Theme of love in Roman Fever Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Theme of love in Roman Fever - Essay Example It was recorded live during the work's New York premiere production, given at the Manhattan School in December 2001. Ward (b. 1917) has had a long, distinguished career, the highlight of which was the Pulitzer Prize he was awarded in 1962 for his opera The Crucible, after Arthur Miller's play. His musical idiom, here as elsewhere, is quite conservative tonally (he asserts in the notes that the line between opera and Broadway is becoming increasingly blurred), but he understands the effective deployment of dissonance and variety. This is best demonstrated in the last ten minutes of the hour-long piece, when an accidental meeting in Rome of two old friends -- twenty years after they first spent time there together -- results in a series of intense revelations that turn long-held assumptions upside-down for both of them. Wharton's story has a shocker of a dosing line, which librettist Roger Brunyate has preserved. The section leading up to it flits in and out of an arrestingly rhythmic 7/8 feel, unlike anything we've heard in the rest of the piece. Prior to that, the music has been unfailingly pleasant, if occasionally meandering, and the characters successfully drawn, but Ward and Brunyate have had to struggle with the fact that not much happens in the story -- the surprises begin only toward the end. Dorothy Grimley, as Alida, has a moving aria about the clanging church bells and the unpleasant memories they bring back. The four women (two mothers and their daughters) have a beautiful quartet, an outstanding example of vocal ensemble writing. The orchestrational and vocal flights of fancy in the latter part of "They kissed our hands" (for the two girls, sung by Amy Shoremount and Eudora Brown) help us forget that the beginning is a direct lift from Cole Porter's "It's DeLovely." In all, Roman Fever is an adroit, thoughtfully expanded operatic treatment of a great story, if not a great opera in itself; there is, however, plenty to enjoy. The continuing commitment to the production of contemporary opera by the Manhattan School is an invaluable experience for its students, who for the most part outdo themselves when given the chance to sing challenging new roles. The four young women in the cast (Erin Elizabeth Smith completes the quartet as Grace) all sing clearly and attractively; each mother/daughter pair shares a similar vocal coloring, so that similarity of sound is familial, not generational. Maxime Alvarez de Toledo divertingly rounds out the cast of five as a self-dramatizing waiter singing in Italian-accented English. The students of the Manhattan School of Music Opera Orchestra are in fine form under conductor David Gilbert. The Story Two old friends, Alida Slade and Grace Ansley, are finishing lunch on the terrace of a Roman restaurant and move to the parapet, where they benignly contemplate the magnificent ruins of the Palatine and the Forum. Remarking that the scene below is the most beautiful view in the world, the two ladies agree to spend the afternoon on the terrace. Alida arranges with the waiter to permit them to stay until evening. They hear their daughters, Barbara Ansley and Jenny Slade, departing to spend the afternoon with two eligible young Italian men, and Grace remarks that the young women will probably return late, flying back by moonlight from Tarquinia. It becomes evident at this point that Grace has a closer relationship with her daughter than Alida has with Jenny because Alida did not know where the girls were going. Also, Barbara remarks a bit ruefully to Jenny as the two of them depart that they are leaving their mothers with nothing much to do. At that point, Alida broaches the

The British and Global Economy. Industrial revolution in Britain Essay

The British and Global Economy. Industrial revolution in Britain - Essay Example This means that the industrial revolution developed after a long process of technological innovation and interaction across the land mass (Allen, 2011: 366). However, many experts argue that neither Britain nor Europe had economic advantages more that the Indian regions until the occurrence of the industrial revolution. These countries were commercialized and productive since they benefited from advanced technologies. One of the vital aspects that encouraged industrial revolution was the environmental availability of cheap and available coal in Britain. Coal was employed to produce fuel in heat industries, for example, furnaces. Eventually, it was used to produce steam power for the developing factories (Hobsbawm, 1968: 31). Britain was distinct since it had easy access to large reserves of coal, since it was an efficient source of power than wood and charcoal. The use of coal in the production of iron was efficient in the revolution means. The coalmines from early 17 the centuries were very significant, the Black Country developed in England, and it transformed the textiles centers of the world. The factories and industrial towns also developed with canals and roads (Crafts, 1987: 2). The development of railroad and steam ships widened the market of manufactured goods. Industrial revolution changed the way things were made as new machines that were invented during the 17th and 18th century. This meant that it was possible to mass production of goods in the factories. It developed from Britain and it spread through North America and Europe, resulting to an improvement on social and economic conditions. The geographical position of Britain geopolitical position, since it was an island situated off the coast of the European continent. This favored the development of British naval power and protection from the continental warfare. Naval power was necessary since it allowed Britain to conquer the trade routes and colonies that improved industrial revolution and it provides raw materials (Allen, 2011: 374). Britain was able to extract diverse amounts of wealth from the New World through the slave trade and plantations. Capitalist merchants controlled Britain and this made it efficient for it to extract wealth. It also indicated that wealth could be used to fund the development of industrial capitalism. During the 18th century, the British ships transported more than a million Afr ican slaves to the British Caribbean to offer labor. Britain built extensive utility of mercantilist trade strategies that protected the developing industries against imports that had high tariffs imposed on them (Hobsbawm, 1968: 29). According to Marxists, several factors contributed to the industrial revolution in Britain. The development of capitalism could not be defined as the primary reason of entrepreneurial spirit of the British. The British revolution was a long period of economic and political changes marked by violent upheavals such as English Revolution during the 17th century. However, during the beginning of the 18th century, Britain was identified as the European country where the social relationships were embedded firmly. There were two significant features of capitalism that are important in the industrial revolution in Britain, the first was the prior capitalist class that developed over the previous centuries asserting its dominance in the British society (Crafts, 1987: 4). The