Because I am ignorant of opera, I was amused a long time ago to read an essay with the epigram "When music was married to immortal verse, she committed a horrible mesalliance." (Being written in my bomb shelter.) One experience I had with opera records still surprises me. Back in the thirties sets of symphonic records were subsidized by a music lovers'group. I got a dozen wonderful symphonies that way,though it meant skipping meals. I also got Bizet's "Carmen" but could not understand a single word even after a dozen playings. Until I could get the libretto, and after one reading, I could understand EVERY word. I can still remember "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle...." Oh, to have my hearing back.