- Herva Nelli
Herva Nelli (
January 9 ,1909 –May 31 ,1994 ) was an Italian-bornopera ticsoprano .Biography
Named after the French socialist
Gustave Hervé , she was born inFlorence , where she attended a convent school. At the age of twelve, however, she and her family left Italy forPittsburgh , where she later studied at the Pittsburgh Music Institute.In 1937, the soprano made her operatic debut with
Brooklyn 's Salmaggi Opera, as Santuzza inMascagni 's "Cavalleria rusticana ". In ensuing seasons, she gained experience with that ensemble, presenting roles that would form the core of her repertoire, including Leonora inVerdi 's "La forza del destino " (with Sydney Rayner as Don Alvaro) and another Leonora in Verdi's "Il trovatore ". She also sang the title roles ofBellini 's "Norma", Verdi's "Aïda " andPonchielli 's "La Gioconda". In 1947, she made herNew York City Opera debut, as Santuzza, conducted byJulius Rudel .Also in 1947, Nelli successfully auditioned for the conductor
Arturo Toscanini (following the recommendation ofLicia Albanese ), and sang the part of Desdemona in the NBC Symphony Orchestra's concert presentation of Verdi's "Otello ", oppositeRamón Vinay . This led to the famous series of broadcasts of other Verdi works, which were later published as recordings byRCA : "Aïda" (1949, which was televised as well), Mrs Alice Ford in "Falstaff" (withGiuseppe Valdengo , 1950), the Requiem (withGiuseppe di Stefano , 1951), and Amelia in "Un ballo in maschera " (withJan Peerce , 1954), which were the Maestro's final operatic performances. When Toscanini died three years later, he left his protégée his bâton in his Will.In 1948, Nelli sang in
Genoa ("La Gioconda", conducted byTullio Serafin ) and at theTeatro alla Scala . At the latter theatre, she participated in the Boito Memorial Concert (excerpts from "Mefistofele " and "Nerone", conducted by Toscanini) and starred in eight performances of "Aïda" (withElena Nicolai as Amneris).From 1949, the glamorous
dramatic soprano performed with theNew Orleans Opera Association: "Aïda" (with the youngNorman Treigle as the King of Egypt), "Otello" (1954), "Aïda" again (1955), and "Il trovatore" (withLeonard Warren , 1958). She was also often heard inPhiladelphia (from 1950 to 1958), in "Aïda", "Il trovatore", "Norma", "Otello", "La forza del destino",Puccini 's "Tosca " (conducted byEugene Ormandy ) and "La Gioconda". In 1951, Nelli reappeared with theNew York City Opera , in "Cavalleria rusticana" again, as well as "Aïda"; the next year, she portrayed Maddalena de Coigny inUmberto Giordano 's "Andrea Chénier ". With theSan Francisco Opera , in 1951 and 1952, the soprano sang in "Otello", "La forza del destino" (withRobert Weede ), "Aïda" (withMario del Monaco ), "Cavalleria rusticana" and "Il trovatore"; in 1957, she returned for "Un ballo in maschera". With the Baltimore Civic Opera in 1952, she debuted as "Aïda"; in the 1954-55 season, she sang there in "Il trovatore".In 1953, Nelli debuted at the
Metropolitan Opera , with which she appeared until 1961. She was seen in "Aïda" (conducted byRenato Cellini ), "La forza del destino", "Il trovatore", "Cavalleria rusticana", "Andrea Chénier", "Un ballo in maschera" (withMarian Anderson , conducted byDimitri Mitropoulos ) andMozart 's "Don Giovanni " (as Donna Anna, her only Mozart assumption). With the Met, she toured to Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Atlanta, Dallas, Toronto and Minneapolis.Herva Nelli was also heard at the
Cincinnati Opera many times between 1953 and 1956: "Aïda", "La traviata" (as Violetta Valéry, oppositeJohn Alexander , and conducted byAnton Coppola ), "Andrea Chénier", "Un ballo in maschera" and Puccini's "Madama Butterfly " (as Cio-Cio-San, conducted byNicola Rescigno ). The soprano was also seen with the Pittsburgh Opera ("Un ballo in maschera", 1955), San Francisco's Cosmopolitan Opera ("Il trovatore", 1956),Hollywood Bowl (the American premiere ofDarius Milhaud 's "David", 1956), Lyric Theater of Chicago ("Il trovatore", withJussi Björling andEttore Bastianini , 1956), and Opera Guild of Miami ("Un ballo in maschera", withRichard Tucker , 1959). Also in her repertoire was the role of Mimì in Puccini's "La bohème ". Upon her 1951 return to the City Opera,Howard Taubman wrote of her in "The New York Times": "Mme Nelli's voice is of grand size and range, and when she has it under control it has quality and character. Her pianissimo singing can be lovely, indeed. But she has a tendency to force and drive her tone until it loses its natural beauty."Among the orchestras with which she sang the Verdi Requiem were the
New York Philharmonic (conducted byGuido Cantelli , 1955) and the New Orleans Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra (1955). The prima donna toured toColombia ,Puerto Rico ,Cuba ,Mexico andMadeira .Nelli gave her farewell in 1962, with the Brooklyn Opera Company, at the Academy of Music, in "Norma". In retirement, she acquired a particular reputation as a chef. In 1985, she appeared in an interview in the documentary "Toscanini: The Maestro," which was telecast over
PBS in 1988.On May 31, 1994, the soprano succumbed to
leukemia at the age of eighty-five, at the Sharon Country Manor, in Connecticut [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A00E6DB103BF932A35755C0A962958260 "The New York Times", June 1, 1994, "Herva Nelli, 85, Soprano and Chef"] ] .In 2005, reviewing the DVD release of the Concert Version of "Aïda", Ira Siff, in "Opera News", noted that "there is a sense of occasion here, as the eighty-two-year-old Toscanini … unleases a performance of immense power. Herva Nelli may not possess a voice of distinctive beauty, but she is committed to the drama and lives every moment through the music. Both of Aïda's big arias are handled with care and conviction, the 'O patria mia' particularly nuanced and convincing. Yes, one could wish for a longer, more "dolce" high C, but her reading of the aria is mesmerizing…."
References
Bibliography
* "Opera Stars in the Sun", by Mary Jane Matz, Farrar, Staus & Cudahy, 1955.
* "Soloist with Toscanini," from an interview with Herva Nelli, secured by Gunnar Asklund, "Etude", April 1955.
* "The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia", edited by David Hamilton, Simon and Schuster, 1987. ISBN 0-671-61732-X
* "Herva Nelli, the Toscanini Soprano," unpublished essay by Brian Morgan, 2004/06.External links
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo--vvnKgQ4] YouTube: Herva Nelli in an excerpt from "Aïda" (1949).
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