Sweet dreams

Tonight I did something at the opera I've only done twice before: I left early. I hasten to add that it's not that I wasn't enjoying myself, but I was sleepy as hell and it seemed a good moment to go. As far as I know, Manon and the Chevalier lived happily ever after in peace and contentment and I don't need anyone telling me anything different. (I'm looking at you, bunj--the last man standing after e. left with tummy trouble and Nuphy begged off because of an early class the next morning.)

bunj has been calling this "the good Manon" and that's very accurate. It certainly caused me to revise my generally poor opinion of Massenet hitherto. Sure, I heard a lot of Gounod in his music, but also Strauss and even Wagner. Nuphy does tend to rave on about Nathalie Dessay, but she really can do no wrong. I'll add some more comments about staging and such later, but suffice to say they came up with some good solutions to the whole "chorus on, chorus off" problem that bedevils 19th-century opera.

Name of the day

Accademico Bizzarro Capriccioso (Italian composer, fl. 1620-1623)

Hindi update

So in case any of you are curious but haven't joined learn_hindi, I made my first post there today. Nothing complicated, just a simple question ( translated here )

. My answer (in comments) is "Do-ek hafton se" or "A couple [lit. "two-one"] weeks", which I consider literally true even if I did try once before and have more background experience than that statement alone would imply.

Name of the day II (Non-Western edition)

Spôjmaï Zariâb