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"I
practice every morning, as soon as I get up,
right after I've put on my
make-up and had my first cigarette. So sue me."
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Leonie
Rysanek was a thrilling, Viennese-born singing actress.
She made her legendary Met debut in the role of Lady Macbeth after Rudolf
Bing had famously fired Maria Callas from
the part. To ensure audience sympathy, Bing himself hired a claque
to scream out "Brava Callas!" upon Rysanek's first entrance.
From that moment on, Rysanek sang and acted with a fierce, firey passion,
and she held the audience in her thrall. When she was to sing
Desdemona on a Saturday matinee radio broadcast of Verdi's Otello
from the Met, she received death threats from fans of Renata
Tebaldi for daring to sing one of Tebaldi's roles on the broadcast. |
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