Opera on my Mind

Went to the opera recently and still have that lovely evening on my mind. It is indeed nice to enjoy this city from time to time for all that its fabled for. Dinner at Asiate and opening night at the Met, featuring Renee Fleming, in Yevgeny Onegin (Tchaikovsky!) In the opera, Onegin turned out to be far less of a sympathic character than I remembered -- perhaps if he would have been a tenor... Well, it's probably my affinity with words, esp. lovely rhyming ones, which can render all kinds sympathies and allowances from me ! ;) I think I will always associate the story with Pushkin and his wrenching story in verse.

Oh, but the tenor, Ramón Vargas, a gorgeous man from Mexico, with such a superb voice. I love tenors! I was so moved by his aria right before the duel that I nearly cried! I hardly ever take opera so seriously the only other time I felt that way was during Rigoletto (my favorite opera). I did sleep quite a bit, effectively missing all of Madame Flemmings exquiste arias. Darn! Nathan enjoyed trying to keep me awake with a steady 20minute pinching campaign, but it didn't work.

Ahhh... sometimes I pine for the Phildelphia-arts-gorging days... Honestly, the babes don't have a lot to do with our arts scarcity -- it's the cost of living here! In Philadelphia we could do it all: live in the West Villiage-esque part of Center City (Rittenhouse Square) in our little 2-bedroom which we moved into at $850 a month -- we had to downsize a couple years later due to frequent trips abroad, but the cozy 1-bedroom was $725; eat out regulary and follow the restaurant scene and hot chefs; memberships at opera, small theatre groups, museums... I was even a regular runner in those days. It was during this period when I finally, after seeing consecutive operas and merely feeling fascination for the form, felt emotionally affected by Rigoletto. Ahhh.... I obsessed about it for months! I rented filmed versions from the library, read the libretto, cried and mourned through all the lovely wrentching arias... ahhh... Verdi! It's actually not primarily a love story. It's largely, for me, about a father and his daughter. It's a sad bitter tale. I suppose it is more believable -- irony, sadness, regret, those emotions mingled with love all make a story more realistic to me. And, of course, the music is sosososososo glorious! The best recording is the version with Joan Sutherland, Pavarotti, and Sherill Milnes this is the version I watched over and over from the library. Electric!