The Rocklopedia Fakebandica now has a podcast.
Listen now!
Félice Elefantine
Female singer of the opera Il Campanile, composed by Gondola, in a 1914 parody of stuffy classical music programs, "Those Symphony Concert Programs" by Lawton MacKall. The piece is played by the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra conducted by Otto Culmbacher.
Her name is a joke on the stereotype of overweight opera singers.
Aria from Il Campanile This opera, though well known in Budapest and South America, is practically unknown in the United States. The aria, "O belli spaghetti," is so vocally exacting that to sing its bird-like notes a prima donna should diet for weeks on birdseed. Here are the words — which are repeated fourteen times in the course of the aria.
THE ITALIAN THE TRANSLATION
O belli Spaghetti Had I the wings of a dove,
O bianchi confetti. I would fly, I would fly to my love.
Bananni, bananni, I would fly, I would fly,
E tutti frutti— Through the sky, through the sky,
O bianchi confetti! I would fly, I would fly to my love! (She waddles off)
External Links
- http://books.google.com/books?id=htV9udjnvX0C&pg=PA316#v=onepage&q&f=false
- http://archive.org/stream/bizarre00mack#page/190/mode/2up
- http://books.google.com/books?id=y7iK1r0hxwMC&pg=PA379#v=onepage&q&f=false
See also: [1]