Seventy years ago, on 16 June 1947, virtuoso violinist Bronislaw Huberman died at 64. He founded the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra by bringing Jewish musicians from Nazi Europe to Palestine, giving refuge to 1,000 musicians and their families.
Mezzo soprano Fiorenza Cossotto has been awarded the first Contr’alto di donna prize, given in honour of the great contralto Marietta Alboni. The ceremony and conversation with Fiorenza Cossotto came after a concert celebrating the repertoire of Alboni, held in the enchanting Teatro Bonci, the theatre of her hometown Cesana, near Italy’s northeast coast. Cossotto, seventy-nine next…
Giuseppe Verdi on Adelina Patti, one of the great coloratura singers of the 19th century: When I heard her for the first time (she was eighteen) in London, I was astounded not only by the marvellous performance but also by a number of stage traits that revealed her great acting talents. Such was the fame…
Italian voice expert Rodolfo Celletti said of Adelina Patti: Her voice was a technical marvel. The staccatos were marvels of accuracy, even in the trickiest intervals, her legato was impressively smooth and pure; she connects the voice from note to note, phrase to phrase, lifting and gliding with an exceptional virtuosity. Her chromatic scale was deliciously sweet, and her trill was wonderful and…
In 1907 Madame Tetrazzini made a sensational début as Violetta in La Traviata at Covent Garden in London, where she was completely unknown, and from that point on she was an international operatic superstar, commanding the highest fees and selling out opera houses and concert halls wherever she performed, says Wikipedia. In her autobiography, written 14 years later, we have the whole…
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