[Her voice], for artistic reasons, can possess a false and insidious candor; it can also possess an authentic candor. At times, her virtuosity can seem inborn spontaneity, as if she surmounted difficulties, step by step, on the strength of instinct alone. Her voice, already dark and even shadowy, can become soft and light, with the iridescence of a soap bubble.Emilio Radius was an Italian journalist of the past century who wrote for Oggi, a popular magazine. I know little about him and would like to learn more.
Emilio Radius
His essay about Maria Callas in Da Mussolini alla Callas: Ricordi di un giornalista (1961) is one of the best things I have read about her. (What a pairing in the title, though!) The essay bears multiple readings and, at times, layers irony upon irony, metaphor upon metaphor.
The snippet I offer here seems to me relatively straightforward, and also insightful and beautifully written. Oh, to have journalists of this caliber writing today!
The musical excerpt is from the legendary Cologne performance of Bellini’s La sonnambula, with the tenor Nicola Monti.
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