Word: destinn
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...opera, the most passionate and passionately debated musical form, the myth of the golden age remains potent. If opera is primarily about singing-sheer, glorious vocalism over all other elements-then these may be parlous times. Where today is a real Aida on the order of Emmy Destinn, an echt Siegfried like Lauritz Melchior or a true Norma such as Rosa Ponselle? In the Arcadian past, there were giants on the earth. How can contemporary opera possibly compete with its starry past...
...late supper: buxom Emmy Destinn, one of the greatest operatic dramatic sopranos of the time (1907), and the slender young Polish pianist and boulevardier Arthur Rubinstein. Rubinstein gallantly began to discuss music...
...right, all right," she screamed, smashing her champagne glass, "I know I am a good singer, but I am also a woman." Obviously, Emmy Destinn was thinking about making a different kind of music...
...time, he was deeply involved with another woman, yet suddenly was "expected to prove that I was a man." That was only the first shock. The second was discovering that Destinn had a tattoo of a boa constrictor circling her leg from the ankle to the upper thigh. "I am afraid I was not at my best that night, but she seemed not to mind...
...that I know it thoroughly." Puccini, of course, knew no more about the American West than he knew about Japan when he wrote Madama Butterfly. But operagoers in 1910, when Fanciulla had its premiere at the Met, were no fussier than televiewers are today: with Caruso and Emmy Destinn in the leads, the premiere tied up traffic for hours near the opera house. The delighted Puccini celebrated by buying a $3,000 speedboat and naming it the Minnie. Neither the Minnie nor the opera enjoyed clear sailing: the speedboat had a collision on an Italian lake and almost sank...