Caroline and Thomas Crawford are well-known in local music and theater circles, she a veteran music critic, music historian, and major contributor to UC Berkeley's Regional Oral History Office; he ... her husband, and a regular audience member at symphony, opera, and theater.
Or so it appeared at first.
In fact, this veteran of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Foreign Service, practiced law in San Francisco, and has been painting oil portraits of great singers. And now, Crawford put it all together into Opera Singers of the Twentieth Century, a collection of 50 portraits, accompanied by brief biographical notes.
Selecting the 50 from hundreds of stars was difficult, and Crawford is at his usual low-key, modest self making his caveat:
The world of opera is so rich in international talent that any compilation by a mere enthusiast must necessarily be arbitrary, incomplete, and relfect personal taste and one's experience with live performances and recordings ... Most aficionados would also have a dozen other singers, not portrayed here, in their selection of eminent singers.
Crawford's alphabetic collection runs from Marian Anderson to Fritz Wunderlich, she portrayed as Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, he as Valzacchi in Der Rosenkavalier. Sherrill Milnes appears as Rigoletto, Rosa Ponselle looks regal as Norma, and Leonard Warren embodies the essence of Macbeth.