She sounds positively astounding here. If anything, she's almost TOO powerful and overwhelming. In those days, she could sing anything and everything -------- and did!
Tito Gobbi wrote that he used to stand in the wings to hear her sing this, realizing that it's something that one is lucky to hear even once in a lifetime. Besides the flawless scale work, trills, breakneck speed, and the gigantic high E-flat at the end, two things I find very special is how Callas sings the second verse more forcefully than the first, as if Violetta is trying to convince herself of what she's saying. Second, I find it incredible how she colors each one of those repeated high Cs near the end differently rather than repeating it without any variation. She treats the note as if each time she hits the high C, she's processing a different thought. I tend to think that Callas didn't really analyze how she did all this, but did it all instinctively. It was something that came from deep within her.
Yes, it came from within her because it WAS her. She was not role-playing Violetta for a few hours; Maria Callas was using Violetta (and Verdi) to tell her own story, to express her own "croce e delizia," her own love.
Well everybody knows that when you repeat a sentence or a word back to back or within the same aria the second time it has to be emphasize more for dramatic impact. This is something I’ve even notice great non classical singer do actually. Callas was just a master at that even more than anybody else cause she had more voice than any other human on this earth.
A late response, but worth noting - if you've heard Callas talk during her masterclasses at Julliard, she actually DID think about every single gesture she made with the voice, or at least knew exactly what the motivation was behind each motion. That was a point she hammered home over an over: go back to the text, what is the libretto saying and what is the composer trying to get across in the phrase?
@@martynasmatutis8284 Interestingly, she also said that you should not make any movements unless the movement is followed by your heart and soul. She added something like, "I say heart and soul, because the mind must work, but not too much." From what I have read, all these profound insights came from very simple and basic ideas. Rescigno once asked her why she sang a certain phrase in Bolena as she did, and her simple answer was, "Because she's a queen." Zeffirelli said that when he was working on the famous Tosca in London, he kept trying to explain to her the complex emotional response Tosca had to Scarpia, a mixture of attraction and revulsion, and hating herself for the attraction to this powerful man. He said Callas kept looking at him with a confused stare, and finally said, "Franco, do I love him or not?" And from that simple idea, this phenomenal interpretation came forth.
Fat Callas was a vocal astonishment. This early years in the early 1950's were her finest and some of the greatest singing in history. Unlikely we will ever hear anything like this ever again
@@cairnblair754 She was more statuesque and voluptuous than the type of obese singer we see onstage nowadays. Even at her heaviest, she was not THAT heavy (5 foot 9 inches and 220 pounds). And she often looked extremely beautiful even then. Looking at her photos on this video, she looks more like a healthy full-figured girl, and she looks great.
@@cairnblair754 she was far more beautiful that way. Being slim made her look gorgeous, but it affected her face: what with that nose out of nowhere? She used to have absolutely harmonic face. Not speaking about the voice.
My late mother, rest in peace, would have loved this brave new world where everything of her favorite Diva can just be listened to at the touch of a button, without having to hunt down CD's of it in record shops. She would have loved this.
The greatest Singer of all genres and ages. The Bach of Singing. The Highest. The last golden Age Singer. The only true assoluta soprano. The old Bel Canto training. Stupendous. Sublime. The highest Artistry, vocally and interpretatively.
The ability to physically include complex psychology inside of the voice itself - and then within the right phrases and to alter the timbre of the voice to reveal complex psychology - especially darker and deeper levels of self destruction and imminent, awareness of imminent death (Violetta) - this is the once-in-200-years miracle of this performance.
Each time I have attended to an opera performance at Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, I cannot avoid to imagine that within these walls still resound the E-flats of all these amazing nights when Maria sang there... I've always also loved the comments of Arrigo Cohen Anitua, the radio conductor that was broadcasting live the performance through XEW radio station all that nights...
