An Operatic Day

What is your favorite book?  Your favorite opera?  Such difficult questions!  Recently Corinna challenged me to list my ten favorite books, and I actually started making a list, but it was impossible.  My favorite would be something by Dickens, but then there is George Eliot, and across the Atlantic, Huckleberry Finn, a major contender for the "World's Greatest Novel" title.  But if Dickens, then which Dickens?  Another impossible question.  If the criterion is “most often read,” then either David Copperfield or Great Expectations would be the winner.  But then there are Bleak House and Little Dorrit  – not to mention Our Mutual Friend.  Aargh!  As for George Eliot, Middlemarch is a regular phenomenon.  Every time I have read it, it is a completely different book, no doubt because I am, in a sense, a completely different person.  The characters I once found sympathetic, I later found pathetic, and vice versa.  Just like in real life.  Remember that girl who was soooo cool in high school?  And look at her now.  A total loser. 

What is my favorite opera?  Usually it is the one I have most recently seen, but a couple consistently remain in the top tier, and the opportunity to see them again is an all too rare treat.  The first time I saw Don Giovanni, I was, as they say in the vernacular, “completely blown away.”  I wanted to go again immediately, but …..  finances didn’t permit.  This season, I was luckier.  I received tickets to the dress rehearsal, and so took Rachael, who has been hinting for quite a while that Rebecca is not the only one who should be taken to the opera.   Then again four days later with Rebecca to the actual performance.  It is soooo, soooo wonderful.  It goes without saying that the music is beyond fabulous, full of top hits.  And with the addition of a good story, wit, humor, and a satisfying ending as the Don, who refuses to repent of his sins and amend his rakish lifestyle, is sucked into the fiery pit and eternal punishment, it is a rare winner.   I wonder if I should go again this weekend.  Hmmmmmmm!

See a little preview here.