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Date:         Thu, 27 Aug 1992 15:04:53 -0500
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From: James Swanton <swanton@aecom.yu.edu>
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Subject: LOVING OPERA (fwd)
To: Merlo_Loretta@qmcumc.mail.cornell.edu
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CMCCAWLE@WCU.bitnet writes:
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Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 12:31:46 EST
From: CMCCAWLE@WCU.bitnet
Subject: LOVING OPERA
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      Wow! I can't believe all these messages! I've been a subscriber for
 several months and I was beginning to think no one ever wrote to Opera-l.
 Well, here goes. I too don't have a lot of success sending messages. I
 typically spend half an hour typing and then get "Unable to send" messages
 back from the "Postmaster". Hope this one is successful.

      My first opera was Der Rosenkavalier with Roberta Peters at the Cleveland
 Civic Center when I was 12 years old. After that I just had to see whatever
 opera was playing near me. I got my passion satisfied during the 60's at
 Carter Barron (Does it still exist?) in Washington, D.C. Saw one performance
 at the "Old Met" in 1965 before they moved. (It was Die Walkyre with Birgit
 Nielsen (sp?)and the only th ing I knew about the opera was the Ride of the
 Valkyries. Well, there's a lot of opera to sit through, if all you want to
 hear is the Ride of the Valkyries. Fortunately, I've improved my opera
 watching and now at least read the plot summary, and try to read the whole
 libretto before I go). Tickets for box seats that year were $15.00 at the Met
 which seemed like a king's ransom (Were things ever that cheap?)

      After a short opera-less life in Champaign-Urbana, we moved to
 Philadelphia, and in two glorious years(1971-1972) I heard Joan Sutherland in
 Lucia, Pavarotti before he became a god, Placido Domingo, Anna Moffo, Beverly
 Sills, Montserrat Caballe in Norma. It was opera heaven.

      I too had to go into an opera-less phase because of children and less
 money, but don't give up hope, there is opera after the nest is empty. I have
 been subscribing (fifth row seats, which were fine before super-titles gave me
 a stiff neck) to the Philadelphia opera since 1985, and to the Met since 1989.
 My opera-going is the most fun thing I do in life (well, second-most). I now
 have fantasies of getting in an airplane and flying to San Francisco, going to
 see Tristan (which I have never seen--how can anyone have seen only Tristan
 almost? ) and flying back the next day. I didn't do it, but I thought about
 it. And I was in Santa Fe during the non-opera season, stopped to look at the
 empty theater, and wonder if I will ever go back. This summer I was in San
 Francisco for the American Library Association conference and my boss and I
 heard Marilyn Horne in Italian in Algiers which was wonderful. And Iloved
 getting to see the opera house. Last October I was in Chicago for another
 conference and got two conference goers to accompany me to Catherine Malfitano
 in Antony and Cleopatra (which was also fun because Samuel Barber was born and
 buried in West Chester, PA where I live.

      I attended the Ring cycle at the Met two years ago and truly believe that
 Bayreuth could not be as good. Every weekend for four weeks was really fun
 (we're only two hours from Lincoln Center with Saturday morning traffic).

      Don't knock the New York City Opera. They did a wonderful Desert Song
 three years ago.They also do unusual small operas that the Met doesn't do. I'm
 g oing in a couple weeks to see Busoni's Doctor Faust.

      I gave up a while back trying to get my husband to attend operas with me.
 He's a baritone, and knows more about opera than I ever will. He used to
 listen every Saturday and even subscribed to Opera news before I knew him.
 I've decided the reason he doesn't like to go to opera is that he can't get up
 and make popcorn during intermission. Now I have two women friends who go with
 me and we drive up, stay over night at the Empire or the Helmsley Windsor
 (115.00 a night on weekends), if the opera is an evening one. And we satisfy
 our fantasies of being Ivana Trump once in a while. Before the Busoni we have
 reservations for lunch at Le Cirque. I'll let you all know if we see anyone
 famous.

      This is fun. Just like writing to a diary. I just have a couple more
 things to say.

      How many of you know about the Ohio Light Opera company? It's in Wooster,
 Ohio. I grew up in Akron and go back every few months to visit my mother and
 my sister. Well, this summer a friend took me to see Villa Lobos' Magdalena
 and I was floored. It was a production worthy of the Met or Broadway today.
 And the music was lush. I wished I had had time to attend more productions.
 This theater does rare operettas and the list of what they have produced in 11
 years reads like the Vienna Volksoper (Oh yes, I saw Grafin Maritsa there in
 1976 and will never forget Peter Minnich singing "Komm, Tsigan!" (Come,
 Gypsy).Next summer I want to plan a week in Akron and as many operettas as I
 can fit in.

      One last thing. I was listening to Philadelphia's classical music station
 this week and heard some music that I couldn't identify but it sounded like
 opera music, maybe even Wagner. When it was over they said it was Schumann's
 Spring Symphony with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by James Levine. Is
 it possible that I recognized James Levine's imprint on a different orchestra
 playing a different German composer? Does everything he conducts remind one of
 opera music? Interesting thought.

      Thanks for reading.

 Christina McCawley
 West Chester University
 cmccawle@wcu



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