It was just after 1 a.m. on Thursday morning ten days before our scheduled "Pucciniana" concert when I was woken drowning in my own blood. Wife, step-daughter and grandson rushed me to Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital where they plugged a massive upper sinus haemorage. Trust a tenor to always do something dramatic. The next day an excellent ENT man plugged it properly and ordered me back on Monday. Was this haemorage caused by resonance?  

An internet search and questioning my ENT man indicated no. It was probably caused by drying of the sinus tissues exacerbated by my C-pap machine. Advice to all C-pap machine users, use your humidifier!

So then I started to think about opera and my personal gory experiences. There was the homicidal parrot I previously wrote about inthe "Livestock on Stage" story. Then there was Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana". In this sarcastically named opera Turiddu (the sort of hero) and Alfio (the sort of villain) agreeto challenge one another to a duel.

The Sicilian method of challenging to a duel is to bite your adversary on the ear.
As usual, I threw myself into the part with vigor. Blood everywhere. Poor Alfio needed two stiches in his ear but was lucky in a way. He did not contract hydrophobia.

- return to Al's Opera Stories -