| My admiration for Angela Gheorghiu started a few | | | | Puccini's "Tosca", specially when playing the jealous |
| years ago when I woke up one morning and turned on | | | | lover next to Roberto Alagna in act I in which she acts |
| my TV to Mezzo; the French classical music channel. It | | | | with suspicion over the gorgeousness displayed in |
| being then that I saw one of the most beautiful women | | | | Cavaradossi's painting of the Magdalena; claiming "e |
| I had ever seen in or out of opera, performing the aria | | | | tropo bella" (she is too beautiful). |
| "Habanera" in a segment from the opera "Carmen" by | | | | Angela Gheorghiu in the second act would deliver a |
| Bizet. As for myself, it was not an issue of my never | | | | stupendous rendition of "Vissi D' Arte" (face of art) |
| having seen or heard anybody else perform this very | | | | which I had heard several times before yet when |
| aria but there was something in the way this sensuous | | | | taken to her ways became as if an aria I was hearing |
| woman with dark black hair interpreted this aria that | | | | for the first time; as there seemed to be a passion |
| made it so alluring to watch; as she with not only her | | | | which had never been there. Angela Gheorghiu in the |
| voice but body and coquette gestures performed it. It | | | | second act of Tosca would also demonstrate all her |
| was Angela who added so much with not only her | | | | strength of character when slaying police chief |
| graceful sexuality but the way her eyes and smiles | | | | "Scarpia", declaring she is Floria Tosca after having |
| added to her interpretation; all of which making her as | | | | claimed "mouri, mouri" (die, die). |
| if an actress in a scene of seduction. | | | | Act three did not fail to live up to my expectations in |
| I at that point must admit was captured by Angela | | | | this film version of Tosca and neither did Angela |
| even to the point of being enamored with her, not only | | | | Gheorghiu, as she displayed so much emotion when |
| as a great soprano but by her femininity which came | | | | she believes her lover to be pretending to be dead; |
| across in the way no other's ever had in the world of | | | | only to discover that his was not a game of deceit. It |
| opera. Of course there had been other ladies of | | | | being at that point that she is discovered and rather |
| beauty in opera such as Te Kanawa or Fleming yet | | | | than be taken alive she decides to end her own life by |
| Angela Gheorghiu was one who in a way was to | | | | jumping off the building before she can be captured; all |
| opera what Marilyn Monroe had been to cinema, her | | | | as if to prove that only Tosca can decide such |
| being a woman who put so much of her female self in | | | | matters. |
| to her parts that never failed to exclude feminine | | | | I would go on to see Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto |
| passion. Looks wise hers was a face that combined | | | | Alagna perform in several other roles such as Mimi |
| beauty with personality that perhaps did not always | | | | and Rodolfo in "La Boheme" and even in a gala event |
| include symmetrical features yet soft ones that to my | | | | concert in Dresden which like many of her |
| eye made her a delight to watch; as she expressed | | | | performances I recorded on DVD from Mezzo. I for |
| herself in arias which seemed almost composed for | | | | my part must even confess to have written two |
| her womanhood. I even getting the impression hers | | | | articles about her entitled "Why Do We Love?" and |
| was pure celestial joy whilst she delighted with her | | | | "What Makes Us Love?". This holding as truth though I |
| persona and above all talent. | | | | did not mention it in anyway that be direct or even |
| It was then that I became a fan of Angela's as I at | | | | indirect that they were about Angela yet it is now that |
| one point had become one of Kiri Te Kanawa yet | | | | she will be once again free of the bound of matrimony |
| with Angela it was equally an infatuation with her as a | | | | that I declare that they were about Angela Gheorghiu. |
| woman as it was as a soprano. My desire for her | | | | It being her for whom I felt when I wrote the above |
| being like what I would have probably felt had I lived in | | | | mentioned phrases to love. |
| the time of Marilyn Monroe. Naturally I took to following | | | | As for myself, it maybe that I never get to meet |
| her career and above all operas, most of which she | | | | Angela Gheorghiu yet I can do no other than dream |
| performed with her soon to be ex-husband; Roberto | | | | that I might someday be the object of her adoration, |
| Alagna. I must acknowledge that she even lend | | | | as she is of mine or that my poems might capture her |
| something extraordinary to roles that previously had | | | | spirit as it might soar; as her voice does on to mine. |
| not been among my favorites, as she brought a | | | | This for it is my fantasies that include her in ways I |
| certain capricious nature to them that was not | | | | dare not even mention in this article or in any other |
| pretentious in anyway yet much like an adorable child. | | | | save to her if ever our paths should cross. |
| This being precisely how I saw her as Flora Tosca in | | | | |