on the first night. Since Act 3 ends > with Ugo and Parisina being led off by the executioner, I wondered 'what > happens in Act 4?' And after reading what I can of the Italian libretto on > the mascagni.org site, it seems that it is a long, extended farewell at the > foot of the executioner's block, lasting, according to Mallach, 40 minutes. > And if I read the stage directions aright, Parisina cradles Ugo's head on > the block and holds it just as the executioner is going to behead him when, > mercifully, we assume the curtain falls. > > Is that right? That is probably the apotheosis of D'Annunziism. I cannot > imagine a more gruesomely intimate expression of decadence in all of opera - > and that's a lot of good company, too. After all, even Salome had the > delicacy of allowing Jokanaan's head to be struck off down in the cistern. > > > John Mucci > 9 DeForest Rd > Wilton, CT 06897 > 203-722-6751(c) > 203-761-0083 (h) > > www.jmucci.com > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* > http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail > > > -- > Unsubscribe by sending unsubscribe in the body to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > -- Unsubscribe by sending unsubscribe in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
