I have been a Sutherland FREAK all my life....but I am weeping as I write this...I LOVE Callas and at times I catch a superb recording such as this and I am swept away. I just wept in stupifacation at this voice, and what incredible music Verdi wrote! Thank You for this gem operbathosa, thank you very much
This is the recording that made me become a life long fan of Callas. When I heard her dedication to every note, her subtle shading, her coloring, etc., I knew she was unique and there was no other like her. She becomes every character she sings. She has it all.
Wait til you hear the Freni one that's actually decently sung. Callas was a great actor, rescued a lot of otherwise unknown pieces, but you just can't ignore her screaming like a chicken. There were far superior singers in her time, she was just charismatic, there's nothing wrong with it, but it just offends me that her voice is always noticed when it's not what's great about her at all.
this is the 10th time in a row I've listened to this. omg I can't stop! a TRUE dramatic voice. a glorious, dramatic voice full of queenly virtue and power. brava!
BRAVO! Bravissimo! VIVA MARIA!!! SIEMPRE! Thank you Maria for your contribution to Opera which is so vast and furious that it is difficult to measure. Has the universe been measured? I have never heard anything ugly in your singing, your interpretations are definitive and are imitated because it's hard not to. In 200 years, comments like mine will be written possibly even more eloquently than I have, but the passion behind will be the same. You Maria CALLAS are the greatest soprano in history and that is the truth and the truth is the truth whether you want to believe it or not it's still the truth.
This was recorded in September, 1958, and was part of an album titled "Maria Callas Portrays Verdi Heroines". It included all three of Lady Macbeth's scenes, as well as the big soprano scene from Nabucco, as well as the soprano aria from "Ernani.
So emotional, so beautiful, her low register is just perfect, her high notes are otherworldly, we can't get more, this is the top Thank you for sharing!
7:40 the unthinkable depth, darkness and profound thickness for any soprano. This aria holds Callas' name engraved as a landmark on it - noone will ever surpass this - that's pretty clear. What I'd like to believe is that someone will come close to it. I don't know if it's possible, but I hope for the best.
In the London concert there is this wonderful moment when her diamond brouch fell off. At the exact point when she sang about her tears falling at the feet of God or the angels. Her diamonds fell to her feet. She made a slight attempt to catch it but continued on unperturbed. She picked it up afterwards elegantly with a self-deprecating smile to a renewed burst of applause. It is a supernatural moment.
It is a cliche that the Callas voice was flawed and there are always people who come up with that prejuidice. They hear flaws when there are none. They want to hear them and the more hard they try the more they do. Her voice problems really started in the sixties. 1958 was the last year when her voice was still worked on the whole scale. In 1959 she started progessively to retire from stage and due to her lack of practicing (her own admission) she started to develop certain vocal issues (mainly breath and support issues). When it comes to Maria Callas one should be humble. Who else in recorded history had the ability to see each aria as a whole, keeping the dramatic core so alive? Who else could deliver all the mood switches, who else could undiscover the deepest human passions and feelings, who else could emphazise a word the way she did, who else had the melancholic colour, who else could give us the feeling that she was unveiling the most inner thaughts of a character. who else???? Given all this, who can possibly care about a wobble, a not so glorious high note (in her later years)? How many great singers have we heard screaching, snarling, wobbling etc and never cared because it was so and so? Only Callas was marginalized, was pointed at, was critizised when there was nothing to it. The small archive of filmed stage appearances , when other not so known singers were filmed, the poor choices of Emi (I am speaking of the poor sound quality of many of her records, although this changed ovedr time) tends to prove that right from the beginning there was a tremendous effort done to belittle her and to shorten her career. All the negative critics in her lifetime, all the so called scandals, the made up stories about her tantrums helped to create a monster outside the operatic world. And it went on even after her death to this day. It is as she never died and her presence is even more mesmerizing today than during her lifetime. What does this prove? Right, she was the Mount Everest of opoera, a peak never reached before and after. Her enemies go on hissing, her adorers go on adoring. Maria Callas, Queen, Godess, witch and I assure if it would still be possible to burn her at the stake lots would do it.
+123pailin According to those who knew her in Greece, her colleagues in her early days also treated her quite unkindly. Apparently, they too saw and heard something extraordinary in her, which made them feel threatened and dwarfed by Callas's genius. One friend talks about how two other sopranos used stand in the wings and point and laugh at Callas while she sang. It's little wonder her nerves were shattered at an early age. But as Leonard Bernstein said, she remains "The Bible of Opera."
Shahrdad You are mentionning what Zozo Remoundou said to a colleague.. She also said:" Could it be that there is something divine about her and that we missed it?" This means that right from the begining there was something that irritated her colleagues. She did what all the others were aspiring to, namely that all sounded so natural, so easy, so unpretentious. And you say so rightly, it must have taken an enormous toll on her nerves to be the one she was....She said herself:" I am only as good as the last time I have sung". and " I know taht they are waiting for my downfall"
Yes. Zozo was one of the ones that would laugh at her from the wings. The book "The Unknown Callas" was quite a good read, with lots of informative tidbits. I put a lot of quotes from it in the Wikipedia Article when I wrote it a few years ago. Apparently, it was obvious to many even at that early stage that there was something extraordinary happening whenever this girl sang.
