The Year of an Opera Listener - March.

In Ballo in Maschera by Guiseppe Verdi

I'm an amateur when it comes to opera music. But I love it, and two years ago my German friend Gabi and I started to "co-listen" to operas. Every month a new opera.  2 1/2 years and more than 20 operas later, and I am hooked.

Operas are so many things. It is music, stories filled with love, passion and death, costumes, grand opera houses. My opera for March is Puccini's Turandot, but in the Venice mood I am into right now, I am also re-listening to Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera. The story behind this opera is based on Augustin Eugene Scribe's text for Daniel Auber's "Gustave III ou Le bal masque". In the story  King Gustav III was murdered on the opera in Stockholm. A murder of a King on the scene was unacceptable, and in the opera the story was transformed into an American setting and no royalties. Even more, when performed, the setting is sometimes placed in US, sometimes in Naples, sometimes back in Stockholm. Well, who cares. The music remains the same.

Come enjoy Volta la terra with me. Or Di' tu se fedele. And please share your opera tales. I would love to hear from other opera lovers out there. Are we crazy,or?

The photo is a mask I bought from Cuero in Venice last year. It will be used in my book.