Born in a trunk in Pocatello, Idaho, Mrs. Krazelberg is the illegitmate child of Mawdrew Cgzowchwz and Fyodor Challiapin, who met while performing at the Alaskan Tundra Wagner Festival. The genetic combination and years of study with her mother enabled Mrs. Krazelberg to make her debut as both Queen of the Night and Zarastro in the same performance of the Magic Flute with the Reading Pennsylvania Lite Opera at the age of 12. After two more years of study with all the great maestros of the 1950s, Mrs. Krazelberg developed her own fach, "Oltrano Profondo Assoluta", as demonstrated in her performances as both Fiesco and Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, the Wanderer and Forest Bird in Siegfried, Alberich and Brunnhilde in Gotterdammerung and Barbarina and Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro. Her international debut at the Teatro La Fenice as both Mildred and Vida in Spontini's "Mildred von Pierce" was so enthusiastically received that several thousand of her fans swam the canals pursuing her gondola to the Gritti Palace where they were treated for eye infections and dysentery. Around dawn, Mrs. Krazelberg acknowledged the still shreiking and fainting crowd from her balcony where she performed "O beau pays" from Les Hugenots and "Si la rigeur" from La Juive, accompanied by a rag-tag chamber ensemble enlisted from the hotel staff.
Controversy surrounded her debut at the Hetropolitan opera, which was not eager to present Mrs. Krazelberg without an audition. As a result, she was forced to perform the Ride of the Valkyries, the Salome-Jochanaan duet and the poker scene from La Fanciulla del West - of course, singing all vocal parts - for the entire company assembled in the Dress Circle ladies lounge. When asked if she could perform the orchestral parts as well, Mrs. Krazelberg said, "Of course, if you give me 5 minutes alone in a practice room."
As a result, Mrs. Krazelberg was engaged for a run of Norma's (eight shows a week for 6 weeks) followed by six "Verdi" weeks alternating Violetta and Lady Macbeth. Matinee days consisted of a 3:00pm Macbeth performance followed by a 10:00pm Traviata. When asked how she got through the rigorous matinee days she revealed, "I stayed in my dressing room all day watching re-runs of "Judge Judy" dining on pork tartare and champagne and I was just fine!"
Now retired and with 11 grown children - all born between performances on matinee days - she passes on her technique and traditions to her students at the Erie Canal Junior Choir College.
Mrs. Krazelberg Retires from the Stage
Mrs. Krazelberg's career was tragically cut short at the age of 84 during a dress rehearsal of Cavalleria Rusticana at the Hohenstein Palace Theater. At this point, Mrs. Krazelberg had made a specialty of performing the peasant girl who shrieks "Hanno ammazzato compare Turiddu" during the final bars of the opera. Audiences who normally left the theater in the middle of Turiddu's "Addio alla Mamma" stayed to hear this definitive depiction of the "pazza paesana". Sadly, just as the fatal words left her throat, the ceiling of the theater fell in, killing two cleaning ladies and the lighting designer. "The voice had become too big," explained the mortified diva, who vowed never to sing in a theater again.