Music: Europe's New Divas

For nearly a decade, those two warring soprano queens, Maria Meneghini Callas and Renata Tebaldi, have dominated the world of European (and U.S.) opera, leaving other postwar singers to peep about to find themselves honorable mention. But slowly, and largely unnoticed in the U.S., old Europe has fashioned a new crop of talented women singers. If none yet quite equals Callas, Tebaldi or the retired lioness of Wagnerian opera, Kirsten Flagstad, all have developed personal styles that promise fresh views of the operatic literature. Among the best of the new divas:

¶Dramatic Soprano...