Music: Un-Nervous Nelli

Un-Nervous Nelli One man who was always sure about Soprano Herva Nelli's voice was Arturo Toscanini. The first time he heard her sing he said, "There is my Desdemona," and gave her the role in his 1947 Otello. Some objected that Italian-born Nelli had sung only in minor-league opera in the U.S., and that she had not been heard by many others. "If she hasn't," said Toscanini, "she will be now." But up to last week, Herva Nelli's U.S. reputation was based on what she could do with the Maestro conducting. In San Francisco, she stepped out on her own.

For its...

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