When in 1909 plump little Marcella Sembrich sang her farewell to opera, Manhattan's Metropolitan built her a throne on the stage, fairly swamped her with flowers, gifts, eulogies. Operagoers that bleak February night cheered themselves croupy while tears ran down many a wrinkled old cheek. But why was this great singer retiring at the peak of her career? "Because I like the sun best when it is high." Last week in Manhattan Death came to Marcella Sembrich who, save for Schumann Heink and Calvé, was the last survivor of an age which produced...
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