Opera prior to 1920

When choosing an opera for this weeks assignment I went on the internet to find an opera that would strike my attention. Over time, I found the opera L’Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi. This caught my attention due to it dealing with Greek mythology, a topic that has always caught my interest. The opera is based on the Greek hero named Orpheus. His wife, Eurydice, had the tragic death of being bitten by a snake. The Opera follows the story of the hero trying to bring back his loved one from the underworld. We soon learn that the underworld is a very dark place with horrors ran by the powerful Greek God, Hades.

The Opera starts with the marriage between Orpheus and Eurydice. The marriage is announced and everyone starts singing and joyfully dancing. The marrying couple then sings a loving song for each other. It seems like all is going well and good at this point of the opera. Fast foward from the wedding and Orpheus receives horrible news from a messenger. She had died from a fatal snake bite.

The Opera runs on to show how Orpheus will risk everything and enter the underworld in order to get his love back. This shows the theme of the opera, love. I really enjoyed watching this opera because of the story also the colors and outfits. It is so different from anything we have today and really catches your attention when watching.

Angel de Quinta Blog

In Angel de Quinta’s Stage Door blog, he brings together all sorts sorts of broadway shows in a unique way. I really enjoyed the way Angel really described things out the way he does in his blog. He uses very descriptive words in order to make the reader feel like they are there with him. This is something I found very intruiging because he grabs the reader’s attention in this way. This is a Christmas blog and talks about the role models for Christmas broadway. He has the song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Michael Buble. This is a Christmas song that I love to hear during the holidays because it is just a classic.

Madama Butterfly

After watching Madama Butterfly, I was quite intrigued behind the whole story. I had never watched an opera that played out a story. How I interpreted the Opera, a man has a relationship and they go on to get married. Shortly after they get married, "Madama Butterfly" gets pregnant with the man's child. During this time the man is off with another woman. When he returns he finds that his wife had the child. Although, at this time he is already in love with this other woman unfortunately. When the wife introduces him to the child, he takes it. You are left with the suspense wondering if he will come back with the child. But, he just runs off with the child and never looks back. This drives "Madama Butterfly" to commit suicide because she believes she has nothing more to live for now that both her husband and child is gone. More prominently due to her child because a mother has such a strong bond with their children. When she kills herself, she is with the butterfly in the afterlife. The opera displays the theme of love. We see this in both her love for her husband and child. We also see how love can drive someone crazy, even to the means of death.

Raul Cuero Interview

Raul Cuero grew up in a very small village in Colombia in extreme poverty. Both his parents did not know know to read nor write; this drove him to want to learn and do better than they did. In Colombia, Raul started playing basketball at a very high level on their national team. This gift of basketball made it possible for Raul to get a scholarship and study in The United States. Today, he absolutely crushed his goals as a young child to learn how to read and write. He is currently a microbiologist with nine scientific inventions.
In Raul Cuero's interview with Patricia Gras, Raul says that creativity can only come from conversing to one another. He says that the younger generation has no real creativity because we all use technology instead of conversing. I completely disagree with this statement. Why? So much has changed in the past couple of years with technology. This is the age of technology and our generation focuses so much on advancing technology. This is still considered creativity. It is just focusing our mind on something different and fitting for the time and place we are at in this country.
Something I do agree with in the interview is when Raul talks about doing things with intensity. He mentions how you have to be fully committed to something and give it your all without the thought of failure. Clearly, Raul stuck by this his whole entire life and has played a key part of him being so successful in his career. I agree completely with what Raul says about intensity. If you aspire to do something, you have to give your all. Doing things with intensity help you achieve goals and you should give everything you do in life your all.

Introduction

Hi, I'm John Mahoney. I was born and raised in Salem, Massachusetts. I grew up playing soccer and continued to play up until I left for the University of Tampa. I went to Bishop Fenwick for high school located in Peabody, Massachusetts. I enjoyed high school because of the close friends I made which I now consider family. However, I could not wait until I was out and left for college. I choose The University of Tampa due to the gorgeous weather and campus. I choose to take art and technology because the art classes I took in high school were some of my most enjoyable classes and it catches my interest.