A reader:

Mr. Derbyshire–I thought you might be amused by a riddle I’ve heard out here in community-opera circles. Q: How many tenors does it take to sing “Nessun Dorma”? A: Every [expletive] one of them.

There is a feature of sung music that is in need of a name. The name is something like: “Ordinary Guy Singability.” I mean, there are opera arias I can sing, and which it gives me pleasure to sing. (Since I have never had voice training, it’s highly unlikely that my singing gives pleasure to anyone else, but that’s beside the point.) On the other hand, there are arias I love to hear, but just can’t sing at all. An example would be “Un aura amorosa” from Cosi fan tutte. It’s exquisitely beautiful, and I could listen to it all day long–I think I pretty much did, when I first discovered it. Yet if I try to sing it, I get a few measures in, and a loud voice inside my head says: “For God’s sake shut up.” “Nessun dorma” is at the other end of the scale. It’s easy to sing. Any guy can sing it. Of course, only a trained singer can sing it WELL, but that, again, is not what I’m talking about. It’s beautiful, and singable. Most of Mozart’s arias are beautiful, but not singable. Not by ordinary guys. Ol’ Wolfie was not, not, not an ordinary guy.