Mathieu Duplay 🌈

English version here.

This is dedicated to Timothée C. who may find it enlightening. It is a lovely piece by one of my favourite French writers, Georges Perec, whose birthday is today.

Yes, isn't it? About as sensible as letting them drink bleach or stick their fingers up an electrical outlet.

...don't like it when you shove something in their faces, even a pretty baby; why should dogs be any different? If you wouldn't do it to a person, don't do it to a dog, it's that simple. Also, every dog barks now and then, so don't be surprised when it happens.

I hate it when dogs and their owners get blamed for other people's irresponsible behaviour. I had to lecture this guy about dog body language, how to spot that a dog is stressed/unhappy about something, how to avoid unnecessary triggers, etc. A lot of it is simple common sense. A lot of people...

...dog, barks a little.
Man: *eyes me suspiciously* That dog is dangerous, you shouldn't be out in public with him.
Mathieu: Maybe you could take better care of that baby? Just saying.

My dog: peacefully sits on my lap
Man: shoves his six-month-old baby in my dog's face
Mathieu : You should ask first, maybe my dog doesn't like it.
Man: No, I'm sure it's OK.
Mathieu : See, my dog is looking away, he's clearly uncomfortable.
Man: OK. *reluctantly removes baby*
Dog: spots another...

YouTube video by proulxmontpellier Preludio all'imitazione del Sig. Vanieri, di Tantris Soldei

Curiosité : l'exercice de déchiffrage proposé par Scott Ross en 1985 pour la classe de clavecin du Conservatoire supérieur, "all'imitazione del Sig. Vanieri"... ou l'art de marier Wagner et Couperin !

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SNB...

Wrong answers only. I haven't been living under a rock.

Timothée Chalamet? Who is that?

And she is *funny*. All her jewels are on the floor, near the door.

I wonder why Gertrude Stein is so often regarded as a crazy lady who wrote nonsense. Much of her writing hovers on the brink of sense, and some (much) of it makes very good sense indeed when you just take the trouble to listen.

Imagine sitting completely poker-faced through this.

YouTube video by Chance Jonas-O'Toole I want to tell | The Mother of Us All | Thomson

To be funny you have to take everything in the kitchen and put it on the floor.

... They hear that they listen. They listen to hear, that is what it is to be poor."

"To be rich is to be so rich, that when they are rich, they have it to be that they do not listen. And when they do, they do not hear. And to be poor is to be so poor, they listen... And what do they hear? Well, what do they hear? ...

Pier Paolo Pasolini and Maria Callas on the set of MEDEA (1969)

Pasolini was BOTD in 1922

"Everybody knows that the dice are loaded, everybody rolls with their fingers crossed."

(Another reason these lists can be useful is that they help me find out about works I don't know and might want to pay more attention to.)

I've never heard it myself, so obviously I would never mention it as a favourite of mine. But I am 100% prepared to believe that it is great and worthy of your admiration.

Pyramidion of the royal scribe Ramose (Deir el-Medina, New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, reign of Ramesses II (1275-1240 BCE)) Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy

Pyramidion of the royal scribe Ramose (Deir el-Medina, New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, reign of Ramesses II (1275-1240 BCE))

Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy

Some minutes later.

Moses und Aron
Elektra
Pelléas et Mélisande
The Turn of the Screw
Saint François d'Assise
Le Grand Macabre
L'Heure espagnole
The Nose
La Voix humaine
Oedipus Rex

Ok, let's give it a try.

Lulu
Bluebeard's Castle
Der Ferne Klang
The Mother of Us All
Nixon in China
The Makropulos Affair
Tosca
Die Soldaten
The Passenger
Treemonisha

Ask me again in five minutes and get a different answer.

I couldn't possibly do this for C20 operas. Apart from established classics such as Lulu and Bluebeard's Castle, I have too many weird favourites that certainly aren't on anyone else's list: Der Ferne Klang, The Mother of Us All... I'm like a child in a sweet shop, I want a taste of *everything*.

OMG, I forgot Norma. What was I thinking? Ten isn't enough.

LIVE NOW: Thinking Live with Ruth Ben-Ghiat on Iran and Destruction Timothy Snyder on Substack

substack.com/live-stream/...

If you have been following American politics, this conversation with @timothysnyder.bsky.social and @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social is not to be missed.

Fidelio
Anna Bolena
Les Troyens
Tristan und Isolde
Eugene Onegin
Simon Boccanegra
Der Freischütz
The Bartered Bride
Boris Godunov
Faust (the original, recently revived 1859 version)

At the Opéra Comique, which is exactly the right venue. I was very young at the time (he says coquettishly).

It's an extraordinary opera, but the last singer who made me enjoy it live was Teresa Berganza (too) many years ago.