Portrait of New York State Artists - Peter Dizozza, submitted February 14, 2022

Initial Form: Creatives Rebuild New York Portrait of New York State Artists - Applicant Questionnaire Submitted on February 14, 2022 The following information will be used only to ensure that there are no duplicate responses to the questionnaire. All responses will be anonymized before they are analyzed, and you will not be identified in any outputs created from this project’s data. Last Name (Required) Dizozza Date of Birth (Required) 09/05/1958 Zip Code (Required) 10003 Artistic Practice We seek to learn more about your experience as an artist. The phrase “artistic and cultural practice” refers to any of the work that you do as an artist, culture bearer, or culture maker. 1. In your artistic or cultural practice, do you seek specific impacts or outcomes related to community change? (Optional, select one) Yes 1b. If yes, please describe: (Optional) mutual awareness, respect, interaction, freedom of thought 2. Do you experience any barriers to pursuing educational or professional development opportunities that advance your artistic or cultural practice? (Optional, select one) No 3. In the last month, how would you describe the amount of energy you have to engage in your artistic or cultural practice(s)? Please consider your overall physical, mental, emotional, and creative energy. (Optional, select one) 4 – sufficient energy 4. In the last month, how would you describe the amount of time you have to engage in your artistic or cultural practice(s)? (Optional, select one) n/a 5. In the last month, how would you describe your financial capacity to afford to engage in your artistic or cultural practice(s)? Please consider necessary materials, training, space, assistance, or other needs related to your artistic or cultural practice(s). (Optional, select one) 3 – My financial capacity to afford these items fluctuates Financial Stability We seek to understand the financial circumstances of artists in New York State, and any unique precarities held by those who identify as an artist, culture bearer, or culture maker. 6. On a scale of 1-5, how would you describe your own financial stability? (Optional, select one) 3 – my financial stability fluctuates Accessibility Note for Screen Readers: Auto forms mode is discouraged on this site, and we suggest that the PC cursor be turned off, which can be toggled using insert-z. 6b. Is there anything you’d like to share about what financial stability means to you? (Optional) Earning more than I spend. 7. Please provide an estimate of your 2021 household income, before taxes: (Optional, select one) $75,000 to $99,999 8. How do you currently earn money? (Optional, select all that apply) I have one or more part-time jobs (less than 30 hours per week). 8b. How are your wages currently paid? (Optional, select one) Both of the above. 9. Do you have any other sources of income or financial stability besides income from jobs? Please consider sources such as inheritances, real estate, family support, retirement accounts, stocks, bonds, tangible property, settlements, or lottery proceedings. (Optional, select one) Yes 10. Do you currently have health insurance? (Optional, select one) Yes 11. If an unexpected $400 emergency came up today, would you be able to pay for it with cash or a cash equivalent, without using credit? (Optional, select one) Yes 12. Are you currently carrying debt? This could include financial obligations not paid in full each month like credit cards, personal loans, payday loans or short-term debt, student loan debt, housing debt, automobile loan, other. (Optional, select one) Yes 12b. If yes, would you describe your debt as: (Optional, select one) Manageable Well-Being We seek to understand the overall well-being of artists, culture bearers, and culture makers in New York State. Well-being is defined as “the comprehensive view of how individuals and communities experience and evaluate their lives, including their physical and mental health and having the skills and opportunities to construct meaningful futures.” (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2018) For the following questions, please indicate your agreement with each of the following statements within the last month on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is strongly disagree and 5 is strongly agree. 13. I am in good physical health. (Optional, select one) 4 – Agree 14. I am in good mental and emotional health. (Optional, select one) 4 – Agree 15. My housing circumstances are stable and meet my needs. (Optional, select one) 4 – Agree 16. I am able to feed myself and those I care for. (Optional, select one) 4 – Agree 17. My social relationships are supportive and rewarding. (Optional, select one) 4 – Agree 18. I lead a purposeful and meaningful life. (Optional, select one) 3 – Neither agree nor disagree / Not sure 19. I feel agency over my future. (Optional, select one) 4 – Agree 20. I am optimistic about the future. (Optional, select one) 4 – Agree Policy/Advocacy We seek to understand the relationship that artists, culture bearers, and culture makers in New York State have to the broader public and to areas of policy that may impact them. 21. Do you feel that the general public values, sees, and/or understands your work? (Optional, select one) I'm not sure Accessibility Note for Screen Readers: Auto forms mode is discouraged on this site, and we suggest that the PC cursor be turned off, which can be toggled using insert-z. 21b. Is there anything you'd like to share about your response? (Optional) In general there has always been encouragement and support, and at times it has been unexpected, such that I better understand what I am doing as a result of public response. 22. Do you feel confident articulating your creative process and the labor involved? (Optional, select one) Yes 23. Do you believe that artists, culture-bearers, and culture makers deserve to have a financial safety net? (Optional, select one) Yes 24. Prior to learning about Creatives Rebuild New York, were you aware of guaranteed income or universal basic income policies? (Optional, select one) No 25. What coalitions or causes do you actively participate in as a supporter or advocate? (Optional, select all that apply) Arts/culture 26. Are you an active member of any group (not including a political party) that tries to influence public policy or government? (Optional, select one) No Pandemic Impact We seek to understand the impacts that the COVID19 pandemic continues to have on the lives of artists, culture bearers, and culture makers in New York State. 27. At any time between March 2020 and February 2022, did you receive any kind of emergency financial assistance? (Optional, select one) Yes 27b. If yes, which of the following types of emergency financial assistance did you receive? (Optional, select all that apply) Unemployment benefits 28. How, if at all, was your employment impacted between March 2020 and February 2022? (Optional, select all that apply) My freelance work, gigs, and/or contracts were canceled. I was furloughed or my hours were reduced. 29. How, if at all, was your artistic practice impacted between March 2020 and February 2022? (Optional, select all that apply) My scheduled exhibitions/shows/performances/gigs were canceled. I sought out new collaborators, communities, or professional networks. I embraced new opportunities to present my work online. I created a new series of work. I picked up new exhibitions/shows/performances/gigs. 30. How, if at all, was your well-being impacted between March 2020 and February 2022? (Optional, select all that apply) I experienced anxiety or depression. I got sick. My self-care improved. Thank You! Thank you for completing this questionnaire. The information you have provided will help contribute to a complex and nuanced understanding of how New York State artists live today. Your time is a valued resource, and we appreciate your support of CRNY’s advocacy and narrative change efforts. Would you like to be kept apprised of CRNY’s future advocacy and narrative change work? (Optional, select one) Yes Do you want to be entered into the Portrait of New York State Artists Giveaway (a drawing to receive an iPad Pro 12.9”, Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones, or a one-year membership to a museum or cultural institution of your choice)? (Optional, select one) Yes If you answered yes to either of the above, please enter your email address here. This email address will not be associated with any of your other responses. (Optional) dizozza@gmail.com You are about to submit your responses. You will receive an e-mail confirmation (possibly in junk/spam) when your questionnaire has been successfully submitted.

