Five years ago without fuss or fancy advertising a 24-year-old mezzo-soprano made her debut at Manhattan's Metropolitan Opera House. No one was much interested then in her youth or the fact that she came from Kansas City. Mezzos and contraltos rarely get leading roles; besides, the legend of Marion Talley had been too recently deflated. Nor was her debut audience aWare of Gladys Swarthout's dark good looks. As the blind old mother in La Gioconda she appeared with her slender figure hulked out in unbecoming grey, her face ashy with chalk.
During...
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