"but Patti was Patti"

Grice loved music -- but NOT Italian opera. I don't either. I like _me_ loving Italian opera.

I was reading the other day, "A Guide to AIDA". A rather superflous reading. As Grice said, "Some operas are for children: Wagner's The Meister Singer, ex gratia." Aida is for ... Verdians. In any case, hardly the depths that Mahler spoke to Grice.

But I found in this booklet on Aida, on recalling the premiere in the Convent Garden:

"Patti's voice was actually a bit
too light for such a dramatic role;
but Patti was Patti, and would have
been received with enthusiasm if she had
appeared in a feather bonnet and
yelled Apache war-chants."

This strikes me as un-informative. "Patti was Patti". And derogatory too. Surely the musical critic can expect her addressee to know that Patti was Patti. So what _is_ the implicature, if any?