Silly smiles

A neat development in my Handel research... Last week, I came across two sources that contradicted each other on a matter pertinent to my research. One of those sources is arguably the foremost Handel authority in recent history. On Friday, I worked up the nerve to email this author by sending an email to the Handel Society and asking them to forward it to him. They replied the next day that they had forwarded my email, but that the author is quite elderly and may not respond to my inquiry. Today - just three days later - I received a response from this esteemed researcher with a most satisfactory answer to my question. I'm tickled pink. It's stuff like this that makes being a geek really fun. :-)

In other news, Eric took me to hear Renee Fleming in concert with the CSO on Saturday night. The first half was frustrating because we couldn't hear Ms. Fleming. We were seated behind the orchestra (theater in the round), and she was facing away from us. We scouted out a pair of empty seats across the room and moved during intermission. The 2nd half was so much more enjoyable because we could not only HEAR the soloist, we could even understand what she was singing! She gets away with a lot of unusual interpretation because she has a dynamite voice and knows how to use it. She was tremendous. She did four encores, including a sing-a-long of "I Could Have Danced All Night." Hehehe... I can say I have sung with Renee Fleming! ;-)

I was so glad to be there with Eric. He is not a big fan of classical music. He used to buy me season tickets to the opera when we could better afford it (read -- before I started grad school), and I used to insist that he go with me once a season. The rest of the time, he insisted I find someone else to take the 2nd seat, but I always looked forward to the night when he would go with me. For one thing, it's the only time he ever wears a suit and tie -- he looks especially handsome when he's dressed up. :-)