Classical Notes: August 23, 2006 Archive

Opera on Hennepin

Posted at 8:38 AM on August 23, 2006 by Rex Levang (4 Comments)

As everyone knows by now, it's become a popular ploy for businesses to pipe classical music on to the sidewalk, in order to keep people from Lingering. Usually, they just slap on a disc of Strauss waltzes and that's it.

But if you go past Hennepin and 7th in downtown Minneapolis (the Block E corner), you will hear much, much more varied fare. I don't know if they're using a satellite service, playing a very random stack of discs, or hiring an opera/vocal nut, but on my recent strolls I have heard:

French baroque opera (Rameau? Lully?)
Gilbert and Sullivan: The Yeomen of the Guard
Italian opera from the classical period (but not one of the big three Mozart operas)
Anglican psalm singing
Victor Herbert: The Red Mill
what may have been Mendelssohn: Elijah

The idea may be to stop people from lingering -- but in my case it's having an opposite effect.

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