It was Vincenzo Bellini's last opera *I Puritani* the opening performance of which I attended at the Kennedy Center a few nights ago. The Puritans aren't the Massachusetts settlers who came after the Pilgrims and proceeded to give their predecessors a bad name but the "Roundhead" followers of Cromwell after the execution of Charles I. While not securing a place on my own short list of favorite operas (see my subject line), I must admit that it has everything that I understand an opera of the time should have, arias, ensembles, music which while it did not find itself hummed or whistled by me on the way home was nevertheless pleasing, and never tedious. And, unusual, I believe, for the genre of the time, it had a happy ending. He (Arturo) is a Cavalier; she (Elvira) is the daughter of an enlightened Roundhead who agrees to the lovers' marriage. Unfortunately, practically at the altar, Arturo recognizes that the mysterious lady in black whom is prospective father-in-law will be escorting to Parliament (and virtually certain execution) is Enrichetta, the late king's widow and he feels duty bound to save her, which he does by disguising her in Elvira's bridal veil. Elvira, believing herself jilted, goes mad. Arturo returns, as does Elvira's sanity. It starts drifting away again as the Roundheads corner him and condemn him to death. Cromwell's military victory over the royalists, resulting in a general amnesty, saves Arturo (and Elvira's wavering sanity) in the last minute, and presumably everybody lives happily ever after. The first half hour or so found me dozing off (this could have been me and not the opera) but the opera seemed to spring to life about halfway through the first act. The two leading singers that night, Lynette Tapia (Elvira) and John Osborn (Arturo), who are in fact married to each other, sang beautifully. especially Ms. Tapia (although in the beginning, I thought she was letting the orchestra drown her out). Elvira's mad scenes, were touchingly presented, moving w/out being histrionic. Not since hearing the famous *Pearl Fishers* duet have I heard such a wonderfully sung duet as that sung by Jorge Lagunes as Riccardo, Elvira's rejected lover, and Daniel Sumegi as Elvira's uncle (Giorgio) where the latter urges the former to conquer his resentment over Elvira's having preferred Arturo to him and to save him from execution. The sets were ingenious: a series of ramps from either side to the center revealed by backdrops that opened up successively as the action proceeded. Ovations for Tapia, Osborn and Sumegi were loud and vocal. Several strangely dressed young folk suddenly appeared for curtain calls after the conductor (Christopher Larkin) was called up and the curtain dropped precipitously in mid bows. I never found out what had been going on. The opera has not yet been reviewed in the Washington Post. Walter Meyer