Friday's French music break - Wilhelmenia Fernandez, "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana"

This week's Friday's French music break is a treat for all opera lovers out there; the American soprano Wilhelmenia Fernandez singing "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" from Alfredo Catalani's "Le Wally".

Wihelmenia Fernandez (screenshot from "Diva")

No, not much French about it at all, except that this version of the aria is probably one of the more popular and most well-known (but not necessarily "best") as it featured in Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1981 art house classic film "Diva" in which Fernandez played (and sang) the part of Cynthia Hawkins, "a beautiful and celebrated opera singer who has never consented to have her performances recorded."

So why dig up a version that's more than three decades old of an aria from an opera that first opened in 1892?

Well, even though many famous sopranos have had "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" in their repertoire (just do a search on YouTube and you'll come up with, among others, versions by Angela Gheorghiu, Renée Fleming and the late Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi ), "La Wally" as an opera is rarely performed.

Apparently that's because it's difficult to stage as it's set in the Tyrolean Alps with the heroine throwing herself to her death into an avalanche at the end, which sounds like hogwash as a reason, given the (sometimes improbable) plots in other operas (think Puccini's "Tosca" for example, in which the heroine "hurls herself off a parapet" at the end).

Anyway, right now "La Wally" is coming to the end of a run at the Grand Théâtre in Geneva - the first time it has been performed there since the venue reopened 50 years ago.

Spanish soprano Ainhoa Arteta (screenshot  from clip of "La Wally" Grand Théâtre de Genève)

Spanish soprano Ainhoa Arteta (pictured) shares the lead role with English-born Morenike Fadayomi (you can read her full official biography here) who takes over for the last two performances.

And for those of you who might fancy seeing the Geneva performance of "La Wally", Arte still has the June 20 "live transmission" in its site.

Welcome to Geneva - Switzerland's capital, according to TF1

It would seem that France's main private television channel, TF1, has decided to follow a lead set by the country's president, François Hollande, in showing just how geographically challenged it can be at times.

Remember Hollande's gaffe back in June while on a trip to Japan when he mistakenly expressed his condolences to the Chinese rather than the Japanese for those killed during a hostage crisis in Algeria in January?

Well, TF1 decided to go closer to home for its foot-in-mouth blooper.

It came during a recent pre-recorded (and therefore perfectly editable) lunchtime news report as part of a delightful series "La France à bicyclette".

It took viewers on a trip around Lac Léman (or Lake Geneva if you like, because it's one and the same thing) from Lausanne to...Lausanne. A round trip.

Gorgeous scenery - both on the Swiss and French sides - although guess where the traffic was a little more difficult?

Cyclists take to the streets of the "Swiss capital Geneva" (screenshot from TF1 report)

Breaks for meals and meet-ups with other halves - enjoying the countryside and a leisurely lunch before setting off again to the encounter the liveliness.....of the capital, Geneva!

Listen at two minutes and three seconds.




Now, it might be all right for far flung countries and their broadcasters to get things wrong geographically speaking - and CNN certainly has in the past and will probably also do in the future

But how can a French reporter get his (in this case) information so obviously wrong about a country with which it shares a border and to some extent a culture?

Easily probably, especially if there's nobody around to take a listen to the piece before it's broadcast.