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Met 1947 Ballo with Ilitsch on Walhall
Posted by Nils-Göran Olve on July 28, 2021, 8:11 am
I never heard this recording, but Ralph Moore’s description sounds very believable – not least his very negative review of Daniza Ilitsch’s Amelia. But Ralph's data on her life do not agree with German Wikipedia, which has an interesting background on her as active during the resistance in Vienna. Her post-war success there may have something to do with this – although there certainly were Nazi sympathizers who were critical, her audience at the Vienna State Opera (then in the Volksoper) may have included some who liked to reward her. In Saturday Afternoons at the Old Met Paul Jackson provides information on her career there, and it seems her somewhat Welitsch-like vocal production did not stand up to the requirements she put on it. She was never to sing at the restored Vienna State Opera after its reopening in 1955, because her final Amelia there was in November 1954 when she was 40. I have her on early Supraphon and Remington LPs recorded in Vienna (studio, not live). But her most well-known recording may be the live 1950 Elektra under Mitropoulos, issued on Cetra in the early 1950s. In his overview, Ralph had this to say: “Ilitsch’s voice, unfortunately, is shrill, squally and nasal, essentially a size too small, so her ranting is sometimes covered by the orchestral racket”! So you did know her… The 1950s pseudonymous issue of this Ballo in maschera on Classic LPs belongs among the many speculative entries onto the new LP market in the early 1950s which we can read about here: http://www.soundfountain.com/allegro-royale/lumpeindex.html . Either the management of this label was uncommonly rash in just renaming the artists on a then recent performance in the same city, or they were themselves fooled by someone selling them a tape which purported to be an Italian wartime performance. If the latter, they probably thought that nobody would raise legal claims for a performance from Mussolini Italy, a defeated enemy state. As tapes from so many Saturday matinee broadcasts exist (and were chronicled in Jackson’s magnificent book trilogy), issues like Walhall’s probably don’t go back to those LPs, but rather to some other source recorded off-the-air or “leaked” from some official archive.
Thanks for all that interesting background information, Nils; I do not know where I got my erroneous dates from, as a cursory check does indeed confirm that she died in 1965 aged fifty, so I will ask for my review to be amended.
I am also amused and embarrassed by the fact that I had blanked out my memory of her live, 1950 recording as Chrysothemis - but I suppose that proves that she was not memorable (except in the wrong way, perhaps). At least I was consistent in my unkind assessments - not that that gives me much pleasure - and I am glad that we may give her credit for being a Resistance heroine.