Word: valdengo
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Then Orpheus smashed his lyre to the floor and the orchestra ground to shocked silence. Thus last week did La Scala Baritone Giuseppe Valdengo-sometime (1947-54) of the Metropolitan Opera and a notable Iago in Toscanini's 1947 broadcast of Otello-throw the skids under one of the first operas ever written, Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607). From the wings issued a flying wedge of furies, shades and demons, screaming insults at the baritone, who made a hurried and unheroic exit. Umberto and his lady rose uncertainly as the audience broke into loud jeers, cheers and whistles...
There was no more opera that night in Aix-les-Bains. Later, the festival management issued an angry statement: the performance at which Baritone Valdengo balked was a retake for television kinescope, for which the rest of the company had readily agreed to perform free. Moreover, it was Monsieur Valdengo's fault in the first place: he did not know his part (he had pinned a copy of his score to his lyre), and had improvised to the point of making the retake necessary...
That night, the stillness of mountain-cradled Aix-les-Bains was shattered. It was Baritone Valdengo, running through the streets. "Help! Police! They are taking the wheels off my car!" he yelled. "They are trying to keep me from leaving town!" At that point, ex-Queen Marie José leaned from her hotel window and scornfully called: "Silenzio! Silenzio, maestrino!"* Valdengo left town without another word-and without interference...
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...
...judgment of doting listeners, Arturo Toscanini's 1947 broadcast of Verdi's Otello may well have been the finest performance ever heard on the air. Soloists Herva Nelli, Ramon Vinay and Giuseppe Valdengo sang as if they were in a state of musical exaltation, and the NBC Symphony's orchestral commentary was both dramatic and tender. Recently, after long refusing, Toscanini agreed to let RCA Victor make records from the monitoring transcription, and last week the three LPs were released. It is probably the Maestro's masterpiece...