Earth and Space News: February 2017

Monday, February 27, 2017

Werther Is March 4, 2017, Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast

Summary: The March 4, 2017, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is Werther, an opera of impossible love by French Romantic composer Jules Massenet.

The impossible love drama of Werther (Vittorio Grigolo) and Charlotte (Isabel Leonard) unfolds in the 2016-2017 Met Opera season's staging of Massenet's Werther: The Metropolitan Opera @metopera, via Instagram Feb. 27, 2017

Werther, a four-act opera concerning impossible love by French Romantic composer Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (May 12, 1842-Aug. 13, 1912), is the March 4, 2017, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast.

French dramatist and librettist Édouard Blau (May 30, 1836-Jan. 7, 1906), French librettist and playwright Paul Milliet (Feb. 14, 1848-Nov. 21, 1924) and French dramatist and librettist Georges Hartmann (May 15, 1843-April 22, 1900) collaborated on the French libretto. The literary source of the libretto is Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (“The Sorrows of Young Werther”) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Aug. 28, 1749-March 22, 1832). The semi-autobiographical novel, written in German, is considered an exemplar of the Sturm und Drang (“Storm and Stress”) period of proto-Romanticism in German literature.

Werther’s launch onto the operatic stage featured two world premieres. The first premiere was in a special German translation by German music critic and translator Max Kalbeck (Jan. 4, 1850-May 4, 1921). The premiere of the original French libretto happened 10 months later.

The German-language world premiere of Werther took place Feb. 16, 1892. The venue was Wiener Hofoper (Vienna Court Opera), now known as Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera). Czech architect and contractor Josef Hlávka (Feb. 15, 1831-March 11, 1908) built the Neo-Renaissance style opera house. Wiener Hofoper’s inauguration happened May 25, 1869.

The French-language premiere took place Dec. 27, 1892. The venue was Grand Théâtre de Genève in Geneva, southwestern Switzerland. Swiss architect Jacques-Élysée Goss (April 23, 1839-Dec. 8, 1921) found inspiration in Paris’s Palais Garnier, also known as Opéra Garnier, in his design of Geneva’s Second Empire style opera house.

Massenet set his opera in the late 18th century near Frankfurt and Wetzlar in west central Germany. This season’s Metropolitan Opera production fast forwards the time, by about a century, to Massenet’s lifetime.

The Saturday matinee broadcast of Werther begins at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (6 p.m. Coordinated Universal Time). The estimated run time for the performance is about 2 hours 54 minutes.

The opera, sung in the original French, comprises four acts and one intermission. Acts I and II are timed for 78 minutes. A 36-minute intermission succeeds Act II.

Acts III and IV are timed for 60 minutes. The opera ends with Act IV’s final notes.

Edward Gardner conducts all of the Metropolitan Opera’s performances of Werther. His birthplace is Gloucester, Gloucestershire, South West England. The English conductor debuted in the Metropolitan Opera’s 2010 production of Carmen by Georges Bizet (Oct. 25, 1838-June 3, 1875).

Vittorio Grigolo appears in the title role of Werther. He was born in Arezzo, Tuscany, north central Italy. The Italian operatic tenor debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2010 as Rodolfo in La Bohème by Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924). This season Vittorio Grigolo shares the role of Werther with French operatic tenor Jean-François Borras. During the Met’s 2016-2017 season, Vittorio Grigolo also appears as Roméo in Roméo et Juliette by Charles-François Gounod (June 17, 1818-Oct. 18, 1893).

Isabel Leonard appears as Charlotte, Werther’s impossible love. Her birthplace is New York, New York. The American operatic mezzo-soprano debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2007 as Stéphano in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. This season Isabel Leonard shares the role of Charlotte with Italian operatic mezzo-soprano Veronica Simeoni. Isabel Leonard also appears during the 2016-2017 season as Zerlina in Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756-Dec. 5, 1791).

David Bizic reprises his Metropolitan debut role of Albert, Charlotte’s betrothed, in all performances of Werther. He was born in Belgrade, Serbia. The Serbian operatic baritone debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2014. This season David Bizic also performs as Marcello in Puccini’s La Bohème.

Maurizio Muraro appears as Le Bailli, Charlotte’s father, in all performances of Werther. His birthplace is Como, Lombardy, northwestern Italy. The Italian operatic bass-baritone debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2005 as Dr. Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756-Dec. 5, 1791). Maurizio Muraro reprises his debut role for the Metropolitan’s 2016-2017 seasonal production of Le Nozze di Figaro.

Operabase, an online database, places Jules Massenet at number 20 in a ranking of 1,281 most popular composers for the five seasons from 2011/2012 to 2015/16. Werther places at 55 in the list of 2,658 most popular operas.

The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016 Repertory Report gives performance statistics through Oct. 31. Werther holds place 67, with 81 performances, for the period from first Met performance, March 29, 1894, to last performance, March 15, 2014. The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-2017 season falls outside the report’s parameters.

The takeaway for Werther as the March 4, 2017, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is the compelling tragedy of a rebellious poet’s convention-defying, fatal attraction.

