Word: puccini
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...second debutant, German Baritone Hans Hermann Nissen, with a traditional lock of property hair over his left eye like a well-bred Scottie, stalked woodenly as Wotan in Die Walküre. Judges gave him several points on power, few on subtlety. Two Italian sopranos were broken in on Puccini's sway-backed war horse La Boheme: Mafalda Favero who moped placidly as the tuberculous Mimi, and Marisa Morel who flounced her skirts and shrilled nervously as Musetta...
...least a generation modernistic esthetes and masterminds have been prophesying a speedy decline for the sentimental operas of the late Giacomo Puccini. Sensible critics,*however, have often pointed out that, though they may be bathetic, Puccini's operas are masterpieces of musical stagecraft, shaped by one of the surest hands that ever penned an aria. Meanwhile Tosca, La Boheme, and Madame Butterfly have been played incessantly wherever opera is given. During his lifetime, Composer Puccini made a fortune from them-a rare feat for a composer of serious music-and today they are still tops on the list...
Most thoroughgoing biography of Puccini, to date, is that of Austrian Critic Richard Specht, which appeared in an English translation five years ago (Alfred Knopf). To it was added last week a genial book of personal reminiscence by Vincent Seligman,t son of Puccini's close friend, Sybil Seligman, a British-born musical amateur. Without attempting to rival Biographer Specht's scholarship. Biographer Seligman gives a more intimate picture of a fastidious, cultured musician who was loved by a fearsomely jealous wife, who himself loved motorboats, feminine society, high-powered automobiles...
...Including sometimes-sensible Critic George Bernard Shaw, who hailed Puccini as the successor of the great Giuseppe Verdi, when Puccini's Manon Lescaut was given its first London performance...
...March, "Washington Post"Sousa *Overture to "Raymond" Thomas *Allegretto from the Second Symphony Brahms *Fantasia, "Madame Butterfly" Puccini *Legend from the "Indian Suite" MacDowell *Large from "Xerxes" Handel *Rhapsody in Blue Soloist: Jesus Maria Sanroma Gershwin *"Jolly Fellows," Waltzes Vollstedt *"Sophisticated Lady" Ellington-McBride *"Tritsch-Tratsch," Polka Strauss *Selections checked (*) are available on records at Briggs & Briggs Music Store, Harvard Square...