About this episode
La Rondine, “The Swallow,” is an opera in three acts by the famed Italian composer Giacomo Puccini and librettist Giuseppe Adami which had its premiere in 1917 in Monte Carlo. Originally commissioned to write an operetta by the Carltheater in Vienna, Puccini decided in favor of a full opera. La Rondine refers to the title character, Magda, who opens the story as the glittering hostess of a lively Parisian party in the apartment she shares with a wealthy elder gentleman, Rambaldo. One of the guests, the poet Prunier, opines on romantic love, and Magda wistfully recalls a brief romance of her youth, and considers the possibility of finding romance once again, in spite of her very stable and practical current arrangement. Magda’s spunky maid, Lisette, announces the arrival of a young man from the countryside, and, well, you can imagine how events might unfold. . . Hosted by Pat Wright and Keely Herron.