Jon Johanning:

>I think the divide between Puccini-lovers and -haters may be whether you
>enjoy music pumped full of gobs of pure feeling.  A lot of people never do,
>and they are perfectly fine people--more power to them.  Others, like me,
>sometimes go for it and sometimes not.

This is true.  Sometimes Puccini is tolerable and sometimes not.  What
brings me back to him from time to time is his very keen sense of drama
and his interesting orchestration.  Those swooning arias do give me the
willies, though.  But aren't there a lot of composers that seem intolerable
at times? On the whole I love Wagner; but sometimes I feel that I need to
give him a rest for a good long while:  that intense, overpowering music is
just too much.  I wonder if this truer of opera composers than the others?

Julia Werthimer <[log in to unmask]>
California, USA