Feathers in the Wind with Verdi's La donna è mobile
The Best Moments

I kick off La donna è mobile with a bouncy little tune in the orchestra that struts into the room like a man who has just checked his reflection in three different mirrors. To keep the whole thing light on its feet, I left out the heavy brass and drums, letting the strings and woodwinds set up a cheerful rhythm before the Duke of Mantua even opens his mouth.

As the song moves through its two verses, I use a clever trick where each vocal phrase skips its final resting bar, making the melody tumble forward like a gossip who cannot wait to get to the next part of the story. People today hear this sunny music and think it is a sweet love song, which is quite funny considering the Duke of Mantua is busy complaining that women are unfaithful right before he tries to seduce another one.

When we reach the end, I bring back that jaunty orchestra tune while the tenor builds up to a grand finish that I kept top secret before our Venice premiere so the public would not whistle it in the streets ahead of time. Of course, tenors being tenors, they now always belt out a long, ringingly high B at the very end that I never actually wrote on the page, proving that singers are just as hard to control as the Duke of Mantua himself.