Metropolitan Operagoers had heard and cheered Italian Tenor Ferruccio Tagliavini as no other new Met star had been cheered since before the war (TIME, Jan. 20, 1947). Last week they heard his wife too; the critics applauded discreetly, but they did no cheering.
Tagliavini had met buxom Pia Tassinari (still her stage name) in Sicily during the war. They were singing opposite each other in Mascagni's L'Amico Fritz in Palermo. Suddenly the air-raid sirens screamed. Audience and singers scurried for shelter. Then Tenor Tagliavini, who had taken an instant shine to the black-eyed soprano, got his chance. In the darkness...
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