Beautifully sung, from A to Z: the atmosphere of the aria is perfectly depicted by the color Callas uses form the beginning, nostalgic, desperate, sad and almost naive without sounding pathetic (we must remember that Aida will have the courage to kill herself for the man she loves)... the way she "remembers" the verdi valli and profumate rive have a sadness to it, sadness never achieve by other good sopranos. Musically she misses no indication written by Verdi, and she does it with apparently no effort, and these where the days when she was singing Sonnambula on stage! The rubati, the portamenti, the chiaro-scuro, all is there... and the famous and admired C is taken in a long 9 seconds long breath, totally incorporated into the musical phrase that contains it, and by the way, sung in a way that only she could do, she vibrates it up wards, something like Jacqueline du Pré did with her chello.... and then there are the words, and the Callas touch to it all.... No Caballe, no Price, no Tebaldi, no one of these good ladies get even closer to such full and all round best reading and singing of this aria...I am seating here with the score in front.. I invite you all to do that too, and then we shall see.
Inmensurada Diva !! su voz es como una luz que atraviesa una llanura al atardecer, como un rayo de luz en el crepusculo taciturno. Tan suave, tan docil y estremecedora, quizas porque sabemos que será el ultimo, pero ahi esta, en el final del dia brillando y recordando glorias pasadas...
You are so right, and.. I might add that there is so much more for a singer to be this good. Thats why there arent any.. No one paid so much attention to everything as she did, No one before or since. Many make beautiful sounds... but thats it, they are disengaged from the rest.
Her voice sounds amazing here, so effortless and emotional... her vibrato is a beautiful, subtle accent, unlike many opera singers who warble.. a little sharp on the high C, but still, very well done!!
The question of the wobble is open to be discussed: I hear more that the voice gets rather hard as she climes upwards, she hits the C and it sounds hard, and, in order to correct the sound, she does what she always does, VIBRATES THE TONE, and tunes it rather towards the top of the note, which may sound a bit sharp. The way that C is written presents difficulties for good singers, or for wonderful singers, and for Callas in 1955 too: in this period, she sung lots of Cs and Ds and E flats without troubles WITHIN THE BELCANTO REPERTOIRE which, because of the way the scores are written, was where her voice felt at it best;...but Aida is already late Verdi and the writing is further from the romantic belcanto than operas of his first period. In Callas interpretation however, the style is there, better than any other interpretation of this aria, and so are the nuances, the dynamics, the words, the personaggio and the legato, the best legato ever... There are so many versions of this aria, with some wonderful singers, but as always Callas brings MUSIC AND WORDS AND DRAMA together BETTER THAN ANY OTHER SOPRANO.
Callas recorded 3 operas in summer of 1955: Madama Butterfly, Aida, and Rigoletto, and the Von Karajan Lucia followed in September, 1955. Anyone who says I'm wrong is wrong. Consult any Callas archive book.
vergoti: As much as I hate to agree with you, I find that I must, although Callas DID sing a fabulous pair of "Puritani" performances here in Chicago in November, 1955-and the top E flats were there in spades. Whatever the case, she made some terrible vocal decisions, because at such a young age, she should have been singing magnificently. Still, she brought something to opera that no one else did, and she will be remembered long after so many others are forgotten. She was unique and tragic.
This Aida recording was done in August, 1955. The fact that Callas' climatic C wobbles is indicative of her voice. She could sing top D's and E flats during this time, but the top C sometimes developed an unpleasant beat. It was the nature of her voice. Would it only be that we had her like around now! It ain't never gonna happen!
