Word: herva
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...magnificently precise and passionate performance, presented to NBC televiewers and listeners in the spring of 1949. When RCA Victor decided to cut records from the broadcast tapes, Toscanini returned from retirement in 1954 to conduct at Carnegie Hall portions of the opera which did not satisfy him-namely, Soprano Herva Nelli's O Patria Mia and Ritorna Vincitor! (TIME, June 14, 1954). Last week Victor released (on three LPs) Toscanini's composite and deftly sound-doctored Aïda, the opera in which he made his conducting debut in Rio de Janeiro 71 years...
...less than top drawer-are whipped almost beyond their powers to high moments of musical exaltation. The Met's Tucker, singing the full dramatic tenor role of Radames for the first time, has big, ringing power when he needs it, joined to a fervent, melting lyricism. Titian-haired Herva Nelli, Toscanini's favorite soprano, sings perhaps the finest Aïda of her career with rare intensity in a voice both sweet and sure...
...sympathy for him. And with uncanny and unerring instinct, he knew which would wring a surpassing performance from each of them. Over the years, he played Svengali to hundreds of Trilbys. After listening to a recording of her singing in Toscanini's 1947 broadcast performance of Otello, Soprano Herva Nelli (Desdemona) exclaimed...
Verdi: Falstaff (Herva Nelli, Cloe Elmo, Giuseppe Valdengo, Frank Guarrera, Robert Shaw Chorale, NBC Symphony conducted by Arturo Toscanini; Victor, 3 LPs). Verdi's last opera (composed when he was 79) and his towering masterpiece. Old age robbed Verdi of none of his genius, and at times the Falstaff melodies have all the melting tenderness of Ada or Trovatore. The orchestra trills and chortles in a mischievous manner most of the time, and the Maestro sees to it that every note is dagger-sharp. Although the voices are not all of surpassing beauty, there is enough standout singing...
Pouts & Frowns. The first day's session at Carnegie Hall began as the conductor nervously walked to his podium. The orchestra's applause calmed him down, and in a flash he called, "Duetto!" Soprano Herva Nelli and Tenor Jan Peerce began singing the last-act duet from Un Ballo in Maschera. Here & there the maestro stopped to shout a fiery "Vergogna!" or "Madonna mia!" and the group diligently began again. Finally, everybody managed to get through the duet according to Toscanini's demands, and the piece was recorded...