Massenet's Werther airs as the March 4, 2017, Saturday matinee broadcast during the 2016-2017 Met Opera season: James Libby @blithespiritny, via Twitter Feb. 17, 2017

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Massenet's Werther airs as the March 4, 2017, Saturday matinee broadcast during the 2016-2017 Met Opera season: James Libby @blithespiritny, via Twitter Feb. 17, 2017, @ https://twitter.com/blithespiritny/status/832605179061100544

For further information:

Bouvier, Sébastien; Opéra de Lille. “Dossier Pédagogique Werther Jules Massenet.” Opéra de Lille > Saison 2005-2006.
Available @ https://www.opera-lille.fr/fichier/o_media/9197/media_fichier_fr_dp.werther.pdf

"Composers: Composers Ranked by the Number of Performances of Their Operas Over the Five Seasons 2011/2012 to 2015/16." Operabase > Opera Statistics.
Available @ http://operabase.com/top.cgi?lang=en

James Libby ‏@blithespiritny. "Vittorio Grigolo catching the bouquet in Werther w/Isabelle Leonard at the Met." Twitter. Feb. 17, 2017.
Available @ https://twitter.com/blithespiritny/status/832605179061100544

Massenet, Jules. “Werther.” Oper - Operette - Musical > Libretto.
Available @ http://www.operone.de/libretto/masswefr.html

Meet Me At The Opera‏ @MMATOpera. "Plans tonigh [sic] in #NewYork? Werther at #MetOpera! Staring Vittorio Grigolo." Twitter. Feb. 15, 2017.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MMATOpera/status/832125417331032064

Metropolitan Opera. "Werther at the Metropolitan Opera." YouTube. Feb. 28, 2017.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnFiIhk5kts
Metropolitan Opera. “Werther: Charlotte’s Letter Scene.” YouTube. Feb. 14, 2017.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXWYA-5iWbs

The Metropolitan Opera @metopera. "'Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead.' - @adele Have you watched our Werther lyric-along on Snapchat today? username: metopera Massenet's Werther is on stage tonight starring @vittorio_grigolo and @isabelleonardny." Instagram. Feb. 27, 2017.
Available @ https://www.instagram.com/p/BRCCia9gBdJ/

“Performances Statistics Through October 31, 2016.” MetOpera Database > The Metropolitan Opera Archives > Repertory Report.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/Database%20Opera%20Statistics.xml

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Americanized Gorse Gardens: Savvy, Spiny, Sweet-Smelling Survivalism

Summary: Americanized gorse gardens get good press greening wastelands and grubbing up nitrogen and poor press grabbing land from crops and growing over forage.

closeup of gorse flowers; Puu Nianiau, northern Haleakala National Park, southeastern Maui; Saturday, Dec. 11, 2004, 10:46; image 041211-1443: Forest and Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Americanized gorse gardens activate inaccessible nitrogen, unavailable in insoluble form, in pastures, rangelands and woodlands but assemble into dense stands through prolific seeds against competitive vegetation and year-round spines against grazing livestock.

Various North American federal, provincial and state governments ban gorse and 15 other weedy members in the Fabaceae family of pea-related herbs, shrubs, trees and vines. Native creeping sensitive plant and sensitive plant and nonnative birdsfoot trefoil, black medic, crown vetch, rosary pea, tufted vetch and white clover cull no weed sanctions. All five native and all 19 nonnative species deal with problem soils but decrease crop yields and grazing lands, discourage species diversity and disrupt environmental balance.

Gorse, naturalized by the 1950s as introduced wind-breaking hedgeplants since the 1890s, endures sanctions in California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, in British Columbia and in Mexico.

Perennial gorse, commonly named furze, prickly broom and whin, fits leathery, oblong, stalkless, 0.19- to 0.28-inch- (5- to 7-millimeter-) long cotyledons onto hairless, somewhat woody stems.

The embryonic leaves in the seedling stage give way to lance-shaped, leathery, simple, 0.08- to 0.19-inch- (2- to 5-millimeter-) long first leaf stages with stiff hairs. Compound leaf stages have two to three 0.19- to 0.39-inch- (5- to 10-millimeter-) long leaflets and, 25 days after germination, rosettes 0.59 inches (1.5 centimeters) across. Spines intercede as companions to basal leaf clusters and upper compound leaflets when gorse is 1.97 inches (5 centimeters) tall and four to six months old.

All of the west European woody perennial's mature shoots juggle alternate-arranged, reduced to flattened, 0.19- to 1.97-inch- (5- to 50-millimeter-) long spines in Americanized gorse gardens.

Gorse, scientifically described by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778) and named Ulex europaeus (rosemary-like European), keeps perennial February through May bloom times.

Fragrant, perfect, showy, yellow flowering stages lavish evergreen, spiny shrubs with inflorescences, called racemes, of flowers on same-sized stalklets on central stalks and with solitary flowers. Each 18-plus-month-old flower maintains one pistil, two fused and three unfused petals, five two-lipped, united, 0.39- to 0.59-inch- (10- to 15-millimeter-) long sepals and 10 stamens. Every perfect flower nurtures black, explosive, fruiting, hairy, 0.39- to 0.79-inch- (1- to 2-centimeter-) long, 0.24- to 0.32-inch- (6- to 8-millimeter-) wide, two- to 12-seeded legumes.

Americanized gorse gardens, during growing seasons, observe 16.4-foot (5-meter) jumps by 18,000 bean-shaped, olive green to brown seeds from their parent plant two months after pollination.

Mature, severe weather-intolerant, 3.28- to 19.68-inch- (1- to 6-meter-) tall gorse, 26.25 feet (8 meters) in diameter, produces 0.08- to 1.12-inch- (2- to 3-millimeter-) long seeds.

