An apple a day keeps the veterinarian away? This may be true, apples
contain antioxidants that help boost immunity. Plus they’re sweet… dogs
love the sweet. Just be sure to throw out the core since apple seeds can
be harmful to dogs.
2 – Spinach
Not only is spinach high in iron, but it is also contains calcium for
bone health. Spinach also contains anti-inflammatory/anti-cancer
properties by way of flavonoids and carotenoids.
3 – Pumpkin
Baked fresh or canned, dogs lick their chops when this tasty treat
comes in their direction. Pumpkin is also the go to aid for problematic
digestion. It works for constipation AND diarrhea.
4 – Green Beans
Added fiber and crunchiness, green beans also offer a plethora of
vitamin nutrition. They also are a low calorie filler for dogs who like
to eat between meals, but are watching their figure.
5 – Watermelon
Chock full of the antioxidant lycopene, watermelons are mild enough
for most dogs to eat. In addition to the nutrient packed goodness, the
juiciness is enough to add a little extra hydration on a hot day.
6 – Cantaloupe
These yummy treats are mild, easy to digest for most dogs and pack a
vitamin punch. Full of beta carotene, studies have shown that beta
carotene may reduce and prevent the growth of cataracts.
7 – Carrots
Not only are carrots a filling treat for overweight dogs on a “diet”
but they also are good for oral hygiene. Carrots naturally clean and
polish teeth. Have a chewer at home? Toss them a carrot to keep them
from eating a favorite pair of shoes.
8 – Blueberries
Given as an occasional rare treat, these little blue balls of
antioxidants have been popping up in commercial dog foods in the past
few years. Blueberries provide the same health benefits for both dogs
and owners.
9 – Pears
This heart healthy treat is high in dietary fiber. Pears are sweet, juicy and most dogs enjoy the taste and texture.
10 – Sweet Potato
These holiday favorites should been treats all year round. Sweet
potatoes contain high amounts of amino acids, which are good for strong
lean muscles and enhances antioxidant properties.
See Why We Have An
Absolutely Ridiculous Standard of Beauty In Just 37 Seconds.
Mr Bean
* Transformation *
The Power
of Adobe Photoshop
Celebrities Without Makeup!!
This video is not intended to make fun of celebrities. This is to simply show that celebrities look just like everyone else without makeup! some of these ladies look younger and fresher without the makeup and fake tans.
Barcarolle - Offenbach Belle Nuit, ô Nuit d'Amour Subtitles - French & English
Often referred to as the "Barcarolle" - is a piece from The Tales of Hoffmann, Jacques Offenbach's final opera. A duet for soprano and mezzo-soprano, it is considered the most famous barcarolle ever written and described in the Grove Book of Operas as "one of the world's most popular melodies."
The text, concerning the beauty of the night and of love, is by Jules Barbier.
A barcarole (from French, also barcarolle; originally, Italian barcarola, from barca ‘boat’) is a folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers, or a piece of music composed in that style. In classical music, two of the most famous barcaroles are Jacques Offenbach’s “Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour”, from his opera The Tales of Hoffmann; and Frédéric Chopin’s Barcarole in F sharp major for solo piano. A barcarole is characterized by a rhythm reminiscent of the gondolier’s stroke, almost invariably a moderate tempo 6/8 meter.
Elīna Garanča (born September 16, 1976) is a Latvian operatic lyric mezzo-soprano. She was born into a musical family in Riga, Latvia, where her father was a choral conductor and her mother a singer, under whom she learned at the Latvian Academy of Music before continuing her studies in Vienna and the United States.
She is a consummate artist whose distinctively
dark, sultry voice boasts a power and warmth to which her regal bearing
and alluring looks provide the perfect counterpoise.
Anna Netrebko (born 18 September 1971) is a Russian operatic
soprano. In 2007 she became the first classical musician to be selected
as one of the Time 100, Time magazine’s list of the most influential
people in the world.
Montserrat Caballé and Marilyn Horne
In concert singing the duet "Belle Nuit" Barcarolle
Les Contes d'Hoffmann by Offenbach.
Munich, 1990
The piece opens The Tales of Hoffmann‘s third act, set in Venice. It is sung by the characters Giulietta– the protagonist Hoffmann’s love, a Venetian courtesan – and Nicklausse – Hoffmann’s poetic muse, in disguise as his faithful male companion. In addition to the Venetian location it sets the seductive and sinister tone of the Venice act in general and of Giulietta’s character specifically. The music reappears later in the act in a septet, “Hélas! Mon cœur s’égare encore,” which was constructed by editors of the opera.
