Word: schipa
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Tenors the Met has had aplenty, but most are strictly platers. This year it had to scratch two: Jussi Bjoerling (because he could not get out of his native Sweden); Tito Schipa (because he returned to his native Italy at the bidding of Count Ciano). New tenors were Kurt Baum, a personable Czech (onetime heavyweight boxing champion of Prague) who showed good form in a bit in Der Rosenkavalier, and Jan Peerce, a veteran of Radio City Music Hall, who showed even more in his debut as the hero of Traviata...
...Chicago Civic Opera performance of Mignon, Tito Schipa, supposed to carry Gladys Swarthout off stage, let Désiré Defrère substitute in the job. Proxy Defrère stumbled, dropped her. Explained Slacker Schipa: "She is, you understand, a little heavy, I do not say she is fat, just a little heavy." Retorted Proxy Defrère, "I slipped on a tack. It was only natural I do the job. Schipa is too puny...
...Italian-style tenors have always been a scarce commodity, and for the past two decades they have been growing scarcer & scarcer. Opera impresarios count on the fingers of one hand (Gigli, Lauri-Volpi, Borgioli, Schipa . . .) the lusty high-voiced Latins still capable of raising even moderate-sized rafters on either side of the Atlantic. Since the death of Enrico Caruso (1921), tenor departments of U. S. opera-houses have shown a steady decline. Today their audiences count it a privilege to hear their "Ridi Pagliaccios" and "La donna e mobiles" sung by anything bigger than a microphone voice...
...guess that she once nearly got herself to a nunnery; roly-poly Basso Alfred Hollander, once of the able German Theatre in Brunn, Czechoslovakia; Baritone Leo Weith, who sang the title role in the world premiere of Schwanda der Dudelsackpfeifer; Tenor Franco Perulli, onetime protege of Tenor Tito Schipa...
...fine flair for comedy. She exhibited a natural coloratura voice so flexible and sure that critics forgave her the occasional tones which were metallic and edgy. Proud Father Salvatore Tumminia found that business picked up following his daughter's success. Two days after her début Tenor Schipa climbed into Barber Tumminia's chair, let him lather his face while pretty Daughter Josephine trilled...