Callas — OMG!!
Finding inspiration beyond faith
This afternoon I listened to opera on Canadian radio. It was a recording from the Met — Lucia di Lammermoor, with Maria Callas singing Lucia. I had heard Callas before and loved her voice. I had set my phone alarm for 15 minutes before the start, but somehow I did not hear it, and missed the first act and some of the second. I plugged in the earphones, bundled up (it was windy and cold, but sunny), leashed up the dogs and began their walk, with Lucia, Edgardo, and the orchestra in my head.
Callas sang and I was transfixed. I listened — listened carefully, listened hard. I let the music fill my ears, fill my brain. It made me inhale deeply, then exhale as if spent. My heart swelled. The orchestra and the aria rose and fell, danced on the sound waves, pulled me up, up, then higher still. It ran down my nerves to tingling fingertips, and flowed in my blood to my very core. The ecstasy made me weak, and I could have fallen to my knees and prostrated myself at the altar of her voice. I managed to control myself and remember that I was walking the dogs!
Then began that beautiful duet between Lucia and the flute — notes chasing each other up and down, this way and that, in and out and around….so exquisite, so subtle, so perfect… the tears flowed. OH MY GOD!!
