{"id":94508,"date":"2022-03-14T12:39:45","date_gmt":"2022-03-14T18:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=94508"},"modified":"2022-03-14T23:09:05","modified_gmt":"2022-03-15T05:09:05","slug":"scarpia-in-the-kremlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/03\/scarpia-in-the-kremlin.html","title":{"rendered":"Scarpia in the Kremlin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The promotional and program art for Utah Opera\u2019s 2022 production of Puccini\u2019s \u201cTosca.\u201d I hope that my employment of this image can be considered fair use, as I\u2019m writing in support of the production.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Saturday night, my wife and I attended a very strong performance of Puccini\u2019s Tosca<\/em> by the Utah Opera.\u00a0 We thoroughly enjoyed it; there is little mystery about the fact that Tosca<\/em> ranks among the most popular works in the standard operatic repertoire.\u00a0 Unexpectedly, though, just prior to the overture, a spokesman came out onto the stage in front of the curtain.\u00a0 I believe that it was Christopher McBeth, Utah Opera\u2019s artistic director.\u00a0 Our hearts sank just a bit.\u00a0 When a speaker comes out just before a performance, it usually means that somebody in the cast is ill or absent and that there will be a substitution.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This time, though, that wasn\u2019t the case.\u00a0 He explained that Tosca<\/em> is partly about an unscrupulous and self-aggrandizing tyrant and about his use of force to coerce innocent people.\u00a0 And this, he said, made what they were about to do quite appropriate.\u00a0 The curtain parted, and there was the Utah Opera chorus.\u00a0 They sang the Ukrainian national anthem, and the entire audience stood in respect.\u00a0 Ahead of me, somewhere to my left, a male voice was actually singing along, not very beautifully but loudly and in Ukrainian.\u00a0 I found the moment deeply moving.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Later on, as I listened to the truly evil villain Scarpia \u2014 essentially a sadistic rapist commanding a lawless police state \u2014 singing early in the second act, I couldn\u2019t help but think of Russia\u2019s ongoing invasion of Ukraine:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ha pi\u00f9 for te<\/strong><\/span>
\nsapore la conquista violenta<\/strong><\/span>
\nche il mellifluo consenso. Io di sospiri<\/strong><\/span>
\ne di lattiginose albe lunari<\/strong><\/span>
\npoco mi appago. Non so trarre accordi<\/strong><\/span>
\ndi chitarra, n\u00e9 or\u00f2scopo di fior<\/strong><\/span>
\nn\u00e9 far l\u2019occhio di pesce, o tubar come<\/strong><\/span>
\ntortora! Bramo. La cosa bramata<\/strong><\/span>
\nperseguo, me ne sazio e via la getto.<\/strong><\/span>
\nVolto a nuova esca. Dio cre\u00f2 diverse<\/strong><\/span>
\nbelt\u00e0, vini diversi. Io vo\u2019 gustar<\/strong><\/span>
\nquanto pi\u00f9 posso dell\u2019opra divina!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

For myself the violent conquest<\/span><\/strong>
\nhas stronger relish than the soft surrender.<\/span><\/strong>
\nI take no delight in sighs or vows<\/span><\/strong>
\nexchanged at misty lunar dawn.<\/span><\/strong>
\nI know not how to draw<\/span><\/strong>
\nharmony from guitars, or horoscopes<\/span><\/strong>
\nfrom flowers, nor am I apt at dalliance,<\/span><\/strong>
\nor cooing like the turtle dove. I crave,<\/span><\/strong>
\nI pursue the craved thing, sate myself and cast it by,<\/span><\/strong>
\nand seek new bait. God made diverse beauties<\/span><\/strong>
\nas he made diverse wines, and of these<\/span><\/strong>
\nGod-like works I mean to taste my full.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The story line in Tosca is really quite similar in important respects to that of Shakespeare\u2019s Measure for Measure<\/em>.\u00a0 Shakespeare\u2019s Angelo is very similar to Puccini\u2019s Scarpia.\u00a0 While watching the opera on Saturday night, a question suddenly occurred to me:\u00a0 I have no idea whether Vladimir Putin ever partakes of Shakespeare or Puccini or even ordinary gangster movies but, if he does, I wonder whether he ever sees himself<\/em> in characters like Scarpia or Angelo or Shakespeare\u2019s version of Richard III or Al Capone.\u00a0 Does he ever exclaim \u201cThat\u2019s me<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m guessing, sadly, that he doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The other night, the City of Kyiv Ballet closed its performance in Paris with the entire company onstage, singing the Ukrainian national anthem<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s yet another Ukraine-related musical item that I\u2019ve likewise found curiously moving.\u00a0 Please read the two paragraphs of explanation and then watch the brief video:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUkrainian Violinists Play in Solidarity with 94 Other Violinists from 29 Countries\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But is there anything that we ordinary mortals can do that will actually help?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 There are many things.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll mention one of them here:\u00a0 I hope that our friend (my former student) Axel Bromley and his wife Terah won\u2019t mind my sharing this from Axel\u2019s Facebook page:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
Eight years ago today our family walked through Yanakovic\u2019s mansion near Kiev. He had fled after letting Putin kill over a hundred people in the Maidan.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Now we are right back here again. And I have a way you can help the Ukrainians defend their country.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
When I moved to Asia from Ukraine, I was replaced as the General Manager by an awesome Polish guy named Miroslaw or Mirek for short.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
I didn\u2019t know him well, but I heard great things about him from my Ukrainian staff. He has since transferred back to Poland and is the GM there.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
He has been doing great things to help the refugees coming into Poland. Food, transportation, shelter. He has been doing real things other than just posting on social media.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
He reached out to me for money. He has contacts on both sides of the border and is now seeking to buy non lethal military equipment the Ukrainian volunteer soldiers need.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
If you know me, you know I\u2019ve never asked anyone for anything but prayers from time to time.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
I\u2019m asking for money now. 100% if it will go to Mirek and I know 100% of that will go to buying EU equipment and be sent across the border to those that need it. I trust him.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
If you\u2019d like to help please send anything you can to:<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Venmo: @terah-bromley<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
Or<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
PayPal terahreu@gmail.com<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

My wife and I have given through this channel.\u00a0 I\u2019ve known Axel (and, later, Terah) for many years now, and I trust them.\u00a0 (He was even, I\u2019m proud to say, the president of the Cairo Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> during his recent work assignment there.)\u00a0 I wish that we had a great deal more to give.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, a thought from the great Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize for Literature.\u00a0 He was referring, of course, to the leadership of the late and largely unlamented Soviet Union, but I\u2019m afraid that he would have had no difficulty at all in recognizing Vladimir Putin for what he is:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We know they are lying.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

They know they are lying,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

They know that we know they are lying.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We know that they know that we know<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

they are lying.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

And still they continue to lie.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 *** \u00a0 On Saturday night, my wife and I attended a very strong performance of Puccini\u2019s Tosca by the Utah Opera.\u00a0 We thoroughly enjoyed it; there is little mystery about the fact that Tosca ranks among the most popular works in the standard operatic repertoire.\u00a0 Unexpectedly, though, just prior to the overture, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nScarpia in the Kremlin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    ***   On Saturday night, my wife and I attended a very strong performance of Puccini's Tosca by the Utah Opera.\u00a0 We thoroughly enjoyed\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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