Awesome little interview in today's Corriere della Sera (not online until tomorrow) with Patti Smith: the lanky prepunk, punk & postpunk chanteuse -- pictured above with former bff&e the late (and dearly missed) Robert Mapplethorpe -- comes out as a huge Puccini fan:
I'd love to step on a stage and sing Tosca. Tosca loves, and prays, with all her being. I'd love to sing Vissi d'Arte, one of the most strikingly beautiful arias in opera. My introduction to opera was an old LP, Eleanor Steber singing Butterfly... I was very young and it moved me to tears. Giacomo Puccini became my magic portal to enter the world of opera. I am so grateful to Puccini for this... What I love the most about his music is the melodic lines, and the way he builds up tension and emotion. The intensity of his arias represents a lesson to every singer... Puccini is, in the end, an composer whose music is very audience-friendly because he knew the people and he believed in them. His stories are simple, and they move you".
And yes, Bohème at the Chelsea Hotel, circa 1977, is even too easy a concept.