@vergoti20 You must be listening to callas that I have not heard.. She had very firm high notes up and through 1955 1956 her top started to be less reliable but up until then it was very stable.
wow. i just heard and watched on met live in hd anna netrebko as aida. she is a current favorite of mine and does very well, but i think maria is better on this aria. technical precision aside, maria imbues her singing with so much more compelling emotion than other great singers, and this is a good example of that.
ho ascoltato la Price,la qualità audio non era il massimo ma cmq...no, prefersico questa. Senza nulla togliere a quella grande cantante dalla strumento vocale straordinario,come pè stato detto. Però...i "mai più" della Callas hanno una profondità, un timbro irripetibile. E le sue note "sottili" sono in realtà una emozionante scelta interpretativa, per questo "lamento". La Price è potente ma finisce per risultare quasi pesante a tratti. La dizione della Callas poi è perfetta.
gli americani devono imparare da questi cantanti, 'e importante per l'opera parlare e sentire una lingua, in questo caso l'italiano, non si puo fare opera italiana solo facendo belli suoni della voce. Opera 'e musica , 'e teatro 'e capire , sentire , vivere l'idioma che uno interpreta , uno dei casi buoni 'e questa grande artista , brava Maria, dello contrario cantate musica POP che come gli americani non ci sono. Ruben
What you said is inaccurate. The Callas's voice became very unstable from the summer, 1955, but before 1955 there was no instability, the recordings of Gioconda ( 1952 ), and those of 1953: Traviata, Lucia, I Puritani, Cavalleria Rusticana, Norma... are the proof! Until May, 1955 her Eflats was correct, her Eflat in Traviata at La Scala May 28, 1955 is a lightning proof! Indeed from September, 1955 her Eflats enormously wobbly, that it's true and her Lucia in Berlin is an evident proof!
it was adsually made in 1957 while she was recording medea, Turandot, il barbero di sevilla, and Aida if it was made in 1955 the high C would it been out of this earth now im not saying the high C was bad its great..
I agree. Price's interpretation is more emotionally rending IMO. Callas is great here but just not as good as Price. I also like Margaret Tynes in this aria.
![Maria Callas in Nabucco (Highlights) [Napoli, 20/12/1949]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/rkXtkq0MUo4/mqdefault.jpg)
![Maria Callas in Nabucco (Highlights) [Napoli, 20/12/1949]](/img/tr.png)
I forgot how good this aria even was. Thank you, Maria.
Beautifully sung, from A to Z: the atmosphere of the aria is perfectly depicted by the color Callas uses form the beginning, nostalgic, desperate, sad and almost naive without sounding pathetic (we must remember that Aida will have the courage to kill herself for the man she loves)... the way she "remembers" the verdi valli and profumate rive have a sadness to it, sadness never achieve by other good sopranos. Musically she misses no indication written by Verdi, and she does it with apparently no effort, and these where the days when she was singing Sonnambula on stage! The rubati, the portamenti, the chiaro-scuro, all is there... and the famous and admired C is taken in a long 9 seconds long breath, totally incorporated into the musical phrase that contains it, and by the way, sung in a way that only she could do, she vibrates it up wards, something like Jacqueline du Pré did with her chello.... and then there are the words, and the Callas touch to it all.... No Caballe, no Price, no Tebaldi, no one of these good ladies get even closer to such full and all round best reading and singing of this aria...I am seating here with the score in front.. I invite you all to do that too, and then we shall see.
Inmensurada Diva !!
su voz es como una luz que atraviesa una llanura al atardecer, como un rayo de luz en el crepusculo taciturno. Tan suave, tan docil y estremecedora, quizas porque sabemos que será el ultimo, pero ahi esta, en el final del dia brillando y recordando glorias pasadas...
You are so right, and.. I might add that there is so much more for a singer to be this good. Thats why there arent any.. No one paid so much attention to everything as she did, No one before or since. Many make beautiful sounds... but thats it, they are disengaged from the rest.
Alien Voice..Greek Goddess❤ thank you Maria!!
2:14 best aria moment in recorded opera history
Here callas was great yes her top C were always alittle woddy but i cannot put her down for one note overall this Aida was great brava divina....
Божествената Мария Калас! Неповторимата Мария Калас!
Her voice sounds amazing here, so effortless and emotional... her vibrato is a beautiful, subtle accent, unlike many opera singers who warble.. a little sharp on the high C, but still, very well done!!
Her voice is so ridiculously good, every aspect is. I thought I was using some kind of special equipment. hehe...
