Last Saturday night the curtain at the Chicago Opera House fell on what was undoubtedly the worst season of opera that a resident Chicago company has ever presented. For a pageant finale there was Respighi's new La Fiamma, with massive choruses, lavish orchestration, an impassioned, queer-grained heroine who is burned at the stake for indulging in witchcraft. The heroine was Soprano Rosa Raisa, bluff in acting, uneven in voice. But Raisa, a relic of Samuel Insull's opera days, was an ace compared with the majority of the singers who have appeared in Chicago...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
