Maastricht Round-up and video

Maastricht: 13^th July 2010

The concert did remind me of a question I’ve long had. The sopranos and tenors who normally sing with André Rieu’s Johann Strauss orchestra come from Brazil, Australia, Germany and Hungary. And, I’ve heard them singing in English, German, Italian, French and Dutch … at least!

I’ve often wondered … do they actually learn these languages, or just learn the song lyrics parrot-fashion?

I did get a partial answer from Fay, whose late husband was an operatic tenor. She told me that, whenever they went to Rome, he used to embarrass her by asking their Italian friends stuff like:

‘Art thou at ease with thineself today?’ when he really meant ‘How are you?’

… because he had learnt his Italian from the operas. So, maybe it’s a bit of both?

Anyway, here’s the video …