Roberto Devereux and Secret Societies.

4-9-16 SHORT HILLS: It’s winter again again. Yesterday started out OK, and I was outside doing more clean up and trimming, but today it’s back in the thirties and actually snowing. The snow is not sticking or accumulating and is behaving like rain, but it drove me inside when it started. A freeze is predicted for tonight.

We were back at the Metropolitan Opera last night for Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux. The four major roles, Elizabeth I, Sara, Roberto, and Nottingham were sung by Sondra Radvanovsky, Elina Garanča, Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecien. It’s hard to say that any one of them was more outstanding than the others. What I mean to say is that the four were all great. There is basically one set that they tinker with for the whole opera.

Before the opera and before an excellent dinner at Café Fiorello, we stopped in at the American Folk Art Museum because we got to the city early. AFAM has a show about the Freemasons and Odd Fellows. These were fraternal societies of Britain and the U.S. that may still exist. The show has lots of signs, flags and paraphernalia from the two orders that are both far, far down at the bottom of the list of things that ever fascinated me. The show tweaked my interest enough to go to Wikipedia this morning. If you want to know more, you’ll have to do the same.

New blooms: purple lamium.


Odd Fellows flag from New Hampshire.

International Order Odd Fellows , IOOF, sign from Newark, NJ. The chain links and eye important symbols.

Lincoln Center Plaza - Met Opera on the left.

Poster for Roberto Devereux

They opened the curtain before the overture, perhaps so the audience could take pix. That set is basically, with slight variations, the only one.