Tap Dancing to the Met

With little of the drum-beating that preceded the debuts this season of Anna Moffo, Eileen Farrell and Leontyhe Price, the Metropolitan Opera last week introduced Manhattan audiences to yet another fine American soprano--Hartford-born Gianna D'Angelo. Soprano D'Angelo, 31, made her debut portraying one of the silliest of all operatic heroines, Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto. But she triumphed over the role with such apparent ease that by evening's end she was firmly fixed as one of the Met's most promising sopranos.

Along with a clear, flexible lyric voice, Soprano D'Angelo displayed impeccable pitch, remarkably even control, and all the agility necessary for the coloratura turns and trills of her role. Moreover, with the aid of a face and figure far more appealing than operagoers are accustomed to, she brought rare poignancy and passion to the incredibly motivated role of Gilda (although the Duke has just ditched her for another girl, she sacrifices her life to save his from the hired bandit, Sparafucile). The Met audience, taken by surprise, gave Soprano D'Angelo several ovations, most notably after her ecstatic Act

II Caro nome, in which she ended with a high trill that floated like a feather across the darkened stage.

Born Jane Angelovich of Yugoslavian-descended parents, Soprano D'Angelo made her singing debut when she was three on a radio child-talent show, spent the next several years studying tap dancing and piano. By the time she was 17, she realized that she was a better singer than tap dancer, in 1950 embarked for Italy to study, made her operatic debut (as Gilda) at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome when she was 24. On that occasion she had with her the good-luck charm she had at the Met last week--a toy cat whose beneficent influence has consistently triumphed over audiences, if not over Sparafucile.

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