【Let me sing for you】David Chien (@72) singing E Lucevan Le Stelle【為您唱首歌】錢 達 唱 星光正燦爛（歌劇『托斯卡』男高音詠嘆調）

Giacomo Puccini, the Italian opera composer, was born in Luca, Tuscany, Italy in 1958. Both his parents were musicians, but his father passed away when he was five. He was then sent to study music with his uncle, but his uncle felt he lacked talent and didn't pay much attention to him. At the age of 14, he began working as an organist at his church and also led the choir.

However, at the age of 18, he and a friend walked over 30 kilometers to Pisa to see a performance of Verdi's opera “Aida”. This performance profoundly impacted Puccini, and on that day, he vowed to become a great opera composer. Sure enough, he published his first opera at the age of 26, and subsequently published many more. Several of Puccini's operas, such as “La Bohème”, “Tosca”, “Madama Butterfly”, and “Turandot”, have become masterpieces in the world of opera and are among the most frequently performed operas internationally.

The global opera world generally recognizes Puccini as the greatest Italian opera composer after Verdi, and the international music community largely considers him Verdi's successor. However, if we compare the styles of Puccini and Verdi, I believe that Verdi's compositional ability is superior in terms of overall operatic structure. Verdi's operas often demonstrate a complete and magnificent structure in their musical treatment. Puccini, however, possesses a unique strength: he can write the most beautiful and moving arias. Comparatively, his recitatives often feel somewhat monotonous, making his operas sometimes appear looser in overall musical structure.

Puccini's birthday is December 22, 1858. I had originally planned to upload two of Puccini's opera arias to YouTube last December 22nd, but I didn't have time to prepare. So I delayed until today (January 14th), the 126th anniversary of the premiere of Puccini's opera “Tosca” (which premiered on January 14, 1990, at the Teatro Colzstein in Rome), and I selected two famous tenor arias from “Tosca”: 《Recondita Armonia》 and 《E Lucevan Le Stelle》､ I made karaoke videos of them, and I also recorded myself singing these two arias. Then I uploaded both the karaoke videos and the singing videos to YouTube. Friends who like these two arias can listen to them or sing along on YouTube.

意大利的歌劇作曲家普契尼，於1958年出生於意大利的托斯卡納盧卡，他的父母親都是音樂家，但是他的父親在他5歲的時候就過世了，後來他被送到舅舅那裡學音樂，但是他的舅舅覺得他沒有什麼天分，也不太重視他。然後到了他14歲那一年，他開始在教會擔任管風琴師，同時也負責指導詩班。

但是在他18歲那一年，他和朋友一起徒步走了30多公里的路去比薩觀賞威爾第的歌劇「阿依達」的演出，而這場歌劇演出帶給普契尼巨大震撼，他在這一天立志要成為偉大的歌劇作曲家。果然他在26歲那一年發表了第一部歌劇，以後他又陸續發表很多部歌劇，而有好幾部普契尼的歌劇，像「波西米亞人」、「托斯卡」、「蝴蝶夫人」、「杜蘭朵公主」等都成為世界歌劇樂壇頂尖的巨作，也是在國際歌劇樂壇演出頻率最高的歌劇。

全世界的歌劇樂壇至今都普遍認定，普契尼是威爾蒂以後最偉大的意大利歌劇作曲家，而且國際樂壇也普遍認定普契尼就是威爾第的繼承人。但是如果我們比較一下普契尼和威爾第兩個人寫歌劇的風格，我認為從歌劇的整體結構來說，威爾第的作曲能力還是比普契尼更高，因為威爾第的歌劇常常能夠顯示出，他在整部歌劇的音樂處理上有一套完整而偉大的結構。但是普契尼有一個非常特別的長處，就是他能寫出最美最感人的詠嘆調，而相對的來說，他的敘事曲常常讓人家覺得有一點單調無味，所以普契尼的歌劇常常在整體的音樂結構上顯得比較鬆散。

普契尼的生日是1858年12月22日，本來我考慮在去年12月22日潑兩首普契尼的歌劇詠嘆調到YouTube，但是我當時來不及準備。所以，我延遲到今天（1月14日），就是普契尼的歌劇「托斯卡」首演的126週年紀念日（「托斯卡」是1990年1月14日在羅馬的科茲坦斯歌劇院首演），我選了兩首「托斯卡」歌劇當中非常著名的男高音詠嘆調，就是《奇妙的和諧》和《星光正燦爛》，我把它們做成卡拉視頻，同時我也錄下我試唱這兩首詠嘆調，然後把卡拉視頻和試唱的視頻都潑到YouTube上。讓喜歡這兩首詠嘆調的朋友可以上YouTube點開來聽或是點開來伴唱。