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Giacomo Meyerbeer[1] (born Jacob Liebmann Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer of Jewish birth who has been described as perhaps the most successful stage composer of the nineteenth century.[2] With his 1831 opera Robert le diable and its successors, he gave the genre of grand opera 'decisive character'.[3] Meyerbeer's grand opera style was achieved by his merging of German orchestra style with Italian vocal tradition. These were employed in the context of sensational and melodramatic libretti created by Eugène Scribe and were enhanced by the up-to-date theatre technology of the Paris Opéra. They set a standard which helped to maintain Paris as the opera capital of the nineteenth century.
Born to a very wealthy Berlin family, Meyerbeer began his musical career as a pianist but soon decided to devote himself to opera, spending several years in Italy studying and composing. His 1824 opera Il crociato in Egitto was the first to bring him Europe-wide reputation, but it was Robert le diable (1831) which raised his status to great celebrity. His public career from 1831 until his death, during which he remained throughout a dominating figure in the world of opera, was summarized by his contemporary Hector Berlioz, who claimed that he 'has not only the luck to be talented, but the talent to be lucky.'[4] He was at his peak with his operas Les Huguenots (1836) and Le prophète (1849); his last opera (L'Africaine) was performed posthumously. His operas made him the most frequently performed composer at the world's leading opera houses in the nineteenth century.
At the same time as his successes in Paris, Meyerbeer, as a Prussian Court Kapellmeister (Director of Music) from 1832, and from 1843 as Prussian General Music Director, was also influential in opera in Berlin and throughout Germany. He was an early supporter of Richard Wagner, enabling the first production of the latter's opera, Rienzi. He was commissioned to write the patriotic opera Ein Feldlager in Schlesien to celebrate the reopening of the Berlin Royal Opera House in 1844 and wrote music for certain Prussian state occasions.
Apart from around 50 songs, Meyerbeer wrote little except for the stage. The critical assaults of Wagner and his supporters, especially after his death, led to a decline in the popularity of his works; his operas were suppressed by the Nazi regime in Germany, and were neglected by opera houses through most of the twentieth century. Meyerbeer's works are only infrequently performed today.
Meyerbeer's birthname was Jacob Liebmann Beer; he was born in Tasdorf (now a part of Rüdersdorf), near Berlin, then the capital of Prussia, to a Jewish family. His father was the enormously wealthy financier Judah Herz Beer (1769–1825) and his mother, Amalia (Malka) Wulff (1767–1854), to whom he was particularly devoted, also came from the moneyed elite. Their other children included the astronomer Wilhelm Beer and the poet Michael Beer.[5] He was to adopt the surname Meyerbeer on the death of his grandfather Liebmann Meyer Wulff (1811) and the first name Giacomo during his period of study in Italy, around 1817.[6]
Judah Beer was a leader of the Berlin Jewish community and maintained a private synagogue in his house which leaned towards reformist views. Jacob Beer wrote an early cantata for performance at this synagogue.[7] Both Judah Herz Beer and his wife were close to the Prussian court; when Amalia was awarded in 1816 the Order of Louise, she was given, by Royal dispensation, not the traditional Cross but a portrait bust of the Queen. The Beer children were provided with a fine education; their tutors included two of the leaders of the enlightened Jewish intelligentsia, the author Aaron Halle-Wolfssohn and Edmund Kley, (later a reform movement rabbi in Hamburg) to whom they remained attached into their maturity.[8] The brothers Alexander von Humboldt, the renowned naturalist, geographer and explorer, and the philosopher, linguist and diplomat Wilhelm von Humboldt were close friends of the family circle.[9]
Beer's first keyboard instructor was Franz Lauska, a pupil of Johann Georg Albrechtsberger and a favoured teacher at the Berlin court.[10] Beer also became one of Muzio Clementi's pupils while Clementi was in Berlin.[11] The boy made his public debut in 1801 playing Mozart's D minor Piano Concerto in Berlin. The Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung reported: 'The amazing keyboard playing of young Bär (a Jewish lad of 9), who carried off the difficult passages and other solo parts with aplomb, and has fine powers of rendition even more rarely found in one of his age, made the concert even more interesting'.[12]
Beer, as he still named himself, studied with Antonio Salieri and the German master and friend of Goethe, Carl Friedrich Zelter. Louis Spohr organised a concert for Beer at Berlin in 1804 and continued his acquaintance with the lad later in Vienna and Rome.[13] A portrait of Jacob commissioned by the family at this time shows him 'confidently facing the viewer, his hair romantically dishevelled… his left hand rests on the keyboard, and his right hand grasps a musical manuscript… plac[ing] its subject in the tradition of the young Mozart'.[14] Beer's first stage work, the ballet Der Fischer und das Milchmädchen (The Fisher and the Milkmaid) was produced in March 1810 at the Court Opera in Berlin.[15] His formal training with the Abbé Vogler at Darmstadt between 1810 and 1812 was however of crucial importance, and at around this time he begins to sign himself 'Meyer Beer'.[16] Here, with his fellow students (who included Carl Maria von Weber), he learnt not only the craft of composition but also the business of music (organising concerts and dealing with publishers). Forming a close friendship with Weber and other pupils, Meyerbeer established the Harmonischer Verein (Musical Union) whose members undertook to support each other with favourable press criticism and networking.[17] On 12 February 1813 Beer received the first of the string of honours he was to accumulate throughout his life when he was appointed 'Court Composer' by Grand Duke Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt.[18]
Throughout his early career, although determined to become a musician, Beer found it difficult to decide between playing and composition. Certainly other professionals in the decade 1810–1820, including Moscheles, considered him amongst the greatest virtuosi of his period.[19] He wrote during this period numerous piano pieces, including a concerto and set of variations for piano and orchestra, but these have been lost.[20] To this period also belongs a Clarinet Quintet written for the virtuoso Heinrich Baermann (1784–1847) who remained a close friend of the composer.[21]
Despite performances of his oratorio Gott und die Natur (God and Nature) (Berlin, 1811) and his early operas Jephtas Gelübde (Jephtha's Vow) (Munich, 1812) and Wirth und Gast (Landlord and Guest) (Stuttgart, 1813) in Germany, Meyerbeer had set his sights by 1814 on basing an operatic career in Paris. In the same year, his opera Die beiden Kalifen (The Two Caliphs), a version of Wirth und Gast, was a disastrous failure in Vienna.[22] Realizing that a full understanding of Italian opera was essential for his musical development, he went to study in Italy, enabled by the financial support of his family. He arrived in Italy at the beginning of 1816, after visits to Paris and London, where he heard Cramer play.[23] In Paris, he wrote to a friend, 'I go from museum to museum, library to library, theatre to theatre, with the restlessness of the Wandering Jew'.[24]
During his years in Italy Meyerbeer became acquainted with, and impressed by, the works of his contemporary Gioachino Rossini who by 1816, at the age of 24, was already director of both major opera houses in Naples and in the same year premiered his operas The Barber of Seville and Otello. Meyerbeer wrote a series of Italian operas on Rossinian models, including Romilda e Costanza (Padua, 1817), Semiramide riconosciuta (Turin, 1819), Emma di Resburgo (Venice, 1819), Margherita d'Anjou (Milan 1820) and L'esule di Granata (Milan 1821). All but the last two of these had libretti by Gaetano Rossi whom Meyerbeer continued to support until the end of the latter's life,[25] although not commissioning any further libretti from him after Il crociato in Egitto (1824). During a visit to Sicily in 1816, Meyerbeer noted down a number of folksongs, and these in fact constitute the earliest collection of folk music of the region.[26] In a birthday greeting from Rossi's wife in 1817 occurs the earliest use discovered of Meyerbeer's adopted forename 'Giacomo'.[27]
The name Giacomo Meyerbeer first became known internationally with his opera Il crociato in Egitto—premiered in Venice in 1824 and produced in London and Paris in 1825; incidentally, it was the last opera ever written to feature a castrato, and to require keyboard accompaniment for recitatives. This 'breakthrough' in Paris was exactly what Meyerbeer had been aiming for over the past ten years; he had been carefully preparing for it, developing contacts, and fully reaped his reward.[28]
In 1826, shortly after the death of his father, Meyerbeer married his cousin, Minna Mosson (1804–1886). The marriage which may have been 'dynastic' in its origins proved to be stable and devoted; the couple were to have five children, of whom the three youngest (all daughters) survived to adulthood.[29] In the same year, following the death of Carl Maria von Weber, Weber's widow asked Meyerbeer to complete her husband's unfinished comic opera Die drei Pintos. This was to cause him much trouble over future years, as he found the material insufficient to work on. Eventually in 1852 he settled the matter with Weber's heirs by handing them Weber's drafts and a cash compensation. (The opera was later completed by Gustav Mahler).[30]
With his next opera Meyerbeer became virtually a superstar. Robert le diable (with libretto by Eugène Scribe and Germaine Delavigne), produced in Paris in 1831, was one of the earliest grand operas. The libretto, originally planned in 1827 as a three-act opéra comique for the Opéra-Comique theatre, was refashioned after 1829 in a five act form to meet the requirements of the Paris Opéra.[31] Its revised characterisation as a 'grand opera' placed it in succession to Auber's La muette de Portici (1828) and Rossini's Guillaume Tell (1829) in this new genre. The composer undertook further work on the opera in early 1831 adding ballet episodes, including the "Ballet of Nuns", which was to prove one of the opera's great sensations, becoming an early example of the ballet blanc genre. He also rewrote the two major male roles of Bertrand and Robert to suit the talents of Nicolas Levasseur and Adolphe Nourrit, respectively.[31][32] At the invitation of Nourrit, Cornélie Falcon made her debut at the age of 18 at the Opéra in the role of Alice on 20 July 1832, and she made a vivid impression on the public,[33] which included on that night Auber, Berlioz, Halévy, Maria Malibran, Giulia Grisi, Honoré Daumier, Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo. On hearing her in the role, Meyerbeer himself declared his opera at last 'complete'.[34]
The success of the opera led to Meyerbeer himself becoming a celebrity. In January 1832 he was awarded membership of the Légion d'honneur.[35] This success – coupled with Meyerbeer's known family wealth – inevitably also precipitated envy amongst his peers. Berlioz – who had commented that 'Meyerbeer not only had the luck to be talented, he had the talent to be lucky' – wrote 'I can't forget that Meyerbeer was only able to persuade [the Opéra] to put on Robert le diable ... by paying the administration sixty thousand francs of his own money'; and Chopin lamented 'Meyerbeer had to work for three years and pay his own expenses for his stay in Paris before Robert le diable could be staged....Three years, that's a lot – it's too much.'[36] King Frederick William III of Prussia who attended the second performance of Robert le diable, swiftly invited him to compose a German opera, and Meyerbeer was invited to stage Robert in Berlin.[37] Within a few years the opera had been staged with success all over Europe, and also in the USA.[38]
The fusion of dramatic music, melodramatic plot, and sumptuous staging in Robert le diable proved a sure-fire formula, as did the partnership with Scribe, which Meyerbeer would go on to repeat in Les Huguenots, Le prophète, and L'Africaine. All of these operas held the international stage throughout the 19th century, as did the more pastoral Dinorah (1859), making Meyerbeer the most frequently performed composer at leading opera houses in the nineteenth century.[39]
Letellier describes Meyerbeer's mature life as 'a tale of two cities...His artistic triumph and legendary status were achieved in Paris...but he never abandoned Prussia, especially his home city of Berlin'.[40] His wife Minna was based in Berlin (she did not enjoy Paris) as was his beloved mother; and he had a series of Royal duties from the Prussian court, stemming from his appointment as Court Kapellmeister in 1832.[41] For these reasons his life from 1830 onwards is characterised by travel between these two centres.
