Leopold Simoneau sang so briefly at the Met, and it is a shame,because it was a really beautiful voice. In this Hoffmann from Vienna, 1954, under Lee Schaenen, Simoneau is joined by his wife Pierette Alarie as Olympia, with Suzanne Danco as Giulietta,Antonia, and the Muse. The great George London sings the villains, with Dezso Ernster as Crespel, Renato Cesari as Schlemil, Renato Capecchi as Spalanzani, and Robert Destain in the comic roles.  (73 min.)

   Claudia Muzio was so famous for her Traviata Letter..and to celebrate her birthday on Friday, Feb.7, we present the great Mari Lyn, who follows in her great tradition..and her TraviYENTA has caused many people to commit SUICIDIO!!!!

 WHY do they do not do this opera?? Maybe because Virginia is not around...Note act two love duet..it is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   I am upset..i never hear my own tapes!!!!

Act three Butterfly scenes with my darling "sister" Virginia Zeani!!!!!!

 That warm,emotional voice of baritone Giuseppe Taddei is heard in arias and songs. The man was a special artist, one of the greats.

Arias are from:  Favorita, Ballo, Don Carlo, Vespri, Andrea Chenier, Adriana Lecouvreur, L'Arlesiana.

The songs are: Santa Lucia Luntana, Dicitincello vuie, Voce 'e notte, Senza nisciuno, Marechiare, Napule canta, Passione, I te vurria vasa', Pecche.     (66 min.)

 It is most appropriate, on Martina Arroyo's birthday (Feb.2), to begin to celebrate Black History Month, and also to relate some of my past experiences with Afro-American artists.
          Sadly, not until Marian Anderson's 1955 Met debut as Ulrica (which was one of my most thrilling experiences, as that curtain rose and the audience cheered), Afro-American artists did not sing at the Met. I was able to hear Lawrence Winters, Adele Addison, and Camilla Williams at City Opera in the early 1950's, but imagine what other artists were lost to the Met earlier.
           Owing to the Marian Anderson breakthrough, Met audiences (myself included) were pleased to have heard such artists as Leontyne Price, Reri Grist, George Shirley, Gloria Davy, Mattiwilda Dobbs, Robert McFerrin, Leona Mitchell, Grace Bumbry, Simon Estes, Jessye Norman, and my all-time love, Shirley Verrett, etc.
             The unfortunate element of course, is that race prejudice denied many of the artists before Anderson an opportunity to be heard in the great Met, but at least Mr. Bing made the breakthrough, however late. We must be thankful at least for the precedent set by Mme.Anderson, and we owe much to her historic debut.
                                                                     Charlie
              

  We were ripping programs and tossing them down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  When she took the high A at the end on "AMOOOOOORE"..a friend was so aghast, he hit me in the ribs and I almost fell to the standing room floor!!!!!!! You could not imagine what it was like!!!!!!

    January 31, 1955. Weather like New York last week. A teenager wakes up at 4:00 and arrives at the Met at 6:00 for his first Otello,featuring the debut of the lady whose birthday (then unkown to us) was Feb.1. The teen enters a telephone booth (remember them?). A cop asks him what he is doing there.The guy says, "Waiting for the opera tonight." Shortly, another group of nutcases get on the standee line, to freeze until 7:00P.M..
       Feb.1, 1955..about 12:00 and out comes the lady who became our "madre" and in freezing cold weather,signed every single program, and it was her 33rd birthday!!!
  So you understand why Feb.1 means so much to me and to those who were privileged to have this incredible lady..on and off stage..as a "buddy" in our teen years.
      Bless your memory, dearest Renata Tebaldi. You will remain forever in our hearts!!                                     
                                                    Charlie

From 1958, under Jean Morel, we bring you Faust with Nicolai Gedda (in his debut season), Hilde Gueden,Jerome Hines, and Robert Merrill.

  Please note that owing to an error on the original disc, I have substituted Scotto,Kraus, and Ghiaurov for the final scene.  (74 min.)