Word: bori
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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After reading your account of Lucrezia Bori's farewell in the issue of April 6, I was interested to learn that she still has the habit of bestowing kisses on her friends and admirers...
...roles which she has made peculiarly her own, Bori said her goodby. First she was Violetta in La Traviata, sacrificing her happiness on the plea of the elder Germont who was Tibbett bewigged. At the end she was graceful Manon, beguiling Tenor Richard Crooks until he gave up all thought of becoming a cleric. With what appeared to be the final curtain the audience was on its feet wildly cheering. But there was more to come. Stage had been set for the garden scene in Traviata. Flowers were everywhere. While members of the company stood by respectfully, Bori received rich...
Thus at the peak of her popularity did Lucrezia Bori, 48, quit the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House. She announced last December that she would retire at the end of the season, said then that she had planned to leave when she was 45 but had stayed on to help the company over its financial crisis. To many a Bori admirer it seemed incredible that she could be close to 50. Her voice is still fresh. She has been careful of her figure. On the stage she has always appeared as a youthful person, with a rare piquant charm...
...Bori's career almost ended tragically when she was 27. A throat ailment cost her her voice and she returned to Spain, lived out of doors, burned countless candles to the Virgin Mary, waited for months without attempting to speak. When she returned to the Metropolitan in 1921 she established herself still more strongly with the Opera's subscribers. There was no one to excel her as Manon, Juliette, Mélisande, Violetta in La Traviata, Mimi in La Bohème, Fiora in L'Amore...
Though there were extra performances to be given in Manhattan and out-of-town engagements still to be filled, the Bori gala farewell was the milestone that marked the end of Edward Johnson's first season as Metropolitan manager. Impressive had been the signs of new interest in opera. The audiences had been bigger, more enthusiastic. Financially the Company had done better than it had in four years. What deficit there was the directors kept to themselves. Manager Johnson announced in advance that he felt it necessary to play safe at first, depend on a proven repertory in which...