Gina Cigna & Giovanni Martinelli - Norma: "In mia man"

[ziggylennox2012]

A great dramatic soprano!!!!!! I Love Her <3

[Cantormatis]

This is a very good performance and the recording quality is superb. Cigna's voice was ENORMOUS. She actually drowns out Martinelli.

[AmericanEvita]

I loved Gina Cigna's recording of Norma and in previous performances she sang wonderfully. Here, though, she is in terrible shape. You can tell from the moment she sings "in mia man" and the rest is really off pitch, matronly sounding and lacking the bel canto technique. I think she might just be too old here to be singing Norma.

[assindiastignani]

@AmericanEvita I adore Cigna, and she was truly one of the greatest Italian dramatic sopranos, but intonation with her could sometimes be rather adventurous. For these performances, she was very nervous. It was her Met debut in a role that the NY audiences only wanted to hear from Rosa Ponselle.They still hadn't got over her retiring so suddenly, and they took out some of their frustration on Cigna, and were very cold to her as Norma.

[Cantormatis]

@assindiastignani Metropolitan audiences were, and still notorious for playing favorites. Pertile, a simply phenomenal singer, was a flop at the MET. Lauri-Volpi was not a Met favorite. Bonci stood no chance as long as there was Caruso. The Met generally adored one singer per fach, so to speak. As for La Cigna, she was a marvelous singer, but she was no Ponselle.

[assindiastignani]

@Cantormatis Absolutely!! As long as Martinelli was there, the others had no chance. Same in the 70s 80s &90s. Scotto meant NO Freni; Milnes meant NO Cappuccili or Bruson; Renée Fleming means Noone who can sing in tune or who really has the voice to be singing the Rep that she sings. But look how Callas intrigued Tebaldi out of Scala.

[Cantormatis]

@assindiastignani I concur with you- Freni didn't sing nearly as often in NY as anyone would have liked. Unspeakable were that Beverly Sills was kept out of Met for years, and Leyla Gencer was ignored. Milnes forced a number of good up and coming baritones out of the Metropolitan, too, not to mention Capuccilli and Bruson. This happens in many houses. Nowadays, in the big houses, it's the same crappy singers singing the same roles everywhere. Terrible!!!

[assindiastignani]

@Cantormatis Another great singer who was kept out was Cristina Deutekom - pre-destined for the early Verdi, but the MET & the record. comps.wanted to push Scotto.Sills was different. She had a bit of a chip on her shoulder. Bing offered her Lucia,Violetta,the new Luisa Miller production, but she insisted on a new Puritani, to which Bing had been telling Sutherland no for years. In the end she debuted w. L'Assedio di Corinto, was past her prime, and Shirley Verrett as Neocle stole the show.

[kgarmaker123]

It might be nice to start the piece by singing the first F on pitch.. man, in the first couple of lines.. there are so many off pitches.. HORRIBLE.This was a great singer?

[AulicExclusiva]

This was the matinée broadcast of February 20, 1937, a new production. W. J Henderson wrote of this performance: "Mme Cigna's impersonation had dignity of bearing and attractive appearance, but the singing was marred by frequent emission of loud and strident tones. The style was wanting in the grand line which tradition requires....Martinelli was unfortunately not in his best voice...But he was a stalwart figure and evidently acquainted with the old opera and its demands. "

[AulicExclusiva]

Be that as it may, the singing has character and intensity, and Panizza's conducting is marvelous.

Thank you for a fine posting.

[hobo1975]

@AulicExclusiva but it is interesting she was taught by emma calve.

[ciroalb3]

they were perfectly matched voices in manner, and a very clear recording. Cigna had great control for such a large voice in the bel canto elements of the score, trills etc.