100 Greatest Singers: CLAUDIA MUZIO

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! Please comment Claudia Muzio! Claudia Muzio, Soprano (1889-1936) Giuseppe Verdi - La Traviata Addio del passato (Recorded 1934) My personal opinion: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, always an intelligent and courageous woman, about herself: "Meine Stimme war nichts besonderes! (My voice wasn´t something special!)". Nevertheless she became a world class singer. It was the famous italian singing teacher Lamperti who said: "If you have magnetism, the world is yours!" Schwarzkopf had magnetism, as well as italian born soprano Claudia Muzio, whose voice wasn´t exceptional at all. "She sang with her very own voice", wrote Giacomo Lauri-Volpi in one of his books. It is a real treat to experience Muzio on records. She hadn´t the brilliance and agility of Sembrich or Melba, but strong verve, intensity and intimaty. She succeeded to show the psychological drama behind the figure. Her singing was acting. Therefore she was a modern singer. Many critics affronted her strange phrasing and imprecise articulation. She came to Scala in season 1913/14, but success came not until 1929, the rank of a first primadonna never came. In London she made effect alongside Caruso in "Tosca", in 1916 she entered the Met-stage - again with Caruso. Irving Kolodin wrote in his Met-chronicles, Muzio always was inspiring, sometimes even exciting - but she never coulnd´t win the audience´s love like Bori or Farrar. With the rise of Rosa Ponselle, Muzio became sick of Metropolitan. She contracted with Chicago. She knew her own limits and relinquished Norma to Rosa Raisa. But she made great impression as Violetta, most likely her best role. In Southamerica she became a superstar. Again Lauri-Volpi: "I had great luck, to sing with the most sweetest of all Leonoras (Trovatore), with Claudia Muzio". But she always returned to Violetta. Eva Turner: "Simply unforgettable! Muzio was Traviata in the true sense of the word, but - an indication for technical problems - she recorded only the last aria, not the great scene with the coloratur finale". My opinion: Claudia Muzio was a great verismo singer, probably with a second-class voice, but a first-class theatrical stage presence, pathetic timbré and moving expression. Her recitative to "Addio del passato" is a mixture of art and Kitsch, but that´s the way all great stage heroines died... I believe, today she would be in the first row! THE COMPLETE OVERVIEW: GO TO "ALL SINGERS IN THIS LIST"