This weekend was a whirlwind romance with opera. Two operas in two
days, and now I’ve fallen in love with it. They were right –
everything sounds better in Italian! <laugh>

I liked both Rigoletto and La Traviata, and was thrilled to finally be
able to match familiar arias with images.

Penelope (the woman controlling the surtitles) asked us which of the
two operas we preferred. Of the two, I liked La Traviata’s story more
than Rigoletto’s, although I liked the performance of Rigoletto more.
W- favors Rigoletto. Penelope told us that she finds that men tend
to prefer Rigoletto and women tend to prefer La Traviata, and she
joked that La Traviata’s considered to be the chick flick of operas.

On further reflection, I think that Rigoletto has more complex
tragedies. Still, it’s hard to squelch a distaste for the Duke in
Rigoletto, who reminds us that pretty boys get away with far too
much… <laugh> “La donna e mobile” is a beautiful song, but so
cynical!

It’s so wonderful to be able to *see* the opera in my head as I listen
to the music. Ah, joy…

Random Emacs symbol: sacha/erc-freenode – Command: Connect to Freenode.