The other day I was driving to work and heard this song, La Danza by Gioachino Rossini on CBC Classic radio.
La Danza by Rossini
Presumably in Latin, I had no idea what the man was singing, but it made me laugh. It sounded silly and playful. The melody was memorable and brought me back to Bugs Bunny's operatic cartoons, like Figaro. Love it when songs jump out at you. Upon a little research, La Danza is a patter song which uses a fast tongue-twister of words to create a humorous effect. Patter songs are commonly used in comic opera and operetta. A few years back my students studied a patter song from the opera The Pirates of Penzance. It was Gillbert and Sullivan's Major-General Stanley's song, I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General. Check it out and have a good laugh.
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