Cloe (or Cloë) Elmo (April 9, 1910 – May 24, 1962) was an Italian operatic dramatic mezzo-soprano, particularly associated with the Italian repertory. She was born in Lecce and began singing at an early age. By the age of seventeen, she had begun her studies at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia 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'' (; Italian for "rustic chivalry") is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 short story of the same name and subsequent play ...

'' in 1934. Within a year, she joined the Teatro alla Scala 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 ''Il trovatore'' ('The Troubadour') is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''El trovador'' (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was García Gutiérrez's mos ...

'', which quickly became her signature role and was her debut role at the

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

in 1947. Other roles there included Santuzza, Ulrica in ''

Un ballo in maschera ''Un ballo in maschera'' ''(A Masked Ball)'' is an 1859 opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The text, by Antonio Somma, was based on Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's 1833 five act opera, '' Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué''. Th ...

'', 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 i ...

— and

Herva Nelli Herva Nelli (January 9, 1909May 31, 1994) was an Italian-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 her ...

, with Arturo Toscanini 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 Giuseppina Cobelli (1 August 1898 - 10 August 1948) was an Italian operatic dramatic soprano. She was born in Maderno on Lake Garda on 1 August 1898 and studied in Bologna and Hamburg. Her debut was as La Gioconda in Piacenza in 1924. She pe ...

,'' 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 ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

, 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 contraltos Operatic contraltos 1910 births 1962 deaths Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni People from Lecce 20th-century Italian women opera singers