Madness

Lucia di Lammermoor

There is a back scene here. When I was in grad school, there was a little debate with my then boyfriend about the glass harmonica. I said it was played with wet fingers on glasses, and he said it was struck with mallets like a marimba. We went to Smithsonian to settle this. Though I knew I was right; he was equally sure that he was right.

---

Here is a little introduction so you can listen for the eerie sound during Lucia’s mad scene.

Now, just to be fair, there is another kind of glass harmonica that is like this. It’s fascinating to go backstage to see how the production is put together.

Now, enjoy this magnificent performance by a very young rising star, Nadine Sierra from Florida.

---

A few people have left comments or written to me privately asking me to add a little bit of a personal nature to the selections I have chosen to share. Well, in the mid-sixties, I had the amazing good fortune to attend two performances of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan Opera House, the “Old Met” as it later came to be called. The cast was exactly the same at both performances except for Lucia herself, one with Joan Sutherland and the other with Anna Moffo. It was almost like seeing two different operas because of the interpretation of the role. It was actually very hard to imagine “La Stupenda” being bullied by anyone, but Anna Moffo definitely exhibited vulnerability. This performance that I stumbled upon is, however, amazing for its theatrical and musical interpretations, and certainly the best introduction to the glass harmonica that I could find.

Now, what happens if there is no glass harmonica player among the orchestra members? Usually, the flute is substituted. It is also lovely but not quite as “mentally fragile” as the glass harmonica.

---

Copyright by Dr. Ingrid Naiman 2023 || All Rights Reserved

---