with Frank Sinatra
and Gene Kelly
I laugh every time I hear these recordings. There is something special about putting jokes to music. The recording from L’elisir D’amore is a very great scene. The tenor, Nemorino is in love the soprano, Adina. Nemorino however, is known as the poor town idiot. He buys a bottle of wine thinking that it is a magical love potion, and then he starts confidently flirting with Adina in a lighthearted way, while partially drunk. It is beyond hilarious. Adina says that she will marry Belcore to punish him, but as you will see in the clip, Nemorino only laughs this off as impossible. The recording from The Tales of Hoffmann (in French this is Les Contes D’Hoffmann) uses a butler as the comical character. This butler is tired of working day and night (jour et nuit) and he says that he is going to amaze his employer as a great singing and dancing artist. He tries his hand at both, and then decides to stay a butler. The other recording, I Hate Men, is from a musical but it is sung by an opera singer. I thought I would show you how great opera singers can be expressive, very well pronounced, and funny even in English! I also like the joke she makes in this song about traveling salesmen. We need to shape up guys, so that we aren’t mind-numbed and philandering people who give our wives (and God) reason for grief! Fidelity gives greater happiness! As a side note, I will be writing a whole website on relationships as well. Check the sidebar of this website or drewwhiteddc.com occasionally, and it should be up soon!
Open this playlist in spotify, here.
The exact clips I prepared for the recordings I list here are I Hate Men – 1:07-2:18, Les Contes D’Hoffmann – 0:00-1:38, and L’Elisir D’Amore – 1:25-3:01.
