It's amazing how big she manages to sound even though she's singing coloratura and extreme high notes. It's not a case of her vocals "piercing" through the sound as is often the case nowadays, she actually COVERED it. What a gorgeous voice and technique!
Well, nowadays women don't pierce the sound anymore! They are dull and have zero resonance. When singing with a big orchestra that doesn't play piano, they are not heard anymore. Tragic that real opera has died-
I found this cd at Half Priced Books after years of searching and had never listened to the opera fully until I found hers on record and was so amazed I never left the parking lot when I popped it in! The power of such a young voice,astounding and I can’t believe she pulled this off 😂this and her Abigale from Nabucco is just.. legato 5:19
Callas é única. Precisão, agilidade, uma paixão imensa, uma voz extraordinária e o encarnar a personagem fazem dela a maior cantora de ópera dos séculos XX e XXI e de todo o sempre! Divina!🌟
Passa o tempo e Callas sempre continua no panteão das vozes extraordinárias. Suas coloraturas eram executadas com perfeição além do 3xyrsorfinario alcance de sua voz. Aliado a uma interpretação, vivência psicológica da personagem, respeito ao estilo, da musicalidade. Callas é absoluta no século XX e nos demais. Sua arte viverá para Sempre!💎⭐
Thank you Lohengrin for giving us an idea of how that sharpy high E might have sounded in the house! By the way old people in Florence told me that the acoustics of the Teatro Comunale were quite spectacular due to its glass ceiling, which was dismantled and replaced with wood and concrete in 1967. Now there's nothing left of the theatre: they brought it down a few months ago in order to build a luxury residence. I can't pass by that spot anymore: it's just too painful. Greetings from Florence and thank you for your wonderful channel (and Viva la Divina sempre!)
Best acoustics ever... Callas' Florence Medea is her best not only because she was still fat then but also because of the Miraculous acoustics of the theatre... this is the first time I read about the theatre having Glass Ceiling... it explains a lot... from when people truly loved what they were doing
Her biggest advantage is that the audience will understand what she is singing, and every note is sung accurately instead of just slipping by. When I listen to her singing, I know how the melody of the song develops, which is often difficult for other sopranos....
Wich is why I prefer Callas over other sopranos even on the parts when the voice itself is not the most beautiful. He top notes could sound better for example.
...and lady M!!!!!!!!! The RECITATIVI omg!! no low notes, no high notes but those recitativi remain and will always remain among her top virtuoso achievements
Callas Armida and Abigaille are the greatest vocal deeds of the XXth century and represent the rebirth of the lost voice and of the lost singing of the Golden Italian Ottocento: a contraltone drammatico d'agilità with super high notes in a vocal range of three octaves and able to deal easily with the most intrincate fioriture and yet - the most difficult - able to make art and music out of them.
that is why Renata Tebaldi, who was literally living in La Scala since 1949, left for Metropolitan opera as soon as Callas has appeared and came back at 1962 when Callas got voice problems...
@@Francesco12345671 not in any studio of that time would she have UNLEASHED her full volume and sound like this here... it would have been unrecordable... thank God the mic was afar in this recording and we can hear that she literally drowns both the orchestra and the tenors here
@@mtrmann the ONLY recordings I like... there is nothing more deceiving than a mic in front of the singer... in my recent posts of Horne she sounds vocally HUGE... go listen to her bootleg recordings, she is barely audible... mics create Legends in opera
@@LohengrinO She was not voice less! That’s my opinion! She was not the Callas at her 30s! But not for sure Voiceless! I have posted also Callas in her prime! The 1973-1974 concerts are not well known and many want to hear them!
For years now I've considered this,especially the variations sequence, the greatest piece of dramatic coloratura ever sung and it thrills me every time I hear it. And eight years later there was so little left. What a tragedy. John Loveridge.
Because she left it all "on the floor." "Balls to the wall." But she had to have the pipes to begin with. If "Western Civilization' means anything, it is the tiny toe-hold on technology that captured and preserves the unique, priceless phenomenon of Callas.
