| Trying to get your 16 year old acid rocker | | | | before Bjoerling, having been born in 1873. |
| son to go to an Opera is like trying to get | | | | At the time he was considered the greatest |
| President Bill Clinton to admit that he had | | | | tenor of all time. After the arrival of |
| sex with that Lewinsky gal. You've got one | | | | Bjoerling, the debate began. Most opera |
| big fight ahead of you. The truth is, if we | | | | lovers are torn between the two as to who is |
| didn't have the opera, we wouldn't have some | | | | the greatest. Caruso actually had technical |
| of the other great music of our time as | | | | problems early in his career that he did not |
| ultimately every form of music, especially | | | | overcome until the turn of the century when |
| Broadway musicals, comes from the classics. | | | | he was finally able to move away from |
| And there is no more classic than grand | | | | resorting to falsetto or transposition. |
| opera.There's a reason that most operas are | | | | Caruso gave many memorable performances |
| sung in Italian. Most of the great writers | | | | during his all too brief career which |
| of opera were Italian. The few English | | | | included probably his most popular role in "I |
| language operas we have, like "The Barber Of | | | | Pagliacci" where he sings what has become his |
| Seville" don't compare to the old grand | | | | most famous aria, "Vesti La Giubba".The opera |
| Italian operas. And it is those operas that | | | | world did not just belong to the men. There |
| have given us some of the greatest singers in | | | | have been many great women who have come to |
| the history of music.Great singers go back | | | | the opera stage over the years. One of the |
| many years. Keeping this discussion to the | | | | most famous of these is Leontyne Price who |
| 20th century, one needs to go no farther than | | | | was born in 1927 and still lives today, |
| the incomparable Jussi Bjoerling, as he was | | | | though she has long stopped her operatic |
| called. Bjoerling lived from 1911 to 1960. | | | | career. Price had many victories in her |
| He actually wasn't even Italian but Swedish | | | | career. Her biggest was probably on January |
| born. But he was one of the greatest of our | | | | 27, 1961, when she made her debut at the |
| time. He was the leading tenor at the New | | | | Metropolitan Opera House while playing |
| York Metropolitan Opera for more than 20 | | | | Leonora in the Verdi classic "Il Trovatore". |
| years. Some of this most memorable | | | | Her performance was so incredible that it |
| performances however were not done at the Met | | | | resulted in her getting a 42 minute standing |
| but at the Rome Opera House under the | | | | ovation. This was one of the longest in the |
| direction of Jonel Perlea where he appeared | | | | history of the Met. The critics reviews of |
| in some of the greatest operas ever written, | | | | her performance labeled it as |
| including "Cavalleria Rusticana" and "Tosca" | | | | "flawless".These few greats only scratch the |
| and "Carmen", just to name a few.In the opera | | | | surface of what opera has given us. If |
| world, many people were constantly comparing | | | | you've never been to the grand opera, by all |
| Bjoerling to another great tenor by the name | | | | means go. Even if you have to leave your 16 |
| of Enrico Caruso. Caruso actually came long | | | | year old acid rocker home. |