Today, my column is headed “Delicious, scandalous Angela, &c.” Who is Angela? Angela Gheorghiu, the Romanian soprano, who is both brilliant and controversial — a real prima donna. She has struck again, scandal-wise. Other issues in my column include useful idiots, paid and unpaid; Columbia University; Hong Kong; and the Buffett family, of Omaha, Neb. To give it a whirl, go here.
Maybe just a little bit of mail today. In my column on Tuesday, I had a note on James Earl Jones, who has died at 93. A reader writes,
How would you describe his voice? I understand that it’s more straightforward to assign labels to singing voices than to speaking voices. But whenever I’ve seen a writer describing the voice of Darth Vader, it’s “baritone.” Does that make sense to you? I know it’s a speaking voice, but I vote bass all the way.
May you live long and prosper (not that that has anything to do with Star Wars).
Taking my assignment seriously, I went to YouTube, and listened to a little speech made by Jones (accepting an award) (which he did a lot). This will sound like a dodge: but I vote bass-baritone. That is a category of voice — singing voice — between bass and baritone, or rather, one that blends the two. I would describe the speaking voice of James Earl Jones, as I heard it, as bass-baritone with a tendency toward baritone.
FWIW.
Wonderful voice, regardless. And, as I said in my column, all the more remarkable because its owner, when a youth, was mute for a while. Such was the trauma of his early life.
Before making a correction, I said that Jones was the voice of “Mustafa” in The Lion King. Fortunately, a reader set me straight: “Mufasa.” Why had I written “Mustafa”? Frankly, I believe I was thinking of an opera character: Mustafà in L’italiana in Algeri (Rossini). (I know opera better than the movies — although I’m not bad at movies from the ’70s and ’80s.)
In a column last week, I said I overheard something at the golf range — a comment from a distinguished teaching pro. The line goes like this: “‘Golf’ — because all the other four-letter words were taken.”
A reader says, “Don’t forget: ‘Golf’ is ‘flog’ spelled backwards.”
Yesterday, I published some photos showing some nifty business names — I mean, nifty names of businesses: “Gumption Coffee,” “Out of the Blue Seafood,” “The Junkluggers.” A reader says, “Your love of names (and wordplay) reminded me of something I spotted during a visit to Leicester, England, last year.”
Here ’tis:
My thanks to one and all.