Luisa Tetrazzini's gift ends San Francisco era on high note

[Kadie]

This is a cool story...

Luisa Tetrazzini's gift ends S.F. era on high note
Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writer


On Christmas Eve, exactly 100 years ago, Luisa Tetrazzini, the most famous opera singer of her day, sang in the streets of San Francisco as a gift to the city she loved.

There was a huge throng present that night - some said as many as 250,000 people - but they are all gone now and only the memory remains, like the ghost of Christmas past.

Tetrazzini, then 39, was a huge celebrity, the way movie stars and famous athletes are celebrities now. It was the Golden Age of Opera, the age of Enrico Caruso, Nellie Melba, Amelita Galli-Curci.

Tetrazzini was not only an amazing singer, she was also colorful, with famous love affairs and huge financial disputes with impresarios. She was flamboyant. She loved life. A story about Tetrazzini was always good for Page One.

In the fall of 1910, she got into a contract dispute with Oscar Hammerstein. He wanted her to sing in New York, she wanted to sing in San Francisco. Money was at the heart of the dispute - she wanted $2,500 per concert. Hammerstein took her to court.

"When they told me I could not sing in America unless it was for Hammerstein," she said, "I said I would sing in the streets of San Francisco, for I knew the streets of San Francisco were free.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/23/MN211GTC0N.DTL#ixzz1955hL2wB



The unique Luisa Tetrazzini (nearly a century ago!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g0MmPZKE6Y

[msongs]

1. inspiring story! thanks for posting it nt

[xchrom]

2. La Grande Dame Tetratzini! Nt