''When I hear a soprano uttering her
vibrant and
melodious notes, my eyes are filled with a
hidden flame, flashes of pain shoot across them, and the burst of alarm-bell and cannonade
resound in my ears. What can be the reason for this deep loathing of everything related to man?
If those harmonies are played on the chords of an instrument, I listen in delight to the
pearly notes
wafting in cadence through the elastic waves of the atmosphere. Sense conveys to my hearing
an impression so sweet as to melt nerves and thought. The magic poppies of an ineffable
drowsiness envelop, like a veil filtering the light of day, the active power of my senses and
tenacious strength of my imagination.'' Maldoror and Poems by Comte de Lautréamont
And Anna Netrebko is both the exception and exceptional
