Word: stageful
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Waking or sleeping, diplomatic Rudi Bing would rather stage the whole Ring Cycle with a company of midgets than publicize a preference among his three dazzling prima donnas. For sheer beauty of voice, the prize might go to Milanov, who at 52 still offers many a superb performance. For excitement, versatility and dramatic power, the apple would easily go to Maria Callas. But for sustained excellence of singing, it would go to Renata Tebaldi...
...attempts to introduce visual fire to her performances, she inclines to what one critic called "the battering-ram approach." This was noticeable again in her Chicago Butterfly, in which, after committing suicide, she flung the knife resoundingly to the floor and died somewhat grotesquely, crawling the width of the stage in response to Pinkerton's thrice-called "Butterfly!" But her real failing, say her harshest critics, is not one of stagecraft but of emotional involvement. While some observers recall her on the verge of tears after a performance of Butterfly, others remember her picking herself up after the death...
Nevertheless, under the tutelage of various stage directors, including Roberto Rossellini (who directed her in Otello in Naples), Tebaldi's acting has improved in recent years-most noticeably in her mastery of an imaginatively conceived and many-faceted Aïda. Now slimmed down from what she called her troppo robusta dimensions ("I lose 25 pounds in three years!"), she is better able to cope with bantam-sized tenors and the visual realities of such consumptive roles as Mimi and Violetta...
...many ways, beyond the Orchestra's capabilities. The risk paid off in Brahms's Haydn Variations, which received a superb performance. Slightly less successful was Berlioz' Harold in Italy, which was the victim of mishaps ranging from such acts of God as late entrances and extra-musical noises on stage, to the more controllable blunders of intonation...
...addition, Taylor plans to invite several outstanding guests to stay in the House. He also hopes to buy equipment for the House stage, to show motion pictures, possibly during the reading periods, and to furnish prizes for photography and painting exhibits...