@@victoriagrapsidou3474 Yes, this is the 1952 Traviata in Mexico. She also sang it the year before in Mexico City. Take a listen. In some ways she was even better in 1951.
Lo que más maravilla es que siempre que se la escucha, se sabe que tiene más voz para dar, así esté cantando en la E6, se sabe que puede haber más notas. la linea de canto es tan potente en todo el registro que realmente es única. cuatro voces en una misma garganta es absolutamente la única. hay cantantes que han tenido mayor extensión, pero no es suficiente la extensión sino también lo que se hace con ello. increiblemente bella.
Spiace per i tabaldiani, che insistono sulla superiorità di Renata in questo ruolo. Sono ingenerosi sia nei confronti della Callas che della stessa Tebaldi. L'agilità e l'estensione vocale che occorrono nel cantare Violetta erano pane per i denti della Callas che, al di là della straordinaria capacità interpretativa, fa brillare tutte le scale e, soprattutto, quegli acuti squillanti e prolungati (la Tebaldi, per capirci, spesso quello finale lo ometteva, anche negli anni d'oro) che danno una frustata alla colonna vertebrale. E che avrebbero mandato in brodo di giuggiole perfino Verdi.
Everyone knows that the first act was a trial for Tebaldi. She knew it herself. But in her prime she sang the last two acts better than anyone, including Callas.
@@ransomcoates546 N'oubliez pas que même à sa meilleure époque ,Tebaldi a toujours eu beaucoup de difficulté à faire les passages d'agilité .En outre elle baissait la tonalité du " sempre Libera" d'un ton entier .
Callas era una artista increíble, concentrada, culta. Supo escuchar cuando el maestro Serafin le dijo” Violetta no muere en el primer acto…”Maria lo entendió a la perfección….divina…
MARIA C ALLAS LA MAS GRA NDE DE AMPLIO REGISTRTO, CON GRANDE COLORATURA AMPLIA, AGUDOKS INTERMINABLES , TODOS LOD RERGISTROS POSIBLES Y UNA GRAN ARTISTA
Despite of course, ancient '50s recording technology, this *has* to be one of La Divina's greatest performances of this seminal definitive work by Verdi, and the showpiece desired by soprani everywhere. Personally I think Di Stefano really really "overblows" both Alfredo's Interruptions, as it were, *and* his own considerable instrument... totally disproportionate to Callas' volume... other than that I can find absolutely nothing wrong and everything right regarding Maria's stunning rendition and its recording here, even compared to 1951 and 1953 recordings! Brava Maria, Brava!
Three puny souls that will never give such beauty. Nor will the sopranos they prefer with their false tongue coloring like the swedish chef in the muppet show. Callas is the HIGHEST IN THE ART, both Technically and Artistically.
@Charlie Charlie oh yeah! It's a miracle she was left with a voice after those early performances! No other voice could endure the Eb6 in Aida, the whole Nabucco, those early Turandots, alternating between Wagner and Bellini IN A WEEK, Medea and Norma sung without a single trick, Armida with a ton of interpolations as if the original score was not difficult enough etc. And they say she lost her voice too early. Lol. She should have lost her voice before 1950. She was a phenomenon.
@Charlie Charlie well, those who say that are morons. %90 of Violettas ignore the written trills in this aria. I am not taking any shit from their miserable fans, really. There has never been a greater technician than Callas.
Correction. This is a successful attempt at vocal suicide. Incredibly exciting, like all the extraordinary things she did at the beginning of her career. But she paid a price. Onassis didn't wreck her voice; she did.
Riccardo Warwick, ma tu guarda che guaio...a 2500 metri di altezza, col caldo umido del Mexico ( con 12 recite sulle spalle di Puritani, Tosca, Rigoletto, Lucia con bis della Pazzia tutte le sere...e aveva debuttato 20 giorni prima l'Armida, non certo Adriana o Boheme)...ma il mi bem non oscilla..e neppure il resto, in voce e in tono..."in tono!"...