Temperatures of 59 to 66.2 degrees Fahrenheit (15 to 19 degrees Celsius) in the soil's top 1.97 inches (5 centimeters) quicken 30- to 70-year viable germination. Layering reproduces by the lower branches on gorse's green to brown, woody stems rooting independent plants upon contact with underlying soil and results in dense stands. Temperatures below 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius) stimulate seed germination while those at or below it sabotage all stages in gorse's expected 30-year life cycles.

Seedy, weedy alfalfa, bean, clover, lentil, pea and peanut relatives in Americanized gorse gardens always transform ground-reflecting, moisture-imbalanced, nitrogen-poor wastelands into oases away from vulnerable croplands.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

closeup of gorse flowers; Puu Nianiau, northern Haleakala National Park, south central Maui; Saturday, Dec. 11, 2004, 10:46; image 041211-1443: Forest and Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Starr_041211-1443_Ulex_europaeus.jpg;
Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 4.0 International, via Starr Environmental @ http://www.starrenvironmental.com/images/image/?q=24694988256;
Forest and Kim Starr (Starr Environmental), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/starr-environmental/24694988256/

gorse flowers and foliage; Kahakapao Reservoir, Haleakala Ranch, central Maui; Tuesday, March 17, 2009, 10:51:49; image #090317-4985: Forest and Kim Starr (Starr Environmental), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/starr-environmental/24855093751/;
Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 4.0 International, via Starr Environmental @ http://www.starrenvironmental.com/images/image/?q=24855093751

For further information:

Dickinson, Richard; and Royer, France. 2014. Weeds of North America. Chicago IL; London, England: The University of Chicago Press.

Linnaeus, Carl. 1753. "1. Ulex europaeus." Species Plantarum, vol. II: 741. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/358762

"Ulex europaeus L." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/13034545

Weakley, Alan S.; Ludwig, J. Christopher; and Townsend, John F. 2012. Flora of Virginia. Edited by Bland Crowder. Fort Worth TX: BRIT Press, Botanical Research Institute of Texas.

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Garden Hobbies Growing Mushrooms: Kit or Spawn? With Substrate Or Not?

Summary: Garden hobbies such as growing mushrooms by kit or by spawn, with or without substrate, ensure fresh, healthy food from indoor and outdoor home gardens.

shiitake mushrooms growing on sawdust and cereal log, yellow oyster (yellow and white), pom pom (egg shaped), beach (small cap), royal trumpet (large stem), maitake (dark brown on plastic wrapped growing log) and oyster (light gray) mushrooms displayed at USDA Farmers Market and Harvest Festival, USDA Whitten Building east parking lot, Washington DC, Friday, Nov. 22, 2013, 12:24:07; USDA photo 20131122-NRCS-LSC-0008 by Lance Cheung: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDAgov), Public Domain, via Flickr

Growing mushrooms such as crimini, enoki, maitake, oyster, Portobello, shiitake and white buttons are as easy to cultivate in home gardens as they are tasty to serve for snacks and in meals.

Mushrooms bring exotic practicality to home gardens because they have beta-glucans that activate immune system cells and fight infection and since they never reproduce by seeds. Crimini, enoki, maitaki, oyster, Portobello, shiitake and white button mushrooms can grow from mushroom kits, indoors and outdoors, and from mushroom spawn, with or without substrate. Experience determines the method since kits accommodate least experienced cultivators, spawn with substrate appeals to more experienced gardeners and spawn without substrate attracts most experienced growers.

All three growing methods entail cool, humid environments that ensure access to moisture in the event of dry spells and that receive little or no light.

Growth follows when spores, as mushroom equivalents of seeds, and such nutrient-rich substances as grain, sawdust, straw, wood chips and wooden plugs are formed into spawn.

Spawn grows mycelium, the delicate, thread-like, white roots that tend to produce greater quantities and higher quality for home gardeners growing mushrooms with substrate than without. Substrate, whose soil pH is 5.7 to 7.0, has cardboard, compost, straw or wood chips blended with cocoa and cotton hulls, corncobs, gypsum and nitrogen supplements. Substrate for garden hobbies is important since buttons demand composted manure, crimini and Portobello 30-day-old compost, oyster mushrooms straw and enoki, maitake and shiitake hardwood sawdust.

Oyster, shiitake and white button mushrooms join crimini, maitake and Portobello in requiring temperature ranges between 55 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit (12.78 and 15.56 degrees Celsius).

Enoki mushrooms keep to an even cooler temperature range, at 45 degrees Fahrenheit (7.22 degrees Celsius), than the other six mushrooms commonly grown by home gardeners.

Chilly temperatures, humidity and moisture from sleet and snow, short days and the sun's low angle lead to basements as wintertime, not summertime, home gardening venues. Kits and spawn with or without substrate may grow best between fall and spring in southerly hardiness zones and between spring and fall in more northerly. Home gardeners with premixed kits need only follow instructions whereas garden hobbies with spawn require 1- to 2-inch (2.54- to 5.08-centimeter) potting soil toppings over mycelium.

Home gardeners growing mushrooms from spawn with substrate observe the best and quickest results in 6-inch- (15.24-centimeter-) deep, 14-inch- (35.56-centimeter-) long, 16-inch- (40.64-centimeter-) wide, seed flats.

Growing mushrooms from mushroom spawn with substrate and from premixed kits provides results within one month if growth requirements of cool, humid, moist darkness are met.

