In the presence of Greatness

When I attended the birthday party for John Ardoin given by the Fort Worth music critic, Leonard Eureka in early January, I got first hand recommendations for Callas recordings - the Berlin Lucia, the Edinborough Sonnambula, etc. Ardoin then invited me to meet him in New York (I was a student at Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory at the time) when He would be there to attend a Falstaff broadcast.

I met him in the lobby of the Met on April 5, 1975. As we were walking down the left aisle to take our seats, he introduced me to two other people in our party, the duo-pianists Richard and John Cantiguglia. When we arrived at the correct row, up walks pianist Ivan Davis with an elderly woman. I was itnroduced but I did not recognize her name.

After the second act, we all made our way to List Hall for the broadcast's first intermission feature, a Record Collector's Corner. The first question was a "drop the needle" question where one had to identify the singer and, in this instance, talk about the vocal technique aspects of the recording. The first was Tetrazini, then Ponselle. The third selection was Magda Olivero singing the closing cadenza of "Ah forse lui" from Traviata.

My enlightenment arrived when John Ardoin announced to the audience that we were in the presence of the great diva (she was sitting two seats to the left from me). Something this 20-year-old will never forrget.

Listen to the excerpt from the intermission feature