Dizozza/Dante Afterdeath Description and Essay -- Also posted in Declare and Shape

LISSA MOIRA DESCRIPTION: The Afterdeath, a mini opera by Peter Dizozza, is a surrealistic take on the 5th Canto of Dante’s Inferno employing fabulous voices, in which oddly enough (unlike in Dante’s version) love manages to stand up to everything, even the second circle of hell. A Biblical Supplement Dante’s “Divine Comedy” (published in 1321), which he divided into three books, Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise, is one man’s attempt to establish order in an afterlife. His attempt is so vast that it melds into and becomes part of the theology that inspired it. Like Milton’s Paradise Lost (circa 1670), defining the heaven of God and his Angels as a prequel to Genesis, Dante's Divine Comedy embeds afterlife doctrines (including those from Greek “Mythology”) onto one of the major sects of Judaism, Christianity. The 5th Canto of Dante's Inferno describes people who let reason (of their minds) be guided by lust (of their bodies), a sin of incontinence. Dante assigns them to the 2nd ring or circle of hell, which is actually the 1st ring to contain a sin. The inferno's 1st ring is Limbo, which is where those who died without receiving the original-sin-cleansing sacrament of baptism go. Dante distinguishes Limbo from the bigger Purgatory as follows: Though people in Limbo may be good, they can never get on the track that can lead from purgatory to paradise. However, legend has it that on the day after his crucifixion, Jesus Christ, went to Limbo, bearing upon himself the weight of humanity's original sin – the eating of a forbidden fruit? While in Limbo Jesus (graciously) released into heaven many of the top leaders from the “old testament” portions of The Bible. Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta, the adulterous lovers who join the hurricane of lost souls in our mini-opera, The Afterdeath, were contemporaries of Dante. While alive, Francesca and Paolo succumbed to their mutual desire while reading about Lancelot and Guenevere, from a version of the King Aurthur legends which originated in the 12th Century to be eventually played by Robert Goulet and Julie Andrews in Lerner and Lowe's musical, Camelot. Dante's portrays the adulterous lovers with sympathy, as does composer Peter Tchaikovsky, who wrote for them an orchestral fantasy (Opus 32). Tchaikovsky's music ends with cymbal crashes that wash away the sonority of the orchestra with a shimmering splash. For the more serious sin of violence Dante reserves a place for their murderer, Giovanni Maletesta, in the 7th ring of hell, the boiling river of blood. And now, here they are direct from Canto V of Dante's Inferno, it's Giovanni, Paolo and Francesca da Rimini in The Afterdeath.

