Laurence Tibbett's Stiletto Slips

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 23, 28 January 1937, Page 7

Laurence Tibbett's Stiletto Slips

Tragedy at Opera Rehearsal CHORAL SINGER DIES IN HOSPITAL United Prees Association— By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. Received Wednesday, 10.30 p.m. NEW YORK, Jan. 27. Five hours after receiving a wound in his left hand when a stiletto slipped from tho grasp of Laurence Tibbett during a dress rehearsal of “Capoft Sacchi” at the State Metropilitan Opera House, Joseph Sterzini, aged 52, a bass choral singer, died in hospital. Physicians agreed that the wound was trivial and scarcely could have caused death. An autopsy will be held to-morrow. Sterzini was admitted to hospital, however, and au operation was necessary due to an artery in the back of the hand being partially severed. It was stated that Sterzini rallied well from the anaesthetic but relapsed despite the administration of oxygen. A heart attack and a cerebral haemorrhage are advanced as the possible causes. Laurence Tibbett was notified just before going ou the stage at the Mosque Theatre, Newark, to sing Germout in “La Traviata.” His associates said he was greatly shaken but went on with the part and the audience were unaware of the great strain under which he was singing. Opera officials said the dagger slipped while Tibbett in the role of Guido Franceschini reached over the shoulder of Sterzini, who was enacting the part of one of the men who seize Guido in the last act struggle. Questioned for nearly an hour by seven detectives Laurence Tibbett said: “We were rehearsing the last act when Guido stabs his father Pietro in the hand. Sterzini. who was playing one of the bandits, got in the way of the dagger while I was pretending to stab the father and the point of the dagger clipped the flesh between his finger and thumb. ‘‘ I stopped singing, took hold of his wrist and told him to go to a doctor. He insisted on finishing the scene but I dragged him off the stage and told the others to apply a tourniquet and get a doctor. It was the most terrible thing that ever happened to me. I had known him for 15 years and he supported me in many operas. ” This version is different from that of tho opera officials who said the dagger slipped in Tibbett's hand. The detectives are attempting to find the property man to recover the weapon which, they said, Bhould have been dulled so that it would have beci' impossible to inflict a wound. The officials in charge of the case ■aid they were certain it was accidental.