an afternoon at the opera

How lucky can you be! Luise's grandchild William needed babysitting and of course it was Luise's preference to stay with him, I ended up with her tickets. Hurrah. I never did hear LA TRAVIATA performed in an opera house, and to top it off, this happened to be a European production by German stage designers and producers (Willy Decker and Wolfgang Gussmann). It felt like being in the Hamburg Staatsoper; the stage was bare and stalk white except for a sofa or maybe two through the whole performance! The chorus wore regular suits and Violetta rushed around in a regular sharp looking short dress and high red heels —  and sometimes she did not even bother, and was just whirling around barefoot in a white slip. How daring, how refreshing! All these beautiful melodies and tunes and voices and drama and light effects produced interesting shadows playing against the white. I was in seventh heaven! We sat in the family circle, on the site with partial view but still enjoyed a great sound. I loved it. But to my amusement, I overheard heard a very very old lady climbing down from the Family Circle complaining to her daughter: "Now dear,  the musicians were fine, the voices good, but nobody, I mean nobody can tell me that they liked the stage with these silly sofas!" I smiled;  she reminded me of Mutti once upon a time.  Later we walked in 

New York around Lincoln Center among the lights, in the cold. This was a great afternoon.