Those of us who came of age during the 1970s Golden Age of such radio programs as Singer’s World (Wayne Conner) and The Vocal Scene (George Jellinek) learned to love the many-splendored voice of Spani (1890-1969). A successful 1915 professional debut at La Scala followed early studies in her native Buenos Aires and Milan and led swiftly to a front-rank international career—undeniably dinged by World War I. She nonetheless amassed over 70 roles, including world premieres, the vertiginous Verdi protagoniste that give most sopranos collywobbles (Aïda, Ballo Amelia), and virtually all the jugendliche dramatische Wagner heroines.

She triumphed as Nedda in Pagliacci with Caruso and Titta Ruffo yet confessed after her retirement that she much preferred singing Lieder (which she also recorded extensively). Is it because of that sensibility that her interpretations fuse understatement and volcanic intensity so thrillingly? And if she emerges with this much color through the murk of a 1927 electrical recording, can we imagine what she sounded like in full cry at Scala or the Colón?

Moe Rear concurs:

Hina Spani, the great Argentine soprano, had a career based mostly in Italy and South America. Sadly, she never made it to the Met. She had a full, rich, darkly tinted spinto with a beautiful tonal splendor. She did not leave many recordings, but those she left are wonderful. Her “O patria mia” is movingly sung, with a voice that soars and floats with the best of them.

https://youtu.be/l6ZALryBssE?si=hWBFA1dlIK-I32JA