For many years stocky, shock-headed Metropolitan Tenor Giovanni Martinelli nursed a secret ambition to sing Tristan, most glamorous, most gut-busting of German opera roles. But in the days when Martinelli’s voice was at its sweetest, Metropolitan directors always chose a throatier Teuton for the job. Last week at the Chicago Opera, 54-year-old Veteran Martinelli finally got his chance. Playing opposite buxom Kirsten Flagstad’s bosom, his white hair covered with a blond wig, Tenor Martinelli sang his part without a misplaced guttural. But between towering Soprano Flagstad and the booming orchestra led by Flagstad’s private accompanist, Edwin McArthur, Martinelli’s long song of love was pretty well drowned out. To cap all, just before the final curtain Soprano Flagstad took the whole spotlight, and Martinelli had to get up out of his deathbed to go and die on the other side of the stage.
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