Anne got her mother on the phone in Aurora, Ill., and announced importantly: "Mother, I have something to tell you. If you will tune in on February 3, you will hear Anne McKnight singing in opera under Toscanini."
Then she told how it all happened. Toscanini, who had conducted the world premiere of Puccini's La Bohème in Turin in 1896, was to perform it again, on its 50th anniversary, over NBC. He had picked the Met's Licia Albanese for Mimi, Jan Peerce for Rodolfo. For the second feminine lead (Musetta) he had tried out 30 women, was satisfied with none. Then Met...
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