Legal Marketing & PR

Requiem for a grand lady

By Mark Merenda

    My life is a little poorer since last week, and so is yours, although you may not realize it. That’s because a great lady named Beverly Sills is no more.

    I love opera. Practically always have. I was passionate about it even as a teenager. I also love poetry. And Shakespeare. And I speak French. I keep my regular guy credentials by quoting the Sopranos, playing golf, and watching every Red Sox game. If pressed to prove my heterosexuality I will spit and monopolize the remote control.
    My friend Susanne Koenig, with whom I shared my passion for opera back in college, sent me an email with the title that you see above and we shared our memories. She reminded me of the time I went to see Sills in a performance of La Traviata and returned with a horrible sore throat, which came from my throat muscles contracting in "sympathy" with her high notes ? a not unusual occurrence for opera fans, by the way. And I recalled for Susanne’s benefit the time I ran into Sills on Fifth Avenue in New York. I stuttered, pointing at the famous diva and saying ?You?re…you?re…you?re…? and, obviously pleased to be recognized, she threw me a dazzling smile.
     Oh how I loved her voice. Only Callas had a comparable effect on me ? a voice tigerish in its intensity, guided by a musical intellect that bordered on genius. I started listening to Sills on "albums" played on a "record player." Now she emanates from my iPod. She retired from the stage in 1981 and went on to run practically the whole American opera world.
    Where she is now, I am sure she is teaching the angels to sing.

Piu’ a me t’appressa ascolta, amato Alfredo.
Prendi: quest’e’ l’immagine
De’ miei passati giorni;
A rammentar ti torni
Colei che si’ t’amo’.
Se una pudica vergine
Degli anni suoi nel fiore
A te donasse il core
Sposa ti sia lo vo’.
Le porgi questa effigie:
Dille che dono ell’e’
Di chi nel ciel tra gli angeli
Prega per lei, per te.

Full post as published by Mark Merenda’s SmartBlog on July 09, 2007 (boomark / email).