My very dear opera friends,
You may or may not understand a "crazy collector's mentality," but as I approach age 77, I look around and feel that some day I do not want my enormous collection to go into a dumpster. My joke is that when I met Anja Silja a few years agho after a Jenufa, I asked her for the Elena Makropolous formula so I could have 356 hyears more to listen to my tapes. She must have thought "who is this nutcase?"
I have been discarding reels and cassettes (ever hear of them?), but what remains is still an enormous collection of CD's,VHS videos, and LP's, not just the items I used for a 25 year "Pirate business" but lots of commercial material. For example, do you know anyone who has over 50 Elektras or every Ring that was ever recorded?
I look around and wonder what I was thinking when I would visit Tower Records after a Met performance and buy something like the complete works of Heinrich Schlachenheimer (??)This is why I am so glad Tower closed because I can save a little money!
In your travels (and I am also speaking to singers or opera-lovers who reside in other countries), you might know some younger opera lovers, similar to a 17 year old Charlie Handelman who knew every note of Zinka Milanov's repertory.(and most of the words.) Also,you may be affiliated with a school like MSM where young students can enjoy some of my enormous collection...rather than have it lay around and gather dust.
This does not mean that I am discarding everything, but let's face it....there is just too much...and I would like to "spread the wealth" to those of you who might be interested. Of course, you would need a truck, a U-haul, or a large tenor to pick stuff up. Why should it sit around here and some day be discarded, although my executor can do what he wants with it..but it would be an enormous job.
Well, that is where I am at the moment, and please feel free to write or phone me if you have any ideas..but do not give anything to anyone who never heard of Claudia Muzio!
Love Charlie Placido21@aol.com
