You Will Undoubtedly Become A Star
"...Caballe was scheduled to make her stage debut at the historically important Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, singing Liu to Birgit Nilsson's Turandot. All did not go well, however. From the very first rehearsal, Montserrat came into conflict with the conductor, Fernando Previtali, who... kept insisting, however, that she sing her Act 1 aria 'Signore Ascolta' in a more demonstrative and full-voiced fashion. She tried to compromise and sing a little more loudly, but the conductor stopped the orchestra and yelled, 'No! Not like that. Voice! Voice! Voice!' Upset, she replied, 'Maestro, this is how I sing the role', to which he brusquely responded, 'Not when I'm conducting you don't. You will sing it as it ought to be sung or not at all.'
The stormy rehearsal finished as best it could and Montserrat repaired to her hotel room... A telephone call was suddenly put through from the Directorate of the Colon informing her that the conductor was insisting on her removal from the cast and that she was therefore to be replaced in the role... Montserrat received the shattering news with as much dignity as she could muster, but... collapsed in tears and became inconsolable... when there was another telephone call, this time summoning her to the director's office... The director said immediately: 'We have a problem: Madam Nilsson has informed us that if you do not sing Liu, she will not sing Turandot'. The conductor seemed to bow to the inevitable and muttered his assent to Nilsson's force majeure; but with astonishing lack of grace and tact, he then said to Montserrat: 'Although I accept you back in the production, you will sing it as I want it to be sung.' Nilsson, calm and authoritative, spoke up to relieve the impasse into which Montserrat was being further manouvred.
'Maestro, you are committing an error of judgement. This young lady sings the role in a way you will wait an entire lifetime to hear repeated, if then. I think she is extraordinary. If she is not permitted to sing the way she wishes, then I am leaving the production.' At this point the conductor's stance wholly collapsed: replacng a relative newcomer as Liu was one thing; but to replace Nilsson as Turandot was unthinkable."
Click to viewThe stormy rehearsal finished as best it could and Montserrat repaired to her hotel room... A telephone call was suddenly put through from the Directorate of the Colon informing her that the conductor was insisting on her removal from the cast and that she was therefore to be replaced in the role... Montserrat received the shattering news with as much dignity as she could muster, but... collapsed in tears and became inconsolable... when there was another telephone call, this time summoning her to the director's office... The director said immediately: 'We have a problem: Madam Nilsson has informed us that if you do not sing Liu, she will not sing Turandot'. The conductor seemed to bow to the inevitable and muttered his assent to Nilsson's force majeure; but with astonishing lack of grace and tact, he then said to Montserrat: 'Although I accept you back in the production, you will sing it as I want it to be sung.' Nilsson, calm and authoritative, spoke up to relieve the impasse into which Montserrat was being further manouvred.
'Maestro, you are committing an error of judgement. This young lady sings the role in a way you will wait an entire lifetime to hear repeated, if then. I think she is extraordinary. If she is not permitted to sing the way she wishes, then I am leaving the production.' At this point the conductor's stance wholly collapsed: replacng a relative newcomer as Liu was one thing; but to replace Nilsson as Turandot was unthinkable."