Opera 🎼 Most Beautiful Arias

Most Beautiful Arias

These angelic arias are unrivaled in their timeless beauty and elegance. 

No matter if it is Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti or Jennifer Larmore – these singers will touch your heart with their extraordinary voices.

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https://youtu.be/bC7tByyXTXY?si=ICTzxUezcYXbk4ds

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0:00- Plácido Domingo - Turandot, Act 3: "Nessun dorma" (Calaf)  

3:25- Julia Migenes Johnson - Carmen, WD 31, Act 1: "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" (Carmen, Chorus)  

7:45- Roberto Alagna - L'elisir d'amore, Act 2: "Una furtiva lagrima" (Nemorino)  

12:04- Angela Gheorghiu - Carmen, Act 3: "Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante" (Micaëla)  

17:10- Thomas Hampson & Jerry Hadley - Les pêcheurs de perles, Act 1: "Au fond du temple saint" (Nadir, Zurga)

21:18- Jennifer Larmore - Serse, HWV 40, Act 1: "Ombra mai fu" (Serse)  

24:55- Véronique Gens - Dido & Aeneas, Act 3: "When I am laid in earth" (Dido) 

28:49- Cecilia Bartoli - Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492, Act 2: "Voi, che sapete che cosa è amor" (Cherubino)  

31:46- Kiri Te Kanawa - Cosi fan tutte, K. 588, Act 1: "Soave sia il sento" (Fiordiligi, Dorabella, Don Alfonso)  

34:55- José Cura - Samson et Dalila, Act 2: "Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix" (Dalila, Samson)  

38:15- Jerry Hadley - Werther, Act 3: "Pourquoi me réveiller" (Werther, Charlotte) 

40:52- Richard Leech - Rigoletto, Act 3: "La donna è mobile" (Duca)  

43:00- Eva Urbanová - Rusalka, B. 203, Op. 114, Act 1: 'Song to the Moon' (Rusalka) 

49:06- Cristina Gallardo-Domâs - Madama Butterfly, Act 2: "Un bel dì vedremo" (Butterfly)  

53:37- José Cura - Manon Lescaut, Act 1: "Donna non vidi mai" (Des Grieux)  

56:10- Edita Gruberová & Neil Shicoff - La traviata : Act 1 "Libiamo, ne'lieti calici" [Violetta, Alfredo, Choir]  

59:09- Kiri Te Kanawa - Tosca, Act 2: "Vissi d'arte" (Tosca)  

1:02:16- José Carreras - La bohème, Act 1: "Che gelida manina" (Rodolfo) 

1:06:38- Barbara Hendricks, José Carreras, Richard Cowan, Gino Quilico & Francesco Ellero d'Artegna - La bohème, Act 1: "Sì. Mi chiamano Mimì" (Mimì, Rodolfo, Schaunard, Colline, Marcello)  

1:12:09- Barbara Hendricks & José Carreras - La bohème, Act 1: "O soave fanciulla" (Rodolfo, Mimì)  

1:16:17- Cristina Gallardo-Domâs - Gianni Schicchi, Act 1: "O mio babbino caro" (Lauretta) 

1:18:47- Cristina Gallardo-Domâs - La Wally, Act 1: "Ebben, ne andrò lontana" (Wally)  

1:22:30- Jennifer Larmore & Hei-Kyung Hong - Les contes d'Hoffman, Act 4: Barcarolle - "Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour" (Giulietta, Niklausse)  

1:25:01- Plácido Domingo - Carmen, WD 31, Act 2: "La fleur que tu m'avais jetée" (Don José)  

1:29:05- Kiri Te Kanawa - Turandot, Act 1: "Signore ascolta!" (Liù)  

1:31:47- Edita Gruberová & Neil Shicoff - La traviata, Act 1: "Un dì felice" (Alfredo, Violetta, Gastone)  

1:34:56- Jennifer Larmore & Hei-Kyung Hong - Lakmé, Act 1: Flower Duet - "Dôme épais le jasmin" (Lakmé, Mallika) 

1:39:35- Lella Cuberli - Le nozze di Figaro, Act 2: "Porgi amor qualche ristoro" (La Contessa)  

1:43:45- Hans-Peter Blochwitz - Don Giovanni, Act 1: "Dalla sua pace" (Don Ottavio)  

1:48:25- Maria Callas - Norma : Act 1 "Casta diva" [Norma] 

1:55:17- Marilyn Horne - Rinaldo, HWV 7b, Act 2: "Lascia ch'io pianga" (Almirena) 