In Paris Meyerbeer had been asked by Louis Véron, the director of the Opéra, for a new work. At first he attempted Véron to accept the opéra-comique Le portefaix to a libretto by Scribe,[42] which he had been contracted to compose in early 1831; but Véron insisted on a full five act piece. Together with Scribe, Meyerbeer reviewed many subjects before deciding, in 1832, on Les Huguenots. The contract which Meyerbeer signed with Véron contained a penalty clause if the work was not delivered by the end of 1833. When the time came and the opera was not ready, Véron claimed his 30,000 francs under this clause; Meyerbeer was perhaps unique amongst composers in being able to pay this. In fact Véron refunded the money under a further agreement, when the opera was delivered in late 1834; but Veron himself was replaced as director of the Opera by Henri Duponchel before Les Huguenots was premiered on 29 February 1836.[43] It was an immediate and immense success, its splendid staging and effects exceeding even those of Fromental Halévy's La Juive, which had premiered the previous year.[44] Berlioz called the score "a musical encyclopaedia", and the singing, especially of Nourrit and Falcon, was universally praised.[45] Les Huguenots was the first opera to be performed at the Opéra more than 1,000 times (the 1,000th performance being on 16 May 1906)[46] and continued to be produced up to 1936, more than a century after its premiere.[47] Its many performances in all other of the world's major opera houses give it a claim to being the most successful opera of the 19th century.
In Berlin Meyerbeer faced however many problems, including the enmity of the jealous Gaspare Spontini, who since 1820 had been court Kapellmeister and director of the Berlin Hofoper. Although he had been appointed a court Kapellmeister,[48] complaints were made in the Berlin press about the delay of the Berlin premiere of Robert le diable (which finally took place in June 1832), and Meyerbeer's music was decried by the critic and poet Ludwig Rellstab.[49] There was no sign of the German opera expected from Meyerbeer. Moreover, reactionary censorship laws prevented production of Les Huguenots in Berlin, (and indeed in many other cities of Germany).[50] Nevertheless, Meyerbeer, who (as he wrote to a friend) 'years ago...swore to myself never to respond personally to attacks on my work, and never under any circumstances to cause or respond to personal polemics',[51] refused to be drawn on any of these matters.
Meanwhile in Paris Meyerbeer began to seek new libretti, initially considering Le prophète of Scribe, Le cinq mars by Henri Saint-Georges and eventually settling on Scribe's Vasco da Gama (later to become L'Africaine), which he contracted to complete by 1840. However, Meyerbeer had envisaged that the main role in L'Africaine would be written for Falcon; after the catastrophic failure of her voice in 1837, he turned instead to Le prophète.[48]
On 20 August 1839 Meyerbeer, whilst relaxing at Boulogne in the company of Moscheles, met for the first time with Richard Wagner who was en route to Paris.Their ensuing relationship (see below) was to have major repercussions for the careers and reputations of both. At this meeting Wagner read to Meyerbeer from the libretto of Rienzi, and Meyerbeer agreed to look through the score,[52] which indeed he subsequently recommended for performance at Dresden.[53]
By the end of 1841, Meyerbeer had completed the first draft of Le prophète, but refused to stage it because the then director of the opera, Leon Pillet, wished to cast his mistress, Rosine Stoltz, in the part of Fidès, the hero's mother. (Berlioz characterised Stoltz as 'la Directrice du Directeur'). Meyerbeer insisted on Pauline Viardot for the role. Meyerbeer lodged the score with a Parisian lawyer, and refused to countenance any production until his wishes were met. It was not until 1849 when the Opéra was willing to agree his conditions. Meyerbeer was unique in his time in having the wealth and influence to impose his will as a composer in this way.[54]
In the meantime, the situation in Prussia was changing. Following the death of Frederick William III, the new regime of Frederick William IV was far more liberal. Spontini was dismissed, and the Berlin premiere of Les Huguenots was arranged (20 May 1842). On the instigation of Alexander von Humboldt, Meyerbeer was installed later in the year as Prussian Generalmusikedirektor and director of music for the Royal Court. Meyerbeer wrote a number of works for court occasions, and also provided music, at the King's request, for the first staging on Berlin in 1856 of his brother Michael's play Struensee (based on the life of Johann Friedrich Struensee), which had also been proscribed under the previous regime.[55]
In 1843, the Berlin Opera house burnt down. The creation of the new building gave a new opportunity to commission a German opera from Meyerbeer. The subject of the opera, Ein Feldlager in Schlesien (A Silesian Encampment), was an episode in the life of Frederick the Great. As this patriotic opera 'needed' Prussian creators, Meyerbeer arranged that whilst the trusted Scribe would write the libretto, Rellstab would translate it and take the credit (and the royalties). This had the added advantage of winning over the formerly hostile Rellstab. Meyerbeer had hoped to have Jenny Lind (for whom he had written the part) sing the lead role of Vielka, but the opera premiered on 7 December 1844 without her (although she did appear in subsequent performances).[56] The libretto was revised by Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer to a Bohemian background as Vielka for a production in Vienna (1847). (In a further incarnation, the music was later used by Meyerbeer for a revamped libretto by Scribe featuring Peter the Great, and produced as an opéra comique in Paris (L'étoile du nord, 1854)).[57]
With the continuing delays in the production of Le prophète and L'Africaine, Meyerbeer was now becoming subject to increasing sniping in Paris. In 1846 Meyerbeer began work on a new project with Scribe and Saint-Georges, Noëma, but in the following year Pillet was sacked from the opera and the direction was resumed by Duponchel. As a consequence, Meyerbeer was at last able to stage Le prophète with a cast to his liking, (including Viardot as Fidès), and it premiered on 16 April 1849.[57] Again Meyerbeer's new opera was an outstanding success – despite the unusual feature of the lead female role being the hero's mother, rather than his lover. Amongst those at the 47th performance in February 1850 was Richard Wagner, now an impoverished political exile; the success of a work so fundamentally against his own operatic principles was one of the spurs to his spiteful anti-Jewish denunciation of Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn, 'Das Judenthum in der Musik' (1850).[58]
Increasing ill-health (or possibly hypochondria) now began to restrict Meyerbeer's output and activities. The death of his beloved mother in 1854 was also a blow. However the success of L'étoile du nord in 1854 demonstrated that he could still pack the theatres. Following this he began on two new projects, an opera by Scribe based on the biblical story of Judith, and an opéra comique, Le pardon de Ploërmel, (also known as Dinorah, the title given to the Italian version performed at London) to a libretto by Jules Barbier. The latter premiered on 4 April 1859 at the Opéra Comique at Paris; the former, like many previous projects, remained only as sketches. The death of Scribe in 1861 was a further disincentive to Meyerbeer to proceed with his operatic work in progress. In 1862 he paid Scribe's widow compensation for not completing Judith according to his original contract with Scribe.[59]
Nevertheless Meyerbeer's last years saw the composition of a good deal of non-operatic music, including a Coronation March for William I of Prussia, (1861), an overture for the 1862 International Exhibition in London, and incidental music (now lost) to Henri Blaze de Bury's play La jeunesse de Goethe (1860).[60] He composed a few settings of liturgical material, including one of the 91st Psalm (1853);[61] and also choral works for the synagogue at Paris.[62]
Meyerbeer died in Paris on 2 May 1864. Rossini, who, not having heard the news, came to his apartment the next day intending to meet him, was shocked and fainted. He was moved to write on the spot a choral tribute (Pleure, pleure, muse sublime!).[63] A special train bore Meyerbeer's body from the Gare du Nord to Berlin on 6 May, where he was buried in the family vault at the Jewish cemetery in Schönhauser Allee.[59]
L'Africaine was eventually premiered after Meyerbeer's death at the Salle Le Peletier on 28 April 1865 in a performing edition undertaken by François-Joseph Fétis.
