Mozart- Magic Flute. "Queen of the Night Aria"

I LOVE Natalie Dessay's performance! I see Diana Damrau may have
dominated the search results for "Queen of the Night" aria but Damrau is
missing something Dessay figured out. Damrau's version of the Queen was
always consistently menacing and in control. Dessay's version tried to
be more balanced by giving the Queen vulnerability. Dessay successfully
portrayed a woman whose ideas became so extreme she lost her sanity but
had enough restraint to stay in control, which is very difficult to
perform. When Damrau performed the "high notes" to indicate the Queen
was laughing she seemed more like she was berating and scolding. Dessay
genuinely appeared to be laughing during the high notes, which, was
Mozart's intent. The Queen was giving a maniacal laugh because she was
going insanely incensed from the personal anguish of being oppressed as a
woman. Dessay's performance had a lot more risk in that respect but
gave a more complex portrayal of the Queen.



Stephie Pahlavi Zan

Are you Distorted?

So many people are most miserable these days.

The reason they find it so difficult to be happy is that they always view the past to be better than it was, the present dramatically worse than it is, and the future less resolute than it will be.

The idea of happiness is foreign to them. 

Is this not something that is innate because babies are born with

"tabula rasa" which refers to the epistemological idea that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that therefore all knowledge comes from experience or perception. However I don't disagree with the doctrine of Innatism which holds that the mind is born already in possession of certain knowledge.

A smile, for instance is natural and innate! 
So it is a combination of the two schools of thought.

 

It is unfortunate that the negativity experienced over rides the beautiful positives.

How can so many people

be so distorted?

I believe it stems from family dysfunctions.

Stephie Pahlavi Zan

Keep your side of the street clean

It is much easier to simply love everyone...

 Good or bad. 

For me or against me. 

Known or unknown. 

That way it is their bad karma, not mine.

~~~~~

Stephie Pahlavi Zan

Uneducated Gossip is a Very Pitiable Way of Fillin...

I am writing to comment on slanderous references to me, communicated by individuals who do not know me. Since I live by Eleanor Roosevelt's assertion, "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people," I will not honor ad hominem attacks with words in kind. I can only state that people who engage in defamation against someone with whom they are not acquainted (or, much less, apprehend the facts, which they do _not_ take time to verify) do nothing more than waste time and fill a pitiable void in their own lives. I wish them well, while categorically refuting their falsehoods.

Stephie Pahlavi Zan

The Tree

When the roots of a tree are deep,

there is no reason to be frightened by the strong 

wind.

Living with fear stops us from taking risks, and if 

you don’t go out on the branch of the tree, you’re 

never 

going to get the best fruit.

~~~

Stephie Pahlavi Zan

Move On

When your priorities are straight;

Decisions are easy to make.

Sometimes it is very arduous to move on, but

You shall realize it was the Best Decision 

you have ever made.

I left a very secure position

to take a new and intimidating

position in The Big City.

I became even bigger and better 

than I even thought!

Take a chance...

or else you shall regret it the rest of your

life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stephie Pahlavi Zan

In the Moment, Forwards, or Backwards

If you don't live in the Moment;

You are looking Forward to Uncertainty

or Back to acute Pain, Fear, Regret and Remorse.

It is an Insane World...make it Simple.

~~~~~~~

Stephie Pahlavi Zan

Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday. ~~~ Stephie Pahlavi Zan

 
Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday.

~~~

Stephie Pahlavi Zan