Musical miscellany.

Here is an item that I would have shared last week, had it not been for a jam-packed schedule that made blogging impossible. After periodic bouts of serious illness, numerous missed concerts, and rampant speculation about his ability to simultaneously hold down two major musical posts in two different cities, James Levine will be stepping down as Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Though Levine won't officially leave his post at the BSO until the fall, his withdrawal from all remaining concerts this season makes his departure more or less immediate. All of this may provide a positive answer to a question posed here in October: "Is James Levine the next Manny Ramirez?"

As a second musical item, I'd like to share something amusing that I discovered today: a synopsis of Vincenzo Guaraldi's little-known opera Lino e Lucia di Arachidi. I considered delaying any mention of Lino e Lucia until the first day of April, but I finally decided that doing so would only help to prolong the undeserved obscurity of this sadly underappreciated work. At the very least, I hope that you enjoy this post on Lino e Lucia as much as I did. AMDG.