As promised, I return from the opera gala with something to amuse you.  This aria was sung by a very handsome young baritone with a beautiful voice, a gleam in his eye, and a copy of Vanity Fair, to which he referred at salient moments, to illustrate the ladies in question.  This particular recording, by Erwin Schrott, is much in the same spirit, and leads one to believe that the singer is in fact detailing (and revelling in) his own conquests, not those of his master.  In my mind, it immediately became ‘the notches on the bedpost aria’, because I’m vulgar like that.   See what you think…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM-2CA47L_A&w=420&h=315] Continue reading →