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 season opener, the San Francisco Opera picked Otello and cast Nelli in her old role of Desdemona. She tackled it without a qualm, despite the fact that, with diplomats overflowing the opera house for the Japanese Peace Treaty, early rehearsals had to be held in an old downtown theater. The only thing that gave her the slightest pause was a feeling that Conductor Fausto Cleva might not do things exactly Toscanini's way. But when the big moment came, Cleva did just fine ("He was perfect"), and Soprano Nelli covered herself with glory too, singing in a voice that was sweet and sure. Even the critics joined in the prolonged applause.

Said one veteran operagoer: "I've heard Otello several dozen times, but Nelli is the first Desdemona I can recall who sang the Ave Maria as if it were a prayer and not an aria."

For Nelli, whose pre-Toscanini training with the Salmaggi and San Carlo opera companies gained her much experience but little fame, success in San Francisco meant a step closer to her dream of the Met, plus new confidence. Said she: "Lily Pons came back to my room and congratulated me. When one coloratura says something nice to another, you can be sure they mean it."

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