So, let’s start guessing. Who are the three “names” who supplied the back cover blurbs for the new coffee-table ecomium James Levine: 40 Years at the Metropolitan Opera?  La Cieca will provide you with hints after the jump. 

Your hints will consist of the first sentence of each blurb. Extra points if you can match up the identity of each sycophant to his own specimen of fulsome praise.

Blurb One: “This generous, big-hearted valentine of a book offers an extraordinary picture of James Levine as seen by the artists who have worked most closely with him for 40 years…”

Blurb Two: “This marvelous book gives us the greatest voices in opera writing about James Levine, while at the same time giving us Maestro Levine’s memories about the singers and the operas…”

Blurb Three: “This fabulous book is a brilliantly orchestrated and utterly enthralling tribute to a man who has changed the way we listen to opera…”

La Cieca hopes she has not given the way by quoting such deeply personal and heartfelt statements that by their distinctive style and language give abundant proof that they were absolutely not penned by a panel of publicists.