Shahrdad How wonderful that we obviously share the same lectures when it comes to Maria Callas. The best book I ever read about her was by Juergen Kesting, the german "Musikologe ". You see, my mother was a huge Callas fan and my father sided with Tebaldi which was always the reason for some very colourful and refreshing quarrels between them. Ultimately it saved their marriage for it was nice outlet for building tensions in the couple. I sided with nobody because I was in love with the likes of France Gall, Sylvie Vartan etc. and thaught it very amusing my parents quarreling over two screaching ladies (my own words) and I will always remember how both gave me a queer look and sent me to my room without a dessert. Some time later during imusiclasses I discovered Victoria de los Angeles and fell for her (it was her Marguerite that enthralled me) and styled myself her champion which gave occasion to new family quarrels. Unconsciously I had chosen the exact golden middle between Callas and Tebaldi. The absolute beautiful voice and her qualites as an interpreter(which I found out years later). And then there was Carmen by Maria Callas. I was 15 years old and Callas hit it. She was the gipsy, the femme fatale and I suffered with Don Jose. From Carmen I jumped on every disc of her I could lay hands on. And I became at age 15 a Callas addict. She made me discover opera and because of her I began exploring that large field. I fell in love with so many great voices and yet I have to admit that they all lacked the certain something Callas braught to all the parts she was singing.. One day I would ravish in the glorious sounds of Leonyne Price singing Trovatore and swear to myself that she was way better than La Divina and after a day or two I would put Callas again and be swept away because she was Leonora and Price was only singing her. Well and now that she is gone for so many years already (I was 18 when she died in Paris and I attended her funeral crying my eyes outto the amazment and disbelief of my fellow students, since they only knew me as a dancing derwish on any diso-sound) she is still up there , a glorious lonesome star outshining all the others.....Sorry for beeing so long but I feel that you are the sort of person I can share those souvenirs. Good bye...Claude-Victor
I had always heard Callas's name, but I had never heard her. When I was 16 in 1980, my brother bought a 2 LP record of her titled La Divina for my Christmas, along with Leontyne Price's Blue Album. I played the Price album first, and I was amazed by the beauty of her voice. Later on, I put on Callas, and the first aria was Casta Diva from 1954. It was the most haunting, resinous sound I had ever heard. I didn't think the voice was pretty, but it just grabbed me by the chest and wouldn't let go. I didn't understand her words, but I understood what she was saying. I remember the Barbiere aria and Pace pace were also on the first side, and I couldn't stop listening. I would play Price as well and wallow in her beautiful voice, but I kept going back to Callas, because her singing, her phrasing, all seemed so "right" and she really communicated with you. I haven't stopped listening since then. And I haven't stopped being amazed by her musicality and absolute musical and dramatic "rightness." As June Anderson said, she really was on another plane from all other singers.
I agree with you, BUT I have always found it a great shame that one of the "Don Carlo"-performances from La Scala in 1954 wasn't preserved - not only to be able to hear Callas sing the complete role but also to hear her sing this aria when she was in better voice.
This is the Verdi Rescigno recital. It's not so early in her career 1958. But the whole record is fantastic. Good control of the voice and beautiful singing !
You can hear the tomb closing on that line! "La pace..." Unearthly brilliant. It's indeed from the September '58 sessions for Verdi Heroines, and from the scratches, it even sounds uploaded from the LP, which possesses a certain nostalgia for us who grew up with that record. This is, of course, post-weight-loss, but beyond brilliant. And in some ways, the artistry grew to proportions that more than compensated for the loss of tonal velvet. She developed as an artist year by year.
Why are all the photos from LA TRAVIATA or I VESPRI SICILIANA when she sang Elisabetta in a 1954 production of DON CARLO from which there are photos?? One Verdi is not like another!!
There is a 1958 video of this from Hamburg, I believe, where you can really "feel" the artistry from the nearly 2 minute introduction where she displays a range of emotions before ever uttering a note. THAT is artistry!
Grace Bumbry...you are beaten by Callas in a mezzo role. This what this aria is supposed to be sang. There is only one single singer in the last 50 years who can touch La Divina. Callas has it ALL! So this is 1958 as one poster said. She sounds much younger here. I do not hear any vocal decline of any sort. Bravissima!
Over 10 hearings, and I still can't get enough of this! She is a dramatic soprano with a three octave range that's strong from top to bottom. We will never hear the likes of her and Sutherland or Nilsson in our lifetime, or never ever. The golden era of Callas, Sutherland, Corelli, Flagstad, Nilsson, Horne, Price, Pavarotti, Domingo, Caballe is the TRUE GOLDEN age and will never be repeated again. We are truly fortunate to hear those legends of opera through the microphone...lucky us!
WHAT CAN I WRITE? ... MY GOODNESS!... MADAME CALLAS IS AND WILL BE " ONE OF MY MOST, MOST BELOVED DEMONS"... ( I have a few "DEMONS" that fill my mind with beautiful things)... AFTER ALL "IN THIS WORLD THERE IS BEAUTY"... ASTONISHING AND OVERWHELMING BEAUTY!... MERVEILLE! MERVEILLE!...
62 years after this recording Callas remains the standard for this aria, as for many other arias and opera performances. She lived a relatively short and unhappy life and career, but what a legacy she left. Why has she endured? First her artistry. And because of the voice, which besides its technical agility, range, and prowess, had a uniquely melancholy and unforgettable timbre. She never stinted in using that voice, which may have been why it gave out on her much earlier than we would have wished. Interesting coincidence: there was another very different singer whom I rate as the greatest tenor of the 20th century who also had such a uniquely beautiful and melancholy timbre and who matched Callas' taste and artistry: Jussi Bjoerling. He also died young (age 50). They never sang together and would have been a wrong pairing. But I wonder if they ever met, since they were contemporaries at the summit of the opera world of their time.
It is very strange that as someone who loves Callas and bjorling as much as you clearly do that you are unaware of the fact that they sang together in Trovatore in Chicago in 55. It is so celebrated and its loss so greatly mourned. He said he heard and sang with a lot of leonoras, but she was the best.
