Move over, Edith Wharton.

You know what they say about abusers promising to change. They don't. Never. MTG swearing off the toxic politics is like Count Dracula promising to drink only mineral water (as long as it has lots of hemoglobin in it).

One of my neighbours has been playing the orchestral introduction to Casta Diva on a loop all evening, always breaking off just before the soprano comes in -- so I don't know which version they are playing. A particularly refined form of torture.

David Bispham as Alberich in the Opera Siegfried (1902) by Aimé Dupont, from Harvard Theatre Collection. Source: @harvard.edu / Wikimedia Commons https://pdimagearchive.org/images/2fe01411-4bcd-4232-967d-d5ff600b2296 #makeup #theatre #art #publicdomain

Willa Cather was seriously badass, and she would have settled that (K)New person's hash in no time at all.

Moby Dick was published on this day in 1851, so today's bank note comes from Nantucket and features a large vignette of whalers in a longboat about to harpoon a spouting sperm whale. Also on the right, note the Hydrostatic Oil Press. Manufacturers and Mechanics Bank, Nantucket, MA, $3, Dec 5, 1843.🗃️

When you fail to understand that Humbert Humbert is a monster, and that Jim Burden is *ten years old* when he meets the *significantly older* Antonia Shimerda, you don't deserve to be an English professor, let alone to teach at Harvard.

I just saw a string of posts connecting Tr*mp to Bill Clinton and I need a drink, where's the bar

Willa Cather encountering Jeffrey Epstein in the afterworld.

I am old enough to remember the 1970s, especially the latter part of the decade when I spent a lot of time in the UK, and I don't know if this makes me want to laugh or cry. Also, I don't think I would have been happier as a cis gay man back in 1975, but somehow "most people" never means us.

It says something about Bluesky that the first thing I noticed here was the impeccably tailored suit and, in particular, the lack of a collar gap.

Finally, my own stapler. #Goals

We're on a mission from God.

It isn't just Starbucks. The Quest for the Perfect Teapot, that modern adventure story.

Gwyneth Jones was born on Nov. 7th, 1936. Turandot is the one role in which I was lucky enough to see her live. (Obviously the music here is by Alfano, not Puccini.)

You can have book piles, or you can have a dog. I have a dog.

My unpopular take on Lucia di Lammermoor is that the title character is best cast as a lyric soprano with a strong legato, and that turning the role into a coloratura extravaganza is a betrayal of what the composer actually wrote. Caballé may not be the best Lucia overall, but this is what I mean.

"Bossy"

I am about half-way through this recording, so my reaction is premature, but I don't understand why an artist who has sung the role with all the best "Italian" singers would want to record it with a bunch of B-listers. There are many excellent recordings of this opera; what is the added value here?

I have no idea whether Rosalia's new album is (or isn't) "classical" music, as 1/ I don't know what "classical" music is, 2/ I find all such forms of cultural gatekeeping deeply suspicious. What I do know is that the music itself sounds neither fresh nor original, despite its obvious camp appeal.

This. Just this.

I followed that Australian court case and now I'm not having Beef Wellington again, ever.

A little music to accompany the clerical card game in 1741. Much appreciated by the dog! By Pietro Longhi, born in Venice OTD 1701.

Clara the rhinoceros, put on display (to a lot of masked people) in Venice in 1751 and immortalized by Pietro Longhi, born on this day 1701.

123456

Carracci's Assumption of Mary tends to be overshadowed by the two neighbouring Caravaggios, but it deserves better.

Pier Paolo Pasolini died (how?) fifty years ago, on Nov. 2nd, 1975.

"Impatiently switching the dial around, Hugh thought he heard Joe Venuti's violin suddenly, the joyous little lark of discursive melody soaring in some remote summer of its own above all this abyssal fury, yet furious too, with the wild controlled abandon of that music which still sometimes...

Today is All Souls' Day, a festival that grows in significance as one gets older and one's dear departed become more numerous.

Tom Buchanan would have been a Tr*mp supporter and a regular at Mar-a-Lago. Daisy and Ghislaine Maxwell would have been besties.

David Teniers the Younger painted a number of delightfully spooky variations on the Temptation of St. Anthony. They say the devil has the best tunes.

Finally, the perfect #Halloween costume for the Latinist in your life... 😉

Irresponsibly posting my location on social media.

Créé par des résistants des PTT, un réseau téléphonique parallèle a survécu après la Libération. Espace de communication et de rencontre dans les années 1970, il constitue le chaînon manquant entre les agences matrimoniales du XIX e siècle et nos applis contemporaines.

I have never heard a more exquisite rendition of this aria, one of Parisotti's Arie Antiche (hence its popularity with turn-of-the-century singers). This lady had an even better name than Violette Schadow.

Tonight.

It's a lovely church, now overshadowed by the Barbican. John Milton lies buried there, and Callas used it to record her final, unpublished album with di Stefano in 1972.

In my book, Verdi's Iago should be young, handsome, dashing, and most importantly, *sound* it. There should be a sense that he could bed either Otello or Desdemona should he take a fancy to it, but that he won't because he is a psychopath.

The menswear guy gets it right as usual.

I had no idea Peter Glossop could be so convincing. (I only know his Iago with Karajan, and won't expatiate). Britten is clearly having a field day.

What's it like inside your head?

Del primo pianto is a very good aria. It doesn't sound at all like Puccini, but I love it.

I really don't know what to say about the East Wing. Macron hasn't razed the Elysée Palace, King Charles is not converting Buckingham Palace into a swimming pool. Wotan had Alberich, the Romans had Alaric. Tr*mp has Tr*mp. He will stop at *nothing*. God save our souls.

This ⤵️

L’éblouissante chapelle palatine du Palais des Normands à Palerme (XIIe siècle) avec ses mosaïques byzantines et ses décorations arabes sur les voûtes.

Howling Wolf — Southern Siberia, 500–200 BCE wood with shell inlays 11.1 x 3.3 x 5.9 cm (4 3/8 x 1 5/16 x 2 5/16 in.) www.clevelandart.org/art/1986.26

Watching this on a loop.