The question of the wobble is open to be discussed: I hear more that the voice gets rather hard as she climes upwards, she hits the C and it sounds hard, and, in order to correct the sound, she does what she always does, VIBRATES THE TONE, and tunes it rather towards the top of the note, which may sound a bit sharp. The way that C is written presents difficulties for good singers, or for wonderful singers, and for Callas in 1955 too: in this period, she sung lots of Cs and Ds and E flats without troubles WITHIN THE BELCANTO REPERTOIRE which, because of the way the scores are written, was where her voice felt at it best;...but Aida is already late Verdi and the writing is further from the romantic belcanto than operas of his first period. In Callas interpretation however, the style is there, better than any other interpretation of this aria, and so are the nuances, the dynamics, the words, the personaggio and the legato, the best legato ever... There are so many versions of this aria, with some wonderful singers, but as always Callas brings MUSIC AND WORDS AND DRAMA together BETTER THAN ANY OTHER SOPRANO.
Callas recorded 3 operas in summer of 1955: Madama Butterfly, Aida, and Rigoletto, and the Von Karajan Lucia followed in September, 1955. Anyone who says I'm wrong is wrong. Consult any Callas archive book.
@Orfeus80 and given how superhumanly good it is, that says a lot about her.
vergoti: As much as I hate to agree with you, I find that I must, although Callas DID sing a fabulous pair of "Puritani" performances here in Chicago in November, 1955-and the top E flats were there in spades. Whatever the case, she made some terrible vocal decisions, because at such a young age, she should have been singing magnificently. Still, she brought something to opera that no one else did, and she will be remembered long after so many others are forgotten. She was unique and tragic.
This Aida recording was done in August, 1955. The fact that Callas' climatic C wobbles is indicative of her voice. She could sing top D's and E flats during this time, but the top C sometimes developed an unpleasant beat. It was the nature of her voice. Would it only be that we had her like around now! It ain't never gonna happen!
thank you so much...my god...
Soave, la voce di una Dea.
@vergoti20 You must be listening to callas that I have not heard.. She had very firm high notes up and through 1955 1956 her top started to be less reliable but up until then it was very stable.
wow. i just heard and watched on met live in hd anna netrebko as aida. she is a current favorite of mine and does very well, but i think maria is better on this aria. technical precision aside, maria imbues her singing with so much more compelling emotion than other great singers, and this is a good example of that.
ho ascoltato la Price,la qualità audio non era il massimo ma cmq...no, prefersico questa. Senza nulla togliere a quella grande cantante dalla strumento vocale straordinario,come pè stato detto. Però...i "mai più" della Callas hanno una profondità, un timbro irripetibile. E le sue note "sottili" sono in realtà una emozionante scelta interpretativa, per questo "lamento". La Price è potente ma finisce per risultare quasi pesante a tratti. La dizione della Callas poi è perfetta.
gli americani devono imparare da questi cantanti, 'e importante per l'opera parlare e sentire una lingua, in questo caso l'italiano, non si puo fare opera italiana solo facendo belli suoni della voce. Opera 'e musica , 'e teatro 'e capire , sentire , vivere l'idioma che uno interpreta , uno dei casi buoni 'e questa grande artista , brava Maria, dello contrario cantate musica POP che come gli americani non ci sono. Ruben
Aida
What you said is inaccurate. The Callas's voice became very unstable from the summer, 1955, but before 1955 there was no instability, the recordings of Gioconda ( 1952 ), and those of 1953: Traviata, Lucia, I Puritani, Cavalleria Rusticana, Norma... are the proof!
Until May, 1955 her Eflats was correct, her Eflat in Traviata at La Scala May 28, 1955 is a lightning proof! Indeed from September, 1955 her Eflats enormously wobbly, that it's true and her Lucia in Berlin is an evident proof!
it was adsually made in 1957 while she was recording medea, Turandot, il barbero di sevilla, and Aida if it was made in 1955 the high C would it been out of this earth now im not saying the high C was bad its great..
suberb
this was definately later than 1955. i would guess it's from her studio recording in 1957.
price is better though i love callas so much also. can anyone explain why callas was above price is top 20 sopranos ever... ? is that correct?
I agree. Price's interpretation is more emotionally rending IMO. Callas is great here but just not as good as Price. I also like Margaret Tynes in this aria.
this isn't Callas'
best moment...
She wasn't great in late Verdi was she. I can see why there was no comparison with Tebaldi.