Six Crystal chandeliers dim and rise to the ceiling
Telling us that the curtain is about to open on another
Evening at the Met where a thousand waiting souls having
Paid A king's ransom in costs and ticket fees wait with
Childlike expectation the willful suspension of dis-belief.
Marie Therese, The Marshallin, Princess of Austria as moth
To candle flies extinguishing life with the bright flame of
Youthful Rofrano and at once we will hear the virtuous
Musicality of zeit und ewigkeit (The snows of yesteryear).
Baron Ochs will soon appear all elegance and comic leachery,
Symbol of an empire fading in waltz: (Ohne mir...mit mir die
Nacht istu zu lange.) Then three sopranos fight the flights
Of upper energy reaching heights of ecstacy unknown to
Generations of Italian tenors and finally, the silver rose
Takes on new life again as youthful eros burns and flames
Into the passing years.