7 JULY 1984, Page 23

Soprano Nero

Sir: How nice to hear from a member of the cast of the epoch-making Oxford Poppea of 1927 (Letters, 23 June). But I didn't write that I wanted Nero to be sung by a woman: I stated a preference for a soprano, gender unspecified. And surely the valleto's lines would sound no odder coming from a woman than do Cherubino's or Octavian's. One of opera's oldest jokes is that the randier the youth, the more likely he is to be sung by a woman. Can there be a lesson here?

Rodney Milnes

21 Dalebury Road, London SW I7