One Night of Love in his usual place in the prompter's box. The complete proscenium and part of the wings and seating plan of the Metropolitan Opera House were duplicated for this production and occupied the whole of Columbia's largest sound stage. Moore's recording and performance of the "Un bel di" aria from "Madame Butterfly" did not go smoothly, as she had trouble hitting the high notes. According to a later biography, she flew into a rage and blamed the orchestra, however, when studio boss Harry Cohn asked Columbia music director, Morris Stoloff, what the problem was, Stoloff replied, "There's nothing wrong with the
Manon Lescaut (Puccini) compositions for strings: the quartet "Crisantemi" (January 1890), three "Menuets" (probably 1884) and a "Scherzo" (1883?). The love theme comes from the aria "Mentia l'avviso" (1883). Puccini's publisher, Ricordi, had been against any project based on Prévost's story because Jules Massenet had already made it into a successful opera, "Manon", in 1884. While Puccini and Ricordi may not have known it, the French composer Daniel Auber had also already written an opera on the same subject with the title "Manon Lescaut", in 1856. Despite all the warnings, Puccini proceeded. "Manon is a heroine I believe in and therefore she cannot