Callas adds a massive Eb6 in Nabucco's great duet

[MultiZahl]

Das Es in alto ist grandios ---bravissima Maria Callas---DAS ORCHESTER IST LEIDER ZU LAUT UND WUCHTIG UND ÜBERTÖNT DIE HERVORRAGENDEN SÄNGER ---

[pupulique]

I like Gino's Ab even more.

[rodlarocque]

wowwwwwwwwwww I think i just had an orgasm!! Incredible

[MrStpendouslvforjo]

I LOVE JOAN SUTHERLAND THE MOST...BUT CALLAS IS ALSO A DRAMATIC COLORATURA AND GREAT GREAT ALSO. I LOVE HER FOR THIS Eflat MAYBE THE MOST THRILLING EVER SUNG!

[gregory37510]

suprema! al massimo della salute in questo periodo il sovracuto è da brivido taglientissimo!

[Shanefee1770]

Why couldn't she still be alive! I'd give anything to hear her do Nabucco, she was a genius, through and through. there'll never be another anywhere close to her brilliance. DIVINA LA CALLAS

[Keithj136]

"who is the person what is my double,nobody doubles Callas" and that is so right.

[clown84700]

Brava Callas !!!! Bravi Becchi !!!!

[danawinsor]

This excerpt always sends shivers down my spine. As Leonard Berstein said, "we are not likely to see her equal any time soon" (my paraphrase). Also, let's not forget the baritone, I believe it was Gino Becchi, who does a fabulous performance & really holds his own with Callas.

[LohengrinT]

@danawinsor

used to believe the exact same thing

Now I know - we will never! see her kind again - another Assoluta Voice perhaps, another Callas NEVER

[asdfopera]

@LohengrinT

Lohengrin, do you like Maria Guleghina's Abigaille? She also sings the Eb in this scene like Callas.

[LohengrinT]

@asdfopera

You are kidding me about Guleghina right? the woman never existed :)))

[asdfopera]

@LohengrinT

no.

[NEBESHIKU]

Even with her low IQ, La Stupida knew better and never dared this role.

[LohengrinT]

@NEBESHIKU

she didnt even have the notes for t his one

La Stupida didnt even dare the roles she was born to sing like Costanze pfff

[NEBESHIKU]

@LohengrinT you are correct! She never dared it! She never dared Armida, Vestale, Medea, Turco, Lady Mcbeth, roles that Callas owned. La Stupida like to sing what her faggot master told her to sing or else he would leave her because she wasn't woman enough to keep her man. Drag Queen La Stupida sung the third class coloratura that her fag dug up for her, all the things music no bodies wrote and was long forgotten.

[amiciopera]

@NEBESHIKU Unbelievable you could write things like this about another person, I find it really, really of bad taste on your part, as an Opera lover, and i believe you are, do have some level of decorum, you are free to exprss yourself but do it with dignity, and respect.. I urge you to cancell this .. Let us debate in a way constructive, so new comers to Opera can understand Thank you in advance, My motive is purely honourable to artists and Music

Grazie

[pump066]

@NEBESHIKU Really?I can't believe my eyes reading this.Are you for real?What has J.S.

done to you to be insulted like this?Taking sides is one thing but this is libel and you really should be on some other channel.LohengrinT you should use the delete button, when you see shit like this in your comments!

[LohengrinT]

@pump066

sorry after Bonynge's courtyard's last BBC documentary Sutherland lost me forever on every possible level -

[kgarmaker123]

@LohengrinT I agree, and this is not a role that JS would have done anyway, she would have had to sing into her voice, not hold back. This is spine tingling, thrilling portrayals of these characters, and you are right the baritone is fab. too.

[pump066]

@LohengrinT Yes, but what has Sutherland got to do in Verdi Nabucco discussion? Why

would anybody who knows anything about singing, mix Callas and Sutherland in the first

place and secondly in THIS repertoire?Lieber LohengrinT if you find that kind of comment

appropriate you've really lost me, sorry.

[LohengrinT]

@pump066

indeed Sutherland's extremely limited repertoire of pure coloratura roles and one only Assoluta role (Norma) cannot be compared with Callas' vast repertoire but that was not my point

After the diseased effort of the Sutherlandians exhibited in their last BBC documentary I lost the least interest in Sutherland's Gargles (and I dont really think anyone was truly ever buying Sutherland's recordings;)

[reginabellestar]

Callas is as important as the other greats, she is not the only star. but she is great indeed. We should appreciate all greats not just highlight one!!!