Experience with straw or woody substrates qualifies gardeners for growing mushrooms on 40-inch- (101.6-centimeter-) long, 6-inch- (15.24-centimeter-) wide aspen, beech, birch, maple, oak or poplar logs. Beeswax-coated, 0.61-inch- (1.54-centimeter-) deep, spawn-filled holes 6 inches (15.24 centimeters) apart run up and down 24 fresh, fall-cut logs kept moist and upended in teepee-like fashion. Mushrooms grown from kits and in composted substrates show quicker growth rates than those grown in straw or woody substrates and, by six months, on logs.

Cool, dark, humid, moist temperatures, excepting the month growing mycelium at 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21.11 degrees Celsius), and variety-specific substrates turn mushroom-filled gardens into mushroom-rich meals.

shiitake plugs with beeswax log; Sunday, May 3, 2015, 14:24:12: saiberiac, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

shiitake plugs with beeswax log; Sunday, May 3, 2015, 14:24:12: saiberiac, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/saiberiac/17358129342/

For further information:

Pleasant, Barbara. October/November 2004. "Grow Your Own Mushrooms." Mother Earth News.
Available @ http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/grow-your-own-mushrooms-zmaz04onzsel

Russell, Stephen D. 2014. The Essential Guide to Cultivating Mushrooms: Simple and Advanced Techniques for Growing Shiitake, Oyster, Lion's Mane, and Maitake Mushrooms at Home. North Adams MA: Storey Publishing.

Wiley, Deb. "How to Grow Mushrooms at Home." Better Homes and Gardens.
Available @ http://www.bhg.com/gardening/vegetable/vegetables/how-to-grow-mushrooms/

Friday, February 24, 2017

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Degas Dancers

Summary: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft March 18, 1990 nets an etching, two bronzes, five oils and five works on paper, including two Degas dancers.

"Program for an Artistic Soirée I," 1884 charcoal on white paper by Edgar Degas, born Hilaire Germain Edgar de Gas; one of two dance studies removed from second-floor Short Gallery during March 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft March 18, 1990, acknowledged the abundance of dancing and racing in Degas artworks by acquiring one Degas procession, two Degas dancers and two Degas jockeys.

The museum in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, historically boasts in its Degas collection one extant oil on canvas and five missing works on paper. The oil on canvas still counts among the artworks in the first-floor Yellow Room whereas the second-floor Short Gallery no longer claims any Degas on paper. The art-grabbing, frame-cutting, glass-breaking movements of two thieves dressed in Boston police uniforms dislodged the five Degas works from custom-designed display cabinets in the Short Gallery.

Motion detectors expose extractions of a Chinese object and Dutch artworks from the Dutch Room and a French object and French artworks from the Short Gallery.

"Program for an Artistic Soiréee II," 1884 charcoal on buff paper by Edgar Degas; second of two dance studies stolen during March 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Curatorial Department furnishes online images and information concerning the etching, two bronzes, five works in oils and five works on paper.

The curatorial records give artist creation dates, artwork descriptions, dimensions and titles and Museum identification numbers for all Blue Room, Dutch Room and Short Gallery casualties. They have the two parts to the Study for the Programme de la soirée artistique du 15 juin 1884 (Galerie Ponsin) identified as 3.l.o.96 and 3.l.o.97. They identify the medium for both parts of the Study for the Program of the Artistic Evening of June 15, 1884 as black chalk on paper.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft extractions, if not severe exile, jeopardize Degas dancers in the first study on white paper and the second on buff.

Edgar Degas emerging from Paris's public facilities in photograph by Count Giuseppe Napoleone Primoli (May 2, 1851-June 13, 1927), in 1889, about five years after the self-termed realist’s June 15, 1884, dancer charcoals: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The first part of the study for the artistic evening program of June 15, 1884 knows dimensions of 9.69 by 12.38 inches (24.6 by 31.4 centimeters).

The Curatorial Department lists dimensions of 10.5 by 14.81 inches (26.6 by 37.6 centimeters) for the second study by Edgar Degas (July 19, 1834-Sept. 27, 1917). The segment on Short Gallery losses in the theft section of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum website makes provenance and purchase records available for both studies. It notes the purchase of Edgar Degas works on paper through Fernand Robert, Mrs. Gardner's "art-buying agent and exporter" at 30, Rue Joubert in Paris, France.

A shipping receipt offers purchase dates and prices on six Degas works, including the Degas dancers, 71 years before the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft.

Art buyer and exporter Fernand Robert’s Degas purchases for Isabella Stewart Gardner happened at the fourth and final sale of Degas artwork held by renowned French gallerist Georges Petit (March 11, 1856-May 12, 1920); Georges Petit (center) with sculpture in auction at Hotel Drouot (Hôtel des ventes de Drouot), Paris; L’intérieur de l’hôtel Drouot lors d’une vente dirigée par Me Lair-Dubreuil (Interior of the Hotel Drouot During a Sale Led by Lair-Dubreuil; Argentina-born French master auctioneer Ambroise Fernand Lair Dubreuil, July 12, 1867-Oct. 21, 1931), watercolor by Jean Louis Lefort (June 15, 1875-1954): Aderparis, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

The Robert shipping receipt packages into one crate six Degas "drawings" from the Georges Petit (March 11, 1856-May 12, 1920) auction July 2 to 4, 1919.