Haven't a clue what Ms Wilson means! " Balls on floors!" I was merely remarking on the obvious to Callas lovers that something soon went terribly wrong after the glorious fearless years up to about 1952. She remained great and there was still much to come but, by Poliuto, only a shadow remained. John Loveridge
@@XPRT10R thank you for the clarification and I utterly agree with it. It is the utter sense of fearlessness while tackling almost impossible coloratura demands with dramatic soprano attack. John Loveridge
Armida non era eseguita da 80 anni quando entrò in cartellone a Firenze. E Maria ebbe 4 giorni per studiarla! Eppure con la voce di cristallo che aveva riuscì a rendere la maga in modo così sublime da sembrare davvero sovrumana in certi momenti
What a fabulous remastering! Thank you for this. Interesting others have mentioned Abigaille in this post, in my mind, I've always grouped Abigaille and Armida together. I think it's because in both cases, their composer's wrote them with complete disregard for the natural limitations of the human voice. The result - the most thrilling music in the world, which can ONLY be sung by SUPER-human voices. I wonder why Maria only sang it the once?
because those roles were impossible vocally, both of them and Lady M as well... when Montsy asked her if she should sing Abigaille Callas replied: leave that role... Impossible if you want to sing the role as written because if you sing it as you can and with mics all over the stage amplifying your sound ... in my recent posts of Horne she sounds HUUUUGE vocally, the woman was barely audible in real performances... mics create Legends in opera
I disagree with you about Horne. There’s a live recording or her and Souliotis in Anna Bolena from the “new” Met - which I sit in many times each season and know the sound WELL - which was clearly recorded from the balcony level and Horne’s voice is resonant, full, and fantastic on it. It’s a bigger voice than Souliotis in some of the exchanges. It’s no easy feat to fill that house.
Many live recordings she holds her own against Sutherland... At least in certain phrases. I don't think she was a huge voice, and I've never heard her live, but it seems she was at LEAST capable of projecting her voice over a moderately sized orchestra. For me, the biggest issue for Horne is I don't care for her tone quality, particularly higher up.
I've heard that anecdote about Monday before. I believe Maria's words were along the lines of "your voice is baccarat crystal - sing Abigaille and it will shatter into a million pieces." I wonder what Maria would have thought if she had know Montsy would go on to sing (well, attempt anyways,) Medea...
Wow wow wow I love this colorized picture!! I hope they include this and her Abigale in that upcoming Angelina Jolie movie ;)) Love your videos as always Mr. Lohengrin ;)
As a frequenter of La Scala, I can say that among modern female singers Emily D'Angelo (a rising star of Italian origin from Canada) is likewise. She also has a noble timbre (although different from Callas), takes the highest notes, and the power of her voice is such that the walls tremble. Not Callas yet, but rapidly progressing. Every year she is getting better and better. Now she is completey different than some 3 years ago.
Cerquetti said she saw Callas in Armida and thought she was fantastic. I'll copy the whole quote (from an interview with GBOPERA in 1975) because it's interesting, where she speaks about Norma and other operas with Callas, and this is what she had to say; "L’ho sentita in Armida: fantastica; in Medea era il non plus ultra, ma in Norma non mi piaceva. Come personaggio era sempre brava, ma non mi piacevano i recitativi: nessuno. Non mi piaceva la Casta diva, mi piaceva di più quando faceva 'In mia mano alfin tu sei.' Non mi piaceva in 'Sediziose voci', mentre trovavo a lei più congeniale 'Ah, bello a me ritorna.' Mi piaceva in Lucia: l’andai a sentire con Lauri Volpi. Ecco lì era lei."
well kinda stupid of her not tolike her Norma... low IQ... and you sense her low IQ in her disaster of Vespri Elena... if u cannot sing the notes of a role then dont attempt it at all... interpretation wont save the lack of tonality
The colours are faithful to the original sketches by Alberto Savinio. Armida in Florence 1952 wasn't only one of the most staggering performances by Callas, but a magnificent show overall (for instance the ballets were directed by Léonide Massine). Incidentally Callas, who was in very good terms with Savinio (they chatted in Greek as he was born in Piraeus), refused to wear the wig he had drawn for her. So the wig-maker Filistrucchi had to figure out in a matter of hours the Jean-Harlowesque model we see on the pictures. I find it quite appropriate for the role as it matches Callas' voluptuous make-up (and interpretation) very well.
@@lukasmiller486 Sure, but Armida had to be blonde, and she couldn't dye her hair for just three performances. She actually bleached her hair in 1954 when she slimmed down, but she came back to her natural colour quite hastily.
Yes I loved Jolie and loved the news... Jolie would be my personal choice if I made a movie for Callas... she is the only current actress in Hollywood with old Hollywood glamour and beauty... all the rest are next-door-blow-job girls without the least acting skill and on top of all that they are trying to give Gaga an acting oscar because she helped Biden get ellected and the girl is an acting disaster... very sad spectacle today's Hollywood
@@LohengrinO 🤭🤗🤣 Nothing like someone sitting on the fence!!😆 DO keep entertaining with such matter-of-fact caustic witchiness - everyone's so goddamned nice these days and to occasionally hear it said like it is makes me feel less alone!!!😏
She called what others sang, "skimming." She was right. It's as if the rule was, "just get the first and last notes right--you can do whatever you want with what comes between." As I think she pointed out, you would never for an instant tolerate in an instrumentalist, what was constantly tolerated in singers.
