Re: Wagner and Liszt

[Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>]

I should go further and note that I've heard (can't verify) that Liszt not
only loved Sulzer's singing, he regarded him as the best vocalist of their
time.  Sulzer did apparently hang out with some august company, having also
known Schubert.

This is getting to be quite a long and interesting thread.  Off this track,
I'm wondering if anyone out there has seen the film Cradle Will Rock, about
composer Marc Blitztein?  It's been around for a few years, but I just
taught it in my film class and spoke about it at the Society for Cinema and
Media Studies.  Blitztein is probably best known for his adaptation of The
Threepenny Opera, not only translating the words, but making the music sound
more American and jazzy.  Some of the music in the score is Blitztein's but
some of the original music is probably best described as Yiddish swing.

The film has some currency because of the inclusion of Mexican painters
Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.  I just saw the new film Frida and really
liked it.  The music is wonderful, not Jewish in style, but it is by Elliott
Goldenthal, whose work I've found to be very good.  I learned quite a few
things from this film, among them that Kahlo's father was a German Jew.

Shevua Tov,



"I. Oppenheim" wrote:

> On Sun, 9 Mar 2003, Eliezer Kaplan wrote:
>
> > For those of us who don't speak German, what's 'ueberlistet'?
>
> Sorry. Ueberlist literally means "to outdo" and is
> obviously a pun on Liszt.
>
> I might add as well that Karl was a son of the famous
> Dutch cantor Isaac Heymann, and a talented pianist.
>
> > > When Karl Heymann was once playing piano for his
> > > teachers at the Frankfurt conservatory, Liszt attended
> > > the audition. When Heymann left, one of the gentlemen
> > > asked Liszt's oppinion. Liszt responded: "Er hat mich
> > > ueberlistet!"
> > >
> > > From
> > > http://www.joods.nl/~chazzanut/media/pers-107.html
>
>  Groeten,
>  Irwin Oppenheim
>  i(dot)oppenheim (at) xs4all(dot)nl
>  ~~~*
>
>  Chazzanut Online:
>  http://www.joods.nl/~chazzanut/
>

--
Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American and Jewish Studies
Head, Division Of Composition and Music Theory
University of Minnesota
2106 4th St. S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 612 624-8001 (fax)


---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+