1880. The Glory days of the Paris Opera House.
It was the first day of rehearsal for the tenor Ubaldo Piangi. He'd left his native Italy to take the position of principal tenor at the opera house. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he walked through the entrance and was immediately overwhelmed. There were people everywhere speaking French so fast that he could barely make out a word.
"M'seiur? M'seiur, can I help you?" He was so overwhelmed with the melee that Ubaldo barely heard the older man next to him. But finally! Someone who could direct him to the manager's office!
"Ah… yes. I am searching to find the office of the manager. I am the new tenor. Ubaldo Piangi," he replied promptly while extending his hand and smiling. The Italian hoped his French was understandable and hadn't insulted the man's mother instead.
The old man nodded and motioned for the tenor to follow him. Ubaldo was taken down a maze of corridors and passed hordes of workers carrying set pieces, washwomen carrying buckets and mops, wardrobe mistresses carrying costumes in a dazzling array of colours, masses of thin, lithe ballet girls… It seemed as if all of Paris worked at the opera.
Finally they came to a stop at a large wooden door.
"Here, the manager's office," the old man said and abruptly walked away, leaving Ubaldo by himself in the hallway guessing if he should knock or wait for admittance. Just as he was raising his hand to knock on the door, it opened and a small, thin man with thick spectacles appeared in the doorway.
Ubaldo immediately recognized him as M. Remy, the assistant to M. Lefevre, the manager of the Paris Opera House. M. Remy looked startled at seeing an unexpected person in the doorwat and Ubaldo could hear a woman's voice shouting inside the office.
"Ah! Signor Piangi! I am not sure this is a good time…" Remy's voice trailed off as he glanced over his shoulder at the quarrel he had just attempted to escape.
Ubaldo opened his mouth to reply, but by the time he had formed a reply in French, Lefevre walked toward Remy. "Who's at the door, Remy? Now's not the time to be disturbed when our beautiful soprano is so upset," the manager said brusquely.
Ah, soprano. That explains the shouting. Some of them could be so spiled and self-absorbed. Ubaldo finally caughter sight of the manager at the door and was again opening his mouth to begin a sentence when Lefevre began talking again.
"Oh! Signor Piangi! Our new tenor!" With that, the woman's shouting from within the room ceased. Lefevre pulled the door open, shoving Remy aside, and pulled Ubaldo into the room and towards the woman who had been shouting moments earlier.
The woman. She was beautiful. Ubaldo couldn't take his eyes off of her. Bright red hair, but not that ugly crass red colour that made you think the hair would be like straw. He looked into her eyes and saw the two most beautiful blue oceans looking back at him. It took him a moment to even notice the clothes she was wearing – a beautiful dress of satin and lace in a dark blue colour that set off the colour of her hair and eyes perfectly.
In a word, Ubaldo Piangi was awestruck.
Lefevre had guided him over to the reigning diva and took the diva's hand. "Signora Guidicelli, this is the new tenor that I have been trying to tell you about, Signor Ubaldo Piangi."
Ubaldo shook himself out of his reverie and kissed the woman's hand. "It is a pleasure, Signora. I have not had the pleasure of seeing you perform, but tales of your talent reach us in Milan. It was one of the reasons I accepted this position. The soprano in Milan seemed to think that louder was better and had no concept of pianissimo."
With that, Carlotta laughed. Lefevre and Remy smiled from the relief that she wasn't yelling anymore. Maybe the new tenor was all she needed to get out of their hair for a little while. "Perhaps you should both have some coffee and get to know one another? After all, you will be working together closely…" Lefevre suggested.
Yes, Ubaldo thought, that was a very good suggestion.