It's amazing how big she manages to sound even though she's singing coloratura and extreme high notes. It's not a case of her vocals "piercing" through the sound as is often the case nowadays, she actually COVERED it. What a gorgeous voice and technique!
Well, nowadays women don't pierce the sound anymore! They are dull and have zero resonance. When singing with a big orchestra that doesn't play piano, they are not heard anymore. Tragic that real opera has died-
I found this cd at Half Priced Books after years of searching and had never listened to the opera fully until I found hers on record and was so amazed I never left the parking lot when I popped it in! The power of such a young voice,astounding and I can’t believe she pulled this off 😂this and her Abigale from Nabucco is just.. legato 5:19
M Ai più sentito un Armida a questi livelli ,lei soprano assoluto. Divina
Her peers described her as a ‘meteor’ passing us through the heavens. A wonder indeed.👏🏻🙏🏻👏🏻
Unsurpassed. No one will ever sing this incredibly difficult music as she did. Callas forever.
Callas é única. Precisão, agilidade, uma paixão imensa, uma voz extraordinária e o encarnar a personagem fazem dela a maior cantora de ópera dos séculos XX e XXI e de todo o sempre! Divina!🌟
Passa o tempo e Callas sempre continua no panteão das vozes extraordinárias. Suas coloraturas eram executadas com perfeição além do 3xyrsorfinario alcance de sua voz. Aliado a uma interpretação, vivência psicológica da personagem, respeito ao estilo, da musicalidade. Callas é absoluta no século XX e nos demais. Sua arte viverá para Sempre!💎⭐
Thank you Lohengrin for giving us an idea of how that sharpy high E might have sounded in the house! By the way old people in Florence told me that the acoustics of the Teatro Comunale were quite spectacular due to its glass ceiling, which was dismantled and replaced with wood and concrete in 1967. Now there's nothing left of the theatre: they brought it down a few months ago in order to build a luxury residence. I can't pass by that spot anymore: it's just too painful.
Greetings from Florence and thank you for your wonderful channel (and Viva la Divina sempre!)
Best acoustics ever... Callas' Florence Medea is her best not only because she was still fat then but also because of the Miraculous acoustics of the theatre... this is the first time I read about the theatre having Glass Ceiling... it explains a lot... from when people truly loved what they were doing
Her biggest advantage is that the audience will understand what she is singing, and every note is sung accurately instead of just slipping by.
When I listen to her singing, I know how the melody of the song develops, which is often difficult for other sopranos....
many of them were just singing whatever... variations of the score, not the score...
Ειναι ολοσωστη η παρατηρηση σας.
Wich is why I prefer Callas over other sopranos even on the parts when the voice itself is not the most beautiful. He top notes could sound better for example.
Wie istes möglich, dass so ein herrlicher Gesang von Werbung unterbrochen werden kann. Das ist skandalös
spectacular..................thanks that it was recorded..............there will only be one CALLAS
A miracle to the ages!! Unsurpassed performance!!
Totáál pakket!! Niemand had ZO'N totaal pakket!!
Incredibly superhuman, thanks LA Divina ❤️❤️🌹💐
Well done, Caro Lohengrin. La Divina in full command of her immense powers.
Armida and Abigaille are pinnacle of what the human voice can do.
...and lady M!!!!!!!!! The RECITATIVI omg!! no low notes, no high notes but those recitativi remain and will always remain among her top virtuoso achievements
Callas Armida and Abigaille are the greatest vocal deeds of the XXth century and represent the rebirth of the lost voice and of the lost singing of the Golden Italian Ottocento: a contraltone drammatico d'agilità with super high notes in a vocal range of three octaves and able to deal easily with the most intrincate fioriture and yet - the most difficult - able to make art and music out of them.
that is why Renata Tebaldi, who was literally living in La Scala since 1949, left for Metropolitan opera as soon as Callas has appeared and came back at 1962 when Callas got voice problems...
If only she had recorded it :'( superhuman as usual
@@PanayiotisVyras I meant in a studio (or simply with better quality)
@@Francesco12345671 not in any studio of that time would she have UNLEASHED her full volume and sound like this here... it would have been unrecordable... thank God the mic was afar in this recording and we can hear that she literally drowns both the orchestra and the tenors here
@@LohengrinO _ One of the reasons we love to listen to those live recordings miked from the audience. Thank you again.
