Ljuba Welitsch

While her career was relatively short, Welitsch was a legend in her own time, with a strikingly beautiful stage presence (and a figure she was never hesitant to show off to its best advantage onstage) and a powerfully-focused, though not huge, voice. For many, her Salome has never been vocally or dramatically surpassed. She studied in Sofia under Gyorgy Zlatov, and made her debut as one of the seamstresses in Charpentier's Louis at the Sofia Opera in 1934. Her first lead role was as Nedda in Pagliacci in 1936 at the Graz Opera. In 1937, she became part of the Graz opera compa...