Triumph at the Colón
Long before the dying Mimi whimpered her last notes, first-nighters in Buenos Aires' Teatro Colón were sure it had a new star. When the crimson curtain finally fell on La Bohème, even hypercritical gallery-goers joined in the ovation for 22-year-old Soprano María Helena Arizmendi.
The applause for Maria Helena capped a success story. Four years ago, a shapely, green-eyed girl with chestnut hair, she sold sportswear in a Buenos Aires department store for $32 a month. She liked to sing, finally decided to make a career of it. One day she slipped backstage at a Colón rehearsal, asked María Barrientos, oldtime operatic star and famed teacher, to give her lessons. Coloratura Barrientos took a shine to her, made her a protégée.
When Maria Barrientos died in 1946, her wealthy porteño friends paid for Maria Helena's lessons with Luis Ricci, who had once been at La Scala.
Last year Tenor Beniamino Gigli heard María Helena, invited her to sing Mimi with him at a charity performance in the Teatro Presidente Alvear. There, talentwise Cirilo Grassi Díaz, manager of the Teatro Colón, heard her, offered her a chance at the Colón this season.
Smart old Grassi Diaz knew what he was doing. After María Helena's debut (once again she sang with Gigli), Buenos Aires newspapers broke out in a rash of praise. Said La Prensa: "A great success . . . She has a pure, generous, fresh and moving voice . . . [She] has shown rare qualities which promise a brilliant career."
María Helena knows that early success does not always make a career. She plans to keep on studying, hopes some day to sing at La Scala or the Met. Said she last week: "I might go a long way if I don't hurry."