Love Duet

Metropolitan Operagoers had heard and cheered Italian Tenor Ferruccio Tagliavini as no other new Met star had been cheered since before the war (TIME, Jan. 20, 1947). Last week they heard his wife too; the critics applauded discreetly, but they did no cheering.

Tagliavini had met buxom Pia Tassinari (still her stage name) in Sicily during the war. They were singing opposite each other in Mascagni's L'Amico Fritz in Palermo. Suddenly the air-raid sirens screamed. Audience and singers scurried for shelter. Then Tenor Tagliavini, who had taken an instant shine to the black-eyed soprano, got his chance. In the darkness of the shelter, says he, he murmured "sweet words of comfort" to her.

"Ferro" and Pia have been singing and murmuring to each other ever since. Married in 1941, they delighted Italy and South America with their Tosca, La Boheme and Werther, but the U.S. had only heard them sing together in concert. They ended each concert with the Duet of the Cherries from the first opera they had sung together in Palermo.

Last week a capacity crowd sludged through the snow to hear Tagliavini as Cavaradossi and his wife in the title role of Tosca. It was opera, full-flavored Italian style. Pia, revealing dramatic skill, a tender middle voice, and disturbingly razorish top range, was roundly applauded even in arias where critics found her wanting. Tagliavini was in top form. Between them, husband & wife managed to carry off a production that was closer to first rate than the Met usually achieves these lackluster days.

Says Tagliavini: "Some married singers I have known are so jealous of each other that they hire separate claques. That will never happen in my family."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.