She appeared in a now little-known light opera by Franz von Suppé, “Boccaccio.” All the same, the Greek National Opera made good use of the promising young soprano, as a visitor to its former home quickly realizes. No, her debut vehicle was not “Norma” or “Tosca,” signature roles of her later years.
#Puccini opera about an opera singer professional
Yet the recollection of that long ago concert remained in my memory when I planned a pre-Christmas December trip to Greece.įor it was to Athens that the New York-born soprano was sent by her Greek parents to study at the conservatory (her original name was Kalogeropoulou) with the near-legendary Elvira de Hidalgo, and it was there that she made her professional debut with the Greek National Opera in 1941.
#Puccini opera about an opera singer plus
She sang only three arias that night: “Suicidio!” from Ponchielli’s “La Gioconda” “Voi lo sapete” from Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” and “O mio babbino caro” from Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi,” plus four duets with Di Stefano, who was reportedly indisposed and contributed only one solo. She was still an artist, but as I remarked in my Star review, “one always had to listen through the voice to the dramatic truth it expressed.” The truth was still there, even though the voice itself was no longer reliably obedient to the demands made of it. Unwisely persuaded to emerge from retirement, partnered by Giuseppe Di Stefano, tenor co-star of some of her classic early recordings, she offered what almost amounted to a caricature of the artist she had been. 21, 1958, when she was at the height of her fame.Īnd it wasn’t quite the same Maria Callas of 16 years earlier.
That had taken place in the cavernous setting of Maple Leaf Gardens back on Oct.
21, 1974, when the great opera diva Maria Callas returned to Toronto during her farewell tour. The recent reopening of Massey Hall, Toronto’s beloved “Grand Old Lady of Shuter Street,” after an extensive three-and-a-half-year renovation, uncorked a bottle of memories of artists great and small who trod its boards over almost 128 years.
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