Mary, it occurred to me that my recommendation of getting a recording of a full-length opera and going through it libretto in hand might be a lethal overdose for someone just being introduced to opera. Your suggestion of listening to arias first, I think, is better. Or listening to "highlights" recordings of particular operas. Usually the liner notes or booklet contains a synopsis of the plot and sometimes an English translation if the featured excerpts. That's probably a better way to go.

Basses. Ezio Pinza ("Some Enchanted Evening") was probably one of the smoothest sounding basses (in addition to having a reputation for being an "old smoothy" with the ladies). Another was George London. He was the first American to be invited to sing the role of Wotan at the Beyreuth Wagner Festival, and his recording of Boris Godunov is excellent. My wife and I saw Giorgio Tozzi do Boris Godunov at Seattle Opera about twenty years ago. Tozzi dubbed the singing voice for Rosanno Brazzi in the movie version of "South Pacific." Gordon Bok is a bass. (So am I.)

From the recording of Rigoletto that I mentioned, if you can beg, borrow, or steal a copy—the whole thing is great, but give a listen to Erna Berger doing Caro Nome. As she sings it beautifully, she manages to sound like a love-struck sixteen-year-old. Absolutely perfect for the role. Another of my favorites, although I don't have a recording of it, is Lucia di Lammermoor. Music by Donizetti, story by Sir Walter Scott. Lush arias, duets, and ensembles, with enough blood and thunder to satisfy any action-adventure buff. Two feuding Scottish clans, forbidden love, deceit, betrayal, murder, madness, and suicide, all to some of the most gorgeous music ever written. What amazes me about composers like Donizetti and Verdi is their ability to write things like the Sextet in Lucia and the Quartet in Rigoletto in which everyone is doing his or her own thing all at the same time, and it all comes together! Puccini does it again in La Bohème in the quartet or "double duet" where Mimi and Rudolpho, who have broken up, are deciding to get back together again while Musetta and Marcello are trying to tear each other a new one. Tour de force!

Whew! I'll just stick to trying to figure out which chord goes where!

Don Firth