Herva Nelli, American soprano of Italian birth (Florence), was brought to the USA by her parents when she was 12, and received her training at Pittsburgh. Her earliest appearances were with the Salmaggi Company at the Brooklyn Academy in 1946, where she sang Norma, Leonora (Il trovatore) and Aida. Then she sang with La Scala company of Philadelphia (1946-47), adding Santuzza and Gioconda to her repertory. She was introduced to Toscanini by Licia Albanese and he immediately cast her as Desdemona for a concert performance of Otello. She made several recordings with the maestro, including Un ballo in maschera (1954), from which this exerpt is derived. Nelli made her Metropolitan debut, as Aida, in 1953 and appeared there until 1961. She also appeared in Verdi roles at San Francisco, New Orleans and Chicago. In 1948 she sang Gioconda in Genoa and Aida at La Scala, following her appearance there with Toscanini in a concert to mark the reopening of the house. She possessed a firm, technically secure, if not strikingly individual, spinto voice; under Toscanini’s tutelage, her interpretations were often shapely and eloquent. (notes from Alan Blyth)
Nelli was another of the “utility” singers at the Metropolitan. She never reached the heights of international stardom, but could be counted on to turn in a respectable performance of just about any role the company assigned her. We could use more singers like this today.
This recording was made January 17 and 24, 1954 at Carnegie Hall during the broadcasts over NBC radio. It was the first full-length opera RCA Victor recorded using microphones set up separately from those used for the broadcast. An RCA ultra-directional microphone, at the time the newest acoustical development of the David Sarnoff Research Center, was used by RCA ingineers for the recorded version.
The photograph was taken during rehearsal (I assume), but there is no caption. I think the singers pictured are Jan Peerce, Herva Nelli and Fedora Barbieri.