Take care!
Tag: music
The stage at Palau de la Musica Catalana
As I mentioned in my last post, the stage is very different to stages usually found in theaters and opera houses. While those stages are able to be modified by paper walls lowered from the drawing floor, we only find a small stage with a few steps in the back for a choir (and the organ above).
Do you see, the figurines on the wall? These are muses. 18 figurines, each equipped with a different musical instrument, are looking at the musical at the stage. So, the artist is surrounded by audience. The common people in front of the stage in the seats on parquet floor or on the balconies. And, to back and inspire the artist, the muses beside and behind.
As a visitor you can’t see all of the muses. And that’s ok, because they are here only for the musician. The photo above is taken while standing right before the stage. The farer you have your seat, the less of them you can see. In the photo gallery at the end of this post, I’ve put a few of them in detail.
The idea of a muse was born in ancient Greece. They are goddesses from the Greek mythology and responsible for inspiration, literature, poetry, science, music, arts and considered as the source of knowledge.
Even today there are saying referring to the muses, i.e. someone was kissed by a muse (= had a very good idea or a flow of inspiration).
I hope, you also got a kiss of a muse every now and then for your inspiration.
Take care!
Palau de la Musica Catalana
Every city has one or more theatres, cinemas, sport stadiums and maybe an opera. In Barcelona you can find another kind of stage of musical entertainment: the Palau de la Musica Catalana.
This Palace was built between 1905 and 1908 and is now part of the UN world heritage. A theatre and an opera bringing plays on stage. Actors playing their roles and opera singer sing their classical opera songs. You have a stage and a pit for the orchestra below the stage with an open space between the audience and the front border of the stage.
The Palau is different. There is no orchestra pit, as you can see in the photo above. The whole stage is kind of small and very special. My next will be on the stage itself.
The palace was built following the current style at the building time: Art Nouveau. While looking around by using the photos in the attached gallery, pay attention to the big glass window in the ceiling and its unusual shape. In the above photo you can see the shape from the side. Also, both sides of the building have colorful glass windows.
In case, you book a guided tour, you can also feel the wonderful sound inside the building. They demonstrate it with a hidden organ.
There is also a small auditorium, the Sala d’Assaig de l’Orfeó Català (the Orfeó Català Rehearsal Room), just below the main stage. Artists can use this area for performances with small audience or for exercises. This area is as good equipped as the central auditorium. The guided tour starts here with a short documentary with testimonials from many international musicians, praising the Palau. Here you can find the first stone of the Palau, laid in 1905.
The Foyer of the Palau is an area for waiting while drinking a coffee or a tea. This area is open to the public as a café or cafeteria.
Take care!
Let’s dance!?!
I’m not the guy, who loves dancing. So, I wasn’t that much excited, when I read about the visit at Tropicana in our trip schedule.
But Tropicana is much more than a dancing show. Pretty girls, handsome guys, cuban music, artistry and beautiful costumes were on the stage. The audience got a can of cola, a 1/3 bottle of brown rum and a cigar per person for.
The show started at 10 p.m. when it was completely dark outside. The Tropicana theatre is a roofless building, where only parts of the audience, the kitchen and the restrooms are solid buildings. The stage itself is open air.
When coming to the show, avoid bringing a camera or even a mobile containing a camera. You have to pay an extra fee of 5 CUC for taking photographs or hand your gear to the guard. I paid the fee and it was definitely worth the money.
When in Havana, I’d definitely recommend visiting Tropicana.
Have fun!
addendum:
These photos were all shot during the first scene in approximately 30 minutes. The dancers changed their costumes several times and displayed different styles in music and dancing, some accompanied by singers. I guess, I’ll show some of them, too, but later in a separate post.
Let the music play
When thinking about Cuba, what do you think first? Rum? Cigars? Tabaco? Music? Or old cars?
To shorten it: I found all of this.
Music is everywhere. In hotel lobbys, restaurants and in the streets are people playing music. Usually bands with more than 2 and up to 10 members. Here in Germany music in restaurants is usually played by CD and street musicians are playing alone. But in Cuba there were usually bands playing music.
Many of them also try to sell their own CDs. Some CD are homemade, using a CD burner, others are made professional. The price Continue reading “Let the music play”
Where’s the phantom?
I didn’t seen it. 🙂
Ok, I wasn’t at night in the opera and I’m not a soprano, even not a singer.
All jokes apart. Yes, I love the “Phantom of the opera” and I own a CD set of the original recoring in London starring Sarah Brightman as Christine for more than 20 years. I also like the movie, even I’m male.
I walked around the opera and found most of the building covered by hoardings. Only few parts were free to see.
The opera is also known as Opéra Garnier or Palais Garnier. It’s one of the Continue reading “Where’s the phantom?”
Did I already mentioned the Parisian street musicians
No? Here they are:
You can find musicians not only in the subway (called metropolitain or metro) stations or the metro trains, but also in the streets or places where many pedestrians come to. So you can find them at tourist attractiions i.e. at the Basilica Sacre Coeur, in front of the former kings palace Louvre (now a big and famous art museum) or at the Eiffeltower. And, certainly, in some restaurants musicians were playing piano.
I usually saw musicians playing Continue reading “Did I already mentioned the Parisian street musicians”
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