The key of dreams The key of dreams

My sister Julie celebrates an important birthday later this month which reminded me—as I also recalled I visiting her while she was living in Prague—that I should unearth Bohuslav Martin?’s Julietta with Lucia Popp and Dénes Gulyás for this week’s Trove Thursday.

A dark horse in every closet A dark horse in every closet

Mozart and Donizetti could humanize characters in a farce—Mercadante in I due FIgaro cannot get a handle on them.

Z to A Z to A

Today’s offering is an electric performance of Verdi’s early potboiler Attila conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli.

Victorious, happy and glorious Victorious, happy and glorious

Even before Italian diva Mariella Devia had completed the stunning high D natural that capped her miraculous portrayal of Elisabetta in Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux Thursday evening at Carnegie Hall, tens, then hundreds of those in attendance leapt to their feet to shout their acclaim.