A Bee Flew into My Mouth While I was Riding Against the Wind

That's basically it. I was biking home from Jackie Robinson Park, 8 1/2 miles...and Manhattan has cliffs on that upper west side so places that appear to be close on the map are separated by great differences in altitude, anyway, the route home met with wind flowing steadily north (the tail end of Hurrican Ernesto) and by the time I got near Union Square my mouth was wide open, I guess I open it to expand the nasal breathing and to exhale, so a bee flew into it and I removed it and I felt the definitive placement of its sting at the very base below the tongue. I road home and surprised Maira and Zora with the news and the request for assistance. Maira was cooking and found it hard to put into perspective that I was actually in an emergency state. Zora was interested in seeing and I tried to angle the phone flashlight as I couldn't find another flashlight. Then I took a useless tweeser and began playing with the area holding the phone with one hand and the wide ended tweezer with the other. Then Maira took over and I remembered my father somehow left me a tweezer which I'd taken to London as part of my bath baggie, and there it was thin and elegant. I actually found that and she began using it. However, whatever Maira tried to tweeze beneath the tongue seemed to move away on its own. That base beneath the tongue is extremely amorphous. She said I can't get it and held in the tweezer the stinger. She did get it. We put it on a piece of paper with scotch tape over it. You could see the length of sharpness of the stinger... 1/8 of an inch, with its venom sack. It was out of my mouth. Sure I still have some swelling. It feels like I have a flap below my tongue. I can say it: I got stung beneath the tongue.