1:59:52- Susan Graham - Orphée et Eurydice, Act 3: "J'ai perdu mon Eurydice" (Orphée) 

2:04:16- Anton Scharinger & Rosa Mannion - Die Zauberflöte, K. 620, Act 1: "Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen" (Pamina, Papageno) 

2:07:15- Plácido Domingo - Aïda, Act 1: "Celeste Aïda" (Radames) 

2:11:57- Kiri Te Kanawa - La rondine, Act 1: "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" (Magda) 

2:14:53- Plácido Domingo - Fedora, Act 2: "Amor ti vieta di non amar" (Loris) 

2:17:05- Karita Mattila - Die lustige Witwe, Act 2: Vilja-Lied (Hanna) 

2:21:58- Plácido Domingo - Tosca, Act 3: "E lucevan le stelle" (Cavaradossi)  

2:24:51- Cristina Gallardo-Domâs - Otello, Act 4: "Ave Maria" (Desdemona) 

2:29:37- Jennifer Larmore- La Cenerentola "Non piu mesta" 

 

20 Greatest Opera Arias

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https://youtu.be/W3sBr9f0Il0?si=jeeW73i3MtZqdfOy

0:00:00 Delibes: Lakmé - Flower Duet 

0:07:24 Puccini: Turandot - Nessun dorma 

0:11:33 Mozart: Die Zauberflöte - Queen Of The Night  

0:14:35 Verdi: Rigoletto - La donna é mobile  

0:16:48 Verdi: Nabucco - Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves 

0:21:33 Bizet: Carmen - Les Toreadors  

0:26:57 Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro - Overture 

0:31:15 Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia: Largo al factotum (Cavatina)

0:35:48 Bizet: Les pêcheurs de perles - Au fond du temple saint  

0:40:22 Leoncavallo: Pagliacci - Vesti la giubba  

0:44:18 Bellini: Norma - Casta diva

0:51:04 Puccini: Gianni Schicchi - O mio babbino caro 

0:53:38 Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro - Non più andrai 

0:57:29 Mascagni: Cavelleria Rusticana - Intermezzo sinfonico  

1:01:14 Verdi: Rigoletto - Ella mi fu rapita…Parmi veder le lagrime  

1:06:11 Puccini: Tosca - E lucevan le stelle  

1:09:23 Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro - Cinque… dieci… Venti (No. 1 Duettino)  

1:12:08 Saint-Saëns: Samson and Delilah - Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix  

1:17:52 Verdi: Un ballo in maschera - Ma se m’e forza perderti  

1:22:45 Donizetti: L’Elisir d’Amore - Una furtiva lagrima 

  https://paulcpw.blogspot.com

                 

Father's Day 🌟 Star Wars Style 😄

🌟 Father's Day 🌟 Star Wars Style 🌟

Wishing  ALL dads a very happy Father's Day!

Yes, even Dark Lords of the Sith deserve good tidings on this special occasion. 

We hope you're able to spend some quality time with your dad from this galaxy, and that you enjoy this tender moment caught between a famous father/daughter duo from a galaxy far, far away!

Darth Vader disciplines his daughter (/r/starwarsgifs)

Stormtrooper

Happy Father's Day

Stormtrooper
Father's Day

  https://paulcpw.blogspot.com

  https://paulcpw.blogspot.com/label/Father

                        

Juneteenth 🤸🏾‍♀️ Freedom Day 🎂

Juneteenth

Juneteenth, officially Juneteenth National Independence Day, is a federal holiday in the United States. It is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States. 

The holiday's name is a portmanteau of the words "June" and "nineteenth", as it was on June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the American Civil War.

Early celebrations date back to 1866, at first involving church-centered community gatherings in Texas. They spread across the South amongst newly freed African American slaves and their descendants and became more commercialized in the 1920s and 1930s, often centering on a food festival. Participants in the Great Migration brought these celebrations to the rest of the country. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, these celebrations were eclipsed by the nonviolent determination to achieve civil rights, but grew in popularity again in the 1970s with a focus on African-American freedom and African-American arts. Beginning with Texas by proclamation in 1938, and by legislation in 1979, every U.S. state and the District of Columbia has formally recognized the holiday in some way. 

Juneteenth is also celebrated by the Mascogos, descendants of Black Seminoles who escaped from slavery in 1852 and settled in Coahuila, Mexico.

The day was recognized as a federal holiday in 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. Juneteenth became the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was adopted in 1983.