[LohengrinT]

@reginabellestar

her importance is not at all like the others... she is light years above all else

The inability to see the differences between people is the characteristic of the low IQ

[ce15645]

@LohengrinT The inability to see one's own arrogance is characteristic of pricks

[LohengrinT]

@ce15645

all the arrogance in the world in not enough to describe Maria Callas - all the IQ in the world as well ;)

[Ariadne7710]

@reginabellestar Sorry but to say "Callas is as important as the others" is to complete misunderstand what Callas was. She changed the whole way of singing and performing opera. The "others" tried to imitate her but lacked the vocal range and technique which would enable them to do it. Believe me a Callas performance and any other performance is the difference between heaven and earth. I heard her live in the 50s and speak from personal experience. The whole thing was a revelation

[MCSQUARED31]

Incomparable Maria! She is a pure force of nature here, eclipsing Gino Becchi, although, I think, he did a great job in this performance in overall. Also, Maria's totally unparallelled musicianship is in evidence in every note (take, for example, her phrasing of "d'un ira fatale" in her solo in "S'appressan gli'stanti..." - it is out of this world.) Thank you so much, LohengrinT, for sharing!

[LohengrinT]

@MCSQUARED31

she herself had said in one of her letters that both she and Becchi had done very well in this performance

I think especially this excerpt is monumental

[pump066]

LohengrinT thank's for posting this! IMO this is one of, if not the most increbible of

all Callas' recorded miracoli.Just listen to that "gearless" swing upwards in full voice!

Those were truly the power-days or as we say Maria's Iron-Lungs-period.This is from

1949 and she could do pretty much anything with that instrument of hers.

[atpa5021]

electricity??? Nuclear power!!!

[Kibouo]

Apart from the massive E at the end, the B natural at 1:56 blew me back in my seat, and that's listening to the recording!

[Qbendanny]

Callas could sing the volcanic explosion of Mt. Vesuvius.

[ubedajils]

Superlativo.

[chekkkit]

Gino Becchi sounds a lot like Mario Del Monaco - another of my favorite tenors.



[drstrangelove09]

HOLY CRAP!!!!

[Singa2570]

Wow. Thank you for uploading this. Oh to have been there! I wonder if the people knew at the time how lucky they'd be in history... sounds like probably they did :-)

[LohengrinT]

@Singa2570

I truly ask myself this very question about maria''s armida in 1952... I doubt anyone realized what maria was doing that night

[Philobiblion]

Great comments y'all

[RoOodOoOloOmeg]

Right now is the only thing I want to hear. So enormous, so powerful... she makes me to love Verdi. That's what happen when you put together a great composer alongside two great interpreters. Nabucco, I feel sorry for you and your daughter. Abigaille: you're such a powerful bitch with no feelings and I think I'm in love with you xD

[LohengrinT]

@RoOodOoOloOmeg

Abigaille will never be sung this way again - not ever ;)

[Alce2008]

@LohengrinT you are very right, dear!

[georgerannie]

WOW--I think that she "blew" the other singer off of the stage.

[LohengrinT]

@georgerannie

the other singer too was singing on 150% of his usual capacity

[thelepewguy]

Effin WOW!!! The world of opera has never been and will never be the same without you Mary....

[LohengrinT]

@thelepewguy

can you imagine today someone crowing the Deh perdona duet with such an Eb6 after having sung Abigaile as enormously as Maria did? I cant ;)

[philipc67]

So great! Maria, at the age of 26 (December 1949) is astonishing as Abigaille in this historic NABUCCO from Naples. The duet with Gino Bechi (also superb), despite the mediocre sound quality, is peerless. Even the famous recording with Gobbi and Suliotis pales. Try and find this complete live 1949 recording, "Va Pensiero" is sung twice, with audience disruptions, cries of "Viva l'Italia!", and "Vittorio!" (for Gui), and you can hear spectators WEEPING during the second rendition. Tremendous!

[johnnybouhaha]

A high Eb unbelievable!!!! And the way she climbs to it and comes down from it, is also marvellous.

[MariaCaIIas]

@bconsitt I am not that sure this is human..... ;-)

[LohengrinT]

@bconsitt

she just shouldnt have sung it that way - she should have made a small scale before the note like Sutherland did, or a slow scoop like Gruberova would or better! not sing it at all like Montsi would in order to keep her voice healthy until she was left with one tooth in her mouth and look like a mummy scaring people on stage like all the previously mentioned did :)

But now that I come to think about, thank God she did sing it like no-one else ever would :)

[pointemeout]

@LohengrinT

ha. i was reading your comment..and then go to the end and realized it was sir LT..so i accept it.

much love!

[ChrisStockslager]

2:25 - Good God..... If only she could've kept this voice two or so decades longer. :( But then again, if she had, we may not have had Sutherland. But think if we had two amazing voices at the same time!!

[LohengrinT]

@ChrisStockslager

would it matter if Mozart and Bellini had lived beyond the age of 33? Does that make them less Phenomenal? Bellini composed his Norma (the greatest opera ever written) years before he died

Geniuses act wtih different speeds but always do much more than others

What more could Callas have done? Sing the remaining 3 Assoluta roles she didnt sing? (Devereux, Reiza and Gemma?) I dont think she liked those operas :)

There can never be two true No1s at the same time

[gustopheles]

@LohengrinT Didn't like Devereux! We can't speculate about that.

