# Round Three: Boito L'Atra Notte.Boninsigna, Muzio, Bayao



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Thanks gang for the amazing vote of support!!!!!! An early Xmas surprise!!!! I thought this time we would delve back in the historic recording vaults. Bidu Sayao was suggested by MAS and she is wonderful in my opinion!!!!! Of course, bad speller that I am, I got the B and S mixed up in the title. It is my failing LOL.She and Boninsigna are new to me via Bonetan. I try not to do three normally but I felt strongly all these should get in before we close this set out this and I need to do two sets of three to fit every one in. I listed them in chronological order. Boninsigna's seems rushed but remember the early technology she had to contend with. She has my favorite chest register in this contest.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Where did the practice of "pulsing" long trills come from? I noticed Mme. Bonisegna doing it, as well as Mme. Sayao. Mme. Price used to do it in her early recordings. An interesting practice, long gone.

Muzio does not even attempt a trill. In this music, it is *a must*, sorry. Otherwise, she is affecting, as usual. She has the style in her bones.

Bonisegna sings the music fluidly, but I find her a bit relentless. Perhaps a requirement of the recording horn in her day. She also has has rather rough changes of register, more acceptable perhaps in this than other composers? :devil: But she has amazing high notes!

I wouldn't have expected Bidu Sayao in this music, given the relatively small voice; but I hear it was amazingly audible in the huge old Metropolitan Opera House. She sings it as well as anyone, really beautifully, making much of the words and she has a full arsenal of vocal effects, including trills (attention Mme. Muzio!) and lovely high notes.

All three singers give us too much of melodramatic accents and lugubrious emphases.

With a fond and regretful look at Mme. Muzio, I will vote for Mme. Sayao.


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

As MAS said, the trills are a vital part of this aria, as in _D'amor sull'ali rosee_. Still, Muzio's performance was so heartfelt and creative that I think we should turn a blind eye to the missing trills (as well as the flat top notes). She paints the most desperate and deranged Margherita I've ever heard.

Sayao's reading is compelling as usual but I get the feeling her voice is not dark enough for this music.

Boninsegna has a solid voice and right temperament, but her yodeling-like swoops are a bit distracting.

So, Muzio > Sayao > Boninsegna for me.

By the way, if you compare the chest voice of Muzio and Boninsegna to Gheorghiu's and Price's (_Il mio bimbo_) you can clearly see how pathetically "hollow" the latter two are.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

No question here.
I never heard of Boninsigna but I had to cut her a break because I realize that she was on a time clock and had to sing faster than the aria calls for, which waters down the tragic sadness of the message. 
I thought for sure that Muzio would be my choice because I adore her voice but I actually thought she was all wrong for this aria. First of all, she has no trill whatsoever, which I deem an important part of the aria, but besides that she didn't seem to have enough passion and I thought some of her tempos were off as well.
But for me Sayao hit the nail right on the head from beginning to end (and I am not saying that because she sounds like my mother, so help me!). Her trills were superb, her high note was delivered cleanly and her chest tone was done well. But most of all, she showed such pathos that it almost brought tears to my eyes.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

silentio said:


> As MAS said, the trills are a vital part of this aria, as in _D'amor sull'ali rosee_. Still, Muzio's performance was so heartfelt and creative that I think we should turn a blind eye to the missing trills (as well as the flat top notes). She paints the most desperate and deranged Margherita I've ever heard.
> 
> Sayao's reading is compelling as usual but I get the feeling her voice is not dark enough for this music.
> 
> ...


I agree that Muzio sounds more deranged! But the music should be performed as written if we are to compare.

*Mefistofele * was not in Sayao's repertoire during her career, but she longed for roles other than the _soubrette_ ones she usually sang, though she did sing Violetta and Manon. But she wanted the more dramatic ones, such as this one.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I think this is an aria that verges on mezzo soprano in range and also verges on coloratura. You really must be able to move that voice around to really do it justice and the trill is not a throwaway part of the music. I like what everyone is saying, BTW. They all bring something to the music: whether they bring what you want is debatable LOL.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

BTW, I am planning a weekly Xmas isolated contest every week till Xmas with 3 contestants and here we can do different genders freely. Could be fun. Hope you like. If you are Jewish I can't find any opera singers singing the Dreidel ( sp) song. I looked.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

I really like all three versions. They all strike me as legitimate interpretations of the piece. I will probably vote for Sayao, though, because hers was the one I found combined all the positives of the others most uniformly. (Though I want to vote for Bonisengna, because I always find her chest voice thrilling. What a sound!)

I respectfully submit my favorite version, by Rosa Raisa, while we're talking about historic recordings of this piece:


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

vivalagentenuova said:


> I really like all three versions. They all strike me as legitimate interpretations of the piece. I will probably vote for Sayao, though, because hers was the one I found combined all the positives of the others most uniformly. (Though I want to vote for Bonisengna, because I always find her chest voice thrilling. What a sound!)
> 
> I respectfully submit my favorite version, by Rosa Raisa, while we're talking about historic recordings of this piece:


Nice to hear from you Often when I look up an aria it shows a third opera singers and two thirds senior recitals. I was blown away with how good she was at In Questa Reggia. I wish I had known earlier about her. She never popped up and she is not someone I normally think of.I don't want to drag this contest out forever LOL. Thanks.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

As others have noted, Boninsegna has a formidable chest voice. I can imagine her being impressive in performance, and is so intermittently here, but it all goes by too quickly, with too many opportunities thrown away. Muzio is passonately expressive as always, in a verismo sort of way. I do prefer a more classical line and a more introspective quality in this aria, with the impassioned accents more sparingly distributed. Sayao has effective ideas and impeccable taste, but too light, bright and pretty a voice to convey fully the aria's dark mood and Margherita's mental derangement. 

Listening for a second time, I am really touched only by Muzio. Missing trill notwithstanding, she's easily my pick.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Well what a range we are hearing, and a range of differing opinion.

Of the three singers presented here, Bonisegna was the first I discounted. She is not helped by the recording nor by the tempo, which is a bit rushed and renders her only intermittently effective. I struggled betwee Muzio and Sayão as they both seemed to have what the other one lacked. Muzio's lack of a trill (not even an attempt at one) is a serious blot on her performance and Sayão, though fulfilling its technical demands, patently has the wrong sort of voice - too light to really convey the dark gloom of the piece, though she tries valiantly. In the ened I voted for Muzio, lack of a trill notwithstanding, for giving the best idea of what this aria is about.

Had Raisa been added to the mix and the vote, I'd probably have voted for her, because she at least does have a trill and I think musically she improves on Muzio, who lets a little too much of the _verismo_ style to colour her performance.

However, I apologise for yet again invoking the shade of Callas, but I just couldn't stop myself going back to her version to see if my memory of it was correct, and once again she confounds expectations. No doubt she is helped by Serafin's masterly conducting and also the fact that she was singing it in the studio with the Philharmonia Orchestra only a couple of months after playing the role of Margherita on stage in Verona. Callas and Serafin between them turn this aria into a mini mad scene. Her range of tone colour is extraordinary and this helps her to convey Margherita's drifting mental state. Technically the aria holds no problems for her and she makes more sense than anyone of the _Vola, vola_ sections, binding the trills into the fabric of her phrases. Serafin's accompaniment gives the impression of a mother rocking her baby, or perhaps of Margherita alone in her cell rocing her body to and fro. She has a complete change of colour on the words _L'aura e fredda_, really getting the chill of the air around her into her voice and then changes to a baleful quality for _e la mesta anima mia_, lightening again for _vola, vola_ as she imagines the sparrow in the woods flying away.

I totally understand if you wanted to keep Callas out of this competition, John, but I personally find it hard to listen to this aria without Callas's unique accents resounding in my mind's ear.






It seems to me she is _hors concours_.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Well what a range we are hearing, and a range of differing opinion.
> 
> Of the three singers presented here, Bonisegna was the first I discounted. She is not helped by the recording nor by the tempo, which is a bit rushed and renders her only intermittently effective. I struggled betwee Muzio and Sayão as they both seemed to have what the other one lacked. Muzio's lack of a trill (not even an attempt at one) is a serious blot on her performance and Sayão, though fulfilling its technical demands, patently has the wrong sort of voice - too light to really convey the dark gloom of the piece, though she tries valiantly. In the ened I voted for Muzio, lack of a trill notwithstanding, for giving the best idea of what this aria is about.
> 
> ...


"I struggled between Muzio and Sayão as they both seemed to have what the other one lacked." LOL. No, TL, you handled the Callas elephant in the room well and of course educated me. I never knew she sang the role onstage, something I think can't be said about most of the women in this competition. If I omit Callas from a competition it is like omitting Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods from a sporting event to give the others a chance of a day in the sun. It doesn't mean she can't be invoked ;-) Callas will be in every other of my operatic duels if she sings an aria ( and she sang most) but if she isn't feel free to educate me on what I am missing. Be yourself and we all profit! The next round should have someone you'll like with reservations but first a Xmas contestBTW, bravo for bringing Rosa Raisa into the conversation. I am trying to keep this contest to a manageable size If "Viva" recommended her she had to be very good!


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> "I struggled between Muzio and Sayão as they both seemed to have what the other one lacked." LOL. No, TL, you handled the Callas elephant in the room well and of course educated me. I never knew she sang the role onstage, something I think can't be said about most of the women in this competition. If I omit Callas from a competition it is like omitting Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods from a sporting event to give the others a chance of a day in the sun. It doesn't mean she can't be invoked ;-) Callas will be in every other of my operatic duels if she sings an aria ( and she sang most) but if she isn't feel free to educate me on what I am missing. Be yourself and we all profit! The next round should have someone you'll like with reservations but first a Xmas contestBTW, bravo for bringing Rosa Raisa into the conversation. I am trying to keep this contest to a manageable size If "Viva" recommended her she had to be very good!


She only performed it for one series at Verona with Di Stefano and Tagliavini alternating as Faust and Nicola Rossi-Lemeni as Mefistofele. I don't know why she never sang it again. Perhaps the opportunity never presented itself again.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> She only performed it for one series at Verona with Di Stefano and Tagliavini alternating as Faust and Nicola Rossi-Lemeni as Mefistofele. I don't know why she never sang it again. Perhaps the opportunity never presented itself again.


That second image is so so beautiful!


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Talk about following that act...
But I cannot help but think this "demented" version is also worthy of mention.




And she was 65 at the time!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

nina foresti said:


> Talk about following that act...
> But I cannot help but think this "demented" version is also worthy of mention.
> 
> 
> ...


wow! wonderful, Nina.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Oh, it's definitely between Sayao and Muzio (not a fan of yodel in opera, but, to be honest, traces of this kind of technique could be found in Muzio version as well!) Sayao has been a knockout each time her recordings have been brought up in different polls, but here she is at a disadvantage, having too light a voice for the role, reminding me of another valiant effort: Anna Bolena by Sills.
Muzio it is. No trills, but a thrilling performance nonetheless.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Well what a range we are hearing, and a range of differing opinion.
> 
> Of the three singers presented here, Bonisegna was the first I discounted. She is not helped by the recording nor by the tempo, which is a bit rushed and renders her only intermittently effective. I struggled betwee Muzio and Sayão as they both seemed to have what the other one lacked. Muzio's lack of a trill (not even an attempt at one) is a serious blot on her performance and Sayão, though fulfilling its technical demands, patently has the wrong sort of voice - too light to really convey the dark gloom of the piece, though she tries valiantly. In the ened I voted for Muzio, lack of a trill notwithstanding, for giving the best idea of what this aria is about.
> 
> ...


Might s well all let it hang out as our La Divina would have been 98 today!


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> As others have noted, Boninsegna has a formidable chest voice. I can imagine her being impressive in performance, and is so intermittently here, but it all goes by too quickly, with too many opportunities thrown away. Muzio is passonately expressive as always, in a verismo sort of way. I do prefer a more classical line and a more introspective quality in this aria, with the impassioned accents more sparingly distributed. Sayao has effective ideas and impeccable taste, but too light, bright and pretty a voice to convey fully the aria's dark mood and Margherita's mental derangement.
> 
> Listening for a second time, I am really touched only by Muzio. Missing trill notwithstanding, she's easily my pick.


For all our bickering, we really do agree on a lot. Muzio's performance is quasi-verismo...but good verismo, not shouty, Eva Marton-style verismo. It's lush, emotive singing without sacrificing musicality for the kind of over-interpretive nonsense we've discussed in a previous post.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> She only performed it for one series at Verona with Di Stefano and Tagliavini alternating as Faust and Nicola Rossi-Lemeni as Mefistofele. I don't know why she never sang it again. Perhaps the opportunity never presented itself again.


Fun fact: Not only was Di Stefano alternating with Tagliavini, but Callas was alternating with one Magda Olivero in this run.

Fun fact 2: Callas was due to record Mefistofele with Cetra, but she left for EMI before the recording took place. When Cetra released the opera, Marcella Pobbe was the Margarita and the Elena from these Verona performances (Disma de Cecco) was Elena in the Cetra set. Tagliavini is the Faust and the Mefistofele is the superb and highly underrated Giulio Neri.

N.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

The Conte said:


> Fun fact: Not only was Di Stefano alternating with Tagliavini, but Callas was alternating with one Magda Olivero in this run.
> 
> Fun fact 2: Callas was due to record Mefistofele with Cetra, but she left for EMI before the recording took place. When Cetra released the opera, Marcella Pobbe was the Margarita and the Elena from these Verona performances (Disma de Cecco) was Elena in the Cetra set. Tagliavini is the Faust and the Mefistofele is the superb and highly underrated Giulio Neri.
> 
> N.


Well bowl me over. I cannot believe that I actually missed an Olivero outing Who were her tenor and bass? And was this in Verona that she alternated with Callas?
I never even knew they were aware of one another personally. 
Live and learn.


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## Concertantek364 (Mar 13, 2021)

nina foresti said:


> Well bowl me over. I cannot believe that I actually missed an Olivero outing Who were her tenor and bass? And was this in Verona that she alternated with Callas?
> I never even knew they were aware of one another personally.
> Live and learn.


During an interview in Sep 1997, Olivero recalled that she was already booked for the Verona performance of _Mefistofele_, then came Callas and Meneghini insisting that Callas should also be booked for the run, alternating with Olivero, with Callas given the prima. Strangely, the two sopranos did not meet each other in Verona. In fact they never met during Callas' lifetime.

In a Callas memorial website run by Bruno Tosi some years ago (now no longer exists), Olivero was cited as recalling that she was told Callas had listened to her (Olivero's) 1940 Cetra recording of Violetta's Act 1 scene when learning _La Traviata_ and felt very gratified.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Concertantek364 said:


> During an interview in Sep 1997, Olivero recalled that she was already booked for the Verona performance of _Mefistofele_, then came Callas and Meneghini insisting that Callas should also be booked for the run, alternating with Olivero, with Callas given the prima. Strangely, the two sopranos did not meet each other in Verona. In fact they never met during Callas' lifetime.
> 
> In a Callas memorial website run by Bruno Tosi some years ago (now no longer exists), Olivero was cited as recalling that she was told Callas had listened to her (Olivero's) 1940 Cetra recording of Violetta's Act 1 scene when learning _La Traviata_ and felt very gratified.


Gratified? As in, "whew! I sure can do better than THAT!" Or, gratified that such a beautiful rendition was executed by Magda Olivero?


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## Concertantek364 (Mar 13, 2021)

nina foresti said:


> Gratified? As in, "whew! I sure can do better than THAT!" Or, gratified that such a beautiful rendition was executed by Magda Olivero?


Should have put it more clearly...it was actually Olivero who felt very gratified that Callas had listened to her (Olivero's) recording of Violetta's Act 1 scene when she (Callas) was learning the role.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Concertantek364 said:


> Should have put it more clearly...it was actually Olivero who felt very gratified that Callas had listened to her (Olivero's) recording of Violetta's Act 1 scene when she (Callas) was learning the role.


Big difference:lol: Makes much more sense now.
Thanks


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

The Conte said:


> Fun fact: Not only was Di Stefano alternating with Tagliavini, but Callas was alternating with one Magda Olivero in this run.
> 
> *Fun fact 2: Callas was due to record Mefistofele with Cetra, but she left for EMI before the recording took place. When Cetra released the opera, Marcella Pobbe was the Margarita and the Elena from these Verona performances (Disma de Cecco) was Elena in the Cetra set. Tagliavini is the Faust and the Mefistofele is the superb and highly underrated Giulio Neri.*
> 
> N.


I think I recall Walter Legge being disparaging about Boito's _Mefistofele_ so maybe that is why she didn't subsequently record it complete with EMI... Besides that, she fell out at some point with the Mefistofele who did record with HMV/EMI: Boris Christoff.

All that notwithstanding, EMI woud have had a job improving on that prospective Cetra cast - Callas, Tagliavini, Neri, de Cecco. The existing set from Rome with Christoff, Prandelli, Moscucci, Pini lacks the same glamour.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Revitalized Classics said:


> I think I recall Walter Legge being disparaging about Boito's _Mefistofele_ so maybe that is why she didn't subsequently record it complete with EMI... Besides that, she fell out at some point with the Mefistofele who did record with HMV/EMI: Boris Christoff.
> 
> All that notwithstanding, EMI woud have had a job improving on that prospective Cetra cast - Callas, Tagliavini, Neri, de Cecco. The existing set from Rome with Christoff, Prandelli, Moscucci, Pini lacks the same glamour.


Absolutely! The EMI Mefistofele is somewhat of an enigma. Whilst I understand the attraction of recording Christoff in the title role, why are the rest of the cast so underpar? I have Christoff's recordings of the main arias and that suffices for me.

N.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

nina foresti said:


> Well bowl me over. I cannot believe that I actually missed an Olivero outing Who were her tenor and bass? And was this in Verona that she alternated with Callas?
> I never even knew they were aware of one another personally.
> Live and learn.


I've looked in the performance annals in an old Verona programme, the biography of Olivero by Quatrocchi and the Callas Frank Hamilton annals and come up with the following:

Performances were scheduled for the 15, 17, 20, 22, 25, 28 and 31. Callas was engaged for the prima with Rossi Lemeni, Tagliavini and Disma de Cecco. However the performance was called off after act two due to rain. (Perhaps the gods took revenge for Meneghini's pushiness!) Olivero sang on the 17 with Giulio Neri and Tagliavini. Callas sang on the 20 with Rossi Lemeni again, but with Di Stefano and Anna de Cavalieri as Elena, Olivero sang on the 22 and then Callas was the Margherita on the 25 with Rossi Lemeni, Tagliavini and De Cavalieri. Olivero then sang the two remaining performances. I don't know which basses and tenors sang on exactly which Olivero nights, but she sang with both Di Stefano and Tagliavini and De Cecco and De Cavalieri as Elena. She didn't sing with Rossi Lemeni, but her basses were Giulio Neri and Andrea Mongelli.

N.


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

The Conte said:


> Absolutely! The EMI Mefistofele is somewhat of an enigma. Whilst I understand the attraction of recording Christoff in the title role, why are the rest of the cast so underpar? I have Christoff's recordings of the main arias and that suffices for me.
> 
> N.


It was like they ran out of money! Sticking with verismo, another example from around then is Gobbi's _Tabarro_ with Mas and Prandelli. I know it is a tad ungallant, but I wonder how many people have looked at those casts and wondered, 'Who on Earth is Margaret Mas/Orietta Moscucci?'

In Christoff's discography, you have RCA Victor's all-star-cast _Aida_, i.e. Bjorling, Milanov, Barbieri, Warren, Clabassi - and EMI's _Simon Boccanegra_ with Gobbi, de Los Angeles, Monachesi, Campora with the anomalous _Mefistofele_ in-between.

You _can_ find the soprano Orietta Moscucci if you go hunting in Christoff's recordings: a broadcast of Der Freischutz, HMV's Don Carlo and the Mefistofele in question. Crucially, in the other recordings, Sena Jurinac and Antonietta Stella got the prominent roles, and Moscucci is down the cast.

Christoff was singing in other operas with Petrella, Olivero, Zeani, Gencer and frequently with Cerquetti - including broadcasts also made in Rome around the same time. Given the pool of talent, it rather lets down those records.


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

Celestina Boninsegna for me, that doleful sound won me over. Normally, I mad for Muzio but there are a number of excellent versions including that live one with Olivero in her sixties and Callas on that early recital.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

The Conte said:


> I've looked in the performance annals in an old Verona programme, the biography of Olivero by Quatrocchi and the Callas Frank Hamilton annals and come up with the following:
> 
> Performances were scheduled for the 15, 17, 20, 22, 25, 28 and 31. Callas was engaged for the prima with Rossi Lemeni, Tagliavini and Disma de Cecco. However the performance was called off after act two due to rain. (Perhaps the gods took revenge for Meneghini's pushiness!) Olivero sang on the 17 with Giulio Neri and Tagliavini. Callas sang on the 20 with Rossi Lemeni again, but with Di Stefano and Anna de Cavalieri as Elena, Olivero sang on the 22 and then Callas was the Margherita on the 25 with Rossi Lemeni, Tagliavini and De Cavalieri. Olivero then sang the two remaining performances. I don't know which basses and tenors sang on exactly which Olivero nights, but she sang with both Di Stefano and Tagliavini and De Cecco and De Cavalieri as Elena. She didn't sing with Rossi Lemeni, but her basses were Giulio Neri and Andrea Mongelli.
> 
> N.


My gracious thanks to you "The". I can always count on you.


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