Scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio

Toti dal Monte, Soprano (1893-1975)
Giacomo Puccini MADAMA BUTTERFLY
Scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio (Flower Duet)
With Vittoria Palombini, Mezzo-soprano (1903-1968)
Conducted by Oliviero de Fabritiis
Recorded 1939

My personal opinion: In the 1970s I bought my very first complete opera recording: MADAMA BUTTERFLY. It was the fabulous Santini version with De los Angeles and Bjoerling; still one of my favorites. I was so moved by the work that I decided to collect more editions: Callas, Tebaldi, Price, Scotto and because of Gigli the 1939 production with the italian born soprano Toti dal Monte (in her only studio recording of an entire opera). I still remember my very first impression, when dal Monte began her role with "Ancora un passo or via": I was shocked and sorely disappointed - what a dull child-like voice this was! Where was the melodiousness of the sopranos I'd heard before? For me it was just embarrassing, and to be honest: Sometimes I used the recording to make others laugh...
Meanwhile decades have passed, and my opinion changed. Dal Monte's interpretation is sincerer, closer to Puccini's intentions and (most of all) had more identification with the role as, say, the more comfortable and diva-like singing of Angela Gheorghiu, who (in the Pappano version) is far from representing a teenage girl. The dal Monte recording has moments, "that are possibly more touching than any other recorded interpretation of the part, especially in the 'Letter Duet' of Act II", wrote Steane in 'The Grand Tradition'. It took years before I realize the brilliant mimicry in the voice of dal Monte.
She was born as Antonietta Meneghel in the province of Treviso. Soon her parents discovered her musical talents, but due to a hand injury she was forced to end piano lessons. Then she began to study voice with the italian contralto Barbara Marchisio, once a favorite of Rossini. At the age of 23 and with the endorsement of Serafin and Panizza, Toti dal Monte made her debut at 'La Scala' as Biancofiore in Zandonai's FRANCESCA DI RIMINI (next to Raisa, Pertile and Danise). Success was great, and Toti dal Monte was admired as "a new nightingale in the tradition of a Patti". Dal Monte later said, her actual debut in a supporting role was in February 1922 as Gilda opposite Lauri-Volpi and Verdi baritone Galeffi, who was a favorite of Arturo Toscanini. Dal Monte's working with the bossy conductor was not unclouded. During a rehearsal for RIGOLETTO, the conductor snarled her: "How can you dare to sing Gilda different from what I've told you?" - Dal Monte had allowed herself some 'coloratura' in 'Caro nome'... Nevertheless 'La Scala' became her artistic home. After triumphs in Italy and Paris, she was invited by the aging Nellie Melba for a tour of Australia. On December 5 in 1924, dal Monte gave her first Met-performance - as LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR. She received more bad than good reviews, and after only two more performances (LUCIA and RIGOLETTO in 1925), Toti dal Monte left the Met and escaped from the rivalry with Amelita Gallic-Curci. In 1954 - nine years after dal Montes retirement from the stage - the aging soprano walked into the dressing room of Maria Callas after a performance of LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR in Milan. In tears, dal Monte said to Callas: "Tonight I profoundly understood Donizetti's music for the first time in my life."
Toti dal Montes voice was not a first-class instrument: Narrow, weightless and in the upper register without rounding (sometimes even sharp). It was the typical skinny singing bird-voice; clear in diction, girlish-sweet in character. She sings Lucia's mad scene in freestyle with vocal pirouettes. Her 'Casta diva' from Bellini's NORMA is insubstantial and Rossini's Rosina without hidden wit and sophistication. She recorded the duet 'Dunque io son' with the italian baritone Luigi Montesanto and speaks the phrase "Un biglietto? Eccolo qua..." like a toddler. But yet... or better: Because of this dreamy playfulness, all of her recordings have a remarkable freshness and sympathetic vitality - features we also know from the records of Conchita Supervia. No wonder, in his book 'Great Voices', the German author Jens Malte Fischer included both in a chapter entitled 'Strange singers and other outsiders'.
The sometimes bizarre and grotesque recordings of Toti dal Monte may be an alternative for all those, who are bored with the daily operatic monotony.