Word: sopranos
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Vincenzo Bellini's 1831 opera Norma is one of the Matterhorns of the repertory for sopranos. Many of the world's finest singers have come to grief on its melodic precipices because they lacked the bel canto technique, emotional projection, and soaringly powerful voice that the title role requires. The 19th century Soprano Lilli Lehmann said it was easier to sing three Brünnhildes than one Norma, and the great French Prima Donna Pauline Viardot was so obsessed with the difficulties of the part that the last word she spoke on her deathbed was "Norma." Maria Callas...
...last week in Manhattan's Carnegie Hall, 24-year-old Greek Soprano Elena Suliotis went about rehearsing a concert version of Norma with the American Opera Society as if she had never heard any of this. Her attitude: "What is there to be afraid of?" She soon found out. When the lights went up for the intermission, the audience discovered in its midst not only a daunting array of singers from the past but also the diva of divas, Callas, enthroned in a corner box. Immediately the entire house turned in claque-like obeisance to Callas; galvanized...
Till then, Suliotis' performance had been uneven: ravishing in some spots, somewhat ravaging in others. As the second act got under way, her vocal lines became tangled with Soprano Nancy Tatum's in a tricky cabaletta, Si, fino all'ore, estreme; she reached for a high C, missed, and hid her face behind her arm in chagrin. A sour chorus of boos accompanied her exit. Suddenly, in the middle of the act, the lights went up again and the orchestra filed offstage, leaving the audience murmuring in confusion. Suliotis had asked for an unscheduled intermission in order...
...some forcing at both extremes of her range. Also, she may be gambling with her voice's future by singing taxing roles at such an early age. Still, such all-or-nothing assaults on the heights are in the spirit of Callas' own career, and the older soprano may have been acknowledging the kinship when she tried to quiet the boos at Carnegie Hall by shouting the Greek word for "good": "Kalla! Kalla! Kalla...
...balconies, reducing the house from 4,000 to 3,000 seats) and a stage that could slide out to cover two-thirds of the orchestra. The acoustics were superb. "I would rather sing in the Auditorium than in any other hall in the world," said Tenor John McCormack, and Soprano Nellie Melba wished that she could "fold it up and take it with me everywhere...