Mar.
15
2012
”I DON’T want to be an artist, I want to be a prima donna!”
That’s not the only crack up line in “The Music Master,” an opera in one act attributed to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi! Jonathan Palevsky was good enough to introduce this hilarious little comedic gem to me and dub it from LP to CD for last 
Saturday’s Vocalise. The tiny bit of scratchiness made me grateful for the clean sound of CD’s; that would make another good blog topic, but I digress. Here is an article from 1982 written by Edward Rothstein for the New York Times about the “Music Master.” Enjoy!
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/11/08/arts/opera-buffa-schwartz-conducts-a-pergolesi-at-y.html
I was delighting in the very 1980s LP cover and, when I looked more closely, I caught sight of the names, Judith Blegen and Gerard Schwarz, two sublimely musical performers (their recording together of Alessandro Scarlatti and Handel—oh my!) Thanks for jogging my memory about that.
Judith, I know you have interviewed Gerard Schwarz and have followed his career. Are/were Blegen and Schwarz married?
I don’t believe so. As far as I know, they were just great musical partners, with the same sensibilities about musicality.
Thanks Judith! Maybe it’s that musical “sensibility” they shared that made me think they had been life partners as well.