@MarcENicholson: Callas and Bjorling DID sing together at the Chicago Lyric in 1955 in IL TROVATORE. Reportedly there was a tape but it was erased. Last time the person taping it asked Renata Tebaldi to watch the equipment! 😂
Es que esta aria es extraordinaria, debe ser interpretada con todo el drama que conlleva…la vanidad de este mundo, lo efímero que es todo a nuestro alrededor. Grande Verdi.
Opera singers are comparable to offerings at an ultra-fine dinner with some diners preferring foie gras to prosciutto wrapped around melon,. or Dom Perignon to Chianti Classico, or baked Alaska to bananas flambe, etc. To wit, the preference of one singer over another is a matter of personal preference, a choice that to some may escape reason. If certain music soothes the savage breast for some, to others it is a damn irritant. Go figure.
This is indeed from the recording made in 1958 with Nicola Rescigno conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra (of London). The CD (made by EMI) is called "Verdi Arias, Volume 1" In addition to "Tu che le vanita", the CD contains 3 arias from "Macbeth" (Callas is the perfect Lady Macbeth), and "Ben io t'invenni ..." from Nabucco, and "Sura e la notte" from Ernani.
+Lucymarie Ruth The Ernani aria is lovely as well, but the Nabucco aria is too late in her career. At this point in 1958, she was far too skinny to be able to sustain the force needed for Abigaile. The Macbeth arias are definitive, however. I think the only versions of the first two Macbeth arias superior to this recording are her live renditions from LaScala in 1952, but the Sleepwalking Scene is far superior on this recording, primarily because Rescigno's more restrained tempi allow her to express the many shifting moods more clearly, whereas De Sabata's tempi seem rushed in comparison.
+Shahrdad Nicola Rescigno and the Philharmonia Orchestra (of London) did a really sterling job of accompanying Maria Callas on this album. I treasure these performances very much.
Hi: I know what you're trying to say: Troyanos was great but Callas greater, on the evidence of this recording. You might be mixing up arias, though. Troyanos was always a mezzo soprano and sang (a wonderful) Eboli - complete with eye patch! Although Callas did sing Eboli's aria "O Don Fatale" later on, this is Elizabetta's aria from the last act of Don Carlo which, despite the large number of low notes, is for a soprano. (The great Bumbry probably sang this as a soprano but I didn't hear it.)
You's right, my mistake... I was listening to so many of La Divina's recordings that I probably touch the wrong key on my keyboard and accidentally switch to this aria "Tu che le vanina" while I was reviewing "O don Fatale". Either way, Callas is great in BOTH of these arias. Who else can sing Wagnerian roles, Bel Canto roles, Spinto roles, lyric roles and mezzo roles? She is unique for her ability to sing just about any female roles GREAT! As for Bumbry, she sang a scene from Attila!
Troyanos is also great in this aria. But still, I have to give it to Callas. God bless both their GREAT souls and voices. We just don't have singers these days(year 2000+) who can even be mention in the same paragragh as Maria Callas.
this is a consummate example of Callas's voice..............anyone who says she3 was a poor singer needs their head read............PRIMA DONNA ASSLUTA
MANTO REAL Vivendo os últimos anos de sua vida na solidão, no seu canto Na bela propriedade Svnta-Agat, o compositor Giuseppe Verdi Cantarolava: "Vou dormir para sempre sozinho em meu manto Real", a ária do rei Filipe, da ópera Don Carlos. Pensar no verde Da bandeira, o manto real dos brasileiros, em momento ligeiro, Na solidão das matas virgens, hoje morrendo à derrubada, que Antes a região amazônica possuía, lenda da raposa e galinheiro Que está hoje, na pandemia, aos exploradores sendo entregue. O manto real é a aura luminosa que construímos com o pensar Nos momentos felizes em doarmos amor aos necessitados sem Pensar em ser lembrados em nossa vida fluindo bem devagar. Um novo manto está sendo construído no planeta que ascende Uma oitava a mais em consciência planetária, compreendessem Todos a necessidade de ser feliz para sempre na luz que acende. (*) (*) FERNANDO PINHEIRO, presidente do Academia de Letras dos Funcionários do Banco do Brasil. - MANTO REAL (poesia), de Fernando Pinheiro. - in O mundo de Morfeu, de Fernando Pinheiro.
This is very beautiful and intelligent. The timbre of her voice is too masterful to suggest the vulnerability of Elisabetta but her musical phrasing is superb. She fails to realise the sigh that Verdi has written at the end.
Yes, losing weight was impossible, it was impossible to give in this terrible fashion for rattling bones, covered with skin scary skinny women! The great voice rose in a great body, used to be based on a certain weight! Did not weight began speeding up his voice and tremolite in the upper register. But then a great voice from the ingenious artist has not lost its phenomenal musicianship and a unique vocal timbre. Very, very sorry that losing weight was so cruelly shortened career one and only Queen of the Opera... Viva la Divina per semre! Bravissima!
why should there never be other voices as good as theirs again? if voices such as theirs can be produced in the first place why not ever again? it annoys me so much to hear such statements, of course there will be amazing voices again the equal of these magnificent singers.
2013Woman, the problem is that it's not just a matter of voice. In fact, a gifted voice is the first step, the first necessary ingredient. Then you have to train it and, )here comes the big part,) you have to train it to serve a musical vision, you have to be a creative genius, you have to understand the musical language so well as to be able to use its building blocks in such a way as to serve the style of the era of the music, of the particular composer, the unique atmosphere of the particular work (provided the work is good enough to possess such a unique atmosphere) and you have to be able to structure each phrase using sounds and silences and their infinite nuances and combinations, in such a way as to imbue them with meaning and this meaning and structure of each phrase have to relate to what came before and what comes after, in such a way as to serve the whole picture, the grand overview of the musical edifice. Callas did all of that in a unique way, sealed by her own sublime and inimitable musical and dramatic personality. That's why I doubt if she could ever be matched. Sadly, there are just too many parameters which would have to be simultaneously fulfilled.
