Herva Nelli
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Herva Nelli, was an Italian opera singer.
Named after the French socialist Gustave Hervé, she was born in Florence, on January 9, 1909. At the age of twelve, however, she and her family left Italy for Pittsburgh, where she later studied at the Pittsburgh Music Institute.
In 1937, the beautiful soprano made her operatic debut with Brooklyn's Salmaggi Opera, as Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana. In ensuing seasons, she gained experience with that ensemble, presenting roles that would form the core of her repertoire, including Leonora in both La forza del destino (with Sydney Rayner as Don Alvaro) and Il trovatore, and the title roles of Norma, Aïda and La Gioconda. In 1947, she made her New York City Opera debut, as Santuzza, conducted by Julius Rudel.
Also in 1947, Nelli successfully auditioned for the legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini (following the recommendation of Licia Albanese), and sang the part of Desdemona in the NBC Symphony Orchestra's concert version of Otello, opposite Ramón Vinay. This led to the famous series of broadcasts of other Verdi works, which were later published as recordings by RCA: Aïda (1949, which was televised as well), Mrs Alice Ford in Falstaff (with Giuseppe Valdengo, 1950), the Requiem (with Giuseppe di Stefano, 1951), and Amelia in Un ballo in maschera (with Jan Peerce, 1954), which were the Maestro's final operatic performances. When Toscanini died three years later, he left his protégée his bâton in his will.
In 1948, Nelli sang in Genoa (La Gioconda, conducted by Tullio Serafin) and at the Teatro alla Scala.* At the latter theatre, she participated in the Boito Memorial Concert (excerpts from Mefistofele and Nerone, conducted by Toscanini) and starred in eight performances of Aïda.
From 1949, the artist performed with the New Orleans Opera Association: Aïda (with the young Norman Treigle as the King of Egypt), Otello (1954), Aïda again (1955), and Il trovatore (with Leonard Warren, 1958). She was also often heard in Philadelphia (from 1950 to 1958), in Aïda, Il trovatore, Norma, Otello, La forza del destino, Tosca (conducted by Eugene Ormandy) and La Gioconda. In 1951, Nelli reappeared with the New York City Opera, in Cavalleria rusticana again, as well as Aïda; the next year, she portrayed Maddalena de Coigny in Andrea Chénier. With the San Francisco Opera, in 1951 and 1952, the soprano sang in Otello, La forza del destino (with Robert Weede), Aïda (with Mario del Monaco), Cavalleria and Il trovatore; in 1957, she returned for Un ballo in maschera. With the Baltimore Civic Opera in 1952, she debuted as Aïda; in the 1954-55 season, she sang there in Il trovatore.
In 1953, Nelli debuted at the Metropolitan Opera, with whom she appeared until 1961. She was seen in Aïda (conducted by Renato Cellini), La forza del destino, Il trovatore, Cavalleria, Andrea Chénier, Un ballo in maschera (with Marian Anderson, conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos) and Don Giovanni (as Donna Anna, her only Mozart assumption). With the Met, she toured to Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Atlanta, Dallas, Toronto and Minneapolis.
Mme Nelli was also heard at the Cincinnati Opera many times between 1953 and 1956: Aïda, La traviata (as Violetta Valéry, opposite John Alexander, and conducted by Anton Coppola), Chénier, Un ballo in maschera and Madama Butterfly (as Cio-cio-san, conducted by Nicola Rescigno). The soprano was also seen with the Pittsburgh Opera (Un ballo in maschera, 1955), San Francisco's Cosmopolitan Opera (Il trovatore, 1956), Hollywood Bowl (American premiere of Milhaud's David, 1956) and Opera Guild of Miami (Un ballo in maschera, with Richard Tucker, 1959). Also in her repertoire was the role of Mimì in La bohème.
Among the orchestras with which she sang the Verdi Requiem were the New York Philharmonic (conducted by Guido Cantelli, 1955) and the New Orleans Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra (1955). The prima donna toured to Colombia, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico and Madeira.
Nelli gave her Farewell in 1962, with the Brooklyn Opera Company, at the Academy of Music, in Norma. In retirement, she acquired a particular reputation as a chef. On May 31, 1994, the soprano succumbed to leukemia at the age of eighty-five, at the Sharon Country Manor, in Connecticut.
Herva Nelli is one of the most controversial and underrated sopranos of the immediate post-World War II era. Later critical opinion has inevitably judged her according to the recordings she made under Toscanini. But the infamously dry acoustic of the Maestro's recordings certainly do not flatter the soprano's instrument. Heard in non-commercial recordings, such as that of the 1948 Boito Memorial Concert or the 1958 Il trovatore in New Orleans, one hears a sizable voice of Italianate morbidezza, and vocalizing of great intensity. In the kinescope of the 1949 concert version of Aïda (released on video-cassette in 1990), one can witness the physical beauty, sincerity and utter commitment of the singer.
In an era rich in great sopranos, she sang with an intensity which was absent in many of her more phlegmatic rivals, an Italianate voice not possessed by certain other stars, and a musicianship equal to any of them. Hopefully, time will justify the trust put in this woman by Toscanini, whatever the full nature of their relationship.
* It is well known that, in 1947, Nelli was being considered for the name part of La Gioconda, at the Arena di Verona, to be conducted by Serafin. In the end, the assignment went to another soprano who was to make her Italian debut, Maria Callas.
