Word: nellie
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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...
...second day observers got a closer look of genius at work. As the orchestra hushed to a quiet, the old man came onstage, baby-pink and robust. He was chewing his favorite cherry pastilles. Titian-haired Soprano Nelli was all set for her first solo, Ritorna Vincitor!, from Aïda. The maestro conducted vigorously. Whispered a technician in the control booth: "What a man! Look at that beat." With the run-through and actual recording completed, the playback started. Toscanini listened intently, poring over the score, at times reconducting the music. In his high-collared rehearsal jacket, he looked...
Sorrow & Pleasure. A few moments later, Nelli began her toughest assignment, Aïda's great aria from the Nile Scene. Toscanini demanded that she sing a long, difficult phrase in one breath. "I know," he had said earlier, "there is not a soprano today who does it. But you do it." He also insisted on his own interpretation of anguish in the phrase O patria mia, o patria mia. He sang it through himself, beating his chest. Nelli tried it. No, no, said the maestro, and launched into the phrase again, leaning toward her, hugging his own shoulders...
Acts II and III of Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera. Conducted by Arturo Toscanini, with Nelli, Peerce, Merrill, Turner...