Word: basso
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...nearly 40 extraordinary years, Basso Pinza had it. Blessed with a brawny, 6-ft.-1-in. frame, a handsome, dignified face and a flexible, powerful bass voice, he ranged through 82 operatic roles, singing and acting them in a style that had his admirers reaching far back into opera's Golden Age for comparisons. When he left the Metropolitan Opera at 55 in 1948 to appear with Mary Martin in South Pacific, Pinza slipped into the role of Broadway matinee idol with such ease that many postwar fans were scarcely aware that he had ever done anything else. After...
Born. To Jerome Hines (real name: Heinz), 35, handsome, towering (6 ft. 6½ in.) Metropolitan Opera basso, and Italian-born Soprano Lucia Evangelista, 34: their third child, third son; in Newark. Name: John Matthew. Weight...
...disorganized and sentimental. Yet John Fante's script, based on his novel, is full of happy touches, and Richard Quine's direction makes the most of them and of his players' talents as well. In his first Hollywood part, Salvatore Baccaloni, the Met's famed basso buffo, is a macaronical marvel. And Judy Holliday, in her funniest picture, surpasses herself as a comedienne...
...lavished its most expensive talents on Ernani. It got Spanish-born Artist Esteban Frances to design sets and costumes, surrounded Diva Milanov with Tenor Mario Del Monaco, Baritone Leonard Warren and Basso Cesare Siepi. To little avail. Of the four stars, nobody sang well in Act I, and Milanov appeared to be suffering from dizziness, staggering and finally getting herself planted before starting to sing. Vocally, she was plagued by an excruciatingly bad sense of pitch, although she had sung her role commendably in the dress rehearsal. Her loyal supporters wore lapel buttons reading "Viva Zinka...
Onstage, Callas' thirst for personal acclaim is insatiable. She grabs solo curtain calls whenever she can, even after another singer's big scene. Backstage in Rome. Basso Boris Christoff once seized her with one big paw, forced her to stand still. "Now. Maria," he decreed, "either we all go out there together, or nobody goes out." Tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano says: "I'm never going to sing opera with her again, and that's final." Said a close acquaintance: "The day will come when Maria will have to sing by herself...