Sung by Cynthia Haymon, with the Seattle Opera Orchestra conducted by Cal Stewart Kellog, 1990.

This lovely aria, as famous for its many appearances on TV and movies as on the opera stage as a central moment in Puccini’s only opera comedy, is a lesson for teenage vixens in how to manipulate your father. Lauretta won’t be able to marry her beloved Rinuccio unless her father, Gianni Schicchi, agrees to help Rinuccio’s family, so she sings: “O my dear daddy…I like him, he’s so handsome. I want to go to the Porta Rossa to buy a ring. Yes, I want to go! And if I love him in vain, I’ll go to the Ponte Vecchio and throw myself into the Arno! I can’t bear it, I’m so unhappy! O God, I want to die! Daddy, have pity!”

Photo by Gary Smith