Paris was happy to be invaded. The arrival of Milan's famed La Scala opera company set critics to reminiscing fondly of the days when Arturo Toscanini was in the pit, and Caruso, Scotti and Sembrich were on the stage. Nothing about Paris' own two forlorn companies, at the Opera and the Opéra-Comique, was of the sort to bring up such memories.
Hit of the visiting Italians was buxom, blonde Ebe Stignani, whom many European critics consider the greatest mezzo-soprano of the day. She was superb in Il Trovatore, and she even lifted a drab production...
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