The Medium is a two-act opera with words and music by Gian Carlo Menotti. It was commissioned by Columbia University. Its first performance was there on May 8, 1946. The opera's first professional production was presented on a double bill with Menotti's "The Telephone". This occurred at the Heckscher Theater, New York City, on February 18-20, 1947 by the Ballet Society. The Broadway production took place on May 1, 1947, at the Ethel Barrymore Theater with the same cast. In 1951, Menotti directed, with the help of filmmaker Alexander Hammid, a movie version made to resemble film noir. It starred Anna Maria Alberghetti. A live television production starring Marie Powers took place on December 12, 1948 on the TV series "Studio One".
"The medium's parlor"
Monica, Madame Flora's daughter, and Toby, a mute servant boy rescued from "the streets of Budapest" play dress-up. When Madame Flora, or "Baba" as they call her, arrives home drunk, she violently chastises them for not preparing for that night's seance. Soon the guests arrive, Mr. and Mrs. Gobineau, regulars, and the widow Mrs. Nolan who is attending for the first time. With Madame Flora in a trance in her chair, a fake seance is held where Mrs. Nolan speaks with what she thinks is her deceased sixteen-year-old daughter but is really Monica behind a screen. As Monica disappears, Mrs. Nolan rushes toward the figure and is restrained by the Gobineaus. When order is restored, Mr. and Mrs. Gobineau "communicate" with their deceased two-year-old son Mickey who does nothing but laugh. After they say goodbye to him, Madame Flora "suddenly, with a loud gasp... clutches at her throat with both hands." She feels a phantom hand clutching her throat and is "terror-stricken." After demanding that the guests leave, she calls for Monica and tells her what she felt, eventually blaming Toby who was in the other room the whole time. In an effort to calm Baba's drunken rage toward Toby, Monica sings her the dark lullaby "The Black Swan" which is interrupted by a voice that Baba hears causing her to fly into a terrified rage at Toby for not telling her where the voice is coming from. The act ends with Monica again singing the lullaby while Baba recites her Hail Marys.
"A few days later"
Toby is giving a puppet show for Monica, their mutual love becomes more obvious. When Baba comes home, she resumes her accusations on Toby, sure that he knows what went on that night. The guests again arrive, expecting another seance but are driven away by Madame Flora who tries to convince them that the whole thing was a sham by revealing all the tricks that she and Monica used. But the guests are not convinced and leave claiming that while she might have thought she was cheating them, she in fact was not. Once the guests are gone, she drives Toby out despite Monica's pleas on his behalf. With everyone gone, and Monica in her room, Baba pours herself another drink and questions her own sanity, becoming wild with drink and eventually passing out. Once she has fallen asleep, Toby sneaks back in and tries to get into Monica's room, but finds it locked and eventually goes to the trunk to find his tambourine. While searching, he knocks the lid of the trunk down waking Baba. Toby quickly hides in the puppet theater. As Baba tries to see where the noise came from and fetches a revolver from a drawer in the table. "Hysterically" she shouts out "Who is it? Speak or I'll Shoot!" and the puppet theater curtain moves. "Baba screams and fires at it several times." As Toby's bloody body collapses grasping the curtain, Baba says "I've killed the ghost! I've killed the ghost!" Monica, hearing the gunshots, enters, sees Toby's lifeless body and runs for help. As the final curtain falls "very slowly" Baba asks "in a hoarse whisper," "Was it you?"
Negro
The word “Negro” is used in the English-speaking world to refer to a person of black ancestry or appearance. It has been used for people of African ancestry as well as people from other places. The word "negro" means 'black' in Spanish and Portuguese. It comes from the Latin word ""niger"" which means 'black'.
"Negro" replaced the term "colored" as the more polite term. This was done when the term "black" was more offensive. This use of the word was accepted as normal during the Civil Rights Movement during the late 1960s. It was accepted even by the people it was used to describe. One example of this is Martin Luther King, Jr. using the term "negro" when talking about his own race in his 1963 speech "I Have a Dream."
During the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s, some African-American leaders in the United States did not like this word. People like Malcolm X wanted the word ""Black"" to be used. This was because they saw a connection between the term "Negro" and slavery, segregation, and discrimination.
Since the late 1960s, many other terms have been more commonly used. These include "Black", "Black African", "Afro-American" and "African American". The words "African American" have been used in the United States to refer to Black Americans. These people were often called American Negroes in the past.
The term "Negro" is still used in some ways. It is used by the United Negro College Fund and the Negro league in sports.
The United States Census Bureau said that "Negro" would be used on the 2010 United States Census, with "Black" and "African-American". This was because some older Black Americans still feel this is the word that describes them.
Around 1442 the Portuguese first went to sub-Saharan Africa. They were trying to find a way to get to India by boat. The term ""negro"" was used by the Spanish and Portuguese as a simple description of people. It means "black". From the 18th century to the late 1960s, "negro" was the proper English-language term for most people of sub-Saharan African origin.
Most people stopped using the word "Negro" by the early 1970s in the United States. Many older African Americans grew up when "Negro" was "widely" said to be the correct term. They thought the term "Black" was more offensive than "Negro." This can be seen by the use the word by historical African-American organizations and institutions. Currently, "Negro" is "generally" thought to be not offensive when used in a historical way. For example, baseball's Negro Leagues of the early and mid-20th century. It is also used in the name of older organizations. These include Negro spirituals, the United Negro College Fund or the Journal of Negro Education. The U.S. Census now uses "Black, African-American or Negro." The term "Negro" is used to try to include older African Americans who think it is a better term.
Serenade for Strings
Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48 is a work for string orchestra by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It premiered in 1880. The serenade consists of four movements:
Tchaikovsky intended the first movement to be an imitation of Mozart's style. It was based on the form of the classical sonatina, with a slow introduction. The 36-bar "Andante" introduction is marked "sempre marcatissimo". It is littered with double-stopping in the violins and violas. This introduction returns at the end of the movement. It reappears, transformed, in the coda of the fourth movement. Tchaikovsky intended the work for a large string orchestra. On the second page of the score, he wrote, "The larger the string orchestra, the better will the composer's desires be fulfilled." George Balanchine used the work for his ballet "Serenade" in 1934Excerpts from the score were used in the 2005 ballet "Anna Karenina", choreographed by Boris Eifman. The waltz was arranged for soprano and full orchestra for the 1945 MGM movie "Anchors Aweigh". It was performed by Kathryn Grayson with José Iturbi conducting the MGM studio orchestra.
Ancient philosophy