 

Celebrations and traditions
The holiday is considered the "longest-running African-American holiday" and has been called "America's second Independence Day." Juneteenth falls on June 19 and has often been celebrated on the third Saturday in June. Historian Mitch Kachun considers that celebrations of the end of slavery have three goals: "to celebrate, to educate, and to agitate". 

Traditions include public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation which promised freedom, singing traditional songs such as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing", and reading of works by noted African-American writers, such as Ralph Ellison and Maya Angelou. Celebrations include picnics, rodeos, street fairs, cookouts, family reunions, park parties, historical reenactments, blues festivals, and Miss Juneteenth contests. Red food and drinks are traditional during the celebrations, including red velvet cake and strawberry soda, with red meant to represent resilience and joy.

 

The Black Seminoles of Nacimiento in Mexico hold a festival and reunion, known as el Día de los Negros on June 19. Many former British colonies celebrate Emancipation Day on August 1, commemorating the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. Since 2021, the United Nations has designated August 31 as the International Day for People of African Descent.

History
On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln announced that the Emancipation Proclamation would go into effect on January 1, 1863, promising freedom to enslaved people in all of the rebellious parts of Southern states of the Confederacy including Texas. Enforcement of the Proclamation generally relied upon the advance of Union troops. Texas, as the most remote state of the former Confederacy, had seen an expansion of slavery because the presence of Union troops was low as the American Civil War ended; thus, the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation had been slow and inconsistent there prior to Granger's order.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth

 

Opal Lee is a huge reason Juneteenth is a federal holiday. In 2016 she walked from Fort Worth, Texas to D.C., 2.5M a day, to symbolize the 2.5 years it took news to reach the remaining slaves in Texas that they were free. She was 89. She walked 1400 miles hoping to make Juneteenth a federal holiday.

She tried again in 2019 to make the walk but it was cut short by covid (I can't even do any math on how long this walk must take for her).

Last summer, Biden signed the bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday with her in attendance.

She walked 2.5M last year on Juneteenth. But she doesn't have to walk all the way to D.C. ever again.

 

President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law, June 17, 2021

Today’s video Google Doodle, illustrated by Los Angeles-based guest artist Loveis Wise and narrated by actor and activist LeVar Burton, honors the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth. 
Short for “June Nineteenth,” Juneteenth marks the true end of chattel slavery across the United States - which didn’t actually occur until 1865, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. 

Specifically, it marks the day when enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas (one of the westernmost points in the Confederate South) finally received news of their liberation.

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Happy Juneteenth

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Le Juneteenth (une combinaison de June, le mois de juin, et nineteenth, soit l’adjectif dix-neuvième en anglais), officiellement le Juneteenth National Independence Day, également connu sous le nom de jour de la Liberté (Freedom Day), jour de l'Émancipation (Emancipation Day), ou encore jour du Jubilé (Jubilee Day) est une fête nationale et jour férié aux États-Unis célébré le 19 juin. La fête est officielle dans l'État américain du Texas depuis 1980 et un jour férié national depuis juin 2021. Le Juneteenth symbolise l'émancipation des esclaves afro-américains au Texas et plus généralement à travers tout le Sud confédéré. 

 

De façon plus précise, elle commémore l’annonce par le général nordiste Gordon Granger des ordres fédéraux proclamés le 19 juin 1865 à Galveston, au Texas, qui ont libéré tous les esclaves du Texas.

Quelque deux ans et demi auparavant, la proclamation d'émancipation du président Abraham Lincoln avait rendu illégal l’esclavage au Texas, de même que dans les autres États américains en rébellion contre l'Union. La mise en application de la proclamation reposait généralement sur les avancées militaires des troupes nordistes. Étant donné que le Texas était l’un des États esclavagistes les plus éloignés du Nord, on n’y trouvait qu’une faible présence de troupes nordistes à la fin de la guerre de Sécession ; dès lors, la mise en application y avait été plus lente et sporadique qu'ailleurs. Bien qu'on répète souvent que Juneteenth célèbre la fin de l'esclavage aux États-Unis, la pratique s'est maintenue dans deux États de l'Union (le Delaware et le Kentucky) jusqu'au 6 décembre 1865, lorsqu’a été ratifié le treizième amendement de la Constitution des États-Unis, qui abolissait l'esclavage non pénal à l’échelle de la nation tout entière. 

 https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth

Behind the Doodle:

155th Anniversary of Juneteenth

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This Is Why Juneteenth Matters

NowThis

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Juneteenth 📖 A Brief History

👉 https://paulcpw.blogspot.com/2020/06/juneteenth-brief-history.html 👈

  ✌🏽 ❤️🖤💚  ✊🏽 ✊🏾 ✊🏼 ❤️🖤💚 ✌🏽

Happy Juneteenth !!!

