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How many of us have one picture flash before us when the word opera is mentioned …. you have the fattest woman on earth in a Viking's helmet, singing so high that all artifacts made of glass in a 1 mile radius are shattered into tiny bits……
Then you stumble across a 1933 recording of Enrico Caruso singing Handel's Ombra Mai Fu and all of a sudden it's not quite so clear cut.
While you mull over that, you find an old recording of Maria Callas and all one has to do is to listen to this aria, Casta Diva, from Bellini's opera, Norma and you are hooked.
You cannot understand the words, you cannot understand the music, but you can understand the meaning. This recording was made live in 1958 at Académie Nationale de Musique – Théâtre de l'Opéra, Paris and the quality of this and the Caruso 1933 recording are not quite top notch but the beauty is undiminished. Enjoy!
Everyone has heard of the late Pavarotti, probably one of the greatest tenors of the past 50 years. His famous rendition of Nessun Dorma from Puccini's Turandot is beloved of all football fans after the 1990 World Cup Final performance with the Three Tenors!
Pavarotti often claimed that he listened to how the Swedish tenor Jussi Bjorling sang any piece before he would tackle it.
Well, here is Jussi Bjorling singing Nessun Dorma, recorded live in 1944. Just marvel at how in the last few lines he has such control as to arrive right in the middle of the note and sustain it for such a length. There is no finer rendition.
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Odds and Ends 
