Bel canto

This afternoon I caught the last few minutes of the Met's performance of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor (on PBS), some of the most wonderful music ever composed by anybody anywhere. The last few minutes are not as thrilling as the whole thing. So I had to go to YouTube and listen to Maria Callas sing an 8-minute-long aria. Then I had to listen to her sing "Mi chiamano Mimi" from La Boheme. Callas and Elvis Presley are the only singers ever documented to sing three octaves. But I think I've said that before. And by now, it may not be true any longer.