One of the great delights here at ChezRanger is sitting by the fire on a winter's afternoon, listening to the Saturday broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera. Neither LadyRanger nor I are serious opera mavens, but we do enjoy it, even if we don't know all the ins and outs of the art form. We're happiest with lyric opera but can push through more modern stuff (although "View from the Bridge" can pretty much dampen an otherwise pleasant day). It turns out that we're not the only species that appreciates opera. We found this fellow quite enchanting!
What I like about this is that he seems to be enjoying himself! Of course, I know little about birds and bird behavior, so perhaps he's hating his way through it, but I doubt that...
This is, for anyone wondering, the coloratura part of the Queen of the Night's aria from Mozart's Magic Flute. Here's a clip of how it sounds when a human attempts it.
The relevant, parrot-inspiring part parts can be found starting around 1:42 but the whole smash is well worth the listen. The soprano is Diana Damrau. I particularly love her little smile at the end, the smile of complete victory.
Maddie never really cared one way or the other about the opera or anything else we played, although she would usually hide under the bed when we played our one Billy Joel cd. Ivy, on the other hand, did appear to like a beautiful aria.
Darn tootin'! I am a civilized kitty!
One day we were playing this video, The Flower Duet from Delibe's Lakme.... (please forgive if an add intrudes at the start. NEVER buy whatever it is. That's my policy!)
...and the wee tuxedo cat, who'd been relaxing on the couch silently set up a wonderful, loud purr. It lasted for the entire aria. Made us smile.
Perhaps our next cats will appreciate opera, a fire in the fireplace and a lazy Saturday afternoon.
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