3199. Swan song © Bruce Goodman 8 May 2025

Rosina Underwood was regarded as one of the greatest opera sopranos of the century. She had filled concert halls and opera houses for over forty years. The time had come to retire. “Retire early,” she would say, “so that your last concert is memorable. Don’t wait until you are a croaking frog.” So her last concert, her farewell concert, was arranged. The Sydney Opera House was packed. She sang aria after aria that had made her famous over the years: Mozart, Strauss, Puccini, Verdi… For an encore she sang a non-operatic number: Vera Lynn’s “We'll meet again, Don't know where, don't know when, But I know we'll meet again some sunny day”. The papers next morning contained reviews of Rosina Underwood’s final performance. Mozart, Strauss, Puccini and Verdi were praised to the skies – not her performance but the compositions and composers themselves. And… what a better way to end a career than to sing the quintessential Vera Lynn. Her final concert was certainly memorable but not in the way anyone had hoped. Contact Author Back to Index Next Story Previous Story