>She is supposed to be a FLIRT, after
> all, not a real seductress. Frankly, I think she's less overtly erotic
> than even Zerlina
That isn't really true. Musetta is being kept by Alcindoro, that is, he wines
and dines
her and pays for her apartment in return for sex. And he isn't her first and
last.
There is a quote from the book which prefaces the second act in the score (At
least it used
to, don't know if it still does) in which Musetta says her life is like a song,
various men are the verses,
but Marcello is always the refrain. The point is that she loves Marcello, but
can't take the poverty for very long stretches
at a time. When Mimi remarks on how well dressed Musetta is, Rodolfo replys
"Angels are nude."
I don't agree that a mezzo should sing it, Zerlina's lines are always the lowest
in the Giovanni ensembles,
whereas in the quartett Musetta's lies higher than Mimi's. In Europe, the role
tends to be cast heavier than in
North America, which IMO is better. By the way, Marilyn Horne made her San
Francisco debut in the role,
but she was still singing soprano roles then.
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