Cloe (or Cloë) Elmo (April 9, 1910 – May 24, 1962) was an Italian operatic dramatic

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

, particularly associated with the Italian repertory. She was born in

Lecce Lecce (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...

and began singing at an early age. By the age of seventeen, she had begun her studies at the

Accademia di Santa Cecilia The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia () is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, founded by the papal bull ''Ratione congruit'', issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prominent in Western musical history: Greg ...

in Rome with Edwige Chibaudo, and later with Rinolfi and Pedreni. Due to her wide vocal range, she was initially thought to be a soprano. She made her debut in Cagliari as Santuzza in ''

Cavalleria rusticana ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; ) is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 Cavalleria rusticana (short story), short story of the same name and subsequent ...

'' in 1934. Within a year, she joined the

Teatro alla Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was a church). The premiere performance was Antonio Salieri's ''Europa r ...

in Milan as Meg Page in Verdi's ''

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays ''Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

''. Soon she was given the part of Azucena in '' Il trovatore'', which quickly became her signature role and was her debut role at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

in 1947. Other roles there included Santuzza, Ulrica in '' Un ballo in maschera'', Mrs Quickly in ''Falstaff'' — the latter she recorded in 1950, opposite

Giuseppe Valdengo Giuseppe Valdengo (May 24, 1914, Turin – October 3, 2007, Aosta) was an Italian operatic baritone. '' Opera News'' said that, "Although his timbre lacked the innate beauty of some of his baritone contemporaries, Valdengo's performances were ...

— and

Herva Nelli Herva Nelli (January 9, 1909May 31, 1994) was an Italian and American operatic soprano. Biography Named after the French socialist Gustave Hervé, she was born in Florence, where she attended a convent school. At the age of ten, however, she and ...

, with

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...

conducting. She sang Wagnerian roles in Italian, as was the custom during this time period, including Brangaene at La Scala to the Isolde of '' Giuseppina Cobelli,'' and Ortrud. She made a notable recording (singing in Italian) of Brangaene's watch from Act 2. She made recordings (also in Italian) of lieder by Brahms and Strauss. She also recorded discs of duets from ''La Gioconda'', ''Aida'', and ''Adriana Lecouvreur'' with the dramatic soprano Gina Cigna, which reveal both her powerful voice and passionate temperament. She returned to Italy after her tenure at the Metropolitan opera (her career there was not as successful as she had hoped), and she sang at La Scala until 1954 when she abandoned her stage career. By that time, the top notes in her voice had disintegrated. She accepted a teaching position in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, where she remained until her death in 1962.

Sources

* ''The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia'', edited by David Hamilton, (Simon & Schuster, 1987), * Notes from Preiser CD compilation of some of her recordings.
Biography
cantabile-subito.de. Accessed 29 December 2022. {{DEFAULTSORT:Elmo, Cloe Italian operatic contraltos 1910 births 1962 deaths Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni People from Lecce 20th-century Italian women opera singers