# I.D. this Opera clip? (Please) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 9, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-d-this-opera-clip-please/254360 "2004-07-09T21:33:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-d-this-opera-clip-please/254360/1 "2004-07-09T21:33:01Z")
I was just wondering…could anyone help me I.D. a clip of what sounds like an Opera? I heard it on a Cartoon Network show\* the other day, and mangaged to record it. It’s an Mp3 file, about 30 seconds long, and 500k in size. It’s a woman singing, but I couldn’t make out the language or the lyrics. There’s no appreciable background noise. [Link.](http://www.home.pon.net/phoebeg/Spaceopera.mp3) Can…anyone help me out with this’n? \*Okay, it was _Codename: KND_’s “Operation S.P.A.C.E.” Ya happy? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-d-this-opera-clip-please/254360/2 "2004-07-12T23:41:41Z")
Darn…nothing? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-d-this-opera-clip-please/254360/3 "2004-07-13T01:06:34Z")
Well, I’m pretty sure it’s Italian, but that doesn’t help much. Verdi? Puccini? ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-d-this-opera-clip-please/254360/4 "2004-07-13T05:06:56Z")
I want you to know that I’ve been listening to this darn clip for two days, and have sent the link to some of my fellow opera-lovers (as well as a music librarian). I just haven’t gotten any decent answer yet. Trouble is, it’s a section of the aria that contains a bunch of relatively generic, almost cliched musical phrases – with the exception of the lovely key modulation at the end. It is Italian, but not Puccini. _Possibly_ Verdi – the run upwards is very _La Traviata_ -esque – but more likely Donizetti or Bellini. If we could figure out the words it’d be easier, but even then it’s probably your basic “oh, my love is gone, I’m in torment, help me find peace” text. (I even think I hear her say “o mia pace” – my peace – in the second phrase, LOL.) I’ll keep up the research, but I sure hope someone can solve this mystery! ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-d-this-opera-clip-please/254360/5 "2004-07-13T05:37:38Z")
Reminds me a bit of Offenbach, but I honestly don’t know. I’ll ask around a bit as well. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-d-this-opera-clip-please/254360/6 "2004-07-13T15:22:06Z")
I’m officially stumped. Never heard it before. ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-d-this-opera-clip-please/254360/7 "2004-07-13T20:38:43Z")
This sounds _really_ familiar to me, but I can’t put my finger on it just yet. It is Italian, and sounds like a bel canto opera. I’ll see if I can think of anything. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-d-this-opera-clip-please/254360/8 "2004-07-13T21:25:32Z")
It sounds a bit like the fake opera that Bernard Hermann wrote for _Citizen Kane_, (the one Susan Alexander Kane sings in), but not exactly. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-d-this-opera-clip-please/254360/9 "2004-07-13T22:13:58Z")
Goddammit, I’m sure it’s Puccini. I can’t for the hell of it place it. My God, are there no opera kooks on this board at all? ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-d-this-opera-clip-please/254360/10 "2004-07-13T22:39:58Z")
LOL, I’m an opera kook. And nah, I hate to disagree but I really don’t think there’s any on God’s green earth that this is Puccini. 😃 That’s so funny about the _Citizen Kane_ thing though, **h.sapiens** – I see what you mean, 'cause this singer is scarily evocative of Susan Alexander Kane. (Well, not quite that bad, but I’ll just say it’s not a very flattering clip of whoever this is!) It kinda sounds like she’s singing “(something ending in -mi) Elvira” at the very start of this clip, no? I did a search of the libretto of “Ernani” (by Verdi), which has an Elvira as a soprano role, but came up short. There’s also Elvira in “I Puritani” by Bellini, which is a good possibility. But that’s assuming i’m hearing the words correctly, which is a mighty big assumption. This singer _really_ isn’t very good at enunciating. We WILL figure this out! ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-d-this-opera-clip-please/254360/11 "2004-07-13T23:14:42Z")
“Casta diva” from Bellini’s “Norma”. I’m listening to it right now on a Joan Sutherland CD (that’s not her on your clip, though). ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-d-this-opera-clip-please/254360/12 "2004-07-14T01:18:30Z")
And according to the booklet with the CD, the lyrics in that clip are “spargi in terra, ah, quella pace” ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-d-this-opera-clip-please/254360/13 "2004-07-14T05:17:38Z")
I just downloaded the Mp3 from iTunes…and _Casta Diva_ does seem to be it. Plus, from the translation of the lyrics and the description of the scene in the opera (a pagan priestess praying to the moon goddess for peace) would seem to work in _perfect_ context for how it was used on TV. Thank you, friends! I’m much obliged.