I do still detect a trace of that "bottled sound" in her voice, but who could possibly care? The drama and emotion she transmitted to her audience made one forgive everything and anything. She was quite simply amazing!!
It is nice theater work but too sad for me. Sorry, I can't help you to make it more happy. People has to be happy(er) I think, with more facilities for the best (for them) education.
Maria Callas had a truly beautiful voice. Unfortunate that after her weight loss she began to sound like someone imitating a ghost saying "wooooOOOOOoooo". Even then she still had great precision and diction. However it wasn't as strong as it was
Cara Annunziata Castro, la sua " voce d'angelo"...ce ne sono poi state tante nella storia dell'opera, non era capace di emetterlo e andava bene solo per le preghiere angeliche mi dite voi la presunta rivalita' con la Callas dov'e'? Se sulla Callas si sono scritti, stampati, venduti ed esauriti piu' di 200 libri e ancora escono e s'e' perduto il conto, ultimo quello dell'Universita' di Roma e si studia nelle universita' musicali di tutto il mondo e sulla Tebaldi si dice solo che aveva una voce d'angelo...leggermente sempre calante, si sono mossi musicisti, direttori ( Bernstein e Karajan l'adoravano come pure Giulini ) tutti i registi ci volevano lavorare e con la Tebaldi no, un motivo pure ci sara' stato e c'e'. Che rivalita' ci puo' essere...io dico nessuna, pura invenzione.
Cara Annunziata, ( in fondo l'Annunziata si chiamerebbe Maria..) una rivalita'..tutto comincio' a San Paolo del Brasile...una faccenda di bis non rispettata dalla Tebaldi e una forzata rimozione nel ruolo di Tosca..e' tutta Storia, tutto scritto.la Tebaldi temeva la Callas, non era scema, e ha tentato di arginarla con i mezzi che poteva..un fondo mal celato di invidia...non ce l'ha fatta. La voce e la personalita' artistica nuova che Maria portava nel mondo non solo del Teatro ma nella Musica in generale hanno inchiodato la Renata al muro. La "bella voce" non bastava piu', non e' bastata piu', ci voleva ben altro e quell'altro Maria ce l'aveva e in abbondanza. La primadonna "provinciale" cominciava a non interessare piu' nessuno. Certo, la Tebaldi ha avuto i suoi successi e le platee osannanti..del Metropolitan... La Callas era poliedrica, caleidoscopica. Basta ascoltare l'Armida di Rossini, la Violetta per capire come ha scardinato un sistema. E ha vinto. Molti fecero di tutto per abbatterla, vessarla, non ci sono riusciti. Purtroppo e' morta senza sapere in fondo quanti l'apprezzavano veramente e l'hanno amata. Ma il suo canto parla...canta da solo. I detrattori? Non sono personaggi intelligenti ed hanno un cuore facile..sentimentalistico.
I have been a Sutherland FREAK all my life....but I am weeping as I write this...I LOVE Callas and at times I catch a superb recording such as this and I am swept away. I just wept in stupifacation at this voice, and what incredible music Verdi wrote! Thank You for this gem operbathosa, thank you very much
Feel ya
This is the recording that made me become a life long fan of Callas. When I heard her dedication to every note, her subtle shading, her coloring, etc., I knew she was unique and there was no other like her. She becomes every character she sings. She has it all.
Wait til you hear the Freni one that's actually decently sung. Callas was a great actor, rescued a lot of otherwise unknown pieces, but you just can't ignore her screaming like a chicken. There were far superior singers in her time, she was just charismatic, there's nothing wrong with it, but it just offends me that her voice is always noticed when it's not what's great about her at all.
Well Fernanda, it’s interesting that Freni considered her ‘screaming’ that of the greatest soprano of the 20th century. Now what about that?
@fernandacappucci8412 you have some points but callas' voice was special. That being said, I think freni sang the definitive version of this aria
this is the 10th time in a row I've listened to this. omg I can't stop! a TRUE dramatic voice. a glorious, dramatic voice full of queenly virtue and power. brava!
Maria Callas ..l'éternelle...voix incomparable, unique...
She was a space alien genius. Not only a great singer but probably one of the 5 greatest musicians of the 20th century
Whom do you consider the other four great ones?
If Maria Callas is the top 5 musician of 20th century then McDonalds is definitely top 3 restaurants of all time.
@@terrance7220 Una artista lírica completa era la Callas. Saludos cordiales.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
BRAVO! Bravissimo!
VIVA MARIA!!! SIEMPRE!
Thank you Maria for your contribution to Opera which is so vast and furious that it is difficult to measure. Has the universe been measured? I have never heard anything ugly in your singing, your interpretations are definitive and are imitated because it's hard not to. In 200 years, comments like mine will be written possibly even more eloquently than I have, but the passion behind will be the same. You Maria CALLAS are the greatest soprano in history and that is the truth and the truth is the truth whether you want to believe it or not it's still the truth.
This was recorded in September, 1958, and was part of an album titled "Maria Callas Portrays Verdi Heroines". It included all three of Lady Macbeth's scenes, as well as the big soprano scene from Nabucco, as well as the soprano aria from "Ernani.
This is the most beautiful, most perfect song I've ever heard with a true singer bringing it to life in a way that literally brings me to tears
This is so good i cant get over it. Her voice is in great shape as well.
So emotional, so beautiful, her low register is just perfect, her high notes are otherworldly, we can't get more, this is the top
Thank you for sharing!