Meyerbeer's immense wealth (increased by the success of his operas) and his continuing adherence to his Jewish religion set him apart somewhat from many of his musical contemporaries. They also gave rise to rumours that his success was due to his bribing musical critics.[64] Richard Wagner (see below) accused him of being interested only in money, not music. Meyerbeer was, however, a deeply serious musician and a sensitive personality. He philosophically resigned himself to being a victim of his own success: his extensive diaries and correspondence—which survived the turmoil of 20th-century Europe and have now been published in eight volumes[65]—are an invaluable source for the history of music and theatre in the composer's time.
Meyerbeer's personal attachment to Judaism was a mature personal decision – after the death of his maternal grandfather in 1811 he wrote to his mother 'Please accept from me a promise that I will always live in the religion in which he died'.[66] In his diaries he noted significant family events including birthdays, not by their Gregorian calendar occurrence, but by their Jewish calendar dates.[67] Moreover he regularly suffered from (and/or imagined) anti-Jewish slights throughout his life, warning his brothers frequently in his letters against richess (Yiddish for 'Jew-hatred').[68] Writing to Heinrich Heine in 1839, he offered the fatalistic view:
I believe that richess is like love in the theatres and novels: no matter how often one encounters it...it never misses its target if effectively wielded...[Nothing] can grow back the foreskin of which we are robbed on the eighth day of life; those who, on the ninth day, do not bleed from this operation shall continue to bleed an entire lifetime, even after death.[69]
It was probably a similar fatalism that led Meyerbeer never to enter public controversy with those who slighted him, either professionally or personally, although he occasionally displayed his grudges in his Diaries; for example, on hearing Robert Schumann conduct in 1850: 'I saw for the first time the man who, as a critic, has persecuted me for twelve years with a deadly enmity.'[70]
In his mature operas Meyerbeer selected stories which almost invariably featured as a major element of storyline a hero living within a hostile environment. Robert, Raoul the Huguenot, Jean the prophet, and the defiant Vasco da Gama in L'Africaine are all 'outsiders'. It has been suggested that 'Meyerbeer's choice of these topics is not accidental; they reflect his own sense of living in a potentially inimical society.'[71]
Meyerbeer's relationship with Heine displays the awkwardness and prickliness of the social personas of both parties. Meyerbeer, apart from any of his personal feelings, needed Heine onside as an influential personality and writer on music. He genuinely admired Heine's verse, and made a number of settings from it. Heine, living in Paris from 1830, always equivocal about his loyalties between Judaism and Christianity, and always short of money, asked Meyerbeer to intervene with Heine's own family for financial support and frequently took loans and money from Meyerbeer himself. He was not above threatening Meyerbeer with blackmail by writing satirical pieces about him (and indeed Meyerbeer paid Heine's widow to suppress such writings).[72] And yet, at Heine's death in 1856, Meyerbeer wrote in his diary 'Peace be to his ashes. I forgive him from my heart for his ingratitude and many wickednesses against me.'[73]
Meyerbeer did not operate on the basis of any theory or philosophy of music and was not an innovator in harmony or musical form. In the words of John H. Roberts
He had a rich fund of appealing if somewhat short-breathed melody, commanded an increasingly rich harmonic vocabulary, and was a master of brilliant and novel orchestral effect. But he had very limited skill in thematic development and even less in contrapuntal combination.[74]
All of his significant music is for the voice (opera and songs) and this reflects his detailed grounding in Italian opera.[75] Throughout his career he wrote his operas with specific singers in mind and took great care to temper his writing to their strengths; but at the same time he seemed little interested in expressing the emotions of his characters, preferring to use his music to underline the larger-scale machinations of the plot.[76] In this way he was close to the ideas of his teacher Vogler, himself renowned for his dramatic depictions of nature and incident in keyboard music, who wrote in 1779
Writing beautifully is easy; expression is not too difficult; but only the genius of a great painter...can choose for each picture agreeable and natural colours that are particular to it.[77]
Indeed his devotion to the voice often led him to ignore the dramatic cohesion of his operas; typically, he would write far too much music and the scores of his operas would have to be drastically cut during rehearsals.[78] (The lengthy overture to Le prophète had to be cut in its entirety, surviving only in a piano arrangement by Charles-Valentin Alkan).[79]
The first signs of Meyerbeer breaking with the Italian traditions in which he had trained are in Il crociato in Egitto. Amongst other notable features of the opera were its lavish orchestral forces (extending to two onstage on-stage military bands in the final act). The grandiosity of the work reflected the need to make an impact on the sophisticated and technologically advanced stages of London and Paris, for which it was extensively rewritten. Meyerbeer's contribution was revealed at this stage to be the combination of Italian vocal lines, German orchestration and harmony, and the use of contemporary theatrical techniques,[80] ideas which he carried forward in Robert and his later works.[81] However Meyerbeer's background in the Italian operatic traditions can be clearly seen as late as 1859 in the 'mad scene' in Dinorah (the virtuoso aria Ombre légère).[82]
Typical of Meyerbeer's innovative orchestration is the use in Robert le diable of dark-toned instruments –bassoons, timpani and low brass, including ophicleide– to characterise the diabolical nature of Bertram and his associates. At one point the arrival of a character is announced by a combination of three solo timpani and pizzicato double-basses.[83] Similar adventurousness is shown in Les Huguenots where the composer uses a solo bass clarinet[84] and solo viola d'amore[85] to accompany arias. For Le prophète, Meyerbeer considered using the newly invented saxophone.[86] Becker suggests that Meyerbeer in all his grand operas often 'created a deliberately 'unbeautiful' sound.....with unusual orchestration designed to express ...content rather than produce a sensuous sound' and opines that this explains much of the criticism he received from German writers on music.[87]
Meyerbeer's concern to integrate musical power with all the resources of contemporary theatre anticipated in some ways the ideas of Wagner's Gesamtkunstwerk. Becker writes:
Wagner's idea of music drama...was originally developed by way of grand opera...his ideas could never have been realised in their particular form without the pioneering development[s]...that Meyerbeer's operas were the first to demand.[88]
Meyerbeer was always concerned to intensify the theatricality of his operas, even when new ideas emerged at a relatively late stage in the music's composition. An example of his receptiveness was the addition of the provocative "Ballet of the Nuns" in the third act of Robert le diable, at the suggestion of Duponchel. The set for the ballet was an innovative and striking design by Duponchel and Pierre-Luc-Charles Ciceri.[89] Duponchel had also introduced technical innovations for the staging, including 'English traps' for the sudden appearance and disappearance of the ghosts. (Meyerbeer was led in fact to complain that the spectacle was too much and was pushing his music into the background).[90] In Le prophète the skating ballet, which created a great sensation, was composed after rehearsals had begun, in order to capitalise on the new craze for roller skates. The theatre was also able to use new electrical lighting effects to create a powerful sunrise, and to depict the conflagration which ends the opera.[91][92]
Meyerbeer's large choral 'tableaux' also made a major contribution to the overall dramatic effect; the composer particularly sought opportunities to write such large-scale crowd scenes, and preferred libretti which offered such possibilities.[88] Crosten writes: 'These massive developed sections are the chief glory of the Meyerbeerian opera, for they are not only big in volume but big in their structural design'.[93]
Mention should also be made of Meyerbeer's intense concern with the business of opera, which indeed had formed part of his studies under Vogler. This gave him the background not only to deal with complex contractual issues and to negotiate with publishers, but extended to wooing the press and 'marketing' in general. Indeed he was probably the originator of the 'press conference' at which journalists were fed refreshment and information.[94][95] This marketing and commercialisation of opera was reinforced by Meyerbeer's Paris publisher Maurice Schlesinger who had established his fortune on the back of Robert, and even persuaded Honoré de Balzac to write a novella (Gambara) to promote Les Huguenots.[96] Schlesinger's publication of Franz Liszt's Reminiscences de Robert le diable sold out on the day of issue and was immediately reprinted.[97] Such manoeuvres did little to endear Meyerbeer to his fellow artists, and indeed engendered envious comments of the sort already quoted from Berlioz and Chopin.
