The autumn starts on 9/22 this year. This is the definition from astronomy. Traditionally & meteorologically it starts roughly around September 1 or Labor Day in Canada & US. So 8/31 is the last day of summer. This reminds me a lovely song “The Last Rose of Summer”. Although the last rose of summer does not necessary falls on the last day of summer, it conveys the same message that the
summer will soon be over & the last rose will wither & fade away---sad emotion. The song is from an old Irish air “The Groves of Blarney”. John Stevenson adapted this tune on “The Last Rose of Summer”, a poem by Thomas Moore. Since then this song becomes very popular. In fact, Flotow used this song in his opera Martha & appears several times in different acts. Martha is a comic opera, a love story of two boring ladies & two farmers who hire them as servants. When farmer, Lionel fell in love with the leading lady Harriet, she gave the rose she wore to him & sang the Last Rose of Summer. After that, the two ladies fled & returned to the court. Lionel was so distressed, he sang a famous aria “Ach! So fromm” (恍如夢中). The opera is not very long & generally considered to be a light opera. The ending is a happy one --- they marry & live happily ever after (有情人终成眷屬). Just before the curtain falls, they sing once again “The Last Rose of Summer”.
Though there are many arias in Martha, only the above two are really famous. The opera is very unique in some way, as Germans consider it a German opera, French consider it a French opera, Italians consider it an Italian opera. Of course English think it is an English opera with setting in Scotland with Irish Last Rose of Summer. Flotow is a German receiving music training in France. He composed Martha in German, but the original script is in French. The opera was translated into Italian with high quality that most Italians think it is from Donnizetti. Especially, the aria “Ach! So fromm” is translated into Italian “M’appari tutt’amor”. It is this title aria made Martha well known in the opera world. I think European Union (EU) needs a lot of people like Flotow to unite the Europe. Something similar happens to Dvorak’s symphony #9, “From the New World”, 2nd movement. American people think it is very American. But most people from Czech & Slovakia have no doubt about it. It sounds so Bohemian that they become home sick immediately. I haven’t found anything like this among China, Korea & Japan. The one close to it are the songs we all familiar with, 送別 & 憶兒時. 送別 becomes “旅愁”in Japan. 憶兒時 becomes 故鄉の老家. Japanese think they are Japanese songs. Most Chinese have no doubt that they are Chinese songs. But the truth is that both of them are American folk songs. 送別 was composed by John P. Ordway (1824-1880) with title “Dreaming of Home & Mother. 憶兒時 was composed by W.S. Hays (1837-1907) with title "My Dear Old Sunny Home”. The peculiar thing is that not many American people know Ordway & Hays, let alone these two songs.
The following are some YouTube links that you can listen to the songs I mentioned above:
The Last Rose of Summer
Ach! So Fromm, sing in German by Wunderlich
M’appari tutt’amor, sing in Italian by Pavarotti and Lanza
Dreaming of Home & Mother
My Dear Old Sunny Home
The above link switches authors of music (tune) & lyrics.
Move the screen to 1871 and click My Dear Old Sunny Home
Dvorak's Going Home
Some photos from Hubble Space are spectacular. You almost think our home is in the deep space of our cosmos. But at the last moment, the distintive blue marble shows up from the corner & it is our Earth, an almost ocean sphere. The Earth is truly our home.
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