Existing comment:
Beverly Sills, 1929-2007
"Since the death of Enrico Caruso," Stereo Review enthused in its February 1979 issue, "no singer of any nationality . . . has brought opera more to the consciousness of the general American public than Beverly Sills." At the time, Sills had just announced her appointment as director of the New York City Opera Company, and the magazine was awarding her its annual Certificate of Merit. For Stereo Review's pastel-colored cover, caricaturist Al Hirschfeld focused on the singer's insouciant personality and legendary energy. Hirschfeld could summarize each persona with startling clarity, and his subjects usually loved his celebratory spoofing. His drawings, Arthur Miller noted, share an energetic joy of life: "the sheer tactical vibrance of the lines . . . make you feel that he has found a wit in your miserable features that may yet lend you a style and a dash you were never aware of in yourself."
Al Hirschfeld, 1979 |