The Lovers’ Chronicle 29 October – in wait – premiere of Don Giovanni – art by Andrei Ryabushkin

29 October 2023 By Rhett 0 In Love, Poems, Songs

Dear Zazie, Here is today’s Lovers’ Chronicle from Mac Tag dedicated to his muse. What or who matters to you? Rhett

The Lovers’ Chronicle

Dear Muse,

takin’ chances, lettin’ my verse

loose, free, open, unimpeded

trustin’, believin’

it will take us

wherever we want

gamblin’ on sure nuff abandon

where we will tell each other, yes

and set aside old necessities

all that matters

here, now

and what we create

with each other

must work, must bear it all

my dear, this is the chronicle

of all i have felt and known

see, it is not that far away

here we will tell each other, yes

“I’d like to, and yet I’m nervous.

Something within me holds back”

perhaps, there is no deceivin’

“Welcome home!”
thank you
good to be home
uncle ben, who traveled widely,
said the best part of goin’ away
was comin’ home

with you,
i now know
what he meant

i should be tired
but i am not
i lie here
by candlelight
waitin’

for sleep,
for dreams
for you to come

train whistle
soundin’
in the distance
comin’ from the East

would that it were
bringin’ you
to come lay with me
and end the waitin’

how do you become a lover
“You must be chosen.”
and how does it feel
“Like nothin’ else.”

just got home from watchin’
The Mountain Between Us
and all i can think about
is you

now i lay me
down to sleep
to dream of you

but sleep will not come
cold outside but calm
from my bed,
i can see stars
through the windows

the only sounds;
the cracklin’ fire,
a train whistle
in the distance
the only light;
the candles,
the woodstove
in the corner

so i lie here and wait
for dreams to remove
the mountain between us

Muse, you shined a light into my darkness and gave me back my words. For that I am ever grateful. I am glad you walked into my life. My words are dedicated to you.

All That Matters

Takin’ chances, lettin’ my verse

Ride it’s luck on the ardent breath

Of a lovely, fervent woman

Just lettin’ go, lettin’ it fly

Gamblin’ on sure nuff abandon

Seekin’ beauty where it may lie

That my friend, is all that matters

That is all that I can hope for

The Song of the Day is “All That Matters” by Kölsch featuring Troels Abrahamsen

On this day in 1787 – Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni receives its first performance in Prague.

Don Giovanni
Portrait of Francisco D’Andrade in the title role by Max Slevogt, 1912

Don Giovanni (K. 527; complete title: Il dissoluto punito, ossia il Don Giovanni, literally The Rake Punished, namely Don Giovanni or The Libertine Punished) is an opera in two acts with music by Mozart and Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It is based on the legends of Don Juan, a fictional libertine and seducer. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga (now called the Estates Theatre). Da Ponte’s libretto was billed as dramma giocoso, a term that denotes a mixing of serious and comic action. Mozart entered the work into his catalogue as an opera buffa. Although sometimes classified as comic, it blends comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements.

A staple of the standard operatic repertoire. It has also proved a fruitful subject for writers and philosophers.

Original playbill for the Vienna premiere of Don Giovanni

Libretto

English quotations here are cited from Robert Pack and Marjorie Lelash (trans.) Three Mozart Libretti (New York: Dover, 1993).

Notte e giorno faticar,
Per chi nulla sa gradir,
Piova e vento sopportar,
Mangiar male e mal dormir.
Voglio far il gentiluomo
E non voglio più servir.
- I must work night and day for someone who doesn’t appreciate me; I must bear the wind and rain, scarcely eating or sleeping! I, too, would like to be a gentleman, and no longer a servant.
- Leporello, Act I, sc. i; translation p. 135.

Madamina, il catalogo è questo
Delle belle che amò il padron mio;
un catalogo egli è che ho fatt’io;
Osservate, leggete con me.
In Italia seicento e quaranta;
In Almagna duecento e trentuna;
Cento in Francia, in Turchia novantuna;
Ma in Ispagna son già mille e tre.
- My dear lady! This is the catalogue of the women my master has loved. It’s a list that I’ve compiled – look at it; read it over with me! In Italy, six hundred and forty; in Germany, two hundred and thirty-one; a hundred in France; ninety-one in Turkey – but in Spain there are already a thousand and three.
- Leporello, Act I, sc. v; translation p. 145.

Nella bionda egli ha l’usanza
Di lodar la gentilezza,
Nella bruna la costanza,
Nella bianca la dolcezza.
- With blondes, it’s his habit to praise their sweetness; with brunettes, their constancy; with old women, their tenderness.
- Leporello, Act I, sc. v; translation p. 147.

Delle vecchie fa conquista
Pel piacer di porle in lista;
Sua passion predominante
È la giovin principiante.
Non si picca – se sia ricca,
Se sia brutta, se sia bella;
Purché porti la gonnella,
Voi sapete quel che fa.
- He even seduces the old women, simply for the pleasure of adding them to his list. But his preference is really for the young beginners. He never thinks of whether she’s rich, ugly or beautiful – as long as she wears a skirt, you know very well what he does!
- Leporello, Act I, sc. v; translation p. 147.

Don Giovanni: Là ci darem la mano,
Là mi dirai di sì.
Vedi, non è lontano;
Partiam, ben mio, da qui.
Zerlina: Vorrei e non vorrei,
Mi trema un poco il cor.
Felice, è ver, sarei,
Ma può burlarmi ancor.
- Don Giovanni:
- There we will take each other’s hands,
- there you will tell me “yes”.
- See; it is not far off;
- let us go my love from here!
  Zerlina:
- I’d like to, and yet I’m afraid – something within me holds back. Perhaps I would be happy – but still he may be deceiving me!
- Act I, sc. ix, translation p. 153.

Ah! la mia lista
Doman mattina
D’una decina
Devi aumentar!
- Ah, my list
- tomorrow morning
- of a dozen
- you have to increase!
- Don Giovanni, Act I, sc. xv, translation pp. 163-5.

Di rider finirai pria dell’aurora!
- By dawn your laughter will be ended.
- La Statua, Act II, sc. xv, translation p. 203.

Vivan le femmine,
Viva il buon vino!
Sostegno e gloria
d’umanità!
- Long live women!
- Long live good wine!
- Support and glory
- of humanity!
- Don Giovanni, Act II, sc. xviii, translation p. 211.

Today is the birthday of Andrei Petrovich Ryabushkin (Stanichnaya sloboda, Borisoglebskiy uezd, Tambov gubernia, Russia; 29 October [O.S. 17 October] 1861 – 10 May [O.S. 27 April] 1904 Didvino, Russia); painter. His major works were devoted to life of ordinary Russians of the 17th century.

Gallery

by Vasily Mathe

The Deacon

Tea-drinking

Sunday. 1889
Session of Tsar Mikhail Feodorvich with his boyars in his State Chamber. 1893
A 17th-century Moscow Street on a Holiday. 1895
Merchant Family in the 17th century. 1896
Strelets Patrol at the Ilyinsky Gates in Old Moscow. 1897
Waiting for the Tzar 1901
Wedding Train in the 17th century Moscow. 1901
A Young Man Breaking into the Girls’ Dance, and the Old Women are in Panic. 1902
Novgorod Church. 1903