7:40 the unthinkable depth, darkness and profound thickness for any soprano. This aria holds Callas' name engraved as a landmark on it - noone will ever surpass this - that's pretty clear. What I'd like to believe is that someone will come close to it. I don't know if it's possible, but I hope for the best.
This is truly gorgeous! There aren't enough adjectives to describe Callas's beautiful singing. Thank you for this treasure!
In the London concert there is this wonderful moment when her diamond brouch fell off. At the exact point when she sang about her tears falling at the feet of God or the angels. Her diamonds fell to her feet. She made a slight attempt to catch it but continued on unperturbed. She picked it up afterwards elegantly with a self-deprecating smile to a renewed burst of applause. It is a supernatural moment.
In my humble opinion this recording allows one to appreciate Callas' voice and range, as well as performance subtleties. Very, very nice to hear it.
Fabulous Callas and astonishing Verdi!
Oh, my gosh!!! I'm going to faint, this is so riveting!!!!!!!
It is a cliche that the Callas voice was flawed and there are always people who come up with that prejuidice. They hear flaws when there are none. They want to hear them and the more hard they try the more they do. Her voice problems really started in the sixties. 1958 was the last year when her voice was still worked on the whole scale. In 1959 she started progessively to retire from stage and due to her lack of practicing (her own admission) she started to develop certain vocal issues (mainly breath and support issues). When it comes to Maria Callas one should be humble. Who else in recorded history had the ability to see each aria as a whole, keeping the dramatic core so alive? Who else could deliver all the mood switches, who else could undiscover the deepest human passions and feelings, who else could emphazise a word the way she did, who else had the melancholic colour, who else could give us the feeling that she was unveiling the most inner thaughts of a character. who else???? Given all this, who can possibly care about a wobble, a not so glorious high note (in her later years)? How many great singers have we heard screaching, snarling, wobbling etc and never cared because it was so and so? Only Callas was marginalized, was pointed at, was critizised when there was nothing to it. The small archive of filmed stage appearances , when other not so known singers were filmed, the poor choices of Emi (I am speaking of the poor sound quality of many of her records, although this changed ovedr time) tends to prove that right from the beginning there was a tremendous effort done to belittle her and to shorten her career. All the negative critics in her lifetime, all the so called scandals, the made up stories about her tantrums helped to create a monster outside the operatic world. And it went on even after her death to this day. It is as she never died and her presence is even more mesmerizing today than during her lifetime. What does this prove? Right, she was the Mount Everest of opoera, a peak never reached before and after. Her enemies go on hissing, her adorers go on adoring. Maria Callas, Queen, Godess, witch and I assure if it would still be possible to burn her at the stake lots would do it.
+123pailin According to those who knew her in Greece, her colleagues in her early days also treated her quite unkindly. Apparently, they too saw and heard something extraordinary in her, which made them feel threatened and dwarfed by Callas's genius. One friend talks about how two other sopranos used stand in the wings and point and laugh at Callas while she sang. It's little wonder her nerves were shattered at an early age. But as Leonard Bernstein said, she remains "The Bible of Opera."
Shahrdad You are mentionning what Zozo Remoundou said to a colleague.. She also said:" Could it be that there is something divine about her and that we missed it?" This means that right from the begining there was something that irritated her colleagues. She did what all the others were aspiring to, namely that all sounded so natural, so easy, so unpretentious. And you say so rightly, it must have taken an enormous toll on her nerves to be the one she was....She said herself:" I am only as good as the last time I have sung". and " I know taht they are waiting for my downfall"
Yes. Zozo was one of the ones that would laugh at her from the wings. The book "The Unknown Callas" was quite a good read, with lots of informative tidbits. I put a lot of quotes from it in the Wikipedia Article when I wrote it a few years ago. Apparently, it was obvious to many even at that early stage that there was something extraordinary happening whenever this girl sang.
Shahrdad How wonderful that we obviously share the same lectures when it comes to Maria Callas. The best book I ever read about her was by Juergen Kesting, the german "Musikologe ". You see, my mother was a huge Callas fan and my father sided with Tebaldi which was always the reason for some very colourful and refreshing quarrels between them. Ultimately it saved their marriage for it was nice outlet for building tensions in the couple. I sided with nobody because I was in love with the likes of France Gall, Sylvie Vartan etc. and thaught it very amusing my parents quarreling over two screaching ladies (my own words) and I will always remember how both gave me a queer look and sent me to my room without a dessert. Some time later during imusiclasses I discovered Victoria de los Angeles and fell for her (it was her Marguerite that enthralled me) and styled myself her champion which gave occasion to new family quarrels. Unconsciously I had chosen the exact golden middle between Callas and Tebaldi. The absolute beautiful voice and her qualites as an interpreter(which I found out years later). And then there was Carmen by Maria Callas. I was 15 years old and Callas hit it. She was the gipsy, the femme fatale and I suffered with Don Jose. From Carmen I jumped on every disc of her I could lay hands on. And I became at age 15 a Callas addict. She made me discover opera and because of her I began exploring that large field. I fell in love with so many great voices and yet I have to admit that they all lacked the certain something Callas braught to all the parts she was singing.. One day I would ravish in the glorious sounds of Leonyne Price singing Trovatore and swear to myself that she was way better than La Divina and after a day or two I would put Callas again and be swept away because she was Leonora and Price was only singing her. Well and now that she is gone for so many years already (I was 18 when she died in Paris and I attended her funeral crying my eyes outto the amazment and disbelief of my fellow students, since they only knew me as a dancing derwish on any diso-sound) she is still up there , a glorious lonesome star outshining all the others.....Sorry for beeing so long but I feel that you are the sort of person I can share those souvenirs. Good bye...Claude-Victor
I had always heard Callas's name, but I had never heard her. When I was 16 in 1980, my brother bought a 2 LP record of her titled La Divina for my Christmas, along with Leontyne Price's Blue Album. I played the Price album first, and I was amazed by the beauty of her voice. Later on, I put on Callas, and the first aria was Casta Diva from 1954. It was the most haunting, resinous sound I had ever heard. I didn't think the voice was pretty, but it just grabbed me by the chest and wouldn't let go. I didn't understand her words, but I understood what she was saying. I remember the Barbiere aria and Pace pace were also on the first side, and I couldn't stop listening. I would play Price as well and wallow in her beautiful voice, but I kept going back to Callas, because her singing, her phrasing, all seemed so "right" and she really communicated with you. I haven't stopped listening since then. And I haven't stopped being amazed by her musicality and absolute musical and dramatic "rightness." As June Anderson said, she really was on another plane from all other singers.
