Did I Hear That?
"GICILIAN VESPERS, sung by Miliza Korjus," the announcer’s voice, as it percolated through the structure of my ear, seemed to be saying; and a train of thought blew its whistle and moved off. In the year 1282, the population of Sicily, disliking a French Army of occupation then in possession of the island, rose in a body and massacred them to the tune of 30,000 or so. This is generally represented as a spontaneous explosion of popular wrath, and colourful stories are told of how it all began when some French soldiery attacked a wedding party; but historians have disinterested, vague suspicions that the whole thing was at least encouraged, perhaps organised, and certainly applauded by the King of Aragon on the one hand and the Emperor of Byzantium on the other. Be that as it may, the affair was one of history’s more vigorous and sweeping gestures-and what of all this, my consciousness suddenly demanded, was apparent in the singing of Miss Korjus? There was clearly nothing of the bloody and revolutionary passions of a proud and warlike populace; could it be that the composer had ignored the usual meaning of the phrase and merely concentrated on something vaguely Sicilian and vaguely vesperian? Or was it all a misunderstanding and had the announcer said "Whispers" after all? At ‘this juncture a cultivated acquaintance breaks in and informs me that the song is from a little-known opera by Verdi and has no connection with the main political theme. This probably proves something. :
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 354, 5 April 1946, Page 11
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256Did I Hear That? New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 354, 5 April 1946, Page 11
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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