The Robert itemization quantifies for crate #148 two Degas drawings each, under the numbers #66, 258 and 429 valued at 2,750,660 and 2,800 French francs. The receipt dated July 10, 1919, reveals inclusion of John Singer Sargent's (Jan. 12, 1856-April 14, 1925) Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast from 1882 to 1883. The portrait of Virginie Amélie Avegno (Jan. 29, 1859-July 25, 1915), banker Pierre Gautreau's wife and Sargent's Portrait of Madame X from 1883 to 1884, survives.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft of the Degas dancers thrusts responsibility for testifying to Degas' dance-related artistry upon Portrait of Joséphine Gaujelin from 1867.

The Degas drawings shared a shipping crate with “Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast,” 1882-1883 oil on wood by John Singer Sargent, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, first-floor Blue Room: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Edgar Degas emerges from Paris's public facilities in photograph by Count Giuseppe Napoleone Primoli (May 2, 1851-June 13, 1927), in 1889, about five years after the self-termed realist’s June 15, 1884, dancer charcoals: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Primoli-DegasinParis.jpg

"18 U.S. Code § 668 - Theft of Major Artwork." Cornell University Law School > Legal Information Institute > U.S. Code > Title 18 > Part I > chapter 31 > 668.
Available @ https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/668?quicktabs_8=1#quicktabs-8

Baker, Billy. 10 March 2015. "Gardener Keeps Gardner Museum's Atrium in Bloom." Boston Globe > Metro.
Available @ https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/09/gardener-keeps-gardner-atrium-bloom/bbSZctlMtkEDy9UDYWrO4K/story.html

Boston Landmarks Commission. Report on the Potential Designation of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum as a Landmark under Chapter 772 of the Acts of 1975, as Amended.
Available @ https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/ISGM%20Study%20Report%20as%20Amended_tcm3-39717.pdf

"Collection." Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Available @ http://www.gardnermuseum.org/collection

FBI. 15 November 2005. "FBI Announces Top Ten Art Crimes." Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) > News > Stories > 2005 > November.
Available via FBI @ https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2005/november/topten_art111505

FBI. 8 March 2013. "Gardner Museum in Boston Offering $5 Million Reward for Stolen Art." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DpD1HbcFfQ

FBI Boston Division. "Boston FBI Continues Hunt for Stolen Artwork." Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) > Boston Division > Press Releases > 2010.
Available via FBI @ https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/boston/press-releases/2010/bs031510.htm

FBI Boston Division. "FBI Provides New Information Regarding the 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Art Heist." Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) > Boston Division > Press Releases > 2013.
Available via FBI @ https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/boston/press-releases/2013/fbi-provides-new-information-regarding-the-1990-isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art-heist

"The Gardner Museum Theft." Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) > FBI Top Ten Art Crimes.
Available @ https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/5-million-reward-offered-for-return-of-stolen-gardner-museum-artwork

"Johannes Vermeer: The Complete Works." Vermeer Foundation.
Available @ http://www.vermeer-foundation.org/

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 February 2017. “Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Bronze Chinese Beaker.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_10.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 3 February 2017. “Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Flinck Obelisk.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 February 2017. “Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Napoleonic Flag Topper.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_17.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 20 January 2017. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Rembrandt Couple." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_20.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 January 2017. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Rembrandt Seascape." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_13.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 January 2017. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Rembrandt Self-Portrait." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 27 January 2017. “Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Vermeer Concert.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_27.html

Mashberg, Tom. March 1998. "Stealing Beauty." Vanity Fair > Culture.
Available @ http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/1998/03/biggest-art-heist-us-history

Mashberg, Tom. 26 February 2015. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Heist: 25 Years of Theories." New York Times > Arts > Art & Design.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/arts/design/isabella-stewart-gardner-heist-25-years-of-theories.html?_r=0

Murphy, Shelley. 17 March 2015. "Search for Artworks from Gardner Heist Continues 25 Years Later." Boston Globe > Metro.
Available @ https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/17/gardner-museum-art-heist-one-boston-most-enduring-mysteries-years-later/9U3tp1kJMa4Zn4uClI1cdM/story.html

"Reputed Mobster Arrested, Reportedly Tried to Fence Gardner Museum Art." The Boston Globe > Posted Apr 17, 2015 at 3:14 PM > Updated Apr 18, 2015 at 10:52 PM.
Available @ http://www.telegram.com/article/20150417/NEWS/304179654

"Thirteen Works: Explore the Gardner's Stolen Art." Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum > Resources > Theft.
Available @ http://www.gardnermuseum.org/resources/theft

Thomson, Jason. 3 May 2016. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Theft: Is the Massive Art Heist About to be Solved?" The Christian Science Monitor > USA > USA Update.
Available @ http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2016/0503/Isabella-Stewart-Gardner-theft-Is-the-massive-art-heist-about-to-be-solved

WBUR. "'The Concert' by Johannes Vermeer." YouTube. March 17, 2010.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrPqiGIJYYs

WBUR. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist." YouTube. March 12, 2009.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irBRWMMHOI8

Williams, Paige. March 2010. "The Art of the Story." Boston Magazine > Gardner Museum > Gardner Museum Theft.
Available @ http://www.bostonmagazine.com/2010/03/gardner-heist/3/

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

February 2017 New Moon Blocks the Sun in Ring of Fire Annular Eclipse

Summary: The February 2017 new moon blocks the sun in a ring of fire annular eclipse that favors the South Atlantic Ocean with the instant of greatest eclipse.

annular solar eclipse captured by Hinode satellite, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011; image credit NASA/Hinode/XRT (X-Ray Telescope): Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The February 2017 new moon blocks the sun in a ring of fire annular eclipse with a path of annularity that traverses the southeastern Pacific Ocean, southern Chile, southern Argentina, the South Atlantic Ocean, Angola, Zambia and southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

On Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017, the new moon’s ring of fire effect upon the sun lasts for 3 hours 16 minutes 19.5 seconds (3.26666666666667 hours). Retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak, known popularly as Mr. Eclipse, clocks the February 2017 new moon ring of fire with a start time of 13:15:18.2, according to Universal Time (UT1), the main form of an Earth’s rotation-based time standard, Universal Time. Greatest eclipse, which is the instant of closest passage of the axis of the moon’s antumbral shadow cone to Earth’s center, occurs at 14:54:32 UT1. The annular solar eclipse, which began over the southeastern Pacific Ocean, ends in southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo at 16:31:37.7 UT1 (18:31:37.7 Central Africa Time).

