a mesmerizing orfeo

i watched the met's orfeo, yesterday -- first time i watch the whole thing -- i was mesmerized -- stephanie blythe was just incredible

i don't know what i just pulled here,..from youtube -- probably,....

enrico caruso, at the san francisco earthquake

http://www.sfmuseum.net/1906/ew19.html

WOW -- act two duet, traviata

tosca: gheorghiu & kaufmann

saw the tosca, live from the met, yesterday -- plan to go back, wednesday -- great 'vissi d'arte,' by sonya yoncheva -- great screams too -- spine-tingling -- blood-curdling -- and a magnificent 'e lucevan' by vittorio grigolo -- pours it all out

here's the 2006 vienna pairing of angela gheorghiu and jonas kaufmann -- i saw them in the movie theater, from covent garden -- incredible -- i watched act three of the below, and act two and the 'mia gelosa' scene -- kaufmann encores 'e lucevan,' and gheorghiu doesn't come out, on cue -- terfel really has fun with his role

addendum: yoncheva and grigolo were singing their roles for the first time -- actually, grigolo sang in the opera, when he was 13 -- as the shepherd boy -- and, in the broadcast, he talked about being congratulated, after the opera, by luciano pavarotti, his cavaradossi, and looking forward to the day he'd sing cavaradossi -- here's the picture they showed, on the broadcast -- 27 years ago

turns out, yoncheva and grigolo were also replacements for the originally cast stars -- kristine opolais and jonas kaufmann -- wouldn't that have been great -- they've paired up, in europe, on at least two operas, i think

not only that, bryn terfel was replaced by zelko lucic, and opolais's husband, andris nelsons, pulled out as conductor, and his replacement, met music director james levine, was suspended by the met for sexual misconduct, and replaced, in turn, by emmanuel villaume

wow -- great cecilia

the great corelli

i've been listening to a lot of franco corelli, lately -- he's unbelievable -- my new god

i'm getting this collection

watched this tribute to him, from 15 years ago -- in parma -- such a nice guy, too

great tosca, with daniela dessi, armiliato & raimondi

i think it was last summer, that she passed away -- and left fabio

'69 pavarotti 'a te, o cara'

in memoriam

nizza & armiliato's 'mia gelosa'

dessay & calleja, in lucia sextet

explication of the sextet, from the royal opera house, covent garden

act-4 duet from trovatore: fleming & hvorostovsky

the met's doing trovatore, tomorrow afternoon -- can be heard, live, on radio stations

on mozart's birthday, five don juans for zerlina

spine-tingling,...tear-inducing...beverly-sills sempre libera

because i can't hear pandora in jordan (turns out, it can only be heard in the u.s., australia and new zealand), i'm resorting to i-tunes -- beverly sills's sempre libera came on, with nicolai gedda -- spine-tingling -- sills is splendid -- lets it all out -- i was writing an e-mail to a friend, and mentioned it

i went to youtube, to send it to her -- the one i hit...brought tears to my eyes

not the same recording -- the audio i heard...is from the series 'great operas at the met': the traviata volume -- the video is from 1976, at wolf trap -- don't know who her alfredo was

they're back

'the little prince' the opera

while waiting in line to buy a ticket for il trovatore at cincinnati opera, last month, i heard the woman in front of me talking about being in 'the little prince' -- turns out, cincinnati chamber opera is doing it, the weekend before christmas

i don't know if they're using the francesca zambello production, for the opera's premier, in houston, in 2003 -- her web-site has pictures

one of the best theatrical experiences i've had was a play of the story that oberlin summer theater festival did, four years ago -- magical -- wonderful

old blue eyes singing mozart, w/grayson -- domingo, freni & graham

i just learned, in opera news magazine's new backgrounder feature (operapedia -- this month, on 'don giovanni'), that frank sinatra sang that lovely love duet (?) -- seduction scene -- that the don sings with zerlina (right after she got married) -- old blue eyes sang it with kathryn grayson, in the 1947 movie 'it happened in brooklyn' -- i had to see it

i wonder who that masetto is -- i just looked on imdb, to find out -- what a cast -- durante, gloria grahame, peter lawford -- maybe it's bobby long

i then went on, as one is wont to do on youtube -- a couple of charming ones -- magnificent -- placido with mirella freni, then with susan graham -- look at her -- she's barely out of her teens

villazon antics

i watched that great netrebko-villazon boheme movie again -- then watched a few behind-the-scenes videos, including this one, of villazon's antics

gotta love this guy -- he's so cute -- gotta get me one of those rubber noses too

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

from boheme: quando me'n vo' & rodolfo-marcello duet

i attended opera western reserve's annual show, friday, and the quando me'n vo' scene...is quite a...dramatic scene -- lots...going on -- from all quarters

i'd like to find a longer video, with translations of all the lines

what a cast, though, here -- vargas and gheorghiu -- the musetta is ainhoa arteta

here's another version -- longer -- with pavarotti

also, the rodolfo-marcello duet is beautiful

old friend jason budd was colline

in june, we led jason, on and off the stage, in opera circle's rigoletto -- he was monterone -- nice job with the coat song, tonight