Prima Donnas: The Greatest

With time on his hands before donning his Riccardo costume for the night's production of A Masked Ball, Tenor Giuseppe di Stefano was back stage at Philadelphia's Lyric Opera last week, glancing through the program. His eye caught just the kind of thing he was looking for — "Acclaimed The World's Greatest Tenor" — but to his in finite horror, there, smiling out above the blurb, was Archrival Franco Corelli. Di Stefano reacted with the cool dignity for which he is famous throughout op era. "I will not sing!" he shouted, grab bing his camel's-hair coat and heading for...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!