Andrea Bocelli London Symphony Orchestra · Lorin Maazel
👇 ♪ 📽 ♪ 👇
“Belle nuit” is in the 6/8 time signature characteristic of barcarolles, allegretto moderato. Approximately a minute of musical introduction occurs before the melody appears, although a flute accompaniment figure which suggests the melody, “suspend[ing] time” and creating anticipation for the melody before it begins, is played throughout the piece. Although it is sung by a juvenile male character, Nicklausse, in a “breeches role”, and a female character, Giulietta, the fact of its being fundamentally a piece for two women’s voices, intertwining in the same octave, means that in productions where Nicklausse has been played by a male baritone instead of a female mezzo-soprano, his part has been reassigned to a chorus soprano.
Barcarolle ♫ Live in Italy André Rieu & His Johann Strauss Orchestra Live in Cortona, Italy. Taken from the DVD Romantic Paradise. Carla e Carmen ♪ soprano e mezzo Brasileiras
An Adventure Cat - TUNA No one thought this feral cat
could be adopted
but her mom knew exactly what she needed to be
happy.
👇 💗 👇
You can follow Tuna on all of her adventures in the great
outdoors on Instagram, @tunatheadventurecat: http://thedo.do/tuna.
Special thanks to Zach Etahiri, you can check out his awesome photography on Instagram,@mediocre.zach: https://thedo.do/zachetahiri.
Guy Biking Across the World
Picks Up a Stray Kitty
On this episode of Soulmates, meet Dean and Nala. Dean found Nala on the side of the road while he was biking his way through Bosnia. Now, these two best friends are biking across the world together.
There is place in Los Angeles that's become a sanctuary for both military veterans suffering from PTSD and neglected birds. Tracy Smith has a report on the remarkable connections made at Serenity Park.
"Oh My Beloved Father" is a sopranoaria from the operaGianni Schicchi (1918) by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is sung by Lauretta after tensions between her father Schicchi and the family of Rinuccio, the boy she loves, have reached a breaking point that threatens to separate her from Rinuccio. Lauretta begs her father Gianni Schicchi to help her marry the love of her life, Rinuccio. It provides an interlude expressing lyrical simplicity and single-hearted love in contrast with the atmosphere of hypocrisy, jealousy, double-dealing, and feuding in the medieval Florence of Puccini's only comedy.
The aria was first performed at the premiere of Gianni Schicchi on 14 December 1918 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York by the popular Edwardian English soprano Florence Easton. It has been sung subsequently by many sopranos. Dame Joan Hammond won a Gold Record in 1969 for 1 million sold copies of this aria.
The aria is frequently performed in concerts and as an encore in recitals by many popular and crossover singers. It is used in several films, and some bands cover the aria in their own style.
Gianni Schicchi
Mirella Freni
"O Mio Babbino Caro"
Lyrics and Text Translation
Lyrics From Puccini's Famous Gianni Schicchi Aria (1918)
Italian
Literal
translation
Singable
English
O mio babbino caro
Oh my dear
papa,
Oh my
beloved father,
Mi piace, è bello, bello
I
love him, he is handsome, handsome.
I love him,
I love him!
Vo' andare in Porta Rossa
I want to
go to Porta Rossa
I’ll go to
Porta Rossa,
A comperar l'anello!
To buy the
ring!
To buy our
wedding ring.
Sì, sì, ci voglio andare!
Yes, yes, I
want to go there!
Oh yes, I
really love him.
E se l'amassi indarno,
And if my
love were in vain,
And if you
still say no,
Andrei sul Ponte Vecchio,
I would go
to the Ponte Vecchio
I’ll go to
Ponte Vecchio,
Ma per buttarmi in Arno!
And throw
myself in the Arno! *(River)
And throw
myself in the River
Mi struggo e mi tormento!
I am
anguished and tormented!
My love for
which I suffer,
O Dio, vorrei morir!
Oh God, I'd
want to die!
At last, I
want to die.
Babbo, pietà, pietà!
Papa, have
pity, have pity!
Father I
beg, I beg.
Babbo, pietà, pietà!
Papa, have
pity, have pity!
Father I
beg, I beg.
