Music: Mommy at the Met

"I was brought up to believe that it is polite to wait until you are asked," Soprano Eileen Farrell invariably replied when people wondered why she had never sung at the Met. The Metropolitan Opera's Rudolf Bing continued to ignore Farrell, either because of misplaced gallantry over her heft (5 ft. 5½ in., 180 Ibs.) or because of her limited operatic repertory. But the snub did not hinder the progress of Farrell's career or silence the critics, who acclaimed her the U.S.'s top soprano. Finally, a year ago, Bing and the Met beckoned, and...

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