The February 2017 new phase of the moon joins three other astronomical events as requirements for the presentation of an annular solar eclipse, as viewed from Earth. The new phase indicates the moon’s placement between Earth and the sun.

The science of an annular solar eclipse calls for alignment of Earth, moon and sun in a straight line, a configuration known astronomically as syzygy (Ancient Greek: σύζυγος, súzugos, “yoked together”). The new moon’s straight line intervention between sun and Earth allows for eclipsing, or hiding, of the solar disk and shadow-casting upon Earth.

An annular solar eclipse also requires the moon’s placement at or near one of the two lunar nodes that mark the points of intersection between Earth’s and the moon’s orbital planes. The lunar orbital plane tilts at a mean angle of 5.145 degrees with the orbital plane held by Earth around the sun. The tilting accounts for many monthly missed shadows cast between Earth and moon. Proximity to a node allows for capture of the new moon’s shadow for a solar eclipse and of the Earth’s shadow, during the moon’s full phase, for a lunar eclipse.

The nodes are identified as ascending and descending. The ascending node marks the moon’s south-to-north crossing of the ecliptic, the imaginary line marking the sun’s apparent annual path. The ecliptic is coplanar with Earth’s orbit. The descending node registers the moon’s north-to-south crossing of the ecliptic.

February’s annular solar eclipse, which is the first of 2017’s two solar eclipses, occurs at the descending node. The moon’s arrival at the descending node takes place Feb. 26 at 06:28 UT (1:28 a.m. Eastern Standard Time).

For an annular solar eclipse, the moon’s orbital point is around the month’s apogee, or farthest center-to-center distance from Earth. Placement at apogee creates sufficient distance for the moon’s antumbral shadow to touch Earth’s surface. As one of the three distinct areas of a shadow, the antumbral cone extends beyond the dark umbra and mediates between the two flanks of the penumbra.

February 2017’s new moon may appear as only slightly smaller than the sun that it is incompletely covering because the greatest eclipse happens about 7.7 days after apogee and about 4.7 days before perigee. February 2017’s moon marks the month’s apogee Saturday, Feb. 18, at 21:14 UT1, with a remoteness of 404,376 kilometers (251,267.5972 miles). The month’s perigee, or closest center-to-center distance between Earth and moon, takes place Friday, March 3, at 07:24 UT1, with a closeness of 369,065 kilometers (229,326.359 miles).

Sunlight blockage is complete in the umbra and partial in the antumbra and penumbra. The moon’s casting of its antumbra upon Earth yields an annular solar eclipse. A partial solar eclipse results from the moon’s penumbra. The moon’s umbral shadow on Earth is responsible for a total solar eclipse.

The February 2017 new moon ring of fire makes a lengthwise trek of approximately 13,600 kilometers (8,450.6482 miles) across Earth. The width of the path of annularity is 30.6 kilometers (19.01396 miles). February 2017’s annular solar eclipse shadows 0.15 percent of the surface area of Earth.

The takeaway for the February 2017 new moon ring of fire is the dramatic visibility of the generally imperceptible new phase as a sunlight-ringed black circle over the solar eclipse’s South Atlantic Ocean-centered path of annularity.

visualization of three (annular, partial, total) of four types of solar eclipses, with their respective portions (antumbra, penumbra, umbra) of the lunar shadow; icons of black and yellow circles represent views of moon’s eclipse of sun: Cmglee, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

annular solar eclipse captured by Hinode satellite, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011; image credit NASA/Hinode/XRT (X-Ray Telescope): Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hinode_Observes_Annular_Solar_Eclipse,_4_Jan_2011.jpg; Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA @ https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/news20110106-annulareclipse.html

“Annular Solar Eclipse of 2017 Feb 26.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Solar Eclipses.
Available @ http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2017Feb26Agoogle.html

Crockett, Christopher. “What Is the Ecliptic?” EarthSky > Space. Nov. 23, 2012.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/space/what-is-the-ecliptic

EarthSky. “Why No Eclipse Every Full and New Moon?” EarthSky > Science Wire > Space. March 6, 2016.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/space/why-isnt-there-an-eclipse-every-full-moon

Espenak, Fred. “Eclipses During 2017.” Eclipse Wise > Solar Eclipses.
Available @ http://eclipsewise.com/oh/ec2017.html

Espenak, Fred. “Google Maps and Solar Eclipse Paths: 2001 - 2020.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Solar Eclipses.
Available @ http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001.html

Espenak, Fred. “Moon at Perigee and Apogee: 2001 to 2100.” AstroPixels > Ephemeris > Moon.
Available @ http://astropixels.com/ephemeris/moon/moonperap2001.html

