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Since you mentioned Sherrill Milnes I have an inter-related Toreador Opera News story via Milnes and Norman Treigle. They were rehearsing/performing FAUST with his Valentin to Treigle's MEPHISTO. Milnes jumped in mid-scene after Valentin was dead w/ Treigle's entrance and booming voice. Treigle was known for his Toreador as well. Did Milnes ever sang it on stage ?
I've always loved this song since learning to play a simple version on the piano when I was young. In fact, I sang it around the house to my kid's amusement. It's just one of those melodies that never left me.
Maybe "Carmen" is beloved because it tells a timeless human story of love, lust, jealousy, competition, revenge, and unequal power. The music is dramatic, beautiful, memorable and accessible. As with Handel's "Messiah", you just want to sing or hum along. It's an opera earworm.👂
In a Thursday throwback moment, I remembered that my mother introduced us to a recording of "Carmen" when we were little kids. She never meant for us to add our own lyrics to "Toreador", but we did and were loud and unrepentant about it, too:
Toreador -ah, don’t spit on the floor/Use the cuspidor/That’s what it’s for.
Don’t spit on the floor anymore/Use the cuspidor.
Alright, I will obey/Won’t use the floor/I’ll use the cuspidor.
Google attributes these irreverent lines to an episode of "The Three Stooges". Bart Simpson popularized them later in a 2018 episode of "The Simpsons". But here's a compensatory shout out to you and all the "Carmen" lovers in the house for subjecting you to that. I am enjoying it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h-fP4zSH40.
P.S. OMG Michele, suddenly I'm listening to opera - daily🆒.
Wow - just simply wow - what a performance - fantastic atmosphere
Carmen: quite simply, one wonderful melody after another. Carmen Jones is great, too
Since you mentioned Sherrill Milnes I have an inter-related Toreador Opera News story via Milnes and Norman Treigle. They were rehearsing/performing FAUST with his Valentin to Treigle's MEPHISTO. Milnes jumped in mid-scene after Valentin was dead w/ Treigle's entrance and booming voice. Treigle was known for his Toreador as well. Did Milnes ever sang it on stage ?
I've always loved this song since learning to play a simple version on the piano when I was young. In fact, I sang it around the house to my kid's amusement. It's just one of those melodies that never left me.
Maybe "Carmen" is beloved because it tells a timeless human story of love, lust, jealousy, competition, revenge, and unequal power. The music is dramatic, beautiful, memorable and accessible. As with Handel's "Messiah", you just want to sing or hum along. It's an opera earworm.👂
In a Thursday throwback moment, I remembered that my mother introduced us to a recording of "Carmen" when we were little kids. She never meant for us to add our own lyrics to "Toreador", but we did and were loud and unrepentant about it, too:
Toreador -ah, don’t spit on the floor/Use the cuspidor/That’s what it’s for.
Don’t spit on the floor anymore/Use the cuspidor.
Alright, I will obey/Won’t use the floor/I’ll use the cuspidor.
Google attributes these irreverent lines to an episode of "The Three Stooges". Bart Simpson popularized them later in a 2018 episode of "The Simpsons". But here's a compensatory shout out to you and all the "Carmen" lovers in the house for subjecting you to that. I am enjoying it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h-fP4zSH40.
P.S. OMG Michele, suddenly I'm listening to opera - daily🆒.