Meyerbeer had no pupils and no direct 'school'. Yet as his works spanned the golden age of grand opera, clear traces of his influence can be found in the grand operas of Fromental Halévy, Gaetano Donizetti, Giuseppe Verdi and others. After 1850, Huebner notes a continuing tradition of operas at Paris where 'principals appear with chorus at the end of an act and where private intrigue conjoins a well-articulated public dimension in the plot' and cites amongst others Charles Gounod's La nonne sanglante (1854), Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet and operas by Jules Massenet, amongst them Le roi de Lahore (1877) and Le Cid (1885).[98] The line of succession was however virtually washed away in the tide of Wagner in Paris after 1890 (see below). The influence of Meyerbeer has also been detected in the operas of Antonín Dvořák and other Czech composers,[99] and in the operas of Russian composers including Rimsky-Korsakov and the young Tchaikovsky, who thought Les Huguenots 'one of the greatest works in the repertoire'.[100]
Themes from Meyerbeer's works were used by many contemporary composers, often in the form of keyboard paraphprases or fantasies. Perhaps the most elaborate and substantial of these is Franz Liszt's monumental Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale "Ad nos ad salutarem undam", S.259 (1852), for organ or pédalier, based on the chorale of the Anabaptist priests in Le prophète and dedicated to Meyerbeer.[101]
Liszt also wrote piano works based on Robert le diable, notably the Reminiscences de Robert le diable[102] and the Valse infernale S.413. Frédéric Chopin and Auguste Franchomme jointly composed a Grand duo concertant on themes from the opera, for cello and piano, in 1832,[103] and the Italian pianist and composer Adolfo Fumagalli composed an elaborate fantasy on the opera for left hand alone as his Op. 106.[104] Other pieces based on the opera included works by Adolf von Henselt[105] and Jean-Amédée Méreaux. Similar works, of varying musical quality, were churned out by composers for each of the further operas in attempts to cash in on their success.
Meyerbeer's operas consistently enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, and the verdict of (the then pro-Meyerbeer) Wagner in 1841, when the Paris Opéra was vainly awaiting Le prophète and L'Africaine, was not atypical:
The Paris Opéra lies dying. It looks for its salvation to the German Messiah, Meyerbeer; if he keeps it waiting much longer, its death agonies will begin...It is for that reason...that one only sees Robert le Diable and Les Huguenots turning up again when the mediocrities are forced to withdraw.[106]
However, dissenting voices were heard from critics. Not all of these however were on musical grounds. Berlioz for example raised the issue of the inhibiting effects of Meyerbeer's success (which he felt particularly as one who struggled to get his works performed):'The pressure [Meyerbeer] exerts on managers, artists and critics, and consequently on the Paris public, at least as much by his immense wealth as by his eclectic talent, makes all serious success at the Opéra virtually impossible. This baneful influence may still be felt ten years after his death: Heinrich Heine maintains he has 'paid in advance'.'[107]
Mendelssohn disapproved of Meyerbeer's works on moral grounds, believing Robert le diable to be 'ignoble'.[108]
Schumann's attack on Les Huguenots was clearly a personal diatribe against Meyerbeer's Judaism: 'Time and time again we had to turn away in disgust...One may search in vain for a sustained pure thought, a truly Christian sentiment...It is all contrived, all make believe and hypocrisy!...The shrewdest of composers rubs his hands with glee.'[109]
Wagner's disciple Theodor Uhlig followed Schumann's Judaeophobic line in his 1850 review of Le prophète: 'To a good Christian [it] is at best contrived, exaggerated, unnatural and slick, and it is not possible that the practised propaganda of the Hebrew art-taste can succeed using such means.'[110] Uhlig's phrase 'the Hebrew art-taste' was to be used by Richard Wagner to spark off his attack on Meyerbeer, 'Das Judenthum in der Musik (Jewishness in Music).' (see below).
In 1911, the composer Charles Villiers Stanford cited Meyerbeer's music as an example of the dangers he believed lay in improvising at the piano without a clear plan, (although there is in fact no evidence to suggest Meyerbeer worked in this way), writing: 'Man of genius though he was, as any man who wrote the fourth act of the Huguenots must have been, Meyerbeer is a sign-post of this danger of trusting to the pianoforte as a medium of inspiration.'[111]
The vitriolic campaign of Richard Wagner against Meyerbeer was to a great extent responsible for the decline of Meyerbeer's popularity after his death in 1864.[39][112] This campaign was as much a matter of personal spite as of racism[113] – Wagner had learnt a great deal from Meyerbeer and indeed Wagner's early opera Rienzi (1842) was facetiously called by Hans von Bülow 'Meyerbeer's best opera'.[114] Meyerbeer supported the young Wagner, both financially and in helping to obtain the premiere productions of both Rienzi and The Flying Dutchman at Dresden.[115]
Wagner's early correspondence with Meyerbeer, up to 1846, is cringingly obsequious.[116] However, from the early 1840s, as Wagner developed Tannhäuser and Lohengrin, his ideas on opera increasingly diverged from Meyerbeerean standards; even in 1843 Wagner had written to Schumann condemning Meyerbeer's work as 'a striving after superficial popularity'.[117] During 1846 Meyerbeer turned down Wagner's application for a loan of 1,200 thalers, and this may have marked a turning point.[118]
In particular, after 1849, Wagner resented Meyerbeer's continuing success at a time when his own vision of German opera had little chance of prospering. After the May Uprising in Dresden of 1849, Wagner was for some years a political refugee facing a prison sentence or worse should he return to Saxony. During his period of living in exile he had few sources of income and little opportunity of getting his own works performed. The success of Le prophète sent Wagner over the edge, and he was also deeply envious of Meyerbeer's wealth. In reaction he published, under a pseudonym, his 1850 essay 'Jewishness in Music'.[119] Without specifically naming Meyerbeer, he interpreted the popular success of the latter as the undermining of German music by alleged Jewish venality and willingness to cater to the lowest tastes, and attributed the supposed poor quality of such 'Jewish music' to Jewish speech and song patterns, which 'though the cultured son of Jewry takes untold pains to strip them off, nevertheless they shew an impertinent obstinacy in cleaving to him'.[120]
In his major theoretical statement, 'Opera and Drama' (1852), Wagner objected to the music of Meyerbeer, asserting its superficiality and incoherence in dramatic terms; this work contains Wagner's well-known put-down of Meyerbeer's operas as 'effects without causes'.[121] It also contains the sardonic crack that '[Rossini] never could have dreamt that it would some day occur to the Bankers, for whom he had always made their music, to make it for themselves'.[122] 'Jewishness in Music' was reissued in 1869, (after Meyerbeer's death) in an extended form, with a far more explicit attack on Meyerbeer. This version was under Wagner's own name – and as Wagner had by now a far greater reputation, his views obtained far wider publicity.[123] These attacks on Meyerbeer (which also included swipes at Felix Mendelssohn) are regarded by Paul Lawrence Rose as a significant milestone in the growth of German anti-Semitism.[124]
As Wagner prospered, it became second-nature for him, his wife Cosima and the Wagner circle to deprecate Meyerbeer and his works, and Cosima's Diaries contain numerous instances of this – (as well as recording a dream of Wagner's in which he and Meyerbeer were reconciled).[125] Wagner's autobiography 'Mein Leben', circulated amongst his friends (and published openly in 1911), contains constant sniping at Meyerbeer and concludes with Wagner exulting over Meyerbeer's death.[126] The downgrading of Meyerbeer became a commonplace amongst Wagnerites: in 1898, George Bernard Shaw, in The Perfect Wagnerite, commented that "Nowadays young people cannot understand how anyone could have taken Meyerbeer's influence seriously."[127]
Thus as Wagner's stock rose, Meyerbeer's fell. In 1890, the year before the Paris premiere of Wagner's Lohengrin, there were no Wagner performances at the Paris Opéra, and 32 performances of Meyerbeer's four grand operas. In 1909, there were 60 Wagner performances, and only three of Meyerbeer (Les Huguenots being the sole work performed).[128]
Meyerbeer's costly operas, requiring grand casts of leading singers, were gradually dropped from the repertoire in the early 20th century. They were banned in Germany from 1933, and subsequently in subject countries, by the Nazi regime because the composer was Jewish,[129] and this was a major factor in their further disappearance from the repertory.
One of the first serious post-war studies of Meyerbeer and grand opera was Crosten's 1948 book Grand Opera: An Art and a Business[130] which laid out the themes and standards for much subsequent research. A major contribution to revival of interest in Meyerbeer was the work of the scholar Heinz Becker, leading to the complete publication, between 1960 and 2006, of Meyerbeer's complete diaries and correspondence in German, which are an important source for musical history of the era.[131] The English scholar Robert Letellier has translated the diaries and undertaken a wide range of Meyerbeer studies.[132] Not least, the establishment of a 'Meyerbeer Fan Club' in America[133] has stimulated interest.
Most importantly the operas themselves are now beginning to be revived and recorded, although despite the efforts of such champions as Dame Joan Sutherland, who took part in performances of, and recorded, Les Huguenots, they have yet to achieve anything like the huge popular following they attracted during their creator's lifetime. Recordings are now available of all the operas from Il crociato onwards, for many of the earlier Italian operas, and for other pieces including his songs and the incidental music for Struensee.
Amongst reasons often adduced for the dearth of modern productions are the scale of Meyerbeer's more ambitious works and the cost of mounting them, as well as the alleged lack of virtuoso singers capable of doing justice to Meyerbeer's demanding music. However, recent successful productions of some of the major operas at relatively small centres such as Strasbourg (L'Africaine, 2004) and Metz (Les Huguenots, 2004) show that this conventional wisdom can be challenged. In December 2012, the Royal Opera House in London premiered its first performance of Robert le diable in 120 years.[2][134]
You can download the clip or download a player to play the clip in your browser.