Espenak, Fred. “Node Passages of the Moon: 2001 to 2100 Universal Time.” Astropixels > Ephemeris > Moon.
Available @ http://astropixels.com/ephemeris/moon/moonnodes2001.html

Espenak, Fred. “Solar Eclipse Preview: 2011 2030.” Mr. Eclipse > Solar Eclipses.
Available @ http://www.mreclipse.com/Special/SEnext.html

Espenak, Fred. “Solar Eclipses for Beginners.” Mr. Eclipse > Solar Eclipses.
Available @ http://www.mreclipse.com/Special/SEprimer.html

Espenak, Fred. “Time Zones and Universal Time.” AstroPixels.
Available @ http://astropixels.com/main/timezone.html

“February 26, 2017 - Annular Solar Eclipse.” Time and Date > Sun & Moon > Eclipses.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2017-february-26

Howell, Elizabeth. “Eclipse Glossary: Solar Eclipses, Lunar Eclipses and Their Terms.” Space.com > Science & Astronomy. Sept. 18, 2015.
Available @ http://www.space.com/25747-eclipse-glossary.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “February 2017 Annular Solar Eclipse Favors South Atlantic Ocean.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/february-2017-annular-solar-eclipse.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “February 2017 Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Over Every Continent Except Australia.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/february-2017-penumbral-lunar-eclipse.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Sept. 1, 2016, Annular Eclipse Favors Central Africa and Madagascar.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Aug 31, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/08/sept-1-2016-annular-eclipse-favors.html

NASA.gov Video. “Annular Eclipse as Seen by Hinode.” YouTube. May 19, 2013.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81on2EsR_kE

“Solar and Lunar Eclipses Worldwide -- Next 10 Years.” Time and Date > Sun & Moon > Eclipses.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/list.html

Walker, John. “Lunar Perigee and Apogee Calculator.” Fourmilab Switzerland > Earth and Moon Viewer.
Available @ https://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/pacalc.html

Webb, Brian. “Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).” Space Archive. March 27, 2016.
Available @ http://www.spacearchive.info/utc.htm

“What Does the Magnitude of an Eclipse Mean?” Time and Date > Sun & Moon > Eclipses.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/magnitude.html

“What Is an Annular Solar Eclipse?” Time and Date > Sun & Moon > Eclipses.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/annular-solar-eclipse.html

Monday, February 20, 2017

Rusalka Is Feb. 25, 2017, Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast

Summary: The Feb. 25, 2017, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is Rusalka, a lyric fairy tale by Czech composer Antonín Leopold Dvořák.

Dvořák's Rusalka airs as the Feb. 25, 2017, Saturday matinee broadcast during the 2016-2017 Met Opera season: Kristine Opolais @KristineOpolais, via Twitter Feb. 13, 2017

Rusalka, a lyric fairy tale by Czech composer Antonín Leopold Dvořák (Sept. 8, 1841-May 1, 1904), is the Feb. 25, 2017, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast.

Czech librettist, playwright and poet Jaroslav Kvapil (Sept. 25, 1868-Jan. 10, 1950) completed the Czech libretto by 1899. Influences upon Kavpil’s libretto include Czech fairy tales and folk legends collected by Karel Jaromír Erben (Nov. 7, 1811-Nov. 21, 1870) and Božena Němcová (Feb. 4, 1820-Jan. 21, 1862).

The world premiere of Rusalka happened March 31, 1901. The venue was Národní Divadlo (“National Theatre”), considered the alma mater of Czech opera. Národní Divadlo is dramatically sited in Prague on the eastern banks of the Vltava River, southeast of the panorama of historic, ninth-century Prague Castle (Pražský hrad).

A fairy tale setting of unspecified place and time enhances Rusalka’s other-worldly theme of interactions between a human and a water nymph. Known as rusalka (plural: rusalky) in Slavic folklore and mythology, they are female sprites who inhabit lakes or rivers.

Love of a Prince whom Rusalka, daughter of a lake’s ruler, the Water Goblin, has seen hunting nearby propels the opera’s dramatic arc. Rusalka expresses her desire to transform into a human by way of the opera’s most famous aria, Píseň o měsíčku (“Song to the Moon”).

The Saturday matinee broadcast of Rusalka begins at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (6 p.m. Coordinated Universal Time). The estimated run time for the performance is about 3 hours 40 minutes.

The performance, sung in the original Czech, comprises three acts and two intermissions. Act I is timed for 57 minutes. A 30-minute intermission succeeds Act I.

Act II is timed for 46 minutes. A 30-minute intermission follows Act II.

Act III is timed for 57 minutes. The opera ends with Act III’s final notes.

Sir Mark Philip Elder conducts all of the Metropolitan Opera’s performances of Rusalka. His birthplace is Hexham, Northumberland, North East England. His role as conductor of Rusalka marks his debut at the Metropolitan Opera.

Kristine Opolais appears in the title role of Rusalka. She was born in Riga, Latvia. The Latvian operatic soprano debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2013 as Magda in La Rondine. This season Kristine Opolais also appears in the title role of Manon Lescaut and as Mimi in La Bohème. Both operas were composed by one of Kristine Opolais’ favorite opera composers, Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924).

In an interview airing during intermission of the Metropolitan Opera’s Jan. 7 Live in HD broadcast of Nabucco, Kristine Opolais explains her passions for Puccini’s heroines as well as for the role of Rusalka.

“Of course, Puccini, I am in love with this composer. But Dvořák, if I say Puccini is in my blood, Dvořák is in my soul,” Kristine tells her interviewer, Rusalka castmate Eric Owens. “So I really feel in a very intense and a very deep way the role.”