🤸🏾‍♀️  🤸🏾‍♀️ 🎂 🍾🎊  🤸🏾‍♀️🎈🎉🎂 🤸🏾‍♀️  🤸🏾‍♀️

✌🏽 ✌ ✌ ✌ ❤️ 🖤 💚 ✌ ✌ ✌ ✌🏽

               

Juneteenth 📖 A Brief History

Juneteenth

A Brief History

Juneteenth (a portmanteau of "June" and "nineteenth"), also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day and Cel-Liberation Day,is an American holiday celebrated on June 19.

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States.  Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. 

Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863

Juneteenth Independence Day or Freedom Day commemorates the June 19, 1865, announcement of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. state of Texas, and more generally the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans throughout the former Confederacy of the southern United States.  Juneteenth is recognized as a state holiday or special day of observance in forty-five states.

Celebration of Emancipation Day in Richmond, Virginia, c. 1905

Today it is observed primarily in local celebrations. Traditions include public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, singing traditional songs such as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing", and reading of works by noted African-American writers such as Ralph Ellison and Maya Angelou.

Juneteenth or Emancipation Day Parade taking place in Alamo Plaza, in the early 1900's - San Antonio

Celebrations may include rodeos, street fairs, cookouts, family reunions, park parties, historical reenactments, or Miss Juneteenth contests The Mascogos, descendants of Black Seminoles, of Coahuila, Mexico also celebrate the Juneteenth.

Juneteenth Celebrates
Freedom from Slavery in US

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Juneteenth celebration in Austin, Texas, on June 19, 1900

History
During the American Civil War,  President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, with an effective date of January 1, 1863.  It declared that all enslaved persons in the Confederate States of America in rebellion and not in Union hands were to be freed. This excluded the five states known later as border states, which were the four "slave states" not in rebellion - Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and Missouri - and those counties of Virginia soon to form the state of West Virginia, and also the three zones under Union occupation: the state of Tennessee, lower Louisiana, and Southeast Virginia.

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More isolated geographically, Texas was not a battleground, and thus the people held there as slaves were not affected by the Emancipation Proclamation unless they escaped. 

Planters and other slaveholders had migrated into Texas from eastern states to escape the fighting, and many brought enslaved people with them, increasing by the thousands the enslaved population in the state at the end of the Civil War.

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Although most enslaved people lived in rural areas, more than 1000 resided in both Galveston and Houston by 1860, with several hundred in other large towns. By 1865, there were an estimated 250,000 enslaved people in Texas. The older, and Hispanic, town of San Antonio had 168 among a population of 3,436.
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The news of General Robert E. Lee's surrender on April 9 moved slowly and did not reach Texas until May 1865. The Army of the Trans-Mississippi did not surrender until June 2.  On June 18, Union Army General Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston Island with 2,000 federal troops to occupy Texas on behalf of the federal government. The following day, standing on the balcony of Galveston's Ashton Villa, Granger read aloud the contents of "General Order No. 3", announcing the total emancipation of those held as slaves:

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The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. 

This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.

• Also called Freedom Day or Emancipation Day
• Observed by Residents of the United States, especially African Americans Mascogos
• Significance Emancipation of the last remaining enslaved people in the United States
• Date June 19

History 📗📔 Documentary 📕📗 

1921: The Tulsa Race Massacre

Goin' Back to T-Town | American Experience | PBS

By 1921, Tulsa's Black population had grown to almost 11,000, and the Greenwood community was booming. It was a time of prosperity for the residents. The neighborhood boasted 15 grocery stores, two Black movie houses, two Black newspapers, four drugstores, two Black public schools, a Black public library, four barbecue and chili parlors, and about 13 churches.
But it was also a dangerous time to be Black in America. Between 1917 and 1921, racial violence was rampant. In cities across the country, Blacks were being beaten, burned and lynched in alarming numbers.
No one, Black or white, was prepared for what happened on the night of May 31, 1921.

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https://youtu.be/Q_-iWaTOiqw

 Footage of the Prosperous Greenwood

and the Tulsa Massacre
Smithsonian Channel

A recently unearthed clip shows life in the Greenwood district of Tulsa and its neighboring communities, filmed between 1925 and 1928.

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https://youtu.be/Ca7lI6wT9MI

Read More

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth