Memories of a Musician: Reminiscences of Seventy years of Musical Life

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text excerpt

Curiously enough, when Madame Tetrazzini first appeared in Lucia di Lammermoor, the tenor, Signer Carpi, who took the part of Edgardo, asked me, a few days before the performance, whether I would come and hear him in the opera. I told him I had heard Lucia so often that I should be glad if he would excuse me. He had not mentioned that there was a new prima donna making her first appearance, or I should have gone. The next morning the papers were full of Tetrazzini's great success. There had been no previous announcement of her remarkable powers, and the public were taken by surprise and highly delighted, and I felt sorry I had not gone to hear her, even for a short while ; but I managed to do so later on, and was charmed with her singing. The house had been sold out the nights she appeared, and I had the greatest difficulty in even getting standing room to hear her. There is no need for me to dwell upon the beautiful quality and exceptional compass of her voice and her brilliant powers of execution. In the great Mad Scene she brought down the house with thunders of applause. The revival of interest in the old operas of Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti is largely due to Tetrazzini. These florid operas exactly suit her style, and she has brought them again into vogue, such as La Sonnambula, II Barbiere, and Lucia, and I will also include Verdi's Traviata, though it is not such an old opera as those I have mentioned.

excerpt from 'Memories of a Musician: Reminiscences of Seventy years of Musical Life' pp. 320-1 (262 words)

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