And there were two #1s several times - Isabella Colbran and Giuditta Pasta; Giuseppina Strepponi and Sophie Cruvelli; Giulia Grisi and Maria Malibran. (For the record, I only really sought to know of these women from youtubers like you and @primohomme.)

[LohengrinT]

@gustopheles

not truly No1s those you mention, Legends but only Pasta and Malibran were true No1s and Malibran died aged 28 if that tells you something ;)

[gustopheles]

@LohengrinT Colbran was, and certainly Grisi at a certain point. Why wouldn't they be?

[LohengrinT]

@gustopheles

we dont mean no1 of the decade or among coloraturas or no1 in a specific category

Have you ever met or studied a true No1? a person so unique that has no equal?

we are talking extremely rare humans here

Two No1s can never co-exist, one will break

[gustopheles]

@LohengrinT I wouldn't say I studied Callas, but she's the only assoluta (or "No1") I've read about extensively. What qualities does Pasta have that Colbran did not?

[LohengrinT]

@gustopheles

I havent studied the descriptions of Colbran extensively and she did indeed sing Armida one of the most difficult of the Assoluta roles - but if you really want the minimum requirements for calling a singer a Soprano Sfogato or Assoluta (Sutherland was never one despite the psychotic efforts of her husband and his g3rls to present her as such) that would be to be successful at least as Norma Bolena Armida and Medea (this combination extends the voice to every possible way)

[LohengrinT]

@gustopheles

I dont think that Colbran had sung all that... she was more of a Rossini expert and Rossini not in his most difficult page cannot be compared with the nightmarish difficulty of the Bellinian simplicity

[LohengrinT]

@gustopheles

Im very curious to see what Sondra Radvanovsky will do with Norma - she has all the tones written in the score (rare), she has the agility, she has the technique when she wants to and has studied enough, she has the dynamics but she lacks a bit the Musicianship and very often she sounds totally unprepared in the recitativi. Also in her recent Trovatore her very often "sobs" didnt persuade anyone she was suffering (how can an American have a sense of Tragedy!)

[gustopheles]

@LohengrinT I've never been sold on Radvanovsky. I think her voice is beautiful, and the range and power are amazing. But everything she sings sounds like she's wailing - Lucrezia, Trovatore, Tosca. And you're right, the musicianship doesn't seem to be there.

The women I listed are all singers for whom assoluta roles like Vespri and Nabucco were written. I only assumed that if other roles, like the four you mention, were presented to these singers, they could perform them.

[gustopheles]

@LohengrinT Marianna Barbieri-Nini for example, who studied under Pasta, created Lady Macbeth. Isn't that an assoluta role, requiring the agility, power and range of anything as difficult as Bolena or Medea? But the concept of Bellinian simplicity is new to me - I don't think I understand this idea. You must scoff at the over-embellished Norma Beverly Sills sang!

[LohengrinT]

@gustopheles

Pure coloraturas as Sills etc over-embelish Norma because they trully cannot sing it as written with a full 3 octave support of the voice - also very often the Bellinian ornaments when sung exactly as Bellini wrote them are x10 more difficult than added staccati etc It is a trick pure coloraturas do - they sing what they can! sing and they try to hide that

[philipc67]

@LohengrinT I agree, despite some beautiful passages one cannot possibly take Sills seriously as Norma...or Sutherland for that matter, God forgive me. Too much ornamentation, no divine stage presence, no intonation or harmony in the crucial recitativi, no low register. Scotto, Ross, Gencer, Suliotis et al had some good moments. What about Cigna? I still believe that the 20th century saw just 3 great Normas: Ponselle, Callas, and Caballe. Basta.

[LohengrinT]

@philipc67

Ponselle sounded like a duck in the coloratura passages and slipped out of tune often (no coloratura training) and Caballe sang it with her 3 usual notes two of which were pianissimo

I consider Sutherland the only descent Norma after Callas but too far beneath her

[philipc67]

@LohengrinT I disagree re Sutherland and Norma. I never considered her a serious stage performer. A supreme vocalist, yes. But she had poor low notes, muzzy tone as if she always sang with a cold, zero temperament despite an impressive presence, and zero diction. Caballe in the mid/late 1970s came close to being an Assoluta (Gioconda, Medea) but didn't quite make it, her 1972 Scala and 1974 Orange Normas were admirable and by then she had gained some vocal heft and bite.

[LohengrinT]

@gustopheles

Yes Lady Macbeth is an Assoluta role but singing one Assoluta role does not classify you as Assoluta - also singing ALL of them (Caballe) also does not classify you as an Assoluta voice cause it