Irène Aïtoff, la grande mademoiselle
Dominique Delouche
1998 - 87 min - Couleur - France

Irène Aïtoff is one of the most remarkable singing teachers of this century. Famous orchestral conductors, singers and musicians have turned to her for her minute knowledge of the great works of opera in order to make their own work more profound. She talks about her past and gives young singers a lesson in interpretation which is also a lesson in living.
Irène Aïtoff says she owes her remarkable sense of words and sung text to Yvette Guilbert whose accompanist she was for seven years. [...] At Aix-en-Provence in the 1950s, she was the one who enabled Gabriel Bacquier and Thérésa Berganza to give the Mozart recitatives the bite that we know now. In 1962, Karajan called on her experience for the sixtieth anniversary of the first performance of Debussy’s "Pelléas et Mélisande".
However Irène Aïtoff does not live shut away with her memories. With an unchanging love of music and rigour, she still gives her precious advices. Mario Fanfani.