nizza & armiliato's 'mia gelosa'

the a's of opera

i'm reading the companion-book to the cd-set 'the a to z of opera' -- and it's really...a book -- 760 pages

well, i just got into 'c,' but...a couple of interesting things, from 'a'

seemed like half the operas...in the 'a' section...were by handel -- what the heck -- either the guy...wanted to hog the front of the alphabet (in opera catalogues),...wrote a million operas,...or...was going through the book of myths and legends...in alphabetical order -- the library...of great figures...and stories -- and...exhausted himself...before he got to the end...or very far...or something

turns out, he wrote 46 operas, 12 of them...begin with the letter 'a'

all his operas...were opera seria -- all, in three acts -- i guess the guy was serious

other oddity...from the book -- from the 'a' section -- there are 23 operas...about alexander the great -- all of them,...written in the 18th century

made me wonder, what was going on, in the 18th century,...for there to be such a fascination with alexander -- on the popular...and high-art...levels

of course, we've got, in the renaissance, the 'rediscovery' of the classics -- of the greeks and the romans -- but....

the earliest of the operas listed...about alexander...is by handel -- 1726 -- 'alessandro' -- based on the libretto by paolo antonio rolli -- based on ortensio mauro's 'la superbia d'alessandro'

in the opera, the great rival sopranos faustina bordoni and francesca cuzzoni...got to play out their jealous enmity...on stage, vying for alessandro's affections -- in india

the other 22 operas about alexander are based on the libretto 'alessandro nell'indie,' by pietro metastasio

so,...the particular focus of the fascination with alexander...was his time in india -- specifically, his encounter with king porus -- east meets west -- vice versa, i guess -- west, meet east -- east, meet west -- how do you do -- nice to meet you

this painting, 'alexander and porus,' was done by charles le brun, in 1673 -- maybe it had a big effect

i'm sure there were a lot of writings too -- exhibitions?... -- talks...discussions...tours...the whole thing

handel composed the second of those 22 operas (based on metastasio's libretto 'alessandro nell'indie') -- 'poro' -- in 1731

the first one...appeared the year before -- composed by leonardo vinci -- relation? coincidence?

no mention, on the wikipedia page for vinci, of any relationship -- he was born in strongoli, near the ball of the foot, and was educated in naples -- higher up..., in the shin

the artist/inventor/...everything...was born...much higher up -- near the knee -- i think -- whatever it is,...way up there...in the boot...leg -- in vinci, of course, 44 kilometers west of florence

on our day in rome (the penultimate stop in the cruise for my father's 80th), our tour guide paolo took us to an exhibit of his machines -- da vinci's, not paolo's

a tank

a music machine, being played by my niece

the composer...was prolific -- and well regarded -- churned out 37 operas, in less than 12 years

he died at 40 -- apparently poisoned by a man...whose wife may have been having an affair with vinci

the swedish-italian connection; rigoletto comes to cleveland

yesterday (or was it the day before), i heard this incredible rendition of 'o soave fanciulla'...by jussi bjorling and renata tebaldi

all right -- i don't like the word 'incredible'...so much -- it was, certainly,...gorgeous -- amazing -- spine-tingling -- profound -- well,...you fill in...your own....

well, that combination...of a swede and an italian...connected, nicely, with my recent meeting of marco stella, the product of another...swedish-italian...duo -- marco's father is italian; his mother is swedish -- macro lives in gothenborg (pronounced 'yot'ti'bori' -- i think i got that right) -- and he's a very good guy

marco's in cleveland, to play rigoletto, on june 15, in a production by our local...opera circle -- in a return of opera to downtown cleveland -- playhouse square

i met marco, wednesday, after he performed with dorota sobieska, with her husband, jacek (yat'sek) on piano -- in a preview concert

i only caught part...of gilda's death scene...of the concert -- i'd come from the much-more-important concert of my nephew's fifth-grade...orchestra/band/chorus -- he plays the flute (like me, when i was a couple of years older than him)

speaking of...me -- my...musical...involvements -- i tried out for rigoletto's chorus -- joined in...two rehearsals -- couldn't cut it -- can't read the stitches on the fastball, couldn't hit the curve -- why, i couldn't even tell the difference between a fastball and a breaking pitch -- didn't know the count -- my batting stance...was a mess -- swinging...at all kinds of pitches -- fishing.... -- it was fun...fishing, though -- i'll keep on fishing

i might still get...to walk on stage

someone who will definitely be on the stage...is christina carr, as maddalena -- i met christina, a couple of months ago, at the wagner symposium, in walsh college

i just told marco about the great bjorling-tebaldi duet, and asked him if there's anything special -- in opera -- in history -- culturally -- between italy and sweden

'no,' he said, 'i think i'm writing that chapter'

i told him i was going to write this, and he...very helpfully...suggested a link...to a sample of his singing -- why didn't i think of that -- where does he get off,...telling me...how to do my job,...what to do

here goes

by the way, marco...loves his uncle bob

well,...here's another swedish-italian...coupling -- bjorling and pavarotti -- also from 'la boheme'

where do they get off...doing that duet