Europe's New Divas

For nearly a decade, those two warring soprano queens, Maria Meneghini Callas and Renata Tebaldi, have dominated the world of European (and U.S.) opera, leaving other postwar singers to peep about to find themselves honorable mention. But slowly, and largely unnoticed in the U.S., old Europe has fashioned a new crop of talented women singers. If none yet quite equals Callas, Tebaldi or the retired lioness of Wagnerian opera, Kirsten Flagstad, all have developed personal styles that promise fresh views of the operatic literature. Among the best of the new divas:

P:Dramatic Soprano Anita Cerquetti, 26, has one of the most sumptuous voices to soar out of Italy since Tebaldi. Large-volumed and agile of voice, she scored her first major success in Bellini's Norma at Verona four years ago, has since become a widely acclaimed guest singer of the standard Verdian repertory. Her voice has appealed to most critics as a cross between Tebaldi's "silky elasticity" and Callas' bite and thrust. Big-boned and fleshy-faced, she has been most often criticized for carrying too much weight to put across the dramatic illusion her roles call for. "When they pay me a million lire an evening," says she, "I shall reduce."

P:Unlike Cerquetti, slim, dark-haired Soprano Clara Petrella, 32, has built her success as much on sheer dramatic ability as on her voice. Her voice is lyric rather than dramatic, and at La Scala she has become one of the foremost performers of contemporary music. At her best in lighter roles, she has recently turned histrionic, now longs to sing Minnie in Puccini's Girl of the Golden West.

P:California-born Mezzo-Soprano Irene Dalis has had a sharp and recent rise to operatic stardom. Two years ago she was an offstage voice at the Berlin State Opera; she is now under contract with Berlin for two more seasons. She made her first successes as Princess Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlo, and the Sexton's Widow in Leos Janacek's Jenufa, made her debut at the Metropolitan last spring as Eboli, will return there for several guest appearances next season. In Europe she has been such a spectacular overnight success, notes one British critic, that "she has only to be announced to fill the house."

P:Soprano Eugenia Ratti, 22, is the youngest of the current crop of Italian stars. The shapely daughter of a Genoa streetcar conductor, she joined La Scala three years ago, displayed a talent for the soubrette roles of Rossini and Donizetti and has moved some critics to predict that she will surpass Callas both as actress and singer. Her diction is flawless, her voice cool and clear as crystal. Her artistic ideal is Callas, but she has a reservation: "I still have a heart, Callas has not."

P:Dutch critics believe that no Italian singer can surpass light-timbred Dramatic Soprano Gre Brouwenstijn, 41, as an interpreter of Verdi. She was a rising star in Dutch radio and opera just before the war but did not get her big chance until 1946, when The Netherlands Opera signed her. She made her reputation in // Tro--vatore, Jenufa, branched into Wagnerian opera at Bayreuth with resounding success, is currently one of the busiest stars on this summer's festival circuit.

P:Soprano Aase Nordmo-Lbvberg, 34, was born north of Narvik, Norway, the daughter of a farmer. During the German invasion a Norwegian army officer quartered on the farm heard Aase singing over her chores, suggested that she have her voice trained. From 1942, when she went to occupied Oslo to study, until 1948, she had no chance to sing in public. Then she began to astound critics in the concert halls, was picked up and trained by the Swedish Royal Opera. Her round tone has been compared to Flagstad's. So far her voice lacks the dramatic thrust and her acting the intensity needed for Wagner's booming heroines.

P:Grey-eyed Soprano Birgit Nilsson is five years older than Nordmo-Lovberg and a colleague of hers in the Royal Opera. Born on a Swedish farm, she also had her career detoured by the war. She developed her repertory slowly after her 1944 debut, but now sings an impressively wide range of roles: most of the great roles of Strauss, all the Wagnerian soprano parts, plus an assortment of new roles from contemporary works. Nilsson is touted chiefly as a soprano whose range and big power come closest to fitting Flagstad's Wagnerian profile. Along with an opulent collection of. jewelry and antique furniture, her operatic earnings have brought her a taste for high life, which, she insists, is "not so extravagant as Tebaldi's."

P:Tall, slim Mezzo-Soprano Christa Ludwig, 29, has moved in two years from the German provincial opera houses to the position of one of the most sought-after singers in the Vienna State Opera. There she sings a varied repertory corresponding to the wide register of her big, bright voice, e.g., Marie in Berg's Wozzeck, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, Amneris in Aida, Dorabella in Cost Fan Tutte.

However different the new singers may be in style and range, they are remarkably alike (with the notable exception of Cerquetti) in being smarter-looking than the ponderous prima donnas of other days. In Europe, as in the U.S., it is no longer enough for a soprano to plant her bulk stage center and belt out a big and beautiful sound. "Sometimes," says an usher at Milan's Casa Ricordi studios, "a voice penetrates through the thick glass doors. I get up and listen. I am never wrong. That fat lady who just went out, she sings like an angel. I don't remember her name, but I don't have to. She's too fat to sing at La Scala."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.