Wednesday, January 02, 2008

European City of Culture


I shall be away for a bit of culture, in the city of culture; yes Liverpool.
I am going to Donizetti's Emilia di Liverpool to renew my acquaintance with the conductor Giovanni Pacor and his delightful wife, who have left the Veneto to spend the winter months next to the Atlantic. Things people do for their art!
I'll be back on Friday.

4 comments:

gemoftheocean said...

Hey, have a good time. We'll want an opera report when you get back. I heard the Beatles came from there too. So the place isn't half bad! We'll I guess Harland & Wolff could have done a better job on the Titanic, but nobody's perfect.

Paulinus said...

Enjoy

Anonymous said...

Did my degree in Liverpool...probably just as well you're gone..Terry's been doing some blogalikes..& you & i come out rather well! lol

Dr. Peter H. Wright said...

Liverpool :

A City with a dreadful website.

On the one hand, the website repeatedly directed me to local towns and countryside which are, strictly speaking, nothing to do with Liverpool.

e.g. the town of Southport (20 miles away) with its elegant gardens and shopping street.

The miles of beaches and sand dunes of the West Lancashire coast.

The Wirral peninsula, across the River Mersey, with its lovely countryside and views of North Wales over the River Dee.

On the other hand, constant references to football teams, cafes, the Beatles, the modern concrete Catholic Cathedral apparently known locally as
"Paddy's wigwam", and what I have to call the local sub-culture of the modern multi-ethnic city.

What about culture ??

Eventually, I established the following (not through this website) :

Liverpool was granted its Charter as a City by King John in 1207.

Its stately Town Hall was designed by John Wood of Bath in the eighteenth century.

It has some fine Georgian houses.

Its waterfront buildings include one of Renaissance Florentine design, and another which, with its cupolas and central dome, suggests Venice.

Liverpool Cathedral designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in the Gothic style, is a huge, awesome structure in sandstone, (mainly quarried locally,) and is described by Betjeman as "one of the greatest buildings of the twentieth century".

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the finest in Europe, with its own concert hall.

The University of Liverpool is apparently of a very high academic standard.

I don't know if any of this counts as "culture" in the year 2008.

I hope Signor and Signora Pacor like it there, and that Father Ray enjoys his visit.

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