Callas is Callas, one and only... Glorious!
Fantastic interpretation - so much sadness and depth.
This is the stuff of Greek legend. Absolutely unbelievable voice. There will never be another Maria Callas in all of time.
One of the most even vocal demonstrations I have ever heard from Callas. So beautiful. Totally supported from top to bottom.
I agree with you, BUT I have always found it a great shame that one of the "Don Carlo"-performances from La Scala in 1954 wasn't preserved - not only to be able to hear Callas sing the complete role but also to hear her sing this aria when she was in better voice.
This is the Verdi Rescigno recital. It's not so early in her career 1958. But the whole record is fantastic. Good control of the voice and beautiful singing !
Just gutwrenching. There is no-one like Callas and there never will be.
You can hear the tomb closing on that line! "La pace..." Unearthly brilliant. It's indeed from the September '58 sessions for Verdi Heroines, and from the scratches, it even sounds uploaded from the LP, which possesses a certain nostalgia for us who grew up with that record. This is, of course, post-weight-loss, but beyond brilliant. And in some ways, the artistry grew to proportions that more than compensated for the loss of tonal velvet. She developed as an artist year by year.
Eternamente Maria Callas...!!! Diva Assoluta Eterna...!!!La Unica Divina Greca...!!!
O dio mio que gentilé, yati yati, zoi ine.o frederico. Sas efkaristo para poli, ti omorfi onomatou.
Kounelis ta omorfa onomatou!
This is the best performance I've yet heard of this aria, including the great Leontyne Price.
ho desiderato tanto di conoscerti personalmente, grande Maria,ti ascolto sempre e mi inebrio del tuo canto....
L'hai conosciuta, c'è l'hai fatta?
Magnífica.
astounding....so moving
Sublime, divino
Maria La Divina x
Unreachable interpretation and depth of feelings and emotions
Why are all the photos from LA TRAVIATA or I VESPRI SICILIANA when she sang Elisabetta in a 1954 production of DON CARLO from which there are photos?? One Verdi is not like another!!
Grande Maria Callas...
O dio mio, maria ,
There is a 1958 video of this from Hamburg, I believe, where you can really "feel" the artistry from the nearly 2 minute introduction where she displays a range of emotions before ever uttering a note. THAT is artistry!
Grace Bumbry...you are beaten by Callas in a mezzo role.
This what this aria is supposed to be sang.
There is only one single singer in the last 50 years who can touch La Divina. Callas has it ALL!
So this is 1958 as one poster said. She sounds much younger here. I do not hear any vocal decline of any sort.
Bravissima!
Over 10 hearings, and I still can't get enough of this!
She is a dramatic soprano with a three octave range that's strong from top to bottom.
We will never hear the likes of her and Sutherland or Nilsson in our lifetime, or never ever.
The golden era of Callas, Sutherland, Corelli, Flagstad, Nilsson, Horne, Price, Pavarotti, Domingo, Caballe is the TRUE GOLDEN age and will never be repeated again.
We are truly fortunate to hear those legends of opera through the microphone...lucky us!
diana ventura emm, u forgot to mention di stefano who was much much better than pavarotti.
Extraordinaria y única..
Gorgeous
WHAT CAN I WRITE? ... MY GOODNESS!... MADAME CALLAS IS AND WILL BE " ONE OF MY MOST, MOST BELOVED DEMONS"... ( I have a few "DEMONS" that fill my mind with beautiful things)... AFTER ALL "IN THIS WORLD THERE IS BEAUTY"... ASTONISHING AND OVERWHELMING BEAUTY!... MERVEILLE! MERVEILLE!...
ESPLENDIDA YUNICA
62 years after this recording Callas remains the standard for this aria, as for many other arias and opera performances. She lived a relatively short and unhappy life and career, but what a legacy she left. Why has she endured? First her artistry. And because of the voice, which besides its technical agility, range, and prowess, had a uniquely melancholy and unforgettable timbre. She never stinted in using that voice, which may have been why it gave out on her much earlier than we would have wished.
Interesting coincidence: there was another very different singer whom I rate as the greatest tenor of the 20th century who also had such a uniquely beautiful and melancholy timbre and who matched Callas' taste and artistry: Jussi Bjoerling. He also died young (age 50). They never sang together and would have been a wrong pairing. But I wonder if they ever met, since they were contemporaries at the summit of the opera world of their time.
It is very strange that as someone who loves Callas and bjorling as much as you clearly do that you are unaware of the fact that they sang together in Trovatore in Chicago in 55. It is so celebrated and its loss so greatly mourned. He said he heard and sang with a lot of leonoras, but she was the best.
