Stand By Their Man

A lot of people are wondering why Mrs. Spitzer stood with Mr. Spitzer as he confessed to marital infidelity to the nation. Many supposed she should be out looking for a divorce attorney.

For shame for shame. Mrs. Spitzer decided to stand by her man. I salute her for that, the cynical say she is hoping to caboose onto bigger things for herself. Yeah, perhaps and so what? Marriages are about giving support and boosts to the other. The vow husband and wife swear to each other is for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, till death do us part. Mrs. Spitzer takes her vows seriously.

At the end of Mozart's Le Nozze Di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro - a story that eternally rings true) Count Almaviva (Elliot Spitzer) finds what he thinks is Figaro messing around with the Countess. Count Almaviva immediately is angered and starts looking for weapons and summoning witnesses. Then the true Countess (Silda Spitzer) reveals herself dressed in Susanna's clothes (Figaro's wife) and it is revealed that Susanna is wearing the clothes of the Countess. The Count is humbled and begs for the forgiveness he was just denying to the woman he thought his wife and to Figaro.

Susanna: Perdono! Perdono! Pardon! Pardon!
Count Almaviva No, no, non vo' darlo!. No! No! I will not give it!
Figaro: Perdono! Perdono! Pardon! Pardon!
Count Almaviva No, no, non vo' darlo!. No! No! I will not give it!
All: Perdono! Perdono! Pardon! Pardon!
Count Almaviva No, no, non vo' darlo!. No! No! I will not give it!

After the ruse is revelead:
Count Almaviva: Contessa, perdono! Countessa, Pardon!
The Countess: Più docile io sono, - e dico di sì. I am gentler, and I grant it you.
see: this site for the complete lyrics in Italian and the English translation.

Eliot Spitzer's life has been only No, no, non vo' darlo! and when he needs pardon he gets Più docile io sono, - e dico di sì.. How fortunate he is. God Bless you Silda Spitzer and may your loving forgiveness teach your husband a lesson.

I do not suppose her a doormat, I suppose the atmosphere in their home is tense and will take time to ease, I do not suppose either of their roles are easy right now.

Anyway in celebration of mercy and love here is the final scene of Le Nozze Di Figaro:

Happy Birthday Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart

Today we celebrate the birthday of Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart more commonly known as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. One of his pieces that is sure to turn bad moods into good one and to get me tapping fingers and feet is the ending of his opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail and here is that work:

If you want to listen to more Mozart just click on over to WCPE and listen! They are playing a lot of Mozart in celebration.

Happy Birthday Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart you would be 252 years old today!

The Last Bit

Is going to be appropriate for a late night blog. Two things, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and a YouTube video and some music education.

Ever hear a tune and you find yourself improvising filler in between the notes or perhaps changing one musical attribute or another? That is perhaps in your head you take the tune and move each note up or down in pitch? Ever hear a song that makes you think you have heard that melody before, but can not quite realize where you heard it before? Music contains a style called variations on a theme (VOT). VOT is a simple concept, take a tune and change it in someway retaining enough of the tune or theme to recognize the original theme.

One theme I often hear in church music is Brubek's Take Five theme. There are at least two hymns our church choir sings regularly that seem to be VOTs off of Take Five. Invariably when I pull out the hymnal the timing is 4/5 timing which is unusual and the same as Take Five's timing.

VOTs can vary in any number of ways many easily discernible to the music lover's ear and some not. First some variations easily discernible (not high-school orchestra don't expect a top-notch performance): and then some not so easily discernible (the famous Variations on a Theme by Haydn - by J Brahms):