Word: sung
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...small group"), Ghiaurov approaches each role like a Ph.D. thesis, spends months probing into the history and psychological motivation of each character. Many opera singers, having learned a role in a foreign language, often have no idea of the meaning of the words they mouth, much less those being sung by the rest of the cast. Ghiaurov, on the other hand, knows by heart every role of every singer in every opera he has ever sung, down to the smallest bit part. "How else," he asks incredulously, "can you put your whole heart and head into a role...
...SHADOW OF YOUR SMILE (Verve). Mrs. Gilberto adds another LP to the family, this time featuring American standards like Fly Me to the Moon and Day by Day. The title song is the love theme from The Sandpiper, which is infectious when hummed but sickening when sung: "A teardrop kissed your lips...
When it was all over, and the reprises had all been sung, the cast yelled and the producer, the publicity manager, the chief choreographer, the director, and the chairman of the whole thing (Diane Sawyer), trooped onstage. The audience applauded, the cast cheered, and the four little old alumnae who had driven in from Lincoln and were sitting across the aisle from me began...
...rate, the case is probably the most spectacular instance of the curative powers of opera, although Voltaire later observed that attending it was good for the digestion. Otherwise, the great philosopher had no use for opera. "Anything that is too stupid to be spoken," he said, "is sung...
...most enduring operas have very good plots indeed. The plays by Victor Hugo or Alexandre Dumas on which various Verdi operas are based are alive in their musical incarnations, though hardly bearable in the original. The fact is often missed because in the U.S., at least, opera is usually sung in the original language, and most members of the audience have little more than a basic vocabulary consisting of amore morire, andia-mo, bene, coraggio, preghiera; Götter, Liebe, Tod, Sturm, Blut; merveille, sourire, larmes, yeux. English-language performances usually do not help because the translation is too often...