A Tenor Centenary

 Born on this day exactly a century ago was the great Italian tenor Carlo Bergonzi. He was born near Parma, and according to Wikipedia he left school at 11 to work in a Parmesan cheese factory, where he was often in trouble for singing while at work (which seems unlikely in Italy). During the war he became involved in anti-Nazi activities and was interned for two years in a German prisoner of war camp. After being released by the Russians, he walked some 65 miles to get to an American camp, catching typhoid fever along the way. When he resumed his musical studies at the Arrigo Boito conservatory in Parma, he weight barely 80lb, but this seems to have had no long-term effects on his health, and he lived to the age of 90. 
  I came to opera late, and my way in was largely through cheap compilations of arias and duets, many of which, happily, featured Bergonzi's wonderfully natural voice, sometimes in combination with that of Renata Tebaldi, who seemed the perfect match. Their rendering of 'O Soave Fanciulla' from La Bohème still sends a shiver down my spine. Here it is...