Word: diva
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Died. Gladys Swarthout, 64, glamorous diva of the Metropolitan Opera from 1930 to 1945, whose rich mezzo-soprano was matched by a striking, auburn-haired beauty; of a heart attack; in Florence, Italy. Born in Deepwater, Mo., Miss Swarthout started her singing career in her home-town church choir, then joined the Chicago Civic Opera in 1924 and learned more than 20 complete roles in her first year. By 1929 she was with the Met, winning acclaim for her roles in Norma, Faust, Lakme, Romeo and Juliet and particularly Carmen. Between performances, she popularized opera on radio, starred in movies...
...their beat, melody and style of delivery. Some hollers were based on familiar hymn tunes, like Amazing Grace or What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Still others sounded like coyotes baying at the moon. The hollerer had to focus his tone sharply, like a diva trying to reach the upper balcony. To do this, some hollerers relied on a yodeling style in which every note was sung twice, a vibrating octave or so apart. A holler could be used to report distress, or good news-the recovery of a sick mule, the completion of spring plowing, the arrival...
...simply does not drop in out of the blue and demand an audience with a famous opera star-especially if the opera star is Maria Callas. The grand diva was in Uchisar, Turkey, for the filming of her first movie, Medea, and Turkish Information Minister Nihat Kursat made a special trip to pay his respects. Kursat walked into the lobby of her hotel, sent a message to Callas announcing his arrival, and quickly received a reply: "I am tired and I don't want to talk to you." Thoroughly humiliated, Kursat flew back to Ankara, where he assured reporters...
Still scarred by memories of his war with the tempestuous Maria Callas, Impresario Bing tried to absolve his conductor and soothe his diva. Miss Dernesch, he explained, had merely been engaged as an understudy: "Even Madame Nilsson, as immortal as she is, can get sick occasionally." But since the Austrian soprano was coming all the way to New York, he added, she at least deserves the chance to give one performance in Von Karajan's critically acclaimed production of the Ring. From Vienna, the conductor supplied an obbligato of support to Bing's explanation...
...wanted to devote her voice to the Ring-and even carelessly scheduled one performance on the very day she was flying in from Europe. True, the Met then tried to make amends, but too late. "We singers," said Nilsson, in an obvious understatement, "are very sensitive people." exit diva, stage left, curtain...