And I am so excited.
Until Die Walküre, that is. Rheingold, of course, precedes that, and believe you me, I am excited about Rheingold, but I am shaking with nerves at my excitement for Die Walküre.
I don't know how this is quite going to work, but I intend doing a sort of count-down to The Ring. Probably not every day, but intermittently. I suppose I could do serious study of the scores and the influencing mythology, but, it's not really my style.
So far, I have my horned helmet and breastplate lined up ready to be polished, my rams fed and waiting to pull my chariot. My sword is embedded in my ash tree in my kitchen and as we write, I am simultaneously gouging out my eye in return for ruling the world.
It's so exciting!!!!!!!
But you know, hero worship is a double-edged sword, although, hopefully, not by the name of Nothung.
Last week, oh I should have blogged this, bad me, I fired up my trusty laptop and tuned into the internet which was broadcasting a tribute concert to the late Beverly Sills live from the Lincoln Center in New York's downtown Manhattan - Photojournal
Included in the programme was Plácido singing Ombra mai fu. I suddenly realised that I hate hearing him sing live on the radio or internet. Not live in person of course, but live on the internet, because I get a) so nervous and b) so critical.
(You know how it is with some obsessed fangirls - and boys - that they honestly truly believe that their idol is utterly perfect and completely beyond criticism. I'm not like that, I can't be like that - actually I think it diminishes credibility. For me it's almost like - I've earned the right to criticise - you may disagree, and that's okay, it's just the way I kind of feel)
So there I am listening to him singing Ombra mai fu and thinking, hmm, I'm not sure about that note there, gosh, he's got a deep voice, blimey that's a high note, well above a High C. At the end I was thinking, yeah,that was nice, I've heard him better. You know, that's me being critical.
And then all over the internet is praise - one commentator wrote "...he also floated the prettiest little high F you've ever heard..." High F? That high. And, like, ordinary people who attended, not known as fans of his, were fulsome in praise.
In preparation for my mounting excitement five weeks today, I bring you a nice YouTube I stumbled upon earlier, presumably from the concert at the Alamo a few weeks ago. Paloma Querida.
Nothing to do with Wagner, of course, but what the heck...Just a shame it gets truncated prematurely.
