"A little song upon the breeze . . . "

I had a dream the other night about "Sull'aria," the famous Act III duet from Le Nozze di Figaro. In my dream, Susanna read back the letter the Countess had dictated to her, as in Mozart's opera; the difference was that, instead of being indignant at the Count's cruelty, and confident of the plan she is making with the Countess to entrap him, she was horrified and frightened by the danger she was putting herself into.

The dream could mean any number of things, but, of course, it could never improve upon the perfection of the opera, especially this performance, with Gundula Janowitz as the Countess and the late Lucia Popp as Susanna. I can't imagine two more humane, intelligent, or musical sopranos. Enjoy.