She sounds positively astounding here. If anything, she's almost TOO powerful and overwhelming. In those days, she could sing anything and everything -------- and did!
Unbelievable.. This is why we adore this woman so much. she gave so much to her art. never spared anything.. No one sings this like Callas.. NO ONE.
No one sings this aria like her. This is truly legendary.
Tito Gobbi wrote that he used to stand in the wings to hear her sing this, realizing that it's something that one is lucky to hear even once in a lifetime. Besides the flawless scale work, trills, breakneck speed, and the gigantic high E-flat at the end, two things I find very special is how Callas sings the second verse more forcefully than the first, as if Violetta is trying to convince herself of what she's saying. Second, I find it incredible how she colors each one of those repeated high Cs near the end differently rather than repeating it without any variation. She treats the note as if each time she hits the high C, she's processing a different thought. I tend to think that Callas didn't really analyze how she did all this, but did it all instinctively. It was something that came from deep within her.
Yes, it came from within her because it WAS her. She was not role-playing Violetta for a few hours; Maria Callas was using Violetta (and Verdi) to tell her own story, to express her own "croce e delizia," her own love.
Well everybody knows that when you repeat a sentence or a word back to back or within the same aria the second time it has to be emphasize more for dramatic impact. This is something I’ve even notice great non classical singer do actually. Callas was just a master at that even more than anybody else cause she had more voice than any other human on this earth.
A late response, but worth noting - if you've heard Callas talk during her masterclasses at Julliard, she actually DID think about every single gesture she made with the voice, or at least knew exactly what the motivation was behind each motion. That was a point she hammered home over an over: go back to the text, what is the libretto saying and what is the composer trying to get across in the phrase?
@@martynasmatutis8284 Interestingly, she also said that you should not make any movements unless the movement is followed by your heart and soul. She added something like, "I say heart and soul, because the mind must work, but not too much."
From what I have read, all these profound insights came from very simple and basic ideas. Rescigno once asked her why she sang a certain phrase in Bolena as she did, and her simple answer was, "Because she's a queen." Zeffirelli said that when he was working on the famous Tosca in London, he kept trying to explain to her the complex emotional response Tosca had to Scarpia, a mixture of attraction and revulsion, and hating herself for the attraction to this powerful man. He said Callas kept looking at him with a confused stare, and finally said, "Franco, do I love him or not?" And from that simple idea, this phenomenal interpretation came forth.
Fat Callas was a vocal astonishment. This early years in the early 1950's were her finest and some of the greatest singing in history. Unlikely we will ever hear anything like this ever again
Do not undermine her great singing by disparaging her appearance
@@cairnblair754 She was more statuesque and voluptuous than the type of obese singer we see onstage nowadays. Even at her heaviest, she was not THAT heavy (5 foot 9 inches and 220 pounds). And she often looked extremely beautiful even then. Looking at her photos on this video, she looks more like a healthy full-figured girl, and she looks great.
@@Shahrdad ikr, she looked gorgeous back then, she was always a stunningly beautiful woman
@@cairnblair754 she was far more beautiful that way. Being slim made her look gorgeous, but it affected her face: what with that nose out of nowhere? She used to have absolutely harmonic face. Not speaking about the voice.
She was indeed a marvel. Get goosebumps all over my body. Incredible.
This an impossible feat! Incredible. One can hear every note clearly and fully sung. Absolutely a once in life experience.
Though we shouldn't overlook the fact that she was just as good in 1951 in Mexico.
I love the fullness of her voice.
My late mother, rest in peace, would have loved this brave new world where everything of her favorite Diva can just be listened to at the touch of a button, without having to hunt down CD's of it in record shops. She would have loved this.
She's on heaven attending Callas concerts every morning :)
@@luanllluan Absolutely, thank you!
Callas is colossal, no doubt. But can we just spend a few moments to appreciate her equally great Alfredo, the legendary Giuseppe di Stefano.