SOCIAL -- the info-document by Peter Dizozza, 1994

The girl attractive there tonight was Micky, from another session but this time less lesbian by admission. She eventually answered the question of her favorite body part, she the personal trainer who enjoyed the ordering of men as she helped them work out themselves; it was her pussy; she thought it pretty, as I'm sure it was, she who looked so like a pussycat, the way her body slinked, perfectly postured, in the black velour pants and back zip half boots. The fellow by her, to her left as I sat to her right, was perhaps playing games with his woman of the week, the one, Deborah, who made something of a materialist fool of herself by discussing the Tiffany gift she would be delighted to get from him, the gold ankle bracelet and gold tennis bracelet. God, sexy can be pathetic. I got home and looked out my hallway and whom should I see but Nick Miller, who had my library tape, the return of which led to an invitation up to his place. He has the apartment in the line next to mine and considerably less windowy than my relative paradise. He had filled it with artifacts of a bygone era, and indeed his descent was from Vienna where all bygones belong. His parents had indeed passed on, although his grandmother thrives in Vienna. Ah, what was the name of the Viennese fellow who I used to meet in the Candlewood area and who sparked all those old world fantasies. He struck me as sophisticated and wealthy. Indeed I was most enamored of him. Was that Nicholas with whom I just spent the latter part of this evening? "The Fundamentals of Relationship with the accent on Fun" hosts a weekly encounter group, called "The Social," whereby Bruce, assisted by his radiant wife, Regina, lead a group of 20 or so friends, guests and strangers through four games, one of which is played throughout, which is the regarding of us all as perfect and responsible for our condition which is exactly as we would have it at the given moment, the three other games being played sequentially, the first being a pairing up with a discussion on a topic usually stated by Bruce, this evening's being "describe yourself as a member of the opposite sex," the second involving a series of attention focusses, called the hot seat, where all eyes must aim, more specifically to rest upon the person sitting there, the hot seat being wherever you're sitting. A series of questions follow such as the one described above where Mickey's answer was her pussy. In fact, that line of questioning and her sexy answer concluded that game for the night. The last game is a withheld and overt statement each of the participants wants to get out to release tension toward whomever, either in the room involving some interaction or observation, or to someone beyond the group, Bruce acting as the surrogate subject. (For example, if I said, "God, there's something I've withheld from you," Bruce would say, "OK, would you like to tell me?") All eyes rest on the person making the statement and the recipient of that statement must acknowledge completion of the statement with a flat yet polite thank you in no way defining reaction for that's not the point. The statement is purely for the speaker's sake, for his or her release of energy, not for the reaction it generates, theoretically. As with the hot seat this group focus of attention also applies in this final game. Questions directed to the hotseat person may not include personal observation. It is not what we would like to know or what I noticed and therefore wish to ask about, but simply the direct question. Notwithstanding the rule, there is often reference to other people within the questions asked, usually employing information obtained in other discussions or hot seats. Regina and Bruce incorporated what they knew of Jane from the private sessions she had scheduled with them. The social event, which lately happened at the Sherry Netherland penthouse, costs 7 dollars and includes a little food and drink spread, and the private sessions "Fundamentals of Relationships" and "Advanced Fun," apparently cost $125 and last an entire weekend. I get the impression through advance publicity that in these seminars touching is involved as they feature hands on training. Anyway, Jane and I had our hot seats about having babies, my favorite topic in relationships since it so fills me with fear, excitement and interest (I've been saying it's the whole point behind sex). I answered a few questions and found myself forgetting it was I on the hotseat and not me asking questions of someone else. On May 12th there was a party there. I participated by playing the piano, particularly for a young little stocky lady named Lisa. Ilana was there and so was Jane. My favorite song of the night was "Hopelessly Devoted." I was telling Ilana how girls used to suck my breasts and my eyebrows and how this mother's day no one called me. I had to call out and practically beg the person to wish me a happy mother's day. Whatever happened? I so appreciated the Suzanne chick from Munich somewhat coming upon me at that party that I dreamt hallway intimacy with her. When we had Doorway Hallway Intimacy could her man be not far behind. Ilana and I went to the Lesbian bar, The Rubyfruit Jungle, and that's where those cute passive chicks look stiff-eyed back at the arm-embracing prowler hawkettes with the close cropped hair. It's so good to see them captured in the very embrace they vaguely felt they wanted to get caught in. (does the prey, by virtue of its vulnerability, go into the lion's den to confront its adversary?). Some of the encounters looked more equal, however, some of the girls were just manly vested, with dark hanging hair, so beautifully artfully varient from shapeless hair. If I ever find such a (medium sized) woman I will do my best to keep her. Ilana was quite extroverted today, as she usually is. It was funny to me that at the bar I'd encounter these Wesley friends, one of which (whom) was hired by the Wharton Buisness School to write an Internet article on Lead Disclosure Legislation in connection with Real Estate Transactions. "I've this great wing. It wants to enfold you. It brings out the bold you." I went to Caesar's Palace at Atlantic City and there I learned the meaning of the words Forty-Four Caliber Alarm Clock. It's the sound of fifty thousand slot machines vying for the attention of fifty four thousand people. Jay Leno was entertaining the folks there. It's a place that substitutes Kalaidascope mirrors for windows. Truly frighteningly disorienting. Upon arrival the first thing I had to do was find the street exit after we came in through some 10 story parking lot. Oh my the place is a big box like macy's, and how silly of me, I learned how to get around the rooms from the brilliant computer game Leisure Suit Larry. Incredibly this building was one of the line of buildings on the boardwalk. Remember the freak of nature is a mule. I may never be getting laid again, but Ilana does attract the prettiest women. And she's attracted to them, too. What an unusual balance. I like to look and so does she. Then it even goes further where the type of directness I couldn't dream of becomes possible. They ask her, Let's spend the night together. Now I need you more than ever. Let's spend the night together NOW. She says no and I say unto them, well how about me? I'll say yes. So eventually Ilana did say yes and there was Kendra in her bedroom. First we went out. I took two 22yolds to Veniero's. I should have brought my camera. Later I was watching the Library film, Dona Flora and her dead husband, while they slipped into the other room and, as Ilana described it, rubbed vaginas. Then her departure was about as fast as a banana split.

