http://www.patrick.k12.va.us/josh/audio/smyslov.wav
Chess World Champion Vassily Smyslov (you can see his picture at left) came close to becoming a professional singer at the Bolshoi rather than a chess titan. Here he is singing. Not sure what, though. I've always wondered.
Very familiar, I think it's the Elegie Op. 10/5 by Jules Massenet. But I'm away from home and will have to wait for this evening to pin it down.
Wow, nice answer! That's it!! Thanks a bunch! I've been curious about this for a few years now.
I wonder who wrote the words, and what they are; and who orchestrated it. The piece appears to be for solo piano. I've never heard anything by Massnet before that I liked, but the solo piano version of that (of which I've now heard a 1 minute sample on amazon.com) sounds gorgeous.