Happy April 18th!
For fans of American history and Longfellow, this date commemorates Paul Revere's ride.
And for those of us in the San Francisco area, it's also the 104th anniversary of the big earthquake and fire. What's amazing to me is that Longfellow's "hardly a man is now alive" is still true in SF. Several survivors of the '06 Quake remain alive and one of them attended the annual commemoration at Lotta's Fountain at 5:12 am.
What makes this date opera relevant is that Enrico Caruso and the great Wagnerian & Straussian soprano Olive Fremstad had just sung Carmen at the Grand Opera House on Mission Street the preceding evening; it was part of the traveling season of the Metropolitan Opera. Described as "the most exciting cultural event of the season", things got even more exciting when the roof of the opera house collapsed a few hours after their triumph.
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/earthquakeandfire/exhibit/room01_item01.html
Caruso's personal account of his experience, along with his sketches can be found at
Caruso vowed never to return to SF, and he never did. Who can blame him? Does anyone know if Fremstad returned?
I plan to celebrate by watching the 1936 MGM classic, "San Francisco" starring the wonderful Jeanette MacDonald as a cabaret and opera singer in love with tough-guy-with-a-heart, Clark Gable. It was my entrée to opera as a 10-yr old... :o)
