Tosca , Flashman, and John LeCarre

[mallorys_camera]

Went to see the simulcast of the Met’s Tosca. It was quite good! The Bulgarian soprano in the title role is phenomenal; ditto the rock star Italian tenor who sings Cavaradossi. Scarpia was the weak point, so the Act 1 finale was a bit underwhelming, but Vissi d’arte (shout-out to signorinakatina) was amazing.

Of course, what you experience in a streaming video or hear on a recording is not the real reason to go to opera. Yes, yes, the music is intense, lyrical, and with a Met production, you can count on amazing stage drops.

But the real reason to go to opera is because of the weird, unearthly effects that the human voice produces, and which you can only truly appreciate if you’re physically present to hear them. I don’t even have the words to describe them!

The closest I can come is that opera singing is kind of like that trilling ululation that Berber women use to send their men folk out to war except that opera singing conscripts the whole scale of Western notes to that technique. Even in a room with bad acoustics, you can hear the notes vibrating off the walls in a really strange, primal way. And it just thrills you. Makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

This is an odd analogy, I know, I know, but in a way, going to a live opera is a bit like going to a Grateful Dead show used to be. An authentic experience that can't be reproduced in any other medium.

Hopefully, I will get to hear La Bohéme at the Met next month. Same phenomenal Bulgarian sings Mimi.

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In other news, I remain mopey, unable to concentrate fully on anything.

Also, I am out of stuff to read. I mean – despite my best efforts¹ , I always have this huge stack of books lying around. So I shouldn’t be out of stuff to read. But none of those books are calling, Read me-e-e-e-e!

Should I plow through some of those John LeCarre novels I rescued from the Staatsburg library? Should I read that collected omnibus of Flashman novels gifted me by a charming stranger on a train last May?

Possibly the latter. It’s a very romantic way to come in possession of a book, after all.

This week, I start doing the volunteer tax preparer gig, so life will turn quite busy.

Today that just seems like one more thing to reproach myself with: You will want these stretches of untenanted time in the near future! So why don’t you do something productive with them now?

¹ I say “despite my best efforts,” because when I was clearing out my Monterey house, I realized I have definite hoarding tendencies when it comes to books, and I vowed never to own a hard copy book again! Of course it was a vow I didn’t keep.