ABSTRACT
Chapter 7 examines the career of Teresa Stolz and the choice she made in preserving that career. While engaged to the emotionally impulsive conductor, Angelo Mariani, an obsequious friend to Verdi and his wife, Stolz became involved in Verdi’s operas. As Mariani’s professional reputation grew and Verdi came to appreciate Stolz’s vocal and personal qualities, rivalry developed, ostensibly over the performance of a Requiem for Rossini, but with the subtext of controlling Stolz’s career and loyalty. Influenced by the Verdis to reject the married retirement demanded by Mariani, the independent Stolz became Milan’s first Aida and Strepponi’s ambiguously reconciled friend.
