Julia Werthimer ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>...  It was my first experience of sitting in an Italian audience, and
>the applause for the intermezzo was so enthusiastic and prolonged that
>the conductor raised his baton and played it again!  A magic moment.

In the summer of '68 I was working in Italy, 'twixt school and university.

To cut a long story short, a colleague (opera fanatic - his father had run
an opera company and he was practically born on stage) decided that he and
a small group of us would drive the 250 miles or so from Pesaro (birthplace
of Rossini, that year celebrating the centenary fo his death) to Verona,
for a performance of Aida in the collosseum.

Veronis (or was) a delightful and unspoilt city and it's collosseum if
far better preserved than the one in Rome.

The opera began at 9:30 and after the first act, the heaven's opened.
The audience took shelter in the many passages inside the building, while
we had regular weather reports from the airpost relayed on the PA system
and the ice-cream vbendors regaled us with arias from various operas.

Some time after midnight the opera began, on a stage covered with sawdust
to mop up the water.  Finished c2:30 and we had the 250 mile drive home...

Unforgettable alright.

Deryk Barker
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