I mean, I love so many of the great sopranos without any particular need to pit them against one another, as many people like to do, but my heart will probably always belong to Tebaldi.
(Though for Minnie, don’t ask me to choose between her and Nilsson.)
(Also: I came very late, and rather recently, to a full appreciation of the other Renata, Mme. Scotto, who’s REALLY GREAT.)
You mentioned Suor Angelica, one of my favorite Puccini guilty pleasures...and you mentioned Scotto. Actually, if you've never seen it her Angelica from the Met from 45+ years ago is an absolute tour de force of singing and acting. The aria, "Senza mamma" from that production is on Youtube and is phenomenal...few people capture the real pathos of that aria like Scotto, IMO. Her face and eyes convey every word, every phrase. (She did all three roles in the Trittico from which the Angelica excerpt is taken.)
I'm of a similar mind...I love my sopranos...serious Callas "widow" here, but I do adore Tebaldi, especially her earlier stuff. In some things she was peerless. (NOBODY does the card scene in Fanciulla like Tebaldi!!) Then too, there's plenty of room for Nilsson and Price...can't choose, don't make me!!
You've provoked a stray association between the Hockney set design and that unfortunate bit of text: Hockney is the only painter I can think of who succeeded in capturing that clear, unforgiving Southern California sunlight.
Even spelled correctly, ‘worldly’ smacks (to me) of a sophisticated knowledge more than anything else, so thanks to the pretentious ‘peregrinations’, I imagined an impeccably dressed bird.
"Peregrinations" may be a bit aureate but it does have a specific resonance here. In Latin, a "peregrinus" is a foreigner/wanderer/pilgrim, and in Augustine's City of God "peregrinatio" is the state of pilgrimage that citizens of the heavenly city experience while living in the earthly one. The fact that they are *worldly* peregrinations (definitely need the "l") seems like a clue that the writer is playing on this background. The general idea seems to be that Hockney's painting reveals the City of Art as it is present in the City of Angels.
For a sense of how this might be relevant to Hockney's work:
The problem, I think, is less that "peregrinations" is a bad choice and more that following it up with "culminating" makes us feel like the author is simply piling up big words.
Playing devil’s advocate here, and also curious to know if tone should be taken into consideration, I think the word “peregrinations” does reflect the narrator’s over-the-top zeal, the gratitude and awe presented in the piece. I would take out “we” or “us,” because the narrator’s inclusion in this group seems to go without saying, and resolve the main sentence fragment, but introduce another fragment at the end to convey the intensity of the light (no italics): When his worldly peregrinations culminated in Los Angeles, he quickly helped longtime residents to start seeing again, as if for the first time: the pools, the palms, the sprinklers, the building facades, the sky. And that light!
Two today and no Sallie? Sigh.
Obviously, Sallie was more attracted to *the light* …
Such fun. Thanks!
Picky, picky! The writer is describing the long awaited Enlightenment of Los Angeles …
M-W, can you hear us? Put that cedilla back where it belongs!
Oh, hey, pop back into the piece and look at the footnote I just added!
Thank you for reminding me!
Also... I don't want to read about anybody's peregrinations. I just don't.
Renata Tebaldi! What a wonderful voice she had.
I mean, I love so many of the great sopranos without any particular need to pit them against one another, as many people like to do, but my heart will probably always belong to Tebaldi.
(Though for Minnie, don’t ask me to choose between her and Nilsson.)
(Also: I came very late, and rather recently, to a full appreciation of the other Renata, Mme. Scotto, who’s REALLY GREAT.)
You mentioned Suor Angelica, one of my favorite Puccini guilty pleasures...and you mentioned Scotto. Actually, if you've never seen it her Angelica from the Met from 45+ years ago is an absolute tour de force of singing and acting. The aria, "Senza mamma" from that production is on Youtube and is phenomenal...few people capture the real pathos of that aria like Scotto, IMO. Her face and eyes convey every word, every phrase. (She did all three roles in the Trittico from which the Angelica excerpt is taken.)
I'm of a similar mind...I love my sopranos...serious Callas "widow" here, but I do adore Tebaldi, especially her earlier stuff. In some things she was peerless. (NOBODY does the card scene in Fanciulla like Tebaldi!!) Then too, there's plenty of room for Nilsson and Price...can't choose, don't make me!!
I attended the Trittico at the Met once a very long time ago. My soprano for the evening, in all three roles: Teresa Stratas!
Stratas, what an actress!! I believe I heard that on a broadcast and it was a while back. She was about as versatile as they come.
You've provoked a stray association between the Hockney set design and that unfortunate bit of text: Hockney is the only painter I can think of who succeeded in capturing that clear, unforgiving Southern California sunlight.
Re 11, perhaps the perfect place for a dash, if you want to breathlessly accentuate Los Angeles lumens (lumina?).
“…pools, the palms, the sprinklers, the building facades, the sky—and that light!”
So, lose the italics (and the gun), keep the “!” (and the cannoli).
I was wondering when I saw this how one would go about fixing this.
“Scamps” is a delightful word.
It was almost “rogues” and I changed my mind at the last second!
Oh yes - puppies and children over flirts and tricksters any day.
Peregrinations = travel by foot. Can that really be worldly?
I’d say that you’re reading the word far too narrowly and not particularly accurately.
Re peregrinations: As a longtime reporter who wrote innumerable fire stories, I never found a way to get “conflagration”past the desk.
Even spelled correctly, ‘worldly’ smacks (to me) of a sophisticated knowledge more than anything else, so thanks to the pretentious ‘peregrinations’, I imagined an impeccably dressed bird.
And to think this is the paper that ran the Copy Edit This! quiz 🤔
Fun stuff! One thought:
"Peregrinations" may be a bit aureate but it does have a specific resonance here. In Latin, a "peregrinus" is a foreigner/wanderer/pilgrim, and in Augustine's City of God "peregrinatio" is the state of pilgrimage that citizens of the heavenly city experience while living in the earthly one. The fact that they are *worldly* peregrinations (definitely need the "l") seems like a clue that the writer is playing on this background. The general idea seems to be that Hockney's painting reveals the City of Art as it is present in the City of Angels.
For a sense of how this might be relevant to Hockney's work:
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/07/09/its-stuck-with-me-all-my-life-david-hockney-on-piero-della-francescas-baptism-of-christ
The problem, I think, is less that "peregrinations" is a bad choice and more that following it up with "culminating" makes us feel like the author is simply piling up big words.
Playing devil’s advocate here, and also curious to know if tone should be taken into consideration, I think the word “peregrinations” does reflect the narrator’s over-the-top zeal, the gratitude and awe presented in the piece. I would take out “we” or “us,” because the narrator’s inclusion in this group seems to go without saying, and resolve the main sentence fragment, but introduce another fragment at the end to convey the intensity of the light (no italics): When his worldly peregrinations culminated in Los Angeles, he quickly helped longtime residents to start seeing again, as if for the first time: the pools, the palms, the sprinklers, the building facades, the sky. And that light!