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Fernandez sings the aria "Ebben? Ne andrò
lontana", from Act I of Catalani's opera "La
Wally." The piece is a haunting reverie on
the theme of traveling alone and far from
home. Catalani died in 1893 of consumption
at the age of 39, only a year after the
triumphant premiere of "La Wally" at La
Scala.
This performance plays a prominent role in
the 1981 French romantic thriller, "Diva" -
and is an excerpt from the DVD. Roger Ebert,
film critic for the Chicago Sun Times, rates
the movie 5 stars out of 5.
This is one of the most frequently
"favorited" videos on BestArts. See the
others at
http://www.thebestarts.com/bestartstier1
The opera, based on a German novel, has a
libretto by the young Luigi Illica, who went
on to collaborate on the texts for "La
Boheme," "Tosca" and "Madama Butterfly." It
tells of a wild, headstrong Swiss mountain
girl who loves one local huntsman and is
loved by another. Eventually she wins her
true love, the pair embraces high in the
Alps, an avalanche entombs the hero and she
leaps after him to her snowy death.
The libretto for the opera is available (in
Italian) at
http://www.karadar.com/Librettos/catalani_wal
ly.html
A plot summary of the opera is available in
English at
http://www.spikesworld.spike-jamie.com/opera/
LA%20WALLY.pdf
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