Cloë Elmo (1910-1962) was an Italian contralto, admired in opera and concert repertory. She sang at La Scala and other major houses, and became associated with Verdi and Italian dramatic roles.

In the Pristine catalogue she appears in Toscanini’s 1950 Falstaff, part of a cast that preserves one of the conductor’s great late Verdi documents.

Elmo’s voice was dark, firm and characterful, with the contralto weight needed to anchor ensemble writing. In Verdi, such colour gives the musical fabric depth and grain.

Her page is a compact but worthwhile addition. Elmo’s presence in a Toscanini Verdi recording is enough to bring her out of the cast-list shadows.