"Um, Mrs. Shepard..."
Saturday afternoon at the opera...another wonderfully lush and rich story today, and one which has an amusing story of my precocious youth attached.
So, today we're listening to "Otello" by Guiseppe Verdi (also known as "Joe Green"). I grew up in a very musical household where Saturday afternoons my mom and I would religiously listen to the Metropolitan Opera on Minnesota Public Radio, so naturally, I knew the Verdi version of Otello (no H) before I knew that Shakespeare spelled it (and probably pronounced it) "Othello".
So one day in eighth grade English, we're talking about "Othello" (with the H). Naturally, I'm confused, and in MUCH need of correcting my teacher, Mrs. Shepard, a lovely woman in most respects. I raise my little snooty hand and say, "Um, Mrs. Shepard, I believe it's pronounced "OTELLO"?"
Yeah, I was pretty cool. And I wondered why I wasn't popular before I went to arts school???
Since then, I've had the delight of telling this story to many of my friends who though it was just hilarious. Today, I share it with you!
Some other fun facts about "Otello": It was Verdi's next-to-last opera, and Placido Domingo really made it quite famous as one of the best Otellos ever. Today we get to hear the delicious Renee Fleming sing Desdemona (which, incidentally, is pronounced "Des-DAY-mo-nah" in the opera).
Whew. So yeah, I'm busy with that and hot-cross buns today.
So, today we're listening to "Otello" by Guiseppe Verdi (also known as "Joe Green"). I grew up in a very musical household where Saturday afternoons my mom and I would religiously listen to the Metropolitan Opera on Minnesota Public Radio, so naturally, I knew the Verdi version of Otello (no H) before I knew that Shakespeare spelled it (and probably pronounced it) "Othello".
So one day in eighth grade English, we're talking about "Othello" (with the H). Naturally, I'm confused, and in MUCH need of correcting my teacher, Mrs. Shepard, a lovely woman in most respects. I raise my little snooty hand and say, "Um, Mrs. Shepard, I believe it's pronounced "OTELLO"?"
Yeah, I was pretty cool. And I wondered why I wasn't popular before I went to arts school???
Since then, I've had the delight of telling this story to many of my friends who though it was just hilarious. Today, I share it with you!
Some other fun facts about "Otello": It was Verdi's next-to-last opera, and Placido Domingo really made it quite famous as one of the best Otellos ever. Today we get to hear the delicious Renee Fleming sing Desdemona (which, incidentally, is pronounced "Des-DAY-mo-nah" in the opera).
Whew. So yeah, I'm busy with that and hot-cross buns today.