"Shepherd's Song", 1842, for soprano, clarinet and piano. Montserrat Alavedra, soprano; William McColl, clarinet (1820s); and Joseph Levine, fortepiano
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Vernon Dobtcheff played the role of Giacomo Meyerbeer in the 1983 film Wagner.
Further reading
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Giacomo Meyerbeer.


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Gettin' it done!
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Near St. Louis
Posts: 2,782
S/C/G: HW- 242 Restart SW:166 7/24/14
Height: a little over 5'2
Originally Posted by
You do not have to give up pizza when you diet and pizza should not be considered junk, just make your own!!
I just calculated my husband's go-to thin crust pizza recipe (with salami and mushrooms), and it came out to about 142 calories a slice. We eat pizza 2x a week... I don't feel gross after eating it and it has so much more flavour....especially if you get a good salami and know how to work with yeast dough. A lot of pizza crust recipes rely on olive oil and salt for flavour when your regular white flour has sugar and flavour in it already, you just have to let the dough "percolate" for a bit to get a great flavour.
End the misiniformation about the greatest meal on planet earth!
I agree. Not only lower calorie/healthier, it is also a LOT cheaper too what with delivery and tipping!
If any of you are not up to making your own dough- you could always use tortilla wraps, pita bread, flat bread, etc as the crust. This is a
I really like if I am not using yeast, although I use white WW flour instead of AP. I would recommend adding oregano/italian seasoning and garlic powder or roasted minced garlic for more flavor since the crust can be bland. My favorite pizza recipe is chicken, onions, spinach and artichokes with my easy alfredo sauce (cream cheese, greek yogurt, roasted garlic, parmesan and black pepper.)
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153|144|140- GOAL (maybe?)!
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
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Jefferson Memorial Forest invites families and nature enthusiasts to its annual Open House on Saturday, December 1, from 10 am until 3 pm in the Welcome Center. Support the Forest by shopping for holiday gifts, enjoy refreshments, peruse trails, play on the natural playground, or keep cozy inside by the fire.
Volunteers will guide kids through easy crafts while they wait for special guest Santa Claus at Noon.
The Jefferson Memorial Forest Welcome Center is located at 11311 Mitchell Hill Road in Fairdale.
For more information about the Forest and its many year round activities, visit louisvilleky.gov/metroparks/parks/jeffersonmemorialforest.
Image: Courtesy Louisville Metro Parks
|5 ways to spend this fall with your family
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I've order a lot from MJM (maybe too much) the orders have arrived in a timely fashion and mistakes or a lost package once have been addressed...Read More ->
I received my Lethal Tender order, and e-mailed MJM to let them know it arrived. Jeff immediately e-mailed me back, and commented on the order. This...Read More ->


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Tag Results
1 post tagged lip scrub
1 post tagged lip scrub
We're big fans of this week's guest blogger, Natalie Higdon. Not only is she a Tennessee resident and a connoisseur of all things Memphis; she's also a contributor to the Birchbox magazine! (Don't miss her stellar article on 5 Surprising Facts About SPF). This week, she interviews a hot new singer, reveals her favorite two-in-one products, and schools us on how to trim our own bangs.
I love DIY and looking at pictures of dessert, so naturally, I love Pinterest. My latest obsession is finding ways to create my own beauty products. Here are a few of my favorite finds:
DIY Lip Stain by The Beauty Department
I have a confession to make: I'm not really a lip gloss or lipstick girl. Getting your hair stuck in your super sticky gloss on a windy day? The worst. That's why I love lip stains. This homemade version is super easy; plus you can totally play around with the recipe and use different fruit combinations to get different shades.


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As I understand tenure is to protect the free exchange of ideas without fear of losing one´s job. I can understand it being appropriate at University level.Why would anyone think it was needed at Grade and High School levels? These levels are for foundational training and are not places for opinion.
Click Here if you Like this Comment 12 persons like this.
Hmm, just a thought. This could be turned around and used as a way to purge the system of conservative teachers that don´t toe the liberal, socialist line. Every silver lining has a back side to it that may not be so shiny.
Click Here if you Like this Comment 6 persons like this.
Yes! Yes! Yes!!! Finally!!! Although it´s 20 years too late for my children, I have been hoping and praying for this!In 7th grade on of my daughter´s math teachers, who later it was found out that he had been transferred her school for grabbing a boy by the shirt and slamming him up against a wall, was mercilessly harassed by said teacher in front of the class every day. One day she came home and told me that while they were supposed to be working on math problems he was in a discussion with a boy in the front row about the sex scene in a movie where the woman is an alien and her tail came up out of the man´s mouth. I tried and tried and couldn´t get that teacher out of the school system and he knew it. He would smirk at every meeting, knowing that nothing would happen.Our tax dollars pay these people - how many are having sex with students?? Enough!! We have to take our country back!
Click Here if you Like this Comment 7 persons like this.
This tremor from CA was masked by the one in VA, but must still be watched. It may well have "legs".#1: I oppose tenure anywhere: from the classroom to civil service to the courtroom. The "reasons" for it have long been disproved. It just doesn´t work. Let all employees, especially those who work for the taxpayers, justify their existence. There are too many qualified people out of work.
Click Here if you Like this Comment 7 persons like this.
#2: The answer is private schools and vouchers. Let the parents choose.
Click Here if you Like this Comment 7 persons like this.
For those who can´t use their heads for something besides a hat rack or a place to store a wig, there are two sides to tenure.The one that most talk about here in making it difficult to get rid of bad teachers.But then what protection does a teacher have against a hateful parent who accuses you of false allegations? A child who doesn´t like their teacher can go home and lie like a dog telling mom and dad any story of mistreatment, inappropriate touching, hitting, whatever.Now the parents want you fried and hung out to dry base on their kid´s story, when you have done absolutely done nothing wrong.What about the students to harass and hit on teachers just to get them in trouble?Does that make you proud as much as getting rid of bad teachers?People then wonder why no one wants to go into the teaching profession.Would it not be better to have an impartial board evaluate the competence of teachers, evaluate incidences between teacher and students? If the allegations are true then dismissal would be appropriate. If they allegations are false and contrived then perhaps the parents/children should be punished/expelled.I say this because my daughter was a victim of a vicious parent who was just after a paycheck by trying to sue, as most low lifes try to do. But the Union stepped in, check it out and my daughter was found to be innocent of the charges. The child was then expelled from school.If you are not as much against vindictive parents/children as you are about poor ineffective teachers, and finding a solution that works for both, then you should not be in the discussion.
Click Here if you Like this Comment 8 persons like this.
there are two sides on this. I know.My late mother got caught up in one of these ugly situation. She lost her contract in a small school system in eastern Ohio because she gave a kid the grade he´d earned, not the one his parents felt that their "standing" in the community entitled him to.Such things are by no means unknown, and are frankly part of the reason behind unions and tenure. Mom hated the union (membership became a requirement) in the next district in which she taught, but this kind of garbage is behind such things.And if you know anyone on a local school board, you might ask - in very general terms - about such things. Answers might shock you. By the way, while I hate to admit it, widespread things like this had more than a bit to do with the push for standardized testing. I´ve lost track, in my professional life, of the number of employees sporting new High School diplomas, who can not READ!
Click Here if you Like this Comment 6 persons like this.
#6 You hit on the real basis of the problem. Those outside the ´teaching´ profession are not permitted to converse on the subject. Sad that you cultivate that attitude.Union=/=Tenure. Child care workers do not get tenure, bus drivers do not get tenure Yet those people are just as exposed to manevolent childern as a teacher.Even your own second hand case was adjudicated by the union. *NOTHING* to do with tenure.Have a nice life.
Click Here if you Like this Comment 5 persons like this.
Wow! This from THE Campbell Brown and the NYDN! Who´da thunk it. Thanx, OP, for a good one.Though totally ignorant of this Vergara case until this article, I rejoice at the ruling and the precedent-setting implications. Kudos to Judge Rolf Treu. The effect of retaining bad teachers due to tenure, or for any reason, does indeed "shock the conscience."
Click Here if you Like this Comment 4 persons like this.


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The only thing that bothers me is my lack of friends.
I'm not if its me. If I'm too picky. If I'm looking for a person that doesn't exist.
Or if I'm too aggressive. Or too loud. Or too annoying. Or too happy.
Or if I just missed the boat entirely?
I've come to realize I missed the boat on a lot of things in a young girl's life. Nothing really important. But the "label". The certain fashions. The make-up experiment phase. Just stupid little phases.
But maybe those are the things that brought girls together to make friends with one another.
Will I ever find another girl like me? I just want another well-rounded personality. Into fitness. Or at least keeping me motivated. Who wants to go to a club once in a while. Or getting down and dirty.
Idk. She doesn't need to be perfect. I just want someone outgoing. Who doesn't mind trying new things.
I feel as if I have a bigger issue with finding female friends over finding a boyfriend.
I'm feeling pretty happy. Regardless of my seemingly dying relationship. I think he's coming to terms these could be our last few months together. But we're feeling pretty happy together right now. And he's supporting me in wanting to do international business. And my professor said I should do that as my major too. So that's really encouraging. Did I mention I want to learn German?
I'm just feeling pretty great. And since that one tug of war post, I'm feeling happier about myself. I indulge in both of my feminine and masculine characteristics. And even though "rock and roll" isn't actually masculine, but it gets that reaction. But I'm listening to my classic rock more often again.
