The End Of An Era

When I first moved to New York, I had a night job to make a little extra money.
My job was to help the wardrobe department of New York City Opera make funny little felt booties for the chorus of their new production of Faust.
Then I was hired as a dresser and I got to stand in the wing and see and listen to Beverly Sills and Norman Treigle, and I was in love. That any human could produce the sound that Beverly could produce, bowled me over.
I remember gushing to Chuck about this incredible singer, this wonder, this lovely, lovely lady.
And I would hang out in the wings and watch her in Julius Caesar, watch her as she danced as Fata Morgana in Coque D'or, and of course in Faust.
Chuck caught the bug as well, and it was Chuck who took the time to write to her and thank her, it was Chuck who talked to her after I pointed her out in a super market in Vallarta, and it was Chuck who said, one afternoon as we were leaving our secret beach to head home for the states the next day, that for his funeral, he wanted this particular song by Beverly that we were playing in the car.
Now Beverly Sills is dead too, and Chuck never had a funeral, so I never got to play the song, but surely, wherever these kindred spirits are, Beverly will be singing to Chuck
Marietta's Lied from Die Tote Stadt by Korngold, and a wish will be fulfilled.
He certainly deserved it.