Don Pasquito

Words without song

Long ago, in a galaxy far away – I mean, the era before supertitles became common in opera houses around the world – you could always tell the text-mad opera fan.  He was the one who arrived early to the theater and spent the remaining minutes to curtain hunched over his libretto booklet, trying to…

Cobra Jewel Song

The annual Richard Tucker gala came and went at Avery Fisher Hall with the usual quota of gaffes, wardrobe malfunctions, no-shows, too-much-shows, substitutions and surprise guests (well, guest).  And sandwiched between the routine, the egocentric and the just plain dull were moments of true dementia, the moments that we melomanes live and die for.  Most…