Monday, December 24, 2012

Knecht Ruprecht, or The Bad Boy's Christmas


Don't even think of calling your
mother or father.
They can't hear you.
No one can help you now.
I came through the chimney
 in the form of a crow.

You're my first this Christmas.
You're a very special boy, you know.
You've been bad,
bad every day,
dreamt every night
 of the next day's evil.
It takes a lot of knack
 to give others misery
for three hundred and sixty
consecutive days!
How many boys have you beaten?
How many small animals killed?
Half the pets in this town
 have scars from meeting you.
Am I Santa Claus? Cack, ack, ack!
Do I look like Santa, you little shit?
Look at my bare-bone skull,
   my eyes like black jelly,
   my tattered shroud.
My name is Ruprecht,
 Knecht Ruprecht.
I'm Santa's cousin! Cack, ack, ack!

Stop squirming and listen--
 (of course I'm hurting you!)
I have a lot of visits to make.
My coffin is moored to your chimney.
My vultures are freezing their beaks off.

But as I said, you're special.
You're my number one boy.
When you grow up,
you're going to be a noxious skinhead,
maybe a famous assassin.
Your teachers are already afraid of you.
In a year or two you'll discover girls,
a whole new dimension  of cruelty and pleasure.

Now let's get down to business.
Let me get my bag here.
Presents? Presents! Cack, ack, ack!
See these things? They're old,
old as the Inquisition,
make dental instruments look like toys.

No, nothing much, no permanent harm.
I'll take a few of your teeth,
then I'll put them back.
This is going to hurt.  There--
the clamp is in place.
Let's see--where to plug in
those electrodes?

Oh, now, don't whimper and pray to God!
As if you ever believed in God! Cack, ack, ack!
I know every tender place in a boy's body.
There, that's fine! My, look at the blood!

You'll be good from now on? That's a laugh.
Am I doing this to teach you a lesson?
I am the Punisher. I do this
because I enjoy it! I am just like you!

There is nothing you can do!
I can make a minute of pain seem like a year!
No one will ever believe you!

Worse yet, you cannot change.
Tomorrow you will be more hateful than ever.
The world will wish you had never been born.

Well now, our time is up. Sorry for the mess.
Tell your mother you had a nosebleed.

Your father is giving you a hunting knife
for which I'm sure you'll have a thousand uses.

Just let me lick those tears from your cheeks.
I love the taste of children's tears.

My, it's late! Time to fly! Cack, ack, ack!
 I'll be back next Christmas Eve!


_______
Knecht Ruprecht, from German folklore, is St. Nicholas' evil twin, who punishes bad children. 


Friday, December 7, 2012

The Orphan of Chao


I carried this book to lunch today and read a thirteenth century Chinese play called "The Orphan of Chao." It's a lurid revenge play, with three suicides and one infant dismemberment on stage, 300 offstage murders, and a long 20-year wait for revenge. Oh, what fun!  (No, I was reading a Penguin edition of this play in English!)

http://amzn.com/0140442626


Rite of Spring In Its Original Choreography


Preparing for a talk I am giving, I discovered that the original Nijinsky choregraphy for the Rite of Spring has been staged by the Kirov and other companies. Here is the final scene, with the Sacrificial Victim literally dancing herself to death. Although Stravinsky later wanted the Rite to be listened to as pure music, the original choreography shows that this music can be taken literally. Terrifying! 

Marguerite Monnot



One of the 20th century's least-heralded woman composers was the classically-trained Marguerite Monnot, who collaborated with Edith Piaf in creation an enormous body of classic French "chansons," the French song genre that transcends pop mu
sic. Most of my friends who love classical music also love Edith Piaf. Monnot was her best friend, and together they made the 20th century "chanson" immortal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Monnot

Patrick McGrath Muñiz

Patrick McGrath Muñiz had a show of his work at URI some time back, and I have kept track of this remarkable artist via his website. The technique of a Renaissance master combined with high political and social satire might be one way to describe him. Go look, and I think you will become a fan. http://www.patrickmcgrath-art.com/