@MarcENicholson: Callas and Bjorling DID sing together at the Chicago Lyric in 1955 in IL TROVATORE. Reportedly there was a tape but it was erased. Last time the person taping it asked Renata Tebaldi to watch the equipment! 😂
Es que esta aria es extraordinaria, debe ser interpretada con todo el drama que conlleva…la vanidad de este mundo, lo efímero que es todo a nuestro alrededor. Grande Verdi.
Yes, it would be nice to know the date and location of this performance for future reference.
magistral unica nuestra diva
¡La más grande diva de la ópera de todos los tiempos, completa al máximo en el arte lírico!
Opera singers are comparable to offerings at an ultra-fine dinner with some diners preferring foie gras to prosciutto wrapped around melon,. or Dom Perignon to Chianti Classico, or baked Alaska to bananas flambe, etc. To wit, the preference of one singer over another is a matter of personal preference, a choice that to some may escape reason. If certain music soothes the savage breast for some, to others it is a damn irritant. Go figure.
Stephen Pettine bananas foster
This is indeed from the recording made in 1958 with Nicola Rescigno conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra (of London). The CD (made by EMI) is called "Verdi Arias, Volume 1"
In addition to "Tu che le vanita", the CD contains 3 arias from "Macbeth" (Callas is the perfect Lady Macbeth), and "Ben io t'invenni ..." from Nabucco, and "Sura e la notte" from Ernani.
Thank you for the info
+Lucymarie Ruth The Ernani aria is lovely as well, but the Nabucco aria is too late in her career. At this point in 1958, she was far too skinny to be able to sustain the force needed for Abigaile. The Macbeth arias are definitive, however. I think the only versions of the first two Macbeth arias superior to this recording are her live renditions from LaScala in 1952, but the Sleepwalking Scene is far superior on this recording, primarily because Rescigno's more restrained tempi allow her to express the many shifting moods more clearly, whereas De Sabata's tempi seem rushed in comparison.
+Shahrdad Nicola Rescigno and the Philharmonia Orchestra (of London) did a really sterling job of accompanying Maria Callas on this album. I treasure these performances very much.
Lucymarie Ruth
Lucymarie Ruth .....I have had it on vinyl since 1965......seriously worn now!....now on CD....
Why does Verdi put his characters through hell? What voice, what suffering!
Она просто гений... Нет слов.
EXQUISITA
Quel bonheur de trouver encore et j’espère pour longtemps ici et librement pour tous les vibrations uniques , divines car éternelles .... .... ❤️
Hi: I know what you're trying to say: Troyanos was great but Callas greater, on the evidence of this recording. You might be mixing up arias, though. Troyanos was always a mezzo soprano and sang (a wonderful) Eboli - complete with eye patch!
Although Callas did sing Eboli's aria "O Don Fatale" later on, this is Elizabetta's aria from the last act of Don Carlo which, despite the large number of low notes, is for a soprano.
(The great Bumbry probably sang this as a soprano but I didn't hear it.)
You's right, my mistake...
I was listening to so many of La Divina's recordings that I probably touch the wrong key on my keyboard and accidentally switch to this aria "Tu che le vanina" while I was reviewing "O don Fatale".
Either way, Callas is great in BOTH of these arias.
Who else can sing Wagnerian roles, Bel Canto roles, Spinto roles, lyric roles and mezzo roles?
She is unique for her ability to sing just about any female roles GREAT!
As for Bumbry, she sang a scene from Attila!
Incontestablement immense, unique, la plus grande de l'histoire de l"opéra.
E alora o dio mio maria callogeropoulos.me za voiche, cette voix du cœur qui seule au cœur arrive! Frederico.
La divinaaa.
What a cute thumbnail of callas!
You can say, what you want: But for sheer "in your face" dominance .....
@operbathosa
Thank you Thank you!
Troyanos is also great in this aria. But still, I have to give it to Callas.
God bless both their GREAT souls and voices. We just don't have singers these days(year 2000+) who can even be mention in the same paragragh as Maria Callas.
this is a consummate example of Callas's voice..............anyone who says she3 was a poor singer needs their head read............PRIMA DONNA ASSLUTA
It is indeed 1958. It was recorded in London at the same time as the Mad Scenes recital.
Qué acabo de escuchar si no la voz de una Diosa
Echt schade, dass la Callas niemals diese Rolle aufgezeichnet hat.
Callas sang Elisabetta 1954 Scala)
@@saverioorlando Yes, but she did not record it.
O_O qué perdida... quÉ pérdida.
C'est MAGISTRAL. Unique Maria Callas, fille de Zeus, la dixième MUSE !
YES!!!!!!
SPLENDIDA!
MAGNIFICA!
DIVINA .
À
Vincenzo Bossi
cioè ?...
I'm here because of This is opera!
une référence
what year is this recording?
Impresionante interpretación,!!
This aria belongs to Callas!
yes yes...
MANTO REAL
Vivendo os últimos anos de sua vida na solidão, no seu canto
Na bela propriedade Svnta-Agat, o compositor Giuseppe Verdi
Cantarolava: "Vou dormir para sempre sozinho em meu manto
Real", a ária do rei Filipe, da ópera Don Carlos. Pensar no verde
Da bandeira, o manto real dos brasileiros, em momento ligeiro,
Na solidão das matas virgens, hoje morrendo à derrubada, que
Antes a região amazônica possuía, lenda da raposa e galinheiro
Que está hoje, na pandemia, aos exploradores sendo entregue.
O manto real é a aura luminosa que construímos com o pensar
Nos momentos felizes em doarmos amor aos necessitados sem
Pensar em ser lembrados em nossa vida fluindo bem devagar.