The greatest Singer of all genres and ages. The Bach of Singing. The Highest. The last golden Age Singer. The only true assoluta soprano. The old Bel Canto training. Stupendous. Sublime. The highest Artistry, vocally and interpretatively.
The ability to physically include complex psychology inside of the voice itself - and then within the right phrases and to alter the timbre of the voice to reveal complex psychology - especially darker and deeper levels of self destruction and imminent, awareness of imminent death (Violetta) - this is the once-in-200-years miracle of this performance.
Callas and Di Stefano at their peak! Fantastic!
Each time I have attended to an opera performance at Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, I cannot avoid to imagine that within these walls still resound the E-flats of all these amazing nights when Maria sang there... I've always also loved the comments of Arrigo Cohen Anitua, the radio conductor that was broadcasting live the performance through XEW radio station all that nights...
How very fortunate we are to have a recording of this--and of the "Traviata" the year before in Mexico City!
But this is the Mexico Traviata!!
@@victoriagrapsidou3474 Yes, this is the 1952 Traviata in Mexico. She also sang it the year before in Mexico City. Take a listen. In some ways she was even better in 1951.
@@jamesnickoloff6692 her sempre libera in mexico in 1951 is unparalleled but this is the second best ever (by anyone)
@@gr__msk Yes, she was in absolute control at this point.
@@gr__msk I can't find your invitation to join the Callas group, but yes, put me on the list.
I would give anything to be able to watch her sing this...
Lo que más maravilla es que siempre que se la escucha, se sabe que tiene más voz para dar, así esté cantando en la E6, se sabe que puede haber más notas. la linea de canto es tan potente en todo el registro que realmente es única. cuatro voces en una misma garganta es absolutamente la única. hay cantantes que han tenido mayor extensión, pero no es suficiente la extensión sino también lo que se hace con ello. increiblemente bella.
Maria,the one and only
One night at the opéra in paradise city. ...la traviata with la callas singing and toscanini conducting
This is pure magic! a real feast for the ears, incredible! thank you sooo much for haring it!!!
Spiace per i tabaldiani, che insistono sulla superiorità di Renata in questo ruolo. Sono ingenerosi sia nei confronti della Callas che della stessa Tebaldi. L'agilità e l'estensione vocale che occorrono nel cantare Violetta erano pane per i denti della Callas che, al di là della straordinaria capacità interpretativa, fa brillare tutte le scale e, soprattutto, quegli acuti squillanti e prolungati (la Tebaldi, per capirci, spesso quello finale lo ometteva, anche negli anni d'oro) che danno una frustata alla colonna vertebrale. E che avrebbero mandato in brodo di giuggiole perfino Verdi.
Eric Sathie, grandi parole.
Everyone knows that the first act was a trial for Tebaldi. She knew it herself. But in her prime she sang the last two acts better than anyone, including Callas.
Assolutamente d'accordo.
Questo secondo me è il miglior sempre libera, che Maria Divina Callas abbia mai fatto e cantato
@@ransomcoates546 , cantato forse ma non interpretato...ma come Maria canta Violetta e' superiore a chiunque.
@@ransomcoates546 N'oubliez pas que même à sa meilleure époque ,Tebaldi a toujours eu beaucoup de difficulté à faire les passages d'agilité .En outre elle baissait la tonalité du " sempre Libera" d'un ton entier .
What a Christmas treat! La Divina in full bloom! A million thanks!!!
Magnífica! Maravillosa! Única! Que privilegio tuvieron al verla y escucharla.
Callas era una artista increíble, concentrada, culta. Supo escuchar cuando el maestro Serafin le dijo” Violetta no muere en el primer acto…”Maria lo entendió a la perfección….divina…
Meravigliosa-Brava La Divina for ever-Thank you dear John-Kind wishes from Germany -Michael
Wow. Just wow.
