I thought I’d start a series of posts showcasing a few of my favorite performers.
ANTONIETTA STELLA (1929) often found herself in the shadow of Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, Zinka Milanov, and later also Anna Moffo. However, I find that she sang with extraordinary commitment, italianita’, appropriate morbidezza, and involvement. She also must have had quite a large voice. Antonietta was most at home in Puccini and Verdi heroines. Her forays into Wagner and Bellini were less successful. She enjoyed a close relationship with most of the worlds great opera houses, including four seasons at the NY MET (she was however “discontinued” from the roster after a contractual tiff with Sir Rudolf Bing).
Her most memorable recordings include…
a superb live Verdi Requiem, arguably Verdi’s best “opera”, under maestro v. Karajan
a live MET Tosca, with Richard Tucker and Leonard Warren (what a night at the opera that must have been!)…
… a studio Tosca under Serafin with a reasonably stylish Gianni Poggi and a superb G. Taddei as Scarpia…
… a studio Trovatore, with Bergonzi, Bastiannini, and Cosotto, also under Serafin…We hear a Leonora with vulnerability, true Italian line and phrasing, and engaging involvement. This recording must rank among the best.
Listen to her wonderful Trovatore Leonora:
Today, Stella would surely be a superstar; how welcome a singer with even half of her qualities would be!
Here she is again, as Amelia, live with the Verdi tenor par-excellence, Carlo Bergonzi:
