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Conchita Supervía was born in Barcelona #OnThisDay in 1895, one of the greatest singers of the 20th century but so little known today; this is Conchita singing "Nacqui all'affanno from Giachino Rossini's #opera "La Cenerentola":

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pStk...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conchit...

Arvo Pärt taking a taxi.

The conductor Theodore Thomas was losing his hair. So he had a grey toupeé made, a particularly doubtful idea back in the late 1800s. Wearing it for the first time at a rehearsal, he mounted the podium and glared sternly at the orchestra. He then commanded: "Now laugh. ONCE."

A woman holding a printout stands next to a room-sized computer system.

Grace Hopper with UNIVAC computer (1960)
Photo: Hagley Museum and Library

Taylor at the piano. His large long-haired cat sits listening.

James Taylor with his cat Pudding
📷 Peter Asher, Los Angeles, 1972

#caturday

Picture of Joseph Haydn with text reading ‘You spend 341 minutes with them, which makes you a top 1% global fan’

Look @deeplyclassical.bsky.social ! This was your doing!

Curtain calls after Lucrezia Borgia at the Maestranza in Sevilla. A staggering account of the title role from Marina Rebeka who gave us a singing lesson. Superb Orsini also from Teresa Iervelino. Paoli’s staging was very busy & made a lot of noise. Benini excellent in the pit

Bonaparte

Bonaparte https://www.wikiart.org/en/jacques-louis-david/bonaparte-1798

#morninglistening to #WAMozart, who died today, 234 years ago. Not my favorite opera, "Abduction", but what a timeless, trimmed account Fricsay's is. Haefliger as fresh a ever. Stader keeping the vibrato in check. Streich super-feisty. Exsultate, jubilate! (Also included)

Amzn: amzn.to/48v729H

#FrescoFriday
#Roman fresco excavated dating back to the late 1st century BC. It depicts a human figure against a vibrant red background. This is one of the finest #paintings ever found in #ancient Gaul
(Arles Departmental Museum of Antiquities) #France
#Archaeology #art

#NewReleases

News from Franz Xaver 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷

Sounds fantastic!

Headshot of the director; a monocle in one eye, with a patch over the other.

Fritz Lang by Burt Glinn, 1958

"Lang was able to portray society as he saw it: governed by corrupt, hypocritical institutions that defy individual will."
- Noel Murray

@noelmu.bsky.social

Vetheuil in the Fog - 1879
https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/9282

In this Week's Swell Edition of "The Refuge":

When Opera Really Mattered
A Commentary on Musical Judgement and the Utility of Humility
Sibelius and the Myth of Inspiration via Intoxication
Handel and Sartre: Kindred Spirits?

therefuge.substack.com

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Many of Hector Berlioz' contemporaries simply dismissed him as a bad composer. A viable assessment when composing a Concerto, a Sonata or another conventional work was the standard. He was just a different beast, a creator of "literature" who used musical sounds instead of words.

Play the legend - Chicago Reader Peter Shaffer's Amadeus isn't factually sound, but in Steppenwolf's stirring production, directed by Robert Falls, that hardly matters.

Bob Falls's revival of "Amadeus" at Steppenwolf is pretty darn great. Here's my @chicagoreader.com review! chicagoreader.com/performing-a...

A man wearing an 18th century gold print suit and large puffy white wig is raising his arms and shouting joyously as he conducts an orchestra in a theater. Tom Hulce, born on this day in 1953, as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in a scene from the film AMADEUS (1984) Tags Filmsky moviesky MOVIES films botd happy birthday Hollywood legends sexy actor star Oscar comedy Drama musical

Good morning.

#BOTD #filmsky #moviesky

YouTube video by Alps in Music Henryk Gorecki - Symphony No 3 Youth Orchestra of South Tirol, Stefano Ferrario, Viktoria Miskunaite

Today's music: Henryk Górecki's mournful 3rd symphony, in honour of the composer's birthday (6 Dec. 1933).

Temple of Denderah

Temple of Denderah https://www.wikiart.org/en/john-singer-sargent/temple-of-denderah-1891

And the review on ionarts:

Where Were You, Ádám?

A fine evening of great Viennese Classicism from the Vienna Symphony — but a lingering “what if?”

ionarts.blogspot.com/2025/12/crit...

Frank in his kitchen. RIP.

I have one piece of advice for American men: be the guy at the party who makes everyone a perfect grilled cheese at 3 in the morning and you’ll never sleep alone. Also what is going on with this embassy thirst trap

It's been said many times but the For You feed by @spacecowboy17.bsky.social really is quite good.

If you're a classical music lover visiting Vienna, making the pilgrimage to the Zentralfriedhof to see the graves of Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms is basic. But for me, visiting the quieter, less formal St. Marx Cemetery, where Mozart's remains are located, is more evocative.

Thank God for Bluesky A little love letter to the people who would not compromise with Nazis.

The most important line in a solid piece by @iandunt.bsky.social

"And yet for all its flaws, Bluesky offers something which is becoming vanishingly rare in the modern world: a vision of life without the algorithm. What I see is what I have chosen to see. We own our own destiny on Bluesky."

The Funeral of Patroclus

The Funeral of Patroclus https://www.wikiart.org/en/jacques-louis-david/the-funeral-of-patroclus-1778

Hoy en el año 183 a. C. murió Publio Cornelio Escipión el Africano en la tranquilidad de su finca de Liternum, exiliado de su patria repudiada.

Les grands concerts de la Maison de la Radio et de la Musique Janos Starker dans les Variations sur un thème rococo de Tchaïkovski

En hommage à la musique de la fin du XVIIIe siècle et à son "style galant", on écoute les "Variations sur un thème rococo" pour violoncelle et orchestre de Tchaïkovski, avec Janos Starker et l’Orchestre national de l'ORTF, placés sous la direction de Juan Pablo Izquierdo. Une archive de 1974.

Sir John wearing one of his wide-brimmed Borsalino hats, with his glasses on a chain around his neck.

Remembering John Barbirolli on his birthday 🎂
📷 Jane Bown, 1969

"What he conducted, he conducted with heart. You either get him, or you don’t."
- David Allen

Elgar's Introduction & Allegro
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3of7...

A photograph of the summit area of Volcán de Fuego in which a powerful eruption sends lava hundreds of meters into the air above the summit just after sunset. This slightly long exposure creates arcing paths of orange and yellow lava as the projectiles rise and fall through the air before cascading down the slopes of the volcano as yellow-orange streaks. The sky behind the volcano is orange with some clouds at the bottom, and bluish-purple at the top with a couple stars just becoming visible after sunset. On the far bottom right of the image is a streak of light created by the headlamps of a group of hikers on the volcano.

Guatemala's Volcán de Fuego erupting at sunset, shot from camp at 12,000 ft atop the neighboring Acatenango volcano. Incandescent lava is blasted 1,000 ft into the air before cascading down the slopes. The streak of light at the bottom right is from a group of hikers. #photography #ArtAdventCalendar