Mozart: Ah! Chi mi dice mai (from Don Giovanni)

The legendary soprano Jarmila Novotna (b. 1907; d. 1994), long-time soloist of New York´s Metropolitan Opera House, but also a Hollywood film star, ranks among those distinguished individuals whose whole lives have been filled to the brim with work in art. Her beautiful, light, sparkling soprano, coupled with a formidable dramatic talent and a dazzling stage presence were the principal reasons underlying Jarmila Novotna´s dizzyingly steep international career. In 1928 she triumphed as Gilda in Verona´s Arena, and from 1933 - 1939 was engaged as soloist by the Vienna State Opera. Following her American debut at San Francisco came, in 1940, an engagement in the Metropolitan Opera, whose soloist she remained until 1956. After the Second World War she made repeated comeback tours of Europe, singing at Salzburg, Vienna, Paris, and before the 1948 communist coup also at Prague. The current DVD devoted to Jarmila Novotna contains two documentaries on her life and work; a digitally remastered recording of her rendition of folk songs with the piano accompaniment of Jan Masaryk; and a similarly updated collection of her 1940s readings of famous operatic arias. The sound-tracks are illustrated by copious pictorial material from the artist´s archives.