some great soave fanciullas

what a great concert that was

what a great voice -- beautiful high note she finishes on

the cover image, below, is not right -- the voices, though,....

what a gorgeous voice elizabeth holleque has

what a concert that must have been

there they are again -- before

he's such a cutie

she gets around,...that mimi -- very popular

he gets around too

a bucharest duo

all we need now, is a bohemian boheme

pavarotti-freni boheme

i finally watched the pavarotti-freni boheme, from san francisco in '88

oh, my goodness -- what can one say -- pavarotti is beautiful -- freni is adorable...in acts one and two -- amazing...in voice, too

at the end, the flowers fly -- brought tears to my eyes -- what joy

the video of the whole...on youtube...has some 'scratches,' especially early on, and as it goes on, the audio and video grow progressively more out of sync

such synchronicity, though, between pavarotti and freni

i'll have to get a quality video...audio...of it

i'll also have to find pavarotti's first boheme -- in '61 -- his debut -- again, i think, with freni -- or, is it,...'deja vu,...all over again' -- backwards -- back to the future

it says, on his wikipedia page, that they were childhood friends, and that their mothers worked together in a cigar factory

i just found another pavarotti-freni pairing, from 1969

again, o soave fanciulla

how many times did they do it together

on a pbs special about him, he said that boheme was his lucky opera -- did it, every time he premiered in a city...with a company

here's another pavarotti-freni pairing -- 1996 -- just as moving -- maybe more,...by the end

wow -- they did it, together,...for maybe over 35 years

there's an exquisite rendition by enrico caruso and antonio scotti of the gorgeous rodolfo-marcelo duet from act four -- i just love those chords...near the end

this 1907 recording (on youtube) is a little scratchy -- the one you can access via the wikipedia page for boheme is much cleaner

on a youtube page featuring the two, it says they were close friends

finally, pavarotti, doing it with domingo -- with freni, watching on -- on stage -- looks like feruccio furlanetto, on stage too -- on the left side of the circle -- luciano comes up to him, early in the duet -- looks like quite a constellation of stars...on stage -- i caught thomas hampson

a shorter version -- without the fiori...that surrounded them, at the beginning

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