Werther inspired Massenet who also wrote a Cinderella Opera

Massenet's Werther music created passion through an overlap of motifs, melodies and orchestration. The libretto credits four people. It reduces the action to its four incidents, its four acts. The children draw Werther to their Christmas Carol leader, a woman betrothed to another, and rather than breaking her commitment she marries the other fellow; oh, Werther loves her. When Werther reappears as a casual acquaintance he can't restrain his love, and exiles himself while the woman's sister shows herself to be willing, and perhaps even the better match, but no, he leaves to return the following Christmas

Explorer Richard Francis Burton, and his translations of The Pentameron and The Perfumed Garden

This is a sandbox post, specific to my own exploration. There is some happiness in women and men uniting as equals, with the respect deserving of both their bodily pleasures. This balance between the two is a challenge for the man, and in my experience it is to be confronted. I have been a selfish lover. It always confounded me to hear my friend Tyr talk of the withholding of release as a preference, because it addresses the time needed to balance the satisfaction between men and women. The Pentameron includes the story of the Cat Cinderella, where, following the instruction of her tutor, a princess murders the first step mother to replace her with a worse one.

I'm preparing for music directing Paul Kirby's The Boy Who Listened to Paintings, also by Dean Kostos.

That means I confront the content of this piece which is about a boy growing up to be the author. His life included some time in an assylum, a place of refuge, as he confronts the tendency toward suicide. We can connect with childhoods. The stories of our development allow us to be the center of attention. Once again I'm searching for the issues I want to confront, by writing freely, not so freely, pausing constantly. Paul's music remains engaging and sincere. It's what I will focus on creating nightly at the piano, and there are the voices that piano will support. They will be learning and singing together. There's the ongoing discussions of the script, searching for a state of being that allows for one's release into the world, from the institute, or tute, that specializes in housing us. This is the author's story and how it intersects with ours, we who are different, all of us being so. I suppose anyone engaging in this question of differences is by definitition different. My own human interaction is called into question as I sit here, concerned about my inability to convey my concerns to people I'm helping, how do I even get into that helping environment? by working. What can I do to help and earn money? Ok I just heard it. Thorazine is the antidote to LSD. Meanwhile, I am trying to collect money for people through claims. The money I collected for someone comes to me in a check that must be endorsed by that same someone, and he has not endorsed it. The check validity expires in a week. As I read into this I conclude that he is not currently able to assume the responsibility of having money as the state of not having any allows him to receive much needed benefits for housing and food. This is the kind of thing that can occupy 90% of my mind, as the recovery of any money for this incident might be looked upon as something of a success. Instead we're sharing a limbo which, objectively, is where everything is. I like Paul Kirby's music and am excited to be bringing it to a piano. I'm hesitant about adding to my own creativity and question what I have already done. end note: I did my best to play the score exactly as written... NOTE ON THE YIP HARBURG BALDWIN PIANO WE USED: (Baldwin built the piano in 1940. As there is a little placque I'm thinking Yip Harburg purchased it from Birkel Richards while he was in Los Angeles.) For the first weekend of performances we had limited use of the sustain pedals and no access to the soft pedal. Over time the hammers on the piano had become loose and misaligned, such that pressing the soft pedal and sustain pedals caused them to hit adjacent strings. Jeff Holck repaired it! Tightened Piano Bench, Loose Leg Screws Removed key cover, key blocks, music desk, restored parts and moving quilt / cover & music desk to closed piano lid Cleaned debris from inside Piano Action Bed Adjusted Hammer Alignments as needed to prevent hammers from hitting adjacent note strings with or without soft pedal Adjusted Soft Pedal travel as needed to prevent hammers hitting adjacent note strings Tweaked tuning at several notes with bad unisons Note: Not all hammer alignments were adjusted for precise soft pedal travel. Adjustments made only with problematic hammers to allow using soft pedal and sustain pedal without issues.

Recorded Sound Information (from Stereo Exchange employee, Greg Marston)

AIR PRESSURE CHANGES ARE SOUND Stereo Repair Technician 29 East 31st Street, 2nd Floor, between Madison and Park, NY NY 10016 212-725-8778 Glenn Marston said Electromagnetic impulses vibrate coil and magnet in the speaker. Optical Sound (off of film) through a 4 ohm rated speaker needs more resistence (more power from the amplifyer) than an 8 ohm speaker (Bose are usually 6 ohm). There is a sound acadamy curve. For de-emphasized bass, RIAA curve, a slant. For a magnetic representation of sound a bias signal is applied. Germany (Nazi era) produced Magnetic Tape Ampex is Bing Crosby's tape company Magnetic charges also stored on Mylar and Acetate 2 coils exciting the gap. A bias signal is applied, shaking up the magnetic particles, making it linear. The speaker transforms the electric current back into sound. Not only does each live performance of a song add another compositional layer to an already composed piece... Each play back of a recording is its own a unique performance of the recording, sent to our ears by the equipment that generates it. The sound travels as an electric current through wire and the speaker (which modulates air pressure) transfers it back into sound.

