ABSTRACT
opera is one of my happier childhood memories. I got my first exposure to opera music from gramophone records we had at home. Not knowing what to do with myself most of the day before I started school, I listened to them, squatting on the floor before our hand-cranked phonograph. Our collection included vaudeville comedian patter and musical comedy songs, but I liked the opera records best. My favorite disk was the “Triumphal March” from Aida. I played it over and over again. Aida’s aria “Ritorna Vincitor” was on the flip side. I played it less often, but its title came back to me as the U.S. Army’s “Berlin Express” pulled into Wannsee Station. Here I was, the Nazi’s intended victim, returned vincitor.
