Anna Moffo: Much Love For Baby Callas

or It's hard out here for a Pimp
Metropolitan Opera Guild to Present Gala Tribute to Anna Moffo

Anna Moffo, lived through the hardest times. She died on March 9 of this year, and was one of the Metropolitan Opera's best-loved sopranos during the 1960s. The Metropolitan Opera Guild will pay homage to her life and work next month with "Anna Moffo — A Celebration," a gala set for Wednesday, September 20 at 7:30 pm at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in New York. Information on and tickets for "Anna Moffo — A Celebration" can be obtained by calling 1-212-769-7009.

Anna Moffo, a Metropolitan Opera singer noted for her beauty, radiant coloratura soprano, and convincing dramatic abilities, sang Musetta to Callas' only Mimi recorded. They got along fine. Callas took her under her wing as the next bel canto singer. For a while, Moffo held the down the fort, however, with a taxing schedule of opera, TV, and film performances, she was reputed to have pushed her voice too hard and by the late 1960s it had become unreliable. In later years, her voice thickened and her vibrato wasn't as good. Perhaps because she made so many recordings she overtaxed her voice. It seemed to decline suddenly and her singing lost its freshness.

Her Metropolitan Opera debut was in 1959 as Violetta in Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata. She had a 17-season career there and sung 220 performances in 18 operas, with roles including Violetta, Gilda, Manon, Liù, Pamina, Juliette, Nedda, Mélisande, Mimì, Cio-Cio-San, the four heroines of Les Contes d'Hoffman (Stella, Olympia, Giulietta, and Antonia), Lucia, Marguerite, and others. Her non-Met roles included Amina, Adriana Lecouvreur, Kate (in The Taming of the Shrew), Fiora, Rachel, Marie (in La Fille du Régiment), and more. Her last appearance with the company was as Violetta, in 1976.

'Always alone'

The singer told The Times in 1977 that she was pushed too early in her career and had been forced to take time off to strengthen her vocal technique.

"I was working much too hard and travelling too much. I got mixed up in TV, films and things like that.

"Psychologically I was miserable and always alone. But I don't think I was singing that badly until I reached a point where I was just so tired," she said.


Suggested Listening
CANTELOUBE: SONGS OF THE AUVERGNE, ET. AL ----- MOFFO/STOKOWSKI *****
©1965 RCA Victor
Even though Bidu Sayao and Victoria de los Angeles recorded these songs, Anna Moffo made you love them. Anna Moffo made you listen to them all day. Anna Moffo made them synonomous with Pop music in the 60's. These songs eclipse her operatic career in my opinion because she is in perfect voice at this recording. Her voice is free, full and absolutely scrumptious. Her legato is spun silk. Every song is a hit. It's almost like listening to pop music but it is legitimately classical. From the power of "L'antouèno" to "Pastourelle," "Bailero," and "Brezairola" to the seductive quality of Villa-Lobos's "Aria (Cantilena)." The melancholy, beautiful tone of her voice is like a dream.

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Comments: Whether or not she continued singing over tiredness or nodes, we will never know. But whatever she did on her path, she lost her voice. We as singers must remember that we inevitably have to look out for our own voices. No one - be it coach, teacher, managers, impresario, husbands, wives - is going to respect our gift the way we will. And we can expect no one to respect our gift the way we will. If we will. That said, love yourself and respect your gift.