Even though I haven't been to the gym since Friday, and its catching up with me. I still feel okay. K has requested off for spring break so we can go to florida. Maybe see U. South Carolina on our way back up. Hopefully.
And maybe I can get to a size 8 before we leave. Which is about 5 pounds smaller.
I feel good.
Tagged with #personal #family issues
Sometimes I think about my relationship with my mom. And I think about how much I miss my dad. And I don't understand how I got to where I am now.
I honestly believe my dad wanted me more than anything. And he did all he can for me. Even though we fought all the time. But we have the same personality. We both want to be right. But that didn't stop us from loving eachother. And I realize that now. Not knowing that when he was alive. He just didn't want me to end up like him.
But my mom. I don't know. I thought I used to. But the past few years made me think differently, and I think I've figured it out.
I don't believe she was ready to be a mother. She was 23 when she had me. Has been living in this country for a couple years only. My dad was 32. He was ready to have a child. And when they got pregnant with me, I think my mom ended up being trapt. Not like she was being held hostage, but by love. My mom is one of those people who falls in love with anyone who gives her the time of day. So she stayed. She had to. Especially with me.
So, she did what she could for the next ten years. She was my best friend. And I always loved her more than my dad. But that's because I didn't understand.
After he died though, I was abandoned. She wasn't ready for a life of the single parent. And yes, I was pretty independent at the time, it doesn't excuse her for leaving. Not physically. She left emotionally. She didn't step up to the plate like she should've.
I guess I'm being a little unfair. But she wasn't the parent I needed her to be. Yes, I let her slide. I told her I could handle myself. She took it as, "okay. I don't need to try anymore."
So she did the bare minimum she could've to keep us afloat. Let me live the life I was expecting. She should've explained to me that she couldn't do it anymore. But no. She said no to the other things that mattered to me. Like joining clubs to make friends. Or trying to build my self-esteem. I came home crying every single day. And went to bed crying. How do you not step up as a parent? And sending them to a shrink is not the solution. Even then. The shrinks blamed me for being upset with her. Not her actions and decisions. Not her decisions that affected me. I was supposed to accept that she ripped me away from my friends? From the place I grew up? From the house that my dad made a home? And accept that she moved on three months later after my dad died?
No. But I did. And I regret it.
Honestly, I don't think she loved me as much as she could. I think she loved me as much as she can. As much as she can without hurting herself.
And now that I'm older, I'm realizing this. And it makes me resent her more and more.
The worst part? Now that I'm gone, she's even more miserable than before. And I feel bad for leaving her. But she's so codependent, I can't handle it anymore. And I can't wait to really be on my own, without her in my life.
She made her bed, now she must lay in it. And in the process, she lost the only thing that could've helped her.
Tagged with #bored #wanderlust
I'm so bored. I'm so FUCKING bored.
I just need some purpose in my life. I need something new.
I need purpose. My life needs purpose.
I just want to jump on a plane to Spain.
Yes. Spain.
I don't know why. Maybe just hitch hike across Europe.
That sounds like a dream.
Tagged with #rant #love #relationships #personal
Post warning! May include sexual content!
The farther I go in my relationship, the more I wonder what I'm missing. And the more I wonder if I could find anyone better.
That's not to say I don't love K. He's great. He's my partner. He's my best friend. I just don't feel passionate. I just feel like this is just a really awesome friendship.
I guess I just don't feel like I'm "in love" anymore. I'm not hungry for him anymore. And I don't think I have been for a while. On the other hand, I go through these periods where I'm feeling "eh" about the relationship.
Not to mention, our sex life was never spectacular. It has never, to the best of my memory, made me hungry for more and more. Where I didn't want to leave. Where I didn't want to get up and just lay in bed together for a weekend.
And the more I say that our sex life doesn't matter, the more I feel like I'm lying. Because yes! Sex life is extremely important. You should be able to connect with your partner mentally, emotionally, and physically.
And I don't think we connect on any level.
He's not as smart or driven or curious as me. That sounds terrible. But a lot of the time, he feels like dead weight. I shouldn't need to be the one pushing and pulling for him to do something.
I guess emotionally we connect. He gets where I'm coming from in a lot of situations. And he's great to cuddle with.
And as I said, we physically don't connect.
I just need some feeling in my heart again. I need to fall in love. Or get my heart broken. Some sort of feeling.
I want to meet someone and have them sweep me off my feet. I want someone I can fight for. Fight with. Fight together.
I feel so terrible feeling this. And I feel so selfish for not breaking up with him. But even if I did, I can't tell if I'd be okay with it or with I'll feel like I've made a terrible mistake.
I love him. But I don't know how I feel anymore.
Tagged with #led zeppelin #getting the led out #microeconomics sucks #so many balls #selfie
Getting the Led out as I study Microecon
Tagged with #frustation #gender #gender roles #masculine #feminine
Does anyone understand how hard it is being a girl? Not even a girl, how about a woman, a female.
It's so hard for me to figure out if I should like things that are socially acceptable for a girl to like, or if its okay to like the things that I do. But I still find myself playing tug of war with myself if I should indulge in the the things I feel make me, well, me.
"Boy" things I like: cars, CARS, football, fighting, pants, sweats, video games, bodybuilding (loosely), being aggressive, cursing, outspoken, ballsy, etc.
"Girl" things I like: dresses, make-up, teddy bears (I've been sleeping with the same stuffed bunny for 14, going on 15 years), shopping, romantic comedies, hello kitty, pink stuff, nail polish, etc.
I know some of those traits don't specifically fit into Man or Woman traits. But women aren't supposed to be ballsy and outspoken or curse a lot. Being headstrong.
But it seems that those traits that I like the best of myself will prevent me from making connections with other females. And I wonder if I need to conform to a more feminine version in order to make friends with other females. Because other females like me don't really like having other female friends.
And as I go on, I find myself loving more of my "masculine" traits. I love cars. That's something I can't help. And the thought of working with them in the future makes me giddy. I just bought $1200 for UFC tickets in April. And imagining how much blood will be poured and all the screaming ill be doing is exciting. I'm loving football more and more as the post season goes on. Hell, I predicted the Ravens would go to the Superbowl.
It's just frustrating living in a society that forces people to choose between feminine and masculine hobbies. And if you like something that isn't the norm, you're a pariah. But shit. I've been a pariah this long, why stop now?
Why stop loving the things I love, and still be "girly"? Why can't I play a football game in a dress? Well, because the stains will set, and I'll be forced to throw my dress away.
But what I'm getting at, we need to fix this. Fix living a society that lives by gender roles.
And I'm going to prove myself every single day that you don't need to be a certain gender to excel in something.
I actually feel pretty happy. I tried something new today. I took a yoga class. Something I never thought that I would do. And I'm really proud of myself. I took barely any breaks. Maybe two.
Worked out for another hour and a half.
I looked in the mirror, and I actually saw change in myself. I feel so much better. Though I physically might not tomorrow. But I'm okay with that.
I think I'm finding motivation. And with every rep, I feel better and better.
And actually, I think I'm pretty happy with school. My professors seem cool enough for me to handle it.
I think I'll be okay. Think I'm gonna start another art project soon. Well, I guess craft project. I'm not very artsy. I'm not very good at it. But, I feel so free and caged in at the same time.
But that's a story for another post.
So to go with my last post, for any of my followers.
Learn to trust. Don't be scared. Open your mind, open your heart.
Make a friend everyday. Maybe they have an interesting story.
If you want to be friends, lets be friends. I promise I'm not always so pessimistic.
Tell me your name, give me your Facebook, tell me about yourself.


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No iPhone For 64-Bit Windows
kdawson posted more than 7 years ago | from the very-fine-print dept.762
Mizled writes "After buying a new iPhone yesterday and bringing it home to sync and activate it, I found out that Windows 64-bit is not supported. Neither XP 64-bit nor Vista 64-bit works with the iPhone. I called the Apple support line and the rep said I needed to downgrade my computer from a 64-bit operating system. I also posted about my concerns on the Apple iPhone discussion forums, but my post was quickly removed."


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How to Use Facebook: Tips for Newbies
So you're ready to join the 750+ million people on Facebook? Great! There are a number of things you can do to make Facebook safer, control your privacy, find your friends, and customize your experience. Here are a few of the key things you should know.
Make sure you're using browser encryption. Go to Account > Account Settings > Settings > Account Security. By choosing to "Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible" you'll reduce the risk of someone stealing your password or eavesdropping on you over a wireless network . In the same settings window you'll see options to notify you if an unrecognized computer or device tries to access your Facebook account. This is useful if you use one or two computers that access your account, but it may become a pain if you use random computers in many locations.
Facebook is about sharing with others , but you may not want to share everything with everyone. There are ways to determine who can see what by going to Account > Privacy Settings. You can fully customize your privacy settings through Customize Settings so your data is shared only with a select group of people.
For each type of information you share, you can choose Everyone, Friends of Friends, Friends Only, or Customize. Customize allows you to choose specific people who can see your data, and allows you to hide your info from specific people as well.
Another part of being social is connecting, and Facebook allows you to determine how others can connect to you. In Account/Privacy Settings/Connecting on Facebook choose View settings to limit if people can search for you on Facebook, send you friend requests or messages, or see your friend list.
Facebook is no fun without your friends and family , so add as many of them as you'd like to be in touch with.