André Rieu & Amira
O Mio Babbino Caro André Rieu & Amira Willighagen
From the DVD "Love in Venice"
Music
Range
The short aria consists of 32 bars and takes between 2½ and 3 minutes to perform. It is written in A-flat major with the time signature of 6/8 and a tempo indication of andantino ingenuo (=120). The vocal range extends from E♭4 to A♭5, with a tessitura of F4 to A♭5. The 5-bar orchestral prelude, in E-flat major and 3/4 time, consists of octavetremolos by the strings;
in the opera, these five bars are Gianni Schicchi's words ("Niente!")
at the end of his preceding dialogue with Rinuccio. Many recital
arrangements start with a presentation of the melodic theme; the remaining accompaniment uses strings and a harp playing broken chords.
Renée Fleming ♫ Marin ♫ Berliner Philharmoniker
Renée Fleming, soprano
Ion Marin, conductor · Berliner Philharmoniker
Recorded at the Waldbühne, Berlin, 27 June 2010
The Berliner Philharmoniker's Digital Concert Hall:
The United States Army Field Band from Gianni Schicchi
The United States Army Field Band Sergeant First Class Rose Ryon of the Soldiers' Chorus sings the famed soprano aria from Giacomo Puccini's comedic opera, Gianni Schicchi.
Odds are, opera fans will recognize "O Mio Babbino Caro" as one of the most popular soprano arias. Written by the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, it is from "Gianni Schicchi," his only comedy. Inspired by Dante's "Divine Comedy," this one-act opera tells the tale of Gianni Schicchi, a man who lived in 13th century Florence, Italy.
Context In the opera, Schicchi is consigned to hell for having impersonated a dead nobleman in order to steal his fortune.
"O Mio Babbino Caro" is sung near the beginning, after relatives of the wealthy Buoso Donati gather around his bed to mourn his passing. In fact, they are only there to figure out to whom he left his great fortune of money.
A rumor spreads that instead of leaving his accumulated wealth to his family, Donati is giving his entire fortune to the church. The family panics and begins frantically searching for Donati's will. Rinuccio, whose mother is Buoso Donati's cousin, finds the will but withholds from sharing its information with any of his relatives.
Confident
that he has been left a large sum of money, Rinuccio asks his aunt to allow him to marry Laurette, the love of his life and the daughter of Gianni Schicchi. His aunt tells him that as long as he has received an inheritance, she will allow him to marry Lauretta. Rinuccio happily sends a message inviting Lauretta and Gianni Schicchi to come to
Donati's house.
Then Rinuccio begins to read the will.
Far from becoming a rich man, Rinuccio discovers that Donati's entire fortune instead will be bequeathed to a monastery. He is distraught because he won't be allowed to marry Lauretta as his aunt promised. When
Lauretta and Gianni Schicchi arrive, Rinuccio begs Gianni to help him regain Donati's fortune so that he may wed his beloved.
Rinuccio's family scoffs at the idea and begins arguing with Gianni Schicchi. Schicchi decides they are not worth helping, but Lauretta begs her father to reconsider by singing "O Mio Babbino Caro." In it, she declares that if she cannot be with Rinuccio she would rather throw herself into the Arno River and drown.
André Rieu- O Mio Babbino Caro (Subtitulada Español) HD Carmen Monarcha
Anna Netrebko + Lyrics
Lyrics Angela Gheorghiu
At the song's conclusion, Schicchi conspires to hide Donati's body, impersonate the dead man and rewrite the will to favor Rinuccio instead of the church. Schicchi pulls off the deed, despite protests from the dead man's relatives. Now a wealthy man, Rinuccio can wed his beloved Lauretta.
The sight of the two lovers together so moves Schicchi that he turns to the audience to address them directly. He may be condemned to hell for his acts, he sings, but the punishment is worth the satisfaction of using the money to bring the two lovers together. As the opera concludes, Schicchi seeks forgiveness, asking those in attendance for understanding his "extenuating circumstances."
Notable Singers
"O Mio Babbino Caro" is one of the most popular soprano arias in existence and one whose melody is likely to get stuck in your head. There are hundreds, if not thousands of videos and recordings of "O Mio Babbino Caro" online. With a little research, you can find your own favorite rendition.
Some of the most notable sopranos in the history of opera have sung "O Mio Babbino Caro," including Renée Fleming.
Others who have performed in this Puccini opera include Maria Callas, Montserrat Caballe, Sarah Brightman, Anna Netrebko and Kathleen Battle.