Patrick, I love my friend, she has a different take on things. In West Side Story she said "good, he was a jerk anyway" when Tony was stabbed, she thought Bernardo should have done it sooner.

I have many examples.....

I hope you got the irony --that Rigoletto IS literally a fool -- a court jester. It went over my head the first time.

I was a young man at the time, but I was fortunate enough to hear Bjoerling live at the Albert Hall. He was a big favorite in London.

I have many, many of his recital recordings and several of his operas including La Boheme, Pagliacci Tosca, Aida, Cavalleria Rusticana, Madame Butterfly, and Turandot.

On the non opera side, his recording of the Verdi Requium has the best Ingemisco in captivity. I think he is still my favorite tenor of them all. (I know, there are some who claim the Requium is Verdi's best opera. It may be, but Don Carlo and Aida give it some competition.)

Bjoreling was as good a Cavaradossi as he was Rodolfo. And I doubt if a better Pinkerton exists.

Of the current crop of Turandots, Franco Farina has the vocal strength to sing the role. I heard him in Paris, and he was impressive.

But back to the original. I think one has to have some knowledge of what the plot is about so that the action on the stage is at least followable.

The only opera I know of where I just shut my eyes to the plot is The Tales of Hoffman. It is a real wierdo, but the music is gorgeous.

I have just returned home from seeing La Traviata and it was wonderful. I have seen this opera several times before and have loved it every time.

Last night a group of us saw M. Butterfly, no one had seen it before and we didn't like it. It is so slow, the scenery didn't change and who would stand for a day and a night for her lover to return?

As a female I found the parting of her son quite sad but Miss Saigon was better.

You will not be disappointed with La Traviatia

Yes indeedy... Nilsson did sing Turandot. I was there. The tenor was......Franco Corelli. When he issued his challenge he turned his back (to the 3800 seat Met. Opera),struck a gong, hit his high note and HELLLLD it! Of course, the place went berserk. Nilsson was good too -:)

I was lucky enough in my youth--well before I fell in love with opera--to have heard Bjoerling in Aida at the San Francisco Opera. I will never forget the splendor of his voice.

BTW, it's "Che GElida manina" rather than "chelida manina." But maybe it was a bad diction coach.
We had the luck of hearing Pavarotti and Caballe in Turandot some years back. With them, the rest of the cast, the staging, and the conductor it's the one performance I'd rather see than any other. If only we had been opera fans during Callas's time!

Yes, you're right, Underhill. Sometimes typos just slip in when I type too fast.

I don't know how old you are, but you'd probably have to be at least 65 to be able to hear Callas in her prime and appreciate her singing. Let's say she was at her best in 1955, and one probably had to be at least 15 to appreciate good singing (unless one was a precocious musical prodigy).

There was an interesting story about Corelli in the obituary in the NYT. Corelli died in October. Apparently he was booed in Naples in a performance, so he ran all the way to the offending fan and grabbed him by the neck or something like that.

I believe the article also mentioned the (friendly) rivalry between Corelli and Nilsson in "Turandot" (each tried to outdo the other).

I'd have posted the link but it's become a premium article.

Actually I think that it was more than a friendly rivalry -- if I remember right, Corelli bit Nilsson's ear (or was it the other way around?).

I don't have the article handy so I can't confirm it.

OOOPS Franco Farina sings the role of Calaf in the opera Turandot!
Turandot herself is a girl!!
Boy Big error.
Nobody would be more surprised to be handed an assignment to sing Turandot than Mr. Farina himself.

He is a splendid Rhadames too.