You'll see a People You May Know section on the right side of your Facebook page, which is how Facebook suggests connections based on what it knows about you. Click See All and you'll get a larger list. For a more directed search, click on Find Friends at the top of your screen. You'll have the option to search for friends by name or by email, from other email accounts you own (Facebook recognizes over 2500 sources) or imported from a CSV file or Outlook.
If you've added people you no longer want on your Friends list, choose Account/Edit Friends. There's a dropdown at the top of the page to choose which friends you'd like to view, and you can 'X' out any of them you'd like to remove.
The Account/Edit Friends page is also where you can create "Lists" to better organize your friends. You can create lists for high school friends, another for neighbors, others for work or your organizations, as many as you want. Just Create a List, and choose who you'd like to add.
Seeing lots of stuff you'd rather not in your News Feed? You can get rid of it! If you hover over an item in your feed, you'll see a little 'X' appear in the upper right corner of the item. Click the "X" and choose "Hide this post" or "Hide all by xxx" and you can get rid of the stuff you'd rather not see.


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Expected Dates
January 4, 2015 to April 25, 2015
Devils Postpile National Monument
Position ID
You will provide support for daily operations to enhance visitor services by providing interpretive services and vistor information at the Mammoth Lakes Welcome Center, an interagency visitor center in the town of Mammoth Lakes. You will also presenting interpretive and educational outreach programs in the local community. Outreach programs include Story Hour at the local library, community outreach programs at the Welcome Center, and field-based educational programs including snowshoe walks and other winter-based programming. You will also assist visitors with wilderness trip planning, wilderness education, and work with the monument's Firstbloom program, a field-based educational outreach program with the Bishop Paiute Tribe.
Mammoth Lakes is a beautiful resort community located at an elevation of around 8,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It is located about 3 hours south of Reno Nevada and 6 hours northeast of Los Angeles, CA. The closest airport is the Mammoth Yosemite Airport and is about 7 miles from Mammoth Lakes. The summer climate is pleasant with high temperatures between 75 and 85 degrees.
Intern will receive training in the following areas: Formal and Informal Interpretation, Resources of Devils Postpile and the Sierra, Welcome Center operations, winter safety, wilderness interpretation.
See training section. Recreational opportunities include snowshoeing and skiing. Within a 45 minute drive, some hiking opportunities may be available depending on snow conditions.
Main Area of Focus
Education and Interpretation
Education, Training & Skills Expected
- Communications
- some coursework or experience
- Education
- some coursework or experience
- Customer Service
- competent without supervision
- Community Engagement
- competent without supervision


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36 results for "cardinals trade"
Top free agents poised for big paydaysBuster Olney
ST. LOUIS - As the Cardinals and Red Sox play on, MLB's other 28 teams are preparing for the offseason market that will begin next week. There has been some early trade talk, officials say, some feeling out for what could be available, and teams are ...Blog | October 26, 2013
Cards, Indians lead latest buzzBuster Olney
After Rafael Furcal's elbow fell apart in spring training and trade speculation began, St. Louis Cardinals players spoke highly of Pete Kozma. They could not have had the kind of run they did at the end of last season, the other Cardinals said, witho...Blog | July 12, 2013
A new playoff format could bring more buyers around the trade dea...Buster Olney
It's unclear how the new playoff format will affect teams' decision-making, but Buster Olney writes that there will be teams looking to buy in pursuit of the additional playoff spots. Here are three teams executives expect to be aggressive this summer.Blog | Conversation | May 16, 2012
Jake Peavy and other starting pitchers with trade value - MLBBuster Olney
Jake Peavy is healthy again, and he's proving just how good a pitcher he can be. He's also proving he has trade value. As Buster Olney writes, Peavy is among a handful of starting pitchers who could be marketable at the deadline this summer.Blog | Conversation | May 15, 2012
Josh Beckett can't be traded easily, but he may not change, eithe...Buster Olney
Josh Beckett hasn't just driven a wedge between himself and Red Sox Nation; he's driven a wedge between himself and any sense of a trade market. Boston is in a tough position -- the city and the team management.Blog | Conversation | May 11, 2012
Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays ar two teams that could be in mark...Buster Olney
The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays will begin the regular season with their closers on the disabled list, and Buster Olney writes that it won't be long before teams give the reliever market a look. On paper, there are some trade options.Blog | Conversation | April 04, 2012
The Detroit Tigers are the latest example of teams looking to fil...Buster Olney
Buster Olney writes that the trade market has been unusually quiet this spring, and it could indicate a shift is happening throughout baseball. Teams are beginning to value low-cost alternatives more than well-traveled veteran talent.Blog | Conversation | March 27, 2012
New York Yankees must deal A.J. Burnett before spring training be...Buster Olney
With A.J. Burnett trade rumors swirling, Buster Olney writes that if the New York Yankees are going to trade the pitcher, they must do it before spring training opens to avoid what will inevitably be an immense distraction in camp.Blog | Conversation | February 13, 2012
New York Mets and David Wright have reached a crossroads - MLBBuster Olney
In the debut of "Buster's Crossroads," Buster Olney writes that the New York Mets have to make a decision on the future of third baseman David Wright. Can the Mets afford to pay him, or should they trade their franchise player?Blog | Conversation | January 18, 2012
Dave Duncan's lasting impact; the Manny Ramirez market - MLBBuster Olney
Buster Olney writes that Dave Duncan has been so good as a pitching coach, it makes you wonder if the Hall of Fame should take note. Plus, the market for Manny, and how Big Z fits in Miami.Blog | Conversation | January 06, 2012
Prince Fielder could make the Nationals immediate playoff contend...Buster Olney
Buster Olney writes that signing Prince Fielder would immediately make the Washington Nationals contenders in the NL East, as Fielder would transform the lineup. But how would the dollars and years sag on the franchise in future seasons?Blog | Conversation | January 05, 2012
The rebranding of the Miami Marlins and Albert Pujols' AL debut a...Buster Olney
After ranking the top 10 teams, lineups, infields, outfields, bullpens and rotations heading into the 2012 season, Buster Olney looks at the biggest MLB storylines as we inch closer to spring training, beginning with the rebranding of the Miami Marlins.Blog | Conversation | January 03, 2012
Behind great defense and dominant pitching, the Rays are the best...Buster Olney
Buster Olney continues his top-10 series with a New Year's power rankings. The Red Sox, Yankees and Phillies all have higher payrolls, but dominant pitching and superb defense make the Tampa Bay Rays the best team in baseball.Blog | Conversation | January 01, 2012
Ranking the top 10 lineups in MLBBuster Olney
Buster Olney examines the top 10 lineups in the majors, with the Boston Red Sox leading the way.Blog | Conversation | December 31, 2011
Ranking the top 10 outfields in MLBBuster Olney
In Part 4 of his series looking ahead to the 2012 season, Buster Olney ranks the 10 best outfields in Major League Baseball. The Arizona Diamondbacks claim the No. 1 spot.Blog | Conversation | December 30, 2011
The 10 best infields in Major League Baseball - MLBBuster Olney
After ranking the 10 best rotations and bullpens in Major League Baseball, Buster Olney continues his look ahead to 2012 and tackles the best infields in the game based on offensive and defensive production.Blog | Conversation | December 29, 2011


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- The Earth is Losing Weight
- Oil Tycoon turns Green
- People's Climate March
- Global Warming: Here and Harmful
- Proof Change is Really Happening
- Bad News for Beef Lovers
- Understanding Arctic Ice Melting
- Bad News for Seafood Lovers
- U.S. Number 1 in Climate Change Denial
- Will Famous Volcano Blow Its Top?
- Shocking NASA Images
- Earth on Brink of Mass Extinction
- Our Seas are Sick
- World Oceans Day
- The Weather Channel Talks to White House
- Oyster Farmers Struggling
- Amazing Finds on Google Earth
- Drought Plagues Southwest
- Disruptions in Agriculture
- Dry and Drier in West Texas
- Oceans Becoming Warmer and Acidic
- Climate Change Effecting Human Health
- Coasts Vulnerable to Sea Level Rise
- Dwindling Water Source
- Amazing Photos of Now and Then
- Earth: Scary Scenario by 2100?
- Avalanche Destroys Homes. Gets Worse.
- How Can PEE-Cycling Help Us?
- Watch: Creation of a Snowflake
- Cooking and Climate Change
- Protecting Earth's Water
- Normal Hotels Don't Do THIS
- This Discovery Blew Scientists Away
- Penguins Do WHAT to Survive?
- DISCOVERED: Message More Than 50 Years Old
- What You Don't Know About Rain
- Gassy Cows a Serious Danger?
- Mystery of the Pyramids, SOLVED
- Stairway to Heaven
- Ticking Time Bomb?
- Abandoned Cities: Ephesus, Turkey
- Are Famous Landmarks Being Threatened?
- Warm Your Hearth, with Trash!
- Post-Apocalyptic Ghost Town
- Where is the World's Deadliest Road?
- Awaken to a Beautiful World: Cayo Costa
- X-RATED Weather Effects?
- This Won't Last Forever
- What Caused This?
- Life Altering Choice
- Coral Reefs: For How Much Longer?
- One-of-a-Kind Underwater Pics
- Spooky, Abandoned Asylum
- Staying Alive in an Iceberg
- Home Is Where The Trash Is
- NASA Mission Icebridge
- THIS is a Delicacy?
