Word: mezzos
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...begun, as a matter of fact, on a sour note. Critics agreed that the opening production of Carmen, with Mezzo-Soprano Gladys Swarthout and Tenor Ramon Vinay, was an unduly damp and dismal affair, even though it rained that night. But the second night's show was Giordano's Andrea Chenier, which had not had a major U.S. production for 16 years, and it was something to talk about...
...were never quite married," explained Walter Surovy, manager-husband since 1939 of handsome Met Mezzo-Soprano Rise Stevens. "We had a marriage certificate and tore it into pieces . . . We decided to remain in a state of courtship . . . We have violent fights and make violent love...
Verdi: Aïda (Beniamino Gigli, tenor; Maria Caniglia, soprano; Ebe Stignani, mezzo-soprano; Gino Bechi, baritone; Italo Tajo, bass, and others with the Rome Opera Orchestra and chorus, Tullio Serafin conducting; Victor, 40 sides). With such a cast, Aïda should have come off brilliantly; instead, it just barely comes off, with some good singing (Ebe Stignani's) and some bad (e.g., Gigli's Celeste Aïda is painful). Recording: fair...
Verdi: La Forza del Destine (Maria Caniglia, soprano; Ebe Stignani, mezzo-soprano; Galliano Masini, tenor; Tancredi Pasero, bass; Carlo Tagliabue, baritone, and others with the EIAR Symphony Orchestra and chorus, Gino Marinuzzi conducting; Cetra-Soria, 36 sides). Some of the singers made Verdi's less worthy opera sound far better than the Aïda. Recording: good...
...cast he faced across the footlights was one that no conductor could kick about: big-voiced Leonard Warren as the fat Sir John himself, brilliant young Giuseppe Valdengo, who made his first big U.S. splash as Lago in Toscanini's 1947 broadcast of Otello, Soprano Licia Albanese and Mezzo Cloe Elmo...