Notes on 8mm Wedding Only Titles June 22nd, 1957 in Colour -- (kodachrome tungsten?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S72MmZ-C7So

Complete digital transfer by Helge Bernhardt of the available 8mm color film exposed on June 22nd, 1957, prepared with music by Peter Dizozza, From the Cinema VII Audial visual archive. with If I Ever, Tiffany Symbol Search, Stay With Me and excerpt from The Ocean Floaters Theme Song (by Peter Dizozza. CVII Audial Recordings.) CopyrIghts reserved and administered by the Cinema VII Alternate Entertainment Collective, 2013. Dear Viewers, I remember Monica and I wishing we could attended this event, but of course we weren't born. This movie records moments from our parents' wedding day. My recollection of the film and the people in it returns like an avalanche, not naturally but ONLY as a result of my viewing the film. Therefore its existence uncovered is another movie miracle. (Some photographer did a pretty good job using the 8mm film here. Please note partially dissolved state of the film emulsion from water damage, how spectacularly colorful it is.) Please give me strength, time and focus to assemble a proper script of this history... I guess we just call it: THE GRANDMOTHER (1905-2005) Sure, there's plenty of back story. A sampling for now is the phone call that our mother receives while she's preparing her wedding dress. She 's telling the fellow on the line asking her for a date that she must decline, for she is getting married today. Our grandmother's look at her is amazing. We remember mom telling us that story, and seeing the movie now I do believe that it is true. Our mom's grandmother is the woman at the beginning of the movie, with her second husband beside her. Our great-grandmother's story comes back to me now like a reflex (like reflux...): She lost her first husband when he was wheeling a sanitation cart. He got hit by car and crawled up the stairs to the apartment where he died. A picture of our great grandfather (Giovaniello?) seen his open coffin with our great grandmother beside it suggests that when he died he appeared to be younger than his own son... Her new husband brought along his own family of children and in order to show those children that people in New York work for a living, our great grandmother sent her fighter son (Redsy?) to work on the 2nd avenue subway where he was promptly hit by a train???? (2024 note... I think he was electrocuted). And that's why future political leader Meade Esposito promised to take care of our mom's mom, Margie, Redsy's sister. I guess Mr. Esposito was doing some fight management in his early days. I see aunts and uncles from my father's side of the family, but no, not him. He's not in this movie. For all you fans of Float, which I wrote following our mom's passing: the images of a boat at a dock that follows the wedding footage... it really does follow the wedding footage. (A Coincidence!) ok... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S72MmZ-C7So

Notes on Handel's Theodora

Theodora (1750) By Georg Fredrich Handel and Thomas Morell, dramatizes the story of Theodora and Didymus, based on The Martyrdom of Theodora and of Didymus (1687) by Robert Boyle and Pierre Corneille's Théodore, Vierge et Martyre. STORY: Valens, The Governor of Antioch, orders his citizens to make sacrificial offerings to Venus and Flora to celebrate the birthday of deceased Roman Emporor Diocles. He orders his soldier, Septimus, to enforce this order. Like her other Christian friends, Theodora does not attend the celebration. As punishment for not doing so, Valens sentences Theodora to serve as a prostitute in the Temple of Venus, and should she refuse this service he directs the temple guards to rape her. Theodora counts among her Christian friends Didymus, who is also a soldier employed by Governor Valens. When Didymus visits Theodora, she asks him to (mercifully) kill her. Instead, Didymus suggests that they cross-dress. After they exchange outfits, she exits the temple in his stead. When Valens learns of Theodora's escape, he modifies her sentence from a life of prostitution in the Temple of Venus, to death and orders the execution of Didymus in her place. Theodora, reunited with Irene and her other Christian friends, attends the execution to exchange her life for Didymus's. This selfless act moves soldier Septimus to recommend clemency for both, but Governor Valens remains unmoved. Valens orders the execution of both Theodora and Didymus. Theodora and Didymus sing of their immortality. In the performance released in 1969 by Vanguard Records, Johannes Somary conducts The English Chamber Orchestra. The cast includes Heather Harper, Maureen Forrester, Alexander Young, Edgar Fleet & John Lawrenson

Reminders from items of past moments that survive time (for a time)

Our past disappears But in its moments we fix items, words, sounds, images, in various media and they remain for a time.