- Killer Algae
- Amazing Waves and Light
Telling the tale of a changing climate has been done countless times with our voices, but Daniel Crawford is hoping to raise awareness on the strings of his cello.
An undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota, Crawford wrote "A Song of Our Warming Planet," which allows listeners to eschew numbers and statistics and absorb the climate change discussion like never before. Crawford was assigned the project when geography professor Scott St. George looked to turn climate data into music and asked interning Crawford for assistance.
Starting with data collection that began in 1880, Crawford said he pulled research from NASA's worldwide climate data and picked a range of three octaves on his cello. The lowest annual global temperature was assigned the lowest note, and as the globe has warmed, the pitches got higher.
(MORE: Hurricanes Likely to Get Stronger and More Frequent)
"I suppose the most shocking thing in actually going through the process was hearing it for the first time and ... being able to see how rapidly this shift in temperatures started to happen," said Crawford.
Perhaps the most telling part of the song hasn't been written yet. If climate predictions are correct over the course of the next century, global temperatures could rise as much as two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). By comparison, global temperatures have risen 0.8 degrees Celsius (1.4 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1880, reports NASA.
"If that was to happen, just using the scale I've created for my instrument, the resulting notes would be out of the range of human hearing," said Crawford.
(MORE: Climate Change Clues May Lie in Antarctica)
In the weather community, meteorologists have been discussing new ways to reach the public and raise awareness about climate change, and with a universally understood medium like music, they could finally break through to millions.
"This brilliantly combines two of my passions -- music (as my Twitter profile says, I'd be a DJ if not a meteorologist!) and weather (and I've been doing research on global warming's effects upon that)," Stu Ostro, senior director of weather communications at The Weather Channel, said in an email.
Global warming's song has many stanzas left to be written, but it's Crawford's hope that the future will hold happier tones.
MORE ON WEATHER.COM: NYC Mayor Reveals Plans to Fight Climate Change
NYC Response to Climate Change
Getty Images
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivers remarks in the Duggal Greenhouse at the Brooklyn Navy Yard about the city's long-term plan to prepare for climate change impacts on June 11, 2013 in New York City. The $20 billion storm protection package details a large network of levees, flood walls and other protections from the rising sea level threat.


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Rental Quick Search
Long Term Rentals
Gulf Coast Events
10th Annual Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon Festival
|The Hot Air Balloon Festival is presented by Tanger Outlets, and they welcome 50 balloonists from all over the country. This event is free and there is entertainment for every one in the family to enjoy. There is live music daily, a K-9 Frisbee Dog Show, and a baby alligator in Kid's Fun Zone.
You can grab some ice cream or plate of delicious BBQ when your stomach starts talking. There will be an array of crafters, artisans, and retailers with many amazing products to buy.
Balloons take flight at 6am and again at 7pm, it is a sight you don't want to miss.
* All balloon flights and displays are weather permitting. Winds must be less than 5 mph to safely inflate balloons on the festival grounds.


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The words echo in every crevice, every dark corner, in a thousand voices Artemis does not recognize, in a language she cannot understand. Fate's body glows gold at the edges, a fearsome aura that illuminates the previously dim temple, and Artemis's heart hammers ferociously against her sternum, a frantic drumming beat that makes her head feel light.
Fate's incantation ends, and his eyes start to brighten with the same gold light that they had before, and there is a breeze in the walls now, rustling Artemis's hair and bones and breath.
Then, out of the darkness, out of the dust and the rubble and Giza's indigo night sky, out of the stars, out of the wind, she hears him. It's as indistinct and varying in clarity as it had been in the zeta beams, and it sounds so far away even though it's no more distant than half a floor away, and it crackles and burns out like radio static, but she still knows it. She knows it so well her elbows start to tingle.
"Ar—mis—so fast in—tired—I'm s—tired—babe—Mom and—scared…"
—Ch. 3 | The Next Great Adventure (brella)
Oh hell no


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Search pictures and profiles of Senior Singles near you right now. Discover how online dating sites make finding singles in the United States, Canada, and all over the world simple, safe and fun! Once you browse profiles and pictures start flirting, messaging and connecting with other members of the SeniorPeopleMeet.com community. Search today and find other sexy, intelligent singles for casual dating or a serious relationship in your area.Search Single Senior Men | Search Single Senior Women
A little about me...
I'm open, honest, sensitive, intuitive, creative and passionate. You will find me fun loving, young at heart and comfortable in my body. I'm fit and grateful for my excellent health.
I have been generously blessed and have so much to be thankful for! I want to give back now. Way back when, I was in corporate and had the opportunity to live in various places - St. Louis, Honolulu, Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte and Buenos Aries.
I enjoy nature, honor spirit and appreciate good company.
About the one I'm looking for...
Are you spiritually based, emotionally accessible, supportive, confident yet humble, accomplished in your own right, financially stable, fit and fun loving? If you are ready for a women who wants to relate to and complement all of you ... spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically ... then we will enjoy each others company and together build an intimate, mutually supportive, loving and passionate relationship that lasts.
I'd just like to add...
The real treasure is inside each of us and I come to our relationship ready to give of myself and my love. I would very much appreciate the opportunity for companionship and long-term commitment.
I look forward to learning about YOU and will openly share more of me in a more personal way.
Meet Senior Singles
in your State


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1. NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT NECESSARY TO ENTER OR TO WIN. A PURCHASE OR PAYMENT WILL NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. ALL FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS APPLY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. … Back to Article
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Written by:
Hello , you know who,
you are, can not say,
your name, but you,
know all the same.
I have started writing again,
for you.
It's some thing I have to do.
You are the one, who knows.
what's in my heart,
you are the one who inspires me,
opened my eyes to poetry.
You are my secret love,
when the time is right,
I will tell you above.
You are the one, who ,
held my hand tight,
when we walked, along,
the beach, late at night.
With you I went to Paris and Rome,
with out leaving home.
We even walked along the China wall,
with you in my arms, I felt so tall.
Yes it's thanks to you,
that I write here now,
expressing my feelings, on the net.
Thinking of you, in all I write,
My muse, My friend,
I love you so,
just wanted, you to know.


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Topics: Quality, Health Reform, States, Hospitals, Politics
Jun 29, 2010
Donald Berwick, A Nominee Well-Suited To Trim The Fat On Health Care The Washington Post Dr. Berwick is the perfect nominee to help reshape a health-care system that is wasteful and bloated. He has a track record of understanding how to wring inefficiencies out of health-care systems and improve care in the process. Whatever his vision of the perfect health-care system, as administrator he would be constrained by legal and political realities; he would administer existing programs and help implement the new law (6/29). Look For Kagan Health Reform Fight Politico According to the Republican National Committee website, the party's No. 1 issue is to "rigorously question [Supreme Court nominee Elena] Kagan" about where she stands on the "variety of legal challenges [facing] health care overhaul" (Simon Lazarus, 6/29). COBRA Subsidy Expiration Could Hurt Hospitals The Toronto Star The federal COBRA subsidy ended on June 1, 2010, and the proposal to extend the benefit hasn't garnered enough votes in the Senate. … While the drop-off in the number of COBRA enrollees is unlikely to have a sustained impact on the majority of health-care companies, acute-care hospitals and other health-care facilities are among the few segments that stand to be hurt by the elimination of the subsidy (Alex Morozov, 6/28). Covering Preexisting Conditions: High-Risk Pools Vs. Obamacare Mandates National Review GOP lawmakers can immediately provide much-needed help for the uninsured who have preexisting conditions by providing full funding for state-run high-risk pools (preferably in combination with offering long-overdue tax-breaks for the uninsured, as Ross Douthat advocates). Obamacare would address the problem of covering those with expensive preexisting conditions by mandating that insurers offer them coverage in the regular market, at artificially low rates. For four simple reasons, which Republicans can successfully communicate to voters, the high-risk-pool approach makes colossally more sense (Jeffrey Anderson, 6/28).
Health Care Alternative The Boston Globe One of the many economic hot-button issues influencing health care involves famous Boston teaching hospitals expanding beyond their city limits deep into the suburbs. Does that bring top-flight medicine to more patients where they live or turn higher-cost health care into another form of suburban sprawl? The question doesn't come with simple black and white answers (Steven Syre, 6/29). [Gov. Deval] Patrick Needs to Practice What He Preaches The Salem (Mass.) News There's some merit in Patrick's effort to focus attention on skyrocketing health costs. But there's little merit, as his own insurance appeals board has ruled, in his arbitrary cap on rates; and absolutely none in his refusal to turn over all the public records relating to that decision (6/29). Portland Hospitals: Unpacking Those Patient Satisfaction Survey Results Oregon Live Reporting on the quality of health care directly to consumers is the right thing to do, but if the information reported is to be anything more than a superficial review of customer service, we must dig deeper. Patients need to have information that relates to the quality of the care they receive, and that means questioning the causes of patient perceptions (Susan King, 6/28).
This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.
© 2014 Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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1/1 Photo of Sicilian Broccoli and Ditalini
Prep Time:
Cook Time:
20 hrs
30 mins
This is a wonderful and easy vegetable&pasta recipe that my family has been making for ages. We use only fresh broccoli and I have added bullion cubes to enhance the flavor. I hope you try this delicious and healthy dish.
Units: US | Metric
Serving Size: 1 (407 g)
Servings Per Recipe: 6
Your life in the kitchen will never be the same.