Nessuna è riuscita come lei ...FANTASTICA
Magia pura!
Simplemente Magistral
Cosa si può aggiungere più di quello che è stato detto mi fa specie come i tebaldiani possono ancora dire qualcosa al riguardo. magnifica e basta .
4:02 that was FAST!! :O
MARIA C ALLAS LA MAS GRA NDE DE AMPLIO REGISTRTO, CON GRANDE COLORATURA
AMPLIA, AGUDOKS INTERMINABLES , TODOS LOD RERGISTROS POSIBLES Y UNA GRAN ARTISTA
Bei dieser Auführung wäre ich gerne dabei gewesen.Sie muss einzigartig gewesen sein...
Guau! Esto es descomunal!
Despite of course, ancient '50s recording technology, this *has* to be one of La Divina's greatest performances of this seminal definitive work by Verdi, and the showpiece desired by soprani everywhere. Personally I think Di Stefano really really "overblows" both Alfredo's Interruptions, as it were, *and* his own considerable instrument... totally disproportionate to Callas' volume... other than that I can find absolutely nothing wrong and everything right regarding Maria's stunning rendition and its recording here, even compared to 1951 and 1953 recordings! Brava Maria, Brava!
È sempre un'emozione
La mejor Violetta de la historia
Que bruto, que performance!
I think Callas’ high notes here are freer and more open than Sutherland’s, at least on her 1970 recording with Pavarotti. Anyone agree?
Three puny souls that will never give such beauty. Nor will the sopranos they prefer with their false tongue coloring like the swedish chef in the muppet show. Callas is the HIGHEST IN THE ART, both Technically and Artistically.
False tongue coloring? Can you expound on what you mean by that?
Pretty much the standard.
I call Callas the hochcoloraturWagneriandrammatichersopran
Ma quale dio greco dell'Olimpo le poteva infondere la grinta e la tecnica per poter cantare così????
Y si, tecnicamente fue diva.
Amazing! This not singing, this is a failed attempt of vocal suicide! :)
No dear. This is genocide ;) she annihilated every other Violetta that night.
@Charlie Charlie oh yeah! It's a miracle she was left with a voice after those early performances! No other voice could endure the Eb6 in Aida, the whole Nabucco, those early Turandots, alternating between Wagner and Bellini IN A WEEK, Medea and Norma sung without a single trick, Armida with a ton of interpolations as if the original score was not difficult enough etc. And they say she lost her voice too early. Lol. She should have lost her voice before 1950. She was a phenomenon.
@@alioffe4321 and any other Violetta to come!
@Charlie Charlie well, those who say that are morons. %90 of Violettas ignore the written trills in this aria. I am not taking any shit from their miserable fans, really. There has never been a greater technician than Callas.
Correction. This is a successful attempt at vocal suicide. Incredibly exciting, like all the extraordinary things she did at the beginning of her career. But she paid a price. Onassis didn't wreck her voice; she did.
Che peccato! Bel mi bemolle, ma il do tenuto oscilla... e molto.
Riccardo Warwick, ma tu guarda che guaio...a 2500 metri di altezza, col caldo umido del Mexico ( con 12 recite sulle spalle di Puritani, Tosca, Rigoletto, Lucia con bis della Pazzia tutte le sere...e aveva debuttato 20 giorni prima l'Armida, non certo Adriana o Boheme)...ma il mi bem non oscilla..e neppure il resto, in voce e in tono..."in tono!"...
Ma quale oscillazione.
Con la sua voce arriva dove vuole, l'estensione ci fa volare sulle notte.
Perfetta
@@davidelucia2048, era perfetta...e "in tono!!
@@fabriziogarzi9396 Violetta come la voleva Verdi
@@davidelucia2048, ben detto, la Callas ha eseguito "tutto cio' che era scritto in partitura" e servito su un piatto d'oro tutti i musicisti. Ciao.
Wow no me canso de escucharte reyna❤