Word: contraltos
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Bach: Sacred Arias (Carol Brice, contralto, with the Columbia Broadcasting Concert Orchestra, Daniel Saidenberg conducting; Columbia, 4 sides). The Agnus Dei and Qui Sedes from the B Minor Mass, and two arias from the Magnificat, warmly sung by a Negro of considerable talent, who is not yet a Marian Anderson. Recording: good...
...auctioneer's voice boomed out the cow's pedigree: "ZangwilPs Bijou Lass, the daughter of Throaty Contralto by that great sire Glittering Generalization." The bidding stopped at $320. "Before I could extricate myself," writes Sidney Joseph Perelman, "the auctioneer had brought me to my knees and was administering the estocada. In vain I pleaded that I had merely been clearing my throat, that I lived in a hotel for business girls where no cattle were permitted...
...been running ever since, and last week, for the third time, its run was extended. Marie's portrayal of the opera's title character has had a lot to do with The Medium's success. She is by no means the world's greatest contralto, but she has what better contraltos often lack, a superb dramatic skill...
Died. Louise Homer, 76, onetime (1898-1932) contralto in the Metropolitan's Golden Era of Caruso, Melba, Farrar, Scotti, Tetrazzini; of a heart ailment; in Winter Park, Fla. Daughter of a Pennsylvania minister, she launched her career at 14 by singing Ruth in a church production of Ruth and Naomi (when the lad assigned the basso-profundo role of Boaz failed to show up, Louise sang that role, too). Dependable and even-tempered in an atmosphere that earned "prima donna" its popular meaning, Presbyterian-born Mrs. Homer once balked at a role: in Faust the Met wanted...
Falla: El Amor Brujo (the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski conducting, with Nan Merriman, mezzo-soprano; Victor, 6 sides; the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner conducting, with Carol Brice, contralto; Columbia, 6 sides). Reiner's version of this Debussy-scented Andalusian suite, which includes the popular Fire Dance, is less vivid than Stokowski...