> Ponselle is the youngest > singer (21) that I can name that sang a substantial > role in a major opera > house (Verdi's La Forza Del Destino at the Met.) > She had relatively little > formal training, but she had this naturally very > rich, dark , large voice. > Many professionals were in awe of her voice.
Imagine how encouraged I was to find out that this rumor (Ponselle was a smash-hit voice from her debut) isn't exactly true.
Paul Gruber and Robert Tuggle (first an Opera News writer, second the Met archives director) wrote: "Met history is rich with sensational debuts, but the most extraordinary may well have been that of Rosa Ponselle. Having sung only in vaudeville and movie theaters, churches and cafes (usually with her sister Carmela), Ponselle auditioned for Gatti-Casazza and Caruso; a mere six months later she was given the leading role in the Met premiere of a major work by Verdi, joining a cast that included Caruso, Giuseppe De Luca and Jose Mardones. Critics judged her a great talent who had much to learn, and as Robert Tuggle points out, she was not to achieve the promise of her debut 'until La Vestale, seven years later, when, her magnificant voice under perfect control, the Ponselle people remember and what she made of herself became the same.'"
So, take heart! Her voice was certainly extraordinary, but her fantastic debut and the unveiling of the voice we associate with her came at the age of 28, not 21.
Isabelle B.
===== Isabelle Bracamonte San Francisco, CA ibracamonte@y...
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