Midsummer Nights

Een paar van mijn favoriete schrijvers, een bundel van losse verhalen over opera.

“‘Which opera is La Traviata?' Campbell whispered as the overture struck up. She wasn't good with opera. Joel's parents had season tickets to the Met because that was the kind of people they were. ‘Tragic inappropriate love, abandonment, death,' he whispered back. ‘Yes, but which one?'”

Soms heel letterlijk, soms heel indirect (en gelukkig staan achterin de samenvattingen van de gerefereerde opera's, want bovenstaand citaat is ook op mij van toepassing :-)

“The soothsayer's eyes were as clear and pale green as the water in the bowl. She stared downwards, then lifted her eyes. ‘I see nothing now but hundreds of years ahead I see people listening to an opera about you – or it may be an oratorio.' ‘What's the difference?' ‘I don't know,' said the soothsayer irritably. ‘It's not my field. Please don't interrupt. An opera or an oratorio by a man called George Frideric.”

Uiteindelijk iets te veel los zand, met een paar uitschieters naar boven...

“In her company there was never exactly silence, even when nothing was being said. The way her eyes took in the room made a sort of noise.”