Aston Magna salutes Pergolesi on the 300th anniversary of his birth with a "concerto di violino solo con più strumenti," the cantata Orfeo, and of course, La serva padrona, featuring David Ripley, Frank Kelley, and Kristen Watson.

My first time at Carnegie Hall! And I couldn't have asked for a better show.

I knew about Max Raabe already (pronounced like the English first name "Rob"). I saw him at Dartmouth sometime within the past couple of years. I believe I came in at Act II after a Glee Club rehearsal. Something about the posters intrigued me; I really didn't know what "music from the Weimar Republic" meant. I was properly stunned by what I saw and heard: this elegant clown of a man, singing silly, elegant songs in German and English. And his humor, as he slowly introduced each piece. You never knew quite when to laugh and when not to, and that became part of the fun. We think, "wait, was that a joke? Wait, what did he just say?" as the whole audience listens intently to his somber, heavy English, as he lays out one of his signature jokes, like, "Music has always been tied to destiny and personal tragedy. (pause) Who cares? As long as you're not involved." It's the kind of thing that wouldn't be funny if he spoke flawless English.

And I got a good dose of music education last night, too. One of their joke songs was "who's afraid of the big bad wolf?" from the 1933 cartoon of The Three Little Pigs. I was at an acting class last night watching a scene from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf" where said song was featured. Another song he sang last night, "Sweet Sue" which struck me because I was just reading through the play, "Sweet Sue" by A.R. Gurney the very same day, and I had no knowledge of the song beforehand. And my favorite musical discovery of the night was Cole Porter's "Miss Otis Regrets She's Unable to Lunch Today," a deliciously criminal story song by Cole Porter, a precursor to Chicago in a way. Note that on those last two songs I have no idea how they go melodically after only a single listening, but because of the words, I have a small grasp on them. This is so absolutely key and it's why classical pieces with titles command more power over the populace than those that are named by simply an opus number and a key. And I sat through the whole concert wishing I spoke German! Imagine what I missed! What clever and wonderful German songs there are that I could learn. I guess what I'm trying to say is... life is beautiful.

I did some Youtubing: While renowned in such places as Carnegie Hall for preserving and revitalizing musical heritage, Max Raabe also does covers of pop tunes from various eras, including "Oops! I did it again," "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" "Mambo No. 5" "Super Trouper" and "We Will Rock You." While these ditties may stray from the 30's instrumentation and style (and I don't know if they are ever performed in concert) the vocal quality of Max Raabe is consistently, persistently, the same: impossible to ignore and difficult not to smile at.



Time it took to write this: way too long. Over an hour.