Katarina Dalayman appears as the Foreign Princess. Her birthplace is Stockholm, southeastern Sweden. The Swedish operatic soprano debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1999 as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde.

Jamie Barton appears as Ježibaba. She was born in Rome, Floyd County, northwestern Georgia. The American mezzo-soprano debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2009 as the Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte (“The Magic Flute”) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756-Dec. 5, 1791). This season Jamie Barton also performs as Fenena in Nabucco by Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901).

Brandon Jovanovich appears as the Prince. His birthplace is Billings, Yellowstone County, south central Montana. The American operatic tenor debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2010 as Don José in Carmen by Georges Bizet (Oct. 25, 1838-June 3, 1875).

Eric Owens appears as the Water Spirit. He was born in Philadelphia, southeastern Pennsylvania. The American operatic bass-baritone debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2008 as General Groves in Doctor Atomic by contemporary American composer John Coolidge Adams (born Feb. 15, 1947). This season Eric Owens also performs as Jaufré Rudel in L’Amour de Loin (“Love From Afar”) by contemporary Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho (born Oct. 14, 1952) and as the Voice of Neptune in Idomeneo by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The visual element is the only unavoidably missing piece in the Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcasts. Listeners of Rusalka’s expressive music rely upon their own imaginations.

Attendees of live performances enjoy the added, visual treat of staging by Production Director Mary Zimmerman. Imaginative costumes and sets are designed by Mara Blumenfeld and Daniel Ostling, respectively.

Rusalka claims honored status as the only one of Antonín Leopold Dvořák’s 10 operas to achieve international renown. Noted Czech music scholar Michael B. Beckerman suggests indications of a projected, yet never composed, 11th opera. In New Worlds of Dvořák: Searching in America for the Composer's Inner Life (2003), Beckerman notes that, during the composer’s stay from 1892 to 1895 in the United States, Dvořák envisioned an opera themed around North America’s Native American hero, Hiawatha.

Operabase, an online database, places Antonín Dvořák at number 24 in a ranking of 1,281 most popular composers for the five seasons from 2011/2012 to 2015/16. Rusalka places at 34 in the list of 2,658 most popular operas.

The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016 Repertory Report gives performance statistics through Oct. 31. Rusalka holds place 118, with 329 performances, for the period from first Met performance, Nov. 11, 1993, to last performance, Feb. 15, 2014. The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-2017 season falls outside the report’s parameters.

The takeaway for Rusalka as the Feb. 25, 2017, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is the lyric fairy tale’s alluring music and theme.

The 2016-2017 Met Opera season debuts American opera and theater director Mary Zimmerman's new staging of Dvořák's Rusalka: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Jan. 30, 2017

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Dvořák's Rusalka airs as the Feb. 25, 2017, Saturday matinee broadcast during the 2016-2017 Met Opera season: Kristine Opolais @KristineOpolais, via Twitter tweet of Feb. 13, 2017, @ https://twitter.com/KristineOpolais/status/831280385233416196

The 2016-2017 Met Opera season debuts American opera and theater director Mary Zimmerman's new staging of Dvořák's Rusalka: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Jan. 30, 2017, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532.229232.20807115532/10158271799750533/

For further information:

“Antonín Dvořák: List of Operas.” Opera Folio.
Available @ http://www.operafolio.com/list_of_operas.asp?n=Antonin_Dvorak

“Antonín Dvořák Rusalka.” The Metropolitan Opera > On Stage 2016-17.”
Available @ http://www.metopera.org/Season/2016-17-Season/rusalka-dvorak-tickets/

CzechEmbassyDC @CzechEmbassyDC. “@MetOpera premieres new production of Dvořák‘s Rusalka w/ Kristine Opolais in starring role, Feb. 2-Mar. 2.” Twitter. Jan. 30, 2017.
Available @ https://twitter.com/CzechEmbassyDC/status/826159869266952193

"Composers: Composers Ranked by the Number of Performances of Their Operas Over the Five Seasons 2011/2012 to 2015/16." Operabase > Opera Statistics.
Available @ http://operabase.com/top.cgi?lang=en

Erbena, Karla Jaromír. Kytice z Pověstí Národních. Praze, Čechy: J. Pospíšl, 1953.
Available @ http://eod.vkol.cz/419792/

Kristine Opolais @KristineOpolais. “Ready for Rusalka #4 at @MetOpera!” Twitter. Feb. 13, 2017.
Available @ https://twitter.com/KristineOpolais/status/831280385233416196

Metropolitan Opera. "Coming Soon: Rusalka." YouTube. Jan. 9, 2017.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TibttR5yKqs

Metropolitan Opera. "Mara Blumenfeld and Elissa Iberti on Rusalka Costumes." YouTube. Jan. 23, 2017.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuNmW-Dx7cM

Metropolitan Opera. “Mary Zimmerman on Her New Production of Rusalka.” YouTube. Feb. 17, 2016.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5NzhRO-mO0

Metropolitan Opera. “Rusalka: Trailer.” YouTube. Feb. 3, 2017.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MMstqMT3kc

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "'I want to activate the story so it feels we’re moving through space and time.' -- Mary Zimmerman for The New York Times on her new production of Dvořák's Rusalka. Opens Feb 2: bit.ly/2i6wScu Photo by Mary Zimmerman." Facebook. Jan. 30, 2017.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532.229232.20807115532/10158271799750533/