Um novo manto está sendo construído no planeta que ascende
Uma oitava a mais em consciência planetária, compreendessem
Todos a necessidade de ser feliz para sempre na luz que acende. (*)
(*) FERNANDO PINHEIRO, presidente do Academia de Letras dos Funcionários do Banco do Brasil. - MANTO REAL (poesia), de Fernando Pinheiro. - in O mundo de Morfeu, de Fernando Pinheiro.
This is very beautiful and intelligent. The timbre of her voice is too masterful to suggest the vulnerability of Elisabetta but her musical phrasing is superb. She fails to realise the sigh that Verdi has written at the end.
bice pics!
C'est sublime, tout simplement...
Maria Callas est la plus grande cantatrice de tout les temps !!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, losing weight was impossible, it was impossible to give in this terrible fashion for rattling bones, covered with skin scary skinny women! The great voice rose in a great body, used to be based on a certain weight! Did not weight began speeding up his voice and tremolite in the upper register. But then a great voice from the ingenious artist has not lost its phenomenal musicianship and a unique vocal timbre. Very, very sorry that losing weight was so cruelly shortened career one and only Queen of the Opera... Viva la Divina per semre! Bravissima!
where can i get this recording?
Nice.
Maravillosa,,,,,,,,,
ÙNICA e IRREPETIBLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7:40-8:23; yes, yes, YES!!!
why should there never be other voices as good as theirs again? if voices such as theirs can be produced in the first place why not ever again? it annoys me so much to hear such statements, of course there will be amazing voices again the equal of these magnificent singers.
2013Woman, the problem is that it's not just a matter of voice. In fact, a gifted voice is the first step, the first necessary ingredient. Then you have to train it and, )here comes the big part,) you have to train it to serve a musical vision, you have to be a creative genius, you have to understand the musical language so well as to be able to use its building blocks in such a way as to serve the style of the era of the music, of the particular composer, the unique atmosphere of the particular work (provided the work is good enough to possess such a unique atmosphere) and you have to be able to structure each phrase using sounds and silences and their infinite nuances and combinations, in such a way as to imbue them with meaning and this meaning and structure of each phrase have to relate to what came before and what comes after, in such a way as to serve the whole picture, the grand overview of the musical edifice. Callas did all of that in a unique way, sealed by her own sublime and inimitable musical and dramatic personality. That's why I doubt if she could ever be matched. Sadly, there are just too many parameters which would have to be simultaneously fulfilled.
direzione a 200 all'ora rovina tutto
Ma va
operalover67
impara l'italiano ...
I do still detect a trace of that "bottled sound" in her voice, but who could possibly care? The drama and emotion she transmitted to her audience made one forgive everything and anything. She was quite simply amazing!!
It is nice theater work but too sad for me. Sorry, I can't help you to make it more happy. People has to be happy(er) I think, with more facilities for the best (for them) education.
Maria Callas had a truly beautiful voice. Unfortunate that after her weight loss she began to sound like someone imitating a ghost saying "wooooOOOOOoooo". Even then she still had great precision and diction. However it wasn't as strong as it was
7:48 Ma che diamine di suono è questo? Gutturale, sgradevolissimo, sembra emesso dentro una bottiglia.
Ascolta meglio la Tebaldi...che e' fuori dalla bottiglia..
Cara Annunziata Castro, la sua " voce d'angelo"...ce ne sono poi state tante nella storia dell'opera, non era capace di emetterlo e andava bene solo per le preghiere angeliche mi dite voi la presunta rivalita' con la Callas dov'e'? Se sulla Callas si sono scritti, stampati, venduti ed esauriti piu' di 200 libri e ancora escono e s'e' perduto il conto, ultimo quello dell'Universita' di Roma e si studia nelle universita' musicali di tutto il mondo e sulla Tebaldi si dice solo che aveva una voce d'angelo...leggermente sempre calante, si sono mossi musicisti, direttori ( Bernstein e Karajan l'adoravano come pure Giulini ) tutti i registi ci volevano lavorare e con la Tebaldi no, un motivo pure ci sara' stato e c'e'. Che rivalita' ci puo' essere...io dico nessuna, pura invenzione.
Cara Annunziata, ( in fondo l'Annunziata si chiamerebbe Maria..) una rivalita'..tutto comincio' a San Paolo del Brasile...una faccenda di bis non rispettata dalla Tebaldi e una forzata rimozione nel ruolo di Tosca..e' tutta Storia, tutto scritto.la Tebaldi temeva la Callas, non era scema, e ha tentato di arginarla con i mezzi che poteva..un fondo mal celato di invidia...non ce l'ha fatta. La voce e la personalita' artistica nuova che Maria portava nel mondo non solo del Teatro ma nella Musica in generale hanno inchiodato la Renata al muro. La "bella voce" non bastava piu', non e' bastata piu', ci voleva ben altro e quell'altro Maria ce l'aveva e in abbondanza. La primadonna "provinciale" cominciava a non interessare piu' nessuno. Certo, la Tebaldi ha avuto i suoi successi e le platee osannanti..del Metropolitan... La Callas era poliedrica, caleidoscopica. Basta ascoltare l'Armida di Rossini, la Violetta per capire come ha scardinato un sistema. E ha vinto. Molti fecero di tutto per abbatterla, vessarla, non ci sono riusciti. Purtroppo e' morta senza sapere in fondo quanti l'apprezzavano veramente e l'hanno amata. Ma il suo canto parla...canta da solo. I detrattori? Non sono personaggi intelligenti ed hanno un cuore facile..sentimentalistico.
E ti par poco?
Riccardino sei fuori di melone se questo è l unico commento che ti viene in mente per questa performance
Maria Callas did wonders for the opera world but she wasn't a great singer like dude come on
Clearly you don't know what you're talking about. Like dude, come on.
I feel compelled to tell you that this is literally the dumbest comment I’ve ever seen on UA-cam. Ever.