Giacomo Puccini - Vissi d'arte from the Opera "Tosca"

(Image source)

Growing up, Saturday afternoon mean the Texaco Metropolitan Opera Radio Network, whether we liked it or not.  Mostly we didn't, but that didn't matter.  Saturday was for Opera, and Opera meant Puccini.

What I didn't realize then was what a gift Mom was giving us.  It's not just that this was great music that we learned when we were growing up.  It's great music that when I hear it, transports me back to the days when I could get temporary dispensation from lawn mowing by sitting with Mom and listening to Puccini with her.

Her cunning plan paid off: we have this picture hanging in the kitchen here in Camp Borepatch.  Puccini, of course, is the most romantic of the operatic composers, and is almost synonymous with the term "Opera" as it is popularly performed today.  Indeed, if you go to Netflix and watch either of the two great 1980s opera films Room With A View or Moonstruck, you'll hear plenty of Puccini.

Here's Maria Callas - the "Voice of the Century":



Vissi d'arte:

Happy Mother's Day to all Moms, and I hope you are lucky enough to similarly reward your kids, perhaps hiding from the lawn mower.