I won’t promise that this is my last post about Timur the lame. I mentioned that the tyrant was the subject of two baroque operas, one by Handel and one by Vivaldi. The Vivaldi is pretty good, but the Handel opera, Tamerlano, is fantastic. It was composed in 1764 and features an Italian libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym. Apparently, Italian operas were so popular in London that the English hired Germans like Handel and Italians like Haym to produced their own “Italian” operas. The story begin with Bayezid as Timur’s captive, but the event has moved a long way away from history as it happened. In this version, “Bajazet” is the father of “Asteria” who loves the Greek prince “Andronico” but “Tarmelano” loves Asteria. In other words, this story of bloody conquest has morphed into a kind of romantic comedy. Whether or not the drama really works, Handel’s music is delightful.
It turns out that the conqueror had an impression on pop music as well.
These men are members of Tamerlane, a metalcore band from Los Baños, California. In an interrview in Sonoma Wire Works, they say they named themselves after the Edgar Allen Poe poem. The band members all look tough enough to have been in Timur’s army. The Poe connection seems to inspire many. The Tamerlane Trio is a folk ensemble that joins Poe and folk music.
Barry and the Tamerlanes were a one-hit wonder from Los Angeles. This song “I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonight” entered the Billboard charts siz months after I was born. I wonder where they got their name from?
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