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Magda Olivero: The Last Verismo Soprano

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"They're pretty, but not as pretty as the prickly cactus
I received yesterday from Pavarotti..."

 

Magda Olivero

 

Magda Olivero (b. 1910), a great Italian dramatic soprano, is considered by many to be the last of the great Verismo sopranos.  She was coached by composer Francesco Cilea, and she even returned after ten years of retirement to sing his opera Adriana Lecouvreur at his request.  She made her debut in 1932 for Turin radio, singing in Nino Cattozzo's I misteri dolorosi, and her last appearance on the stage was at the Teatro Filarmonico of Verona in 1981, singing Poulenc's La voix humaine.  Olivero was a master at conveying the tension and relaxation in the music through her use of rubato, and she often spurred her co-stars on to new dramatic and vocal heights they had never achieved before.

 

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