Music 45 Roles, 628 Performances. Why Stop?

Plácido Domingo cannot see himself retiring the way many opera stars do: by announcing a farewell tour and going from company to company, accepting tributes. “Rather,” he said, reflecting on his astonishingly long career during an interview in the tiny press office at the Metropolitan Opera, “I think it will be one evening, after a performance, to say, ‘That’s it.’ ”

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Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Placido Domingo in “Adriana Lecouvreur” at the Met in February.

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Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Plácido Domingo commands the stage in “The First Emperor” at the Met in 2006.

Mr. Domingo, 68, came close to doing that in January 2007 at the Met, at the end of the premiere run of Tan Dun’s opera “The First Emperor,” commissioned by the Met expressly for him.