@@mtrmann the ONLY recordings I like... there is nothing more deceiving than a mic in front of the singer... in my recent posts of Horne she sounds vocally HUGE... go listen to her bootleg recordings, she is barely audible... mics create Legends in opera
@@LohengrinO what about Bartoli? In a 200 seat theatre she sounds like a mosquito
This is pure virtuosism!
diva assoluta
thank you for these treasures
Absoluta!
Amazing performance ❤
Brava!
I just almost complete a new Callas tribute to Armida! ❤You are in my mind!!!
I will never understand though why u post Callas' voiceless years... only her enemies do that
@@LohengrinO She was not voice less! That’s my opinion! She was not the Callas at her 30s! But not for sure Voiceless! I have posted also Callas in her prime! The 1973-1974 concerts are not well known and many want to hear them!
For years now I've considered this,especially the variations sequence, the greatest piece of dramatic coloratura ever sung and it thrills me every time I hear it. And eight years later there was so little left. What a tragedy. John Loveridge.
Because she left it all "on the floor." "Balls to the wall." But she had to have the pipes to begin with. If "Western Civilization' means anything, it is the tiny toe-hold on technology that captured and preserves the unique, priceless phenomenon of Callas.
Haven't a clue what Ms Wilson means! " Balls on floors!" I was merely remarking on the obvious to Callas lovers that something soon went terribly wrong after the glorious fearless years up to about 1952. She remained great and there was still much to come but, by Poliuto, only a shadow remained. John Loveridge
@@johnloveridge5682 the expression is "balls to the wall" ( not on the floor" and it means "full out", with complete abandon and without any reserve.
@@XPRT10R thank you for the clarification and I utterly agree with it. It is the utter sense of fearlessness while tackling almost impossible coloratura demands with dramatic soprano attack. John Loveridge
@@XPRT10R Thanks Lupo for stepping in. I guess every language has its slang that can be mystifying. I even put it in quotes!
perfection thank you, Eternal Callas!!!!
Wow.
Amazing!!
Callas la Divina per siempre.
Coloratura fireworks--now we know why the opera is seldom performed.
with Heroic weight... not alla Luciana Serra...
@@LohengrinO Luciana Serra is amazing!
Armida non era eseguita da 80 anni quando entrò in cartellone a Firenze. E Maria ebbe 4 giorni per studiarla! Eppure con la voce di cristallo che aveva riuscì a rendere la maga in modo così sublime da sembrare davvero sovrumana in certi momenti
Just, thanks for this amazing post.
What a fabulous remastering! Thank you for this. Interesting others have mentioned Abigaille in this post, in my mind, I've always grouped Abigaille and Armida together. I think it's because in both cases, their composer's wrote them with complete disregard for the natural limitations of the human voice. The result - the most thrilling music in the world, which can ONLY be sung by SUPER-human voices. I wonder why Maria only sang it the once?
because those roles were impossible vocally, both of them and Lady M as well... when Montsy asked her if she should sing Abigaille Callas replied: leave that role... Impossible if you want to sing the role as written because if you sing it as you can and with mics all over the stage amplifying your sound ... in my recent posts of Horne she sounds HUUUUGE vocally, the woman was barely audible in real performances... mics create Legends in opera
I disagree with you about Horne. There’s a live recording or her and Souliotis in Anna Bolena from the “new” Met - which I sit in many times each season and know the sound WELL - which was clearly recorded from the balcony level and Horne’s voice is resonant, full, and fantastic on it. It’s a bigger voice than Souliotis in some of the exchanges. It’s no easy feat to fill that house.
@@vxhorusxv sure no mics involved?
Many live recordings she holds her own against Sutherland... At least in certain phrases. I don't think she was a huge voice, and I've never heard her live, but it seems she was at LEAST capable of projecting her voice over a moderately sized orchestra. For me, the biggest issue for Horne is I don't care for her tone quality, particularly higher up.
I've heard that anecdote about Monday before. I believe Maria's words were along the lines of "your voice is baccarat crystal - sing Abigaille and it will shatter into a million pieces." I wonder what Maria would have thought if she had know Montsy would go on to sing (well, attempt anyways,) Medea...
Όντως αξεπέραστη!
Δεν υπάρχει περίπτωση να ξανακούσουμε τέτοιο θαύμα από κανέναν / καμμία...
Callas!!!!!!!! Μοναδική και ανεπανάληπτη.....πραγματικα "θεϊκή"
Συμφωνώ απολύτως!
Armida di Rossini ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Wow wow wow I love this colorized picture!! I hope they include this and her Abigale in that upcoming Angelina Jolie movie ;)) Love your videos as always Mr. Lohengrin ;)
I love the fact they keep choosing ULTRA gorgeous women to represent Maria Callas from Jane Seymour and Fanny Ardant to Angelina Jolie ...
@@LohengrinO yes and wasn’t is also going to be Meryl Streep? I love Angelina and I have a feeling Callas would be happy with that
@@ryan.engstrom me too..
the movie is going to be about her last days in Paris, it won't be a biographical movie about her whole life
So it is gonna be: Omg I lost Onassis, omg I lost my voice what do I do I ll comitt suicide? dont think it will that simple, there will be Memories...
Богиня с небес....
Pazzesca 😱♥️
I feel that I have heard this before but I cannot quite place it. Is it Rossini's Armida? Thank you for the video.
@@Yotam1703 ...and not with the same remastering
Not sure which to pick for a Callas stand alone but for sure her 1952 was a meteor shower! Only thing that didn’t suit her was the blonde hair 😅
NON HUMAN SINGING
As a frequenter of La Scala, I can say that among modern female singers Emily D'Angelo (a rising star of Italian origin from Canada) is likewise.
She also has a noble timbre (although different from Callas), takes the highest notes, and the power of her voice is such that the walls tremble.
Not Callas yet, but rapidly progressing. Every year she is getting better and better. Now she is completey different than some 3 years ago.
on to her!...
Cerquetti said she saw Callas in Armida and thought she was fantastic. I'll copy the whole quote (from an interview with GBOPERA in 1975) because it's interesting, where she speaks about Norma and other operas with Callas, and this is what she had to say;
"L’ho sentita in Armida: fantastica; in Medea era il non plus ultra, ma in Norma non mi piaceva. Come personaggio era sempre brava, ma non mi piacevano i recitativi: nessuno. Non mi piaceva la Casta diva, mi piaceva di più quando faceva 'In mia mano alfin tu sei.' Non mi piaceva in 'Sediziose voci', mentre trovavo a lei più congeniale 'Ah, bello a me ritorna.' Mi piaceva in Lucia: l’andai a sentire con Lauri Volpi. Ecco lì era lei."
well kinda stupid of her not tolike her Norma... low IQ... and you sense her low IQ in her disaster of Vespri Elena... if u cannot sing the notes of a role then dont attempt it at all... interpretation wont save the lack of tonality
❤❤❤❤❤❤😂❤❤
So that’s what the Armida costume looked like in color? Is this a colorized version or was it taken in color?
The colours are faithful to the original sketches by Alberto Savinio. Armida in Florence 1952 wasn't only one of the most staggering performances by Callas, but a magnificent show overall (for instance the ballets were directed by Léonide Massine). Incidentally Callas, who was in very good terms with Savinio (they chatted in Greek as he was born in Piraeus), refused to wear the wig he had drawn for her. So the wig-maker Filistrucchi had to figure out in a matter of hours the Jean-Harlowesque model we see on the pictures. I find it quite appropriate for the role as it matches Callas' voluptuous make-up (and interpretation) very well.
@@83Tropez she had terrific hair. She didn’t need a wig anyways.
@@lukasmiller486 Sure, but Armida had to be blonde, and she couldn't dye her hair for just three performances. She actually bleached her hair in 1954 when she slimmed down, but she came back to her natural colour quite hastily.
¿Puedo ser malvado? Me gustaría ver a Renata Tebaldi intentando algo de esto...
Angelina Jolie is cast to play Callas in Pablo Lerraín’s next biopic.
Yes I loved Jolie and loved the news... Jolie would be my personal choice if I made a movie for Callas... she is the only current actress in Hollywood with old Hollywood glamour and beauty... all the rest are next-door-blow-job girls without the least acting skill and on top of all that they are trying to give Gaga an acting oscar because she helped Biden get ellected and the girl is an acting disaster... very sad spectacle today's Hollywood
@@LohengrinO "... Blow job girls"? Lol 😂🤣 what are your sources, I wonder 😉
How will she manage to sing??? 🤣🤣🤣
@@alfredoihl584 the same way Jennifer Lopez did in the movie Selena 😘.
@@LohengrinO 🤭🤗🤣 Nothing like someone sitting on the fence!!😆 DO keep entertaining with such matter-of-fact caustic witchiness - everyone's so goddamned nice these days and to occasionally hear it said like it is makes me feel less alone!!!😏
She called what others sang, "skimming." She was right. It's as if the rule was, "just get the first and last notes right--you can do whatever you want with what comes between." As I think she pointed out, you would never for an instant tolerate in an instrumentalist, what was constantly tolerated in singers.