Word: phinney
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Died. James Phinney Baxter, 82, president of Williams College from 1937 to 1961; in Williamstown, Mass. A 1914 Williams graduate, Maine-born Baxter headed for Wall Street but, after a bout with tuberculosis, turned to teaching history, first at Colorado College, later at Harvard. Brought to Williams as president in 1937, he transformed the college over the next 24 years from an undemanding educational country club where the average grade was D + to a serious meritocracy by increasing scholarship aid, strengthening the faculty and quadrupling the academic budget. During World War II he was historian for the Office of Scientific...
...fine English translation of the libretto did not help Elisabeth Phinney as Donna Elvira. Her diction in arias was mediocre. She was perfectly clear through the recitative so the problem is obviously not insoluble. She was at her best in Ah, Fuggi il Traditor, a Handelian rage aria complete with dotted rhythms, large interval leaps, and distinct bass line. In the peasant-girl Zerlina's role, Lisbeth Brittain was properly ingenuous and sang with a bright, light soprano voice...
...perhaps a bit too ingenuous for the part. Jo Ella Todd holds her own as Susanna, with a clear-voiced elegance and presence. Richard Gill's voice is made for Italian opera, and a good makeup and costuming job made a convincing Count Almaviva out of him, while Elizabeth Phinney, who has the commanding character of the Countess down to a science, was the best of the female leads...