Comments on: Statuesque puzzle

By: Orlando Furioso

Orlando Furioso — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:04:33 +0000

OK, just because I like to complete puzzle challenges:

I can guess from the comments what answer #9 is, but how does one find question #9? Nico Muhly doesn’t give a link to it, does he? So many seem to have found 9 without 8 being posted makes me think I’m missing something obvious.

By: kashania

kashania — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:34:09 +0000

The closest we can come to a castrato sound today is probably Michael Maniaci. Unlike countertenors, he doesn’t sing falsetto (his voice never changed). And he has a higher-placed voice and a more powerful (and interesting) instrument than countertenors.

By: richard

richard — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:25:02 +0000

Rysanekfreak, I don’t think you can get an idea of what Farinelli sounded like from the movie. The singing is mostly by Derick Lee Ragin , a countertenor. The engineers cobbled on the voice of a German soprano(Schultze?) to lengthen the phrases and add the higher range that Ragin didn’t have.

The result just sounds strange to me.

For myself, countertenors singing attributes
don’t really match up with what I’ve read in terms of descriptions what the castrati could do. I’m thinking primarily of the endless breath most of the castrati seemed to have as well as the fullness and powerfulness of tone that had throughout their range.

It’s a poor example, but the only one we have is of the recordings of Moreschi, the last Vatican castrati. I doubt that he was really ever all that great but at the time he made recordings, ca 1905, his voice was a wreck.
The lower part of his range sounds comical, it’s so bad, but even then it has more color than most of the lower reaches of today’s countertenors. The high notes are perilous but what fascinates me are the notes around D-E-F-G. The notes are very firm and very rich with color and this is the point at which so many countertenors start to thin out.

By: rysanekfreak

rysanekfreak — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:11:37 +0000

I listened to the complete Bartoli album on NPR. There are 5 really good FAST arias with all that quasi-yodeling coloratura. The geek in me loves that kind of meaningless mindless display. I guess I need to watch my Farinelli dvd again.

By: Tamerlano

Tamerlano — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:55:21 +0000

Re: New Callas Video

All I can say is that the voice might be in shambles, but the phrasing and artistry remain unparalleled. Brava Diva!!!

By: Effie de LaRue

Effie de LaRue — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:52:13 +0000

I don’t know about this puzzle business but from the photo at the top of this page I’d say La Cecilia has become Michael Jackson, in honor of Farinelli.

By: Pelleas

Pelleas — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:06:02 +0000

I totally gave up out of complete disinterest.

By: squirrel

squirrel — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:03:09 +0000

thanks QPF – great Netrebko porn there! Squirrel salivates.

Though Opera Chic never had much thunder. Was it she who called Bernard Haitink’s baton “luscious” the other day? Puhleeeeeeez

By: Quanto Painy Fakor

Quanto Painy Fakor — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:42:24 +0000

Actually – there’s a resemblance to Carol Vaness in that video – not in voice of course.

By: Lindoro Almaviva

Lindoro Almaviva — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:28:20 +0000

That must’ve been Callas after 1980…

By: Lindoro Almaviva

Lindoro Almaviva — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:17:22 +0000

Those hoping for a download should go to NPR for a free download.

By: Quanto Painy Fakor

Quanto Painy Fakor — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:01:19 +0000

RARE _ NEW CALLAS VIDEO!!!

By: grrg

grrg — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:59:07 +0000

Some of us like the screaming and cooing all at once, or as I like to call it, AMAZING SINGING. Totally worth it. (Although yeah, I too was hoping for a download…)

By: Zerbinetta

Zerbinetta — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:53:49 +0000

I got the rest of it to work, and as marketing ideas think it’s pretty nifty, but the reward could be a bit more…. rewarding. Let us download it?

By: Quanto Painy Fakor

Quanto Painy Fakor — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:01:26 +0000

By: Quanto Painy Fakor

Quanto Painy Fakor — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:55:46 +0000

Not trying to ursurp any of the great Opera Chic’s thunder, but there she has posted this promo video of Netrebko wishing Deutsche Gramophone “many many more years of great musing”

By: justanothertenor

justanothertenor — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:54:52 +0000

It was SOOOOOO not worth the effort.
This is awful. Wow. Lots of screaming and cooing all at once. Hard to accomplish, yet she does.

By: justanothertenor

justanothertenor — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:49:16 +0000

Use your up/down/side arrows to make the pieces rotate.
Once you solve the puzzle, you get to listen to a piece from berenice
It’s fun!

By: Vox

Vox — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:47:18 +0000

Use the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard

By: pavel

pavel — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:46:59 +0000

Now that I have all the items unlocked, I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do next…

By: Lindoro Almaviva

Lindoro Almaviva — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:46:20 +0000

Now, how do i make the pieces turn around so they fit? I spend 8 hours a day in front of a coputer, so when a game like this is making me feel like I have never searched the web, it is not good.

By: pavel

pavel — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:45:37 +0000

Oops, I should have refreshed before posting that…

By: pavel

pavel — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:45:07 +0000

Muhly’s question is finally up.

By: Lindoro Almaviva

Lindoro Almaviva — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:43:33 +0000

question 8 is up!

http://twitter.com/nicomuhly

By: Vox

Vox — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:43:28 +0000

Final question now @NicoMuhly

By: pavel

pavel — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:41:05 +0000

Lindoro – I think you have to type the answers precisely as they want them. Make sure the first letter is upper-case and the rest lower-case. The number of castrations should be written as numerals only (no letter). The real name of Farinelli works when you use the first and last (but not middle) name. Oh, and use the English name for Porpora’s city.

By: Lindoro Almaviva

Lindoro Almaviva — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:38:24 +0000

The problem is that with statements like these in wiki:

After a rebuff from the court of Charles VI at Vienna in 1725, Nicola Porpora settled mostly in Venice

Then Porpora returned in 1759 to Naples.

not the best question….

By: Vox

Vox — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:36:28 +0000

And the picture made by the pieces isn’t the picture on the cover

By: Vox

Vox — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:35:52 +0000

Try Naples – works for me in Explorer, Firefox, Opera & Chrome

By: Lindoro Almaviva

Lindoro Almaviva — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:33:22 +0000

No shit. I can’t get the fucking puzzle pieces to blend together, I have answers that I know are correct and it is giving me incorrect signs. Hell I have tried every city Porpora lived in and neither is coming up correct. At least one of them has to be correct.

How do i make the pieces fit together? I am having the same problem in both Explorer and Firefox