Welcome to Parterre Puzzle Corner #2. But first, the solution to last week’s challenge.

If you remember, the puzzle was: what one, very unusual thing do Chausson’s Le Roi Arthus, Mozart’s Così fan tutte, and Krenek’s Jonny Spielt Auf have in common? A number of clever Parterrians solved the riddle by suggesting further additions to the list: Blow’s Venus & Adonis, Birtwistle’s The Minotaur, William Grant Still’s Troubled Island, and Shin-ichiro’s Mishima opera Rokumeikan. They also nominated conductor Julia Jones and tenor Jay Hunter Morris as performers.

What all those names have in common is that they are species of panvowel – titles or names using each English vowel exactly once (with optional “y”). There are many more singer names to be found under this category, Parterrians might have fun finding more. I myself will pose a few bonus follow-up questions:

1(a): Which composer has written two operas whose titles, when taken together, form a single panvowel?
1(b): Which composer’s last name, paired with one of his operas together make a panvowel?
1(c): For fans of Chinese opera: are there any famous dramas that, transliterated into standard pinyin, have titles that are panvowels?

Speaking of dual operas, here is this week’s puzzler:

2. Fans of this composer’s works want erudite films of two of his opera stories.

If you think you know the answer, post a video of this composer’s music.

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