Female Stars

[ednamayfan]

HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE MARIA: In Brazil in 1951, Maria Callas was astonished to find her name removed from the posters advertising her scheduled performances in Tosca. Stalking into the impresario's office, the soprano demanded to know why he had replaced her. "Because you were lousy the other night!" came the reply. Grabbing a large bronze paperweight, Callas dared him to repeat what he had just said at the risk of having his skull remodelled. After other people in the office disarmed her, the impresario threatened to call the police. Then to the amazement of all those present, Callas threw herself at the man, smashing him with a knee to the stomach - and that was the early Callas who weighed a tenth of a ton! The impresario moaned, closed his eyes and collapsed onto the floor. Callas's husband immediately took the soprano's arm and led her out of the office, fearing that the man might actually be dead. Not only did the impresario survive, he sent Callas her fees, including those for her cancelled performances - and tickets for the next plane home - the next one!

[ednamayfan]

MELBA'S GREATEST SPIT: During an opera season in England, Nellie Melba's dignity and taste buds took a beating. She habitually chewed Australian wattle gum on opera nights to keep her mouth and throat moist. Making an entrance at Covent Garden, she took the gum from her mouth and put it on a little glass shelf that was provided for that very purpose in the wings. When she came off the stage she went to the shelf, picked-up her piece of gum, as she thought, and put it in her mouth. She immediately spat it out along with several strong words. A stage-hand had substituted a quid of tobacco for the gum. Melba demanded that all the stage-hands be sacked, while others present bellowed with laughter, including Enrico Caruso, whose eyes were filled with tears of joy!

[ednamayfan]

ELISABETH TO THE THE RESCUE: The EMI Tristan und Isolde recording conducted by Wilhelm Furtwangler featured Kirsten Flagstad as Isolde. Recorded in 1953, the sessions found the aging Flagstad nervous about attacking the high Cs in Act Two. Walter Legge, the producer of the recording, proposed that his wife Elisabeth Schwarzkopf sing those notes. All concerned were sworn to secrecy, but the story soon became public knowledge, much to the annoyance of Flagstad. By carefully listening to her performance, the inserted high Cs can be detected!

[ednamayfan]

LICENCE TO TRILL: In the 19th century, the prime reason for going to the opera was to hear a star; the more one heard, the better. Encores were a convention. Nowadays we are too fastidious to accept such indecorous behaviour. The very notion of a soprano singing "Home, Sweet Home" after an opera performance is too much for some critics to bear. When Joan Sutherland performed on the last night of an Australian production of La Sonnambula in 1965, the city of Melbourne must of ended-up short of flowers considering the huge number of bouquets she received. And the ladies of fashion were also seen to stand on their seats, so intent were they on granting the diva her cheers. As if a century had fallen away, the crowd called for "Home, Sweet Home" - and out came the piano! Richard Bonynge sat at the keyboard, and Dame Joan, still dressed as Amina and leaning on the edge of the upright, sang the dreary, droopy, wonderful old tune. At the end, just to remind everyone that this was 1965, not 1865, she put a little topspin trill on the last cadence, then sent the phrase home with a roll of her eyes!

[ednamayfan]

DUELING DIVAS: Francesca Cuzzoni (1698-1770) was a singer of legendary abilities. Three years after her London debut, rumours began to circulate of a voice that was even more beautiful than Cuzzoni's. That voice belonged to Faustina Bordoni (1700-1781). The two prima donnas soon hated each other continuing a feud that reached its climax on the 6th of June, 1727, when both appeared in an opera at the Haymarket. The following article was published in the British Journal on the 10th of June: "On Tuesday night last, a great disturbance happened at the opera, occasioned by the partisans of the two celebrated rival ladies, Cuzzoni and Bordoni. The contention at first was only carried on by hissing on one side and clapping on the other; but proceeded at length to catcalls and other great indecencies." The Journal chose not to mention that the fans were only taking their cue from the two singers themselves. They began by merely jostling each other, but ended up by flying at each other like cats, with much pulling of hair and scratching at eyes. When the curtain was brought down, the theatre descended into a riot, with furniture being passionately exchanged between the fans of the rival divas!

[ednamayfan]

BIRGIT AT HER BEST: Birgit Nilsson told friends that she had discovered an odd fact about her own singing. The longer she sang on a given evening, the more agile her enormous voice became. In fact, the soprano asserted that by the end of Gotterdammerung, in which she sang the role of Brunnhilde for nearly five hours, her voice was able to take up the additional demands of the Queen of the Night's second act aria in Die Zauberflote. To prove it, Nilsson gathered a group of friends and fans around the piano in her dressing room after a Met performance of Wagner's epic, and proceeded to sing Mozart's fearsome aria in a manner that would have made every Queen of the Night tremble. The crowd in the dressing room gave the diva a hearty cheer of approval. When asked why she didn't add Mozart's villainess to her list of roles, Nilsson smiled and said, "But I'd have to sing the aria too early in the evening for me to do it best!"

[ednamayfan]

BEAUTY AND THE BROW: In Adelina Patti's day, the glamourous divas wore false eyebrows, shaving off the natural ones and donning creations more suitable for greatness. Patti didn't like the idea - instead, she agreed with Rossini that opera is voice, voice, and more voice - not costume. One time, a rival diva was enjoying her false eyebrows and the fan's ovations far too much for Patti's comfort. While onstage, Patti stared at the upstart's face in mock horror. "What's the matter?" the rival whispered. "Your right eyebrow has fallen off!" Patti replied. In dismay, the rival turned her back to the audience and deftly removed her left eyebrow. In fact, there had been nothing wrong with the right one - and the rival played the rest of the act with part of her face missing!

[ednamayfan]

TIME TO SAY GOODBYE: Maria Callas's most faithful admirers had surmised that this was her final appearance as they arrived at La Scala on the 31st of May, 1958, with great masses of flowers to pay homage to her. The police, however, would not allow the flowers to be brought into the theatre. The evening began with the atmosphere of a bullfight. Callas wanted to bid farewell to her public, but at the same time call attention to Antonio Ghiringhelli, who had long been hostile to her, and who, as director of La Scala, decided to stop hiring the soprano. In the mad scene, which is the culmination of Bellini's Il Pirata, Imogene has just learned that her lover, Gualtiero, has been condemned to death for murder. She loses her reason and imagines she sees Gualtiero ascending the steps of the scaffold, at which point she launches into the cabaletta, "O sole, ti vela di tenebra fonda" (Oh sun, veil yourself in darkest gloom). Callas usually delivered those lines facing the audience, with a wild look in her eyes, and a vocal quality that sent chills up the spines of every listener! That night she turned towards Ghiringhelli's box, and as she extended her arm in his direction, she sang the line, "La vedete il palco funesto" (There, see the fatal theatre box/scaffold). She continued to sing, pointing menacingly at his box. The public understood the allusion, and all heads turned towards the box. Ghiringhelli got up and left. At the end of the performance, Callas was accorded an incredible ovation which lasted almost 30 minutes. The public did not want her to leave. People were shouting, "Come back, Maria, return to us!" Many were weeping. Ghiringhelli, angered by the display of affection, had the fire curtain lowered while Callas was still onstage acknowledging the applause!