Sam loved Treigle.He

inherited many of his

roles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was 1970.This new guy Sam

Ramey opened his mouth at

our first Bolena rehearsal. Did

we know his career would be

one of the greatest. We had

fun in Barbiere,and also we were in Hoffman. Sam is so dear!!!!!

Whoever could do this

at 99???? Incredible.

4/3/75 Met Debut.

I was overwhelmed!!!

   At 96!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Magda sang around

the house past 100.

Magda,il miracolo
One could say Magda Olivero had an "old voice" in a sense.....Well,let us think of the great divas like Moedl as an example...who could read the dictionary and be as beloved.
I saw Fedora and Tosca in Newark, and her Met debut on Apr.3,1975. You had to RUN to the bathroom to change reels(No cassettes then).
I saw people from the olden days...and one lady said to a friend, "This looks like a gay bar!!!!!!!!" (Like the Milanov club, "not a man in sight.")
Her voice projected magnificently and the "Vissi d'arte"(my tape on youtube) put any diva to shame....that ending is so difficult....but on the 'Rimuuuuuuneri" cosi...it was heaven.
I am so glad I spoke to her a few times on birthdays and my dear friend David Spiro visited her several times....an angel!!!!!
God Bless the memory of dear Magda,who was a veritable "miracolo"

Magda,il miracolo One could say Magda Olivero had an "old voice" in a sense.....Well,let us think of the great divas like Moedl as an example...who could read the dictionary and be as beloved. I saw Fedora and Tosca in Newark, and her Met debut on Apr.3,1975. You had to RUN to the bathroom to change reels(No cassettes then). I saw people from the olden days...and one lady said to a friend, "This looks like a gay bar!!!!!!!!" (Like the Milanov club, "not a man in sight.") Her voice projected magnificently and the "Vissi d'arte"(my tape on youtube) put any diva to shame....that ending is so difficult....but on the 'Rimuuuuuuneri" cosi...it was heaven. I am so glad I spoke to her a few times on birthdays and my dear friend David Spiro visited her several times....an angel!!!!! God Bless the memory of dear Magda,who was a veritable "miracolo"

I went nuts.....He did three..I saw

one in 1955.He was a sensation

Incredible voice.None

other as gorgeous..Early

Di Stefano no.2

Same day as Gigli.God

was in a great mood!!!!!

3/20/1890

    3/20/1890...same as Gigli

Sensational man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Diana makes you cry

all over.GREAT singing.

Fabulous lady!!!!

  My darling Diana as

Juliette...and her Romeo

was another Mar.19 birthday,

Alberto Cupido.....

Comments

Tale of the Soviero Pardon me as I gush forth, but some experiences stay with you forever, such as hearing Milanov and Tebaldi live, or Magda Olivero's Met debut. I wish to relate my very first exposure to our Mar.19 birthday lady and I trust you will not run for valium...or Immodium. My dear late buddy,Bill Bondar, liked opera (not nutty like yours truly),but told me he had seen a Paglicci at City opera in 1977 with someone named Diana Soviero. Bill and I always laughed when I said to myself, "Well,I saw the greatest....how good could she be?" I liked Mauro, so on Mar.13, 1977,I attended La Boheme. As we know, Mimi begins "scusi" and then enters and SUDDENLY the very jaded Charlie,who had seen Tebaldi,De Los Angeles, and Albanese, not to mention recordings of Muzio and my sister Zeani, heard "Oh,sventata,sventata" and I almost fell to my death of the third ring at Koch theatre (whatever it was called...oh yes,the Koch Ring.) RENATA NUMERO DUE!!!! This luscious voice, with warmth and feeling for the vocal line,brilliant top register, and what I had NOT heard for ages, just gave me the kind of sudden thrill that I experienced at Zinka's "Enzo adorato" or Baum's high C. No list then...I ran backstage and said, Who are you??Not since Tebaldi have I heard anything like this." She said, "Tebaldi once kissed me!!." Well, that figured!!!! I told her I would send her my illegal tape (probably with lots of my yelling) and on MARCH 19,she called me and told me it was her birthday .....and I said, "and my mother's!!!) Last time we met was with dear Bill and took her to Fiorello's,across from where we had met..We adored the tale of the courtroom,which was a cross between the Ring and a Joan Crawford fim...and a bit of Elektra. Bless my two divas, who made my life so happy. Has to repeat some of this...something fouled up 1 comment Comments Alina Zamfir

Rossini asked me (on my time

machine)...Who wrote that?

Be careful not to turn up

the volume or she will

destroy your speakers!

Sensational!!!!!

Not since Zinka Milanov

have I had any dealing

with Croatia. I called

Marin,now 15, and am

sending him clips to

help him to learn more

about singing.It was a thrill

to speak to him and his

lovely mother.

When I wrote dear Sondra

Radvanovsky-Lear about

her flying over the Nile,

she laughed.

My 95 year old Virginia

Zeani.We speak often

by phone.A great lady.

One of the true delights.

Just adorable!!!!

We lost this wonderful

conductor too soon. He

will always be remembered

Sam told me that as a young

singer he saw this "skinny"

guy backstage. He opened

his mouth and as we know

Sam inherited many of the

roles of the great Treigle.

Sam has been a buddy since

our Bolena and Barber.

Left us so soon.Saw him so

much.Incredible DYNAMO

of a man!!!!!!

 My aim is to acquaint others

her and on all Facebook sites

with the "less famous" artists.

There are so many great singers

the average opera lover may not

know. 3/6/1890 Belgian tenor.

Cigna and Elmo burn up

the place. We do not have

singing like this anymore.

I have no words.I adored

Zinka more than anyone!!!

The Norma gong was a garbage can cover sprayed copper with spray paint. When Olive banged it, it went “chunk… chunk...chunk”. We howled almost as loudly as the chorus it inspired to arrive on stage - with monk’s robes, eyeglasses (the Gall branch of Cohen’s Optical?), spears, and shields with the music taped on the back. 

The Norma gong was a garbage can cover sprayed copper with spray paint. When Olive banged it, it went “chunk… chunk...chunk”. We howled almost as loudly as the chorus it inspired to arrive on stage - with monk’s robes, eyeglasses (the Gall branch of Cohen’s Optical?), spears, and shields with the music taped on the back. Yes, the Valkyries also used that scores on the back of shields trick. And yes, Olive had a flashlight - and a cane - as Sieglinde, and had to leave the stage for a while, because her leopard skin schmatah was falling off. Big BIG safety pin fixed that. The siegmund had sung Nemorino the week before. The Gioconda Dance of the Hours was performed by one septuagenarian woman with a scarf. Should have been renamed, Dance of the Years. During the 2 Forzas I lived through, I had to take a break before Olive’s “Pace, pace” and go to the Howard Johnson’s nearby (this was at the Palm Gardens on W. 52 St) to have a coffee milkshake to regain my strength, exhausted from laughing, so I would have the energy to get through Act IV. The “Pace” took all her strength and mine. The Miserere lived up to its name, but Olive did the Kitty Carlisle high C, which made it more than worth it. Bella was the name of the chorus woman who, inexplicably in a Cavalleria peasant costume no matter the opera, made the speech about donations. She also looked out into the audience one night during her spiel and (pace Anna Russell) said - “Boys, why don’t you bring your girlfriends?!” That probably got the biggest laugh of the night - and that was BEFORE the opera started. Those were indeed the days. Miss it desperately. So lucky I was told to go there.

Comments

Only a BORE would not need DEPENDS I have previously posted on the hilarious La Puma opera co. but I recently went toward the Koch Bridge and there was a travel agency named "La Puma." No, Olive did not come out, but it reminded me of those hysterical days,sadly gone, of how we were finally thrown out of the junior high where La Puma performed. New members here...go to "Days and Nights of La Puma' and you will be...not sure... So here is a little repost of what I saw or knew from others: 1. 65 plus chorus lady in Aida with wristwatch ( 8:00 P.M. Memphis Standard Time??) 2. Prompter in Faust offstage screaming the words. 3. Sacristan entering in Tosca and,in time with the faster music, shaking his ass back and forth. 4.Our first time..Otello w.baritone Americo Iorio, getting up on JHS table for the drinking song, and falling off.(We then told all our friends...MY GOD..YOU GOTTA COME!!!!" 5. Walkure on Youtube act 2 prelude....and conductor stops and then goes on, and they tell me Olive Middleton had a flashlight in act one (Sieglinde, it is DARK and you were Hunding for Siegmund.) 6. Walkure again..Music on the ladies shields. 7. Norma- 75 yr.old Olive tried to ring the Norma gong..finally does it, to great applause. (We met her at a Milanov Gioconda and treated her like a star..she had career as Olive Townend in Malibran's era.) 8. On Youtube,see Don Carlo..lighting by Bocelli'tenor high B unnatural sounds like he was sitting on a nail;baritone angry when he gets shot and people applaud,and he admonished the audience,like Bonisolli. 9. We signed their guest book...I wrote things like "Enrico Caruso." A lady with a very Jewish inflection was at the desk and in the chorus.From the stage,saw someone enter and not give a donation, and yelled "Cheap Chisler!!!). 10. By the way,when I did a Coppelius, we had to hire their chorus.They never shut up, and I yelled, "Go back to La Puma where you belong." Reminds me of someone at Tebaldi Met Otello backstage accidentally tripping over something during quiet "Salce." 11. Hard to come in late and recognize the opera..took time...oh.."It's Werther." 12. Speaking of being late, one orchestra player walked in DURING Don Giovanni overture and then joined the group.(They needed Von Karajan!!!!) 13. Tosca..Olive,no teeth, about 75, chest up to high C...did hit great high C in "Io quella lama." SHOCK. 14. Pagliacci at Ansonia Hotel where Steber sang at the old gay baths...Nedda sang aria..Tonio enters..She did not know the music...He had to LEAVE!!!! 15. Ernani w.Mario Leone. ANYONE guy here is better..Then he sang "Entrate i miei fidi cavalieri" and one old stupid guy with a dumb cap on entered..He was the chorus. In Anna Russell's RING words, "I am NOT making this up!!!!!" 14. Finalmentye...My friend who had a laugh that made you hysterical and I...TRIED,with hankies ready, to get through a Don Giovanni. In the Zerlina/Masetto scene, Leporello is supposed to pinch a peasant girl. Well, the ancient lady with a huge bow on her hair, let out an ELEKTRA GESCHREI, causing Joanie and I to run hysterical out...and a man yelled, "GET OUT!!!. " We ran up Broadway (around 95th St.) and that was it!!!!! I never came back until they went to the Ansonia...but hen Mme.la Puma, mother of famous Met coach,Alberta Masiello, died or just retired. Oh..I forgot...a friend called up, "What are you doing tonight?" Answer: "Turandot with LOLITA SCHULTZ!!" Also, to conclude..the Gioconda Barnaba fell ill and mme.La Puma came out and said..We have to do "Tristan and Isolde." I was told some Met singers did sometimes attend...I can imagine..... well, you heard the TRUTH...I WANT THEM BACK!!!!!! To hell with the virus!!!!! Comments Write a comment…

Margarete Teschemacher ,3/3/1903

and the great Marcel Wittrisch

in a favorite of mine.

How can ONE NOTE cause you

to call a singer your all-time

favorite, and I saw her 88

times. Still go nuts!!!!

Well, if she can be a tenor,

I can sing Norma!!!!! Play

this for people but do not

tell them it is a lady.

She had those "Gerryflappers"

who loved her.This was in

my mother's era, and she

was a dancer in that time.

I was a brat and made fun

of ma's old photos,and she

threw them out!!!!!

Lucine told me that when

she ended the trio on the

C# (I was there),Monteux

had to hold the drumroll

because of so much applause

before Tucker ran in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR6BllmsTRc

Still has a lot of voice.

Delightful lady!!

Called Lucine yesterday.

Such fun at 95. She was

so reliable she became a

House singer," which can

be a detriment...Gorgeous

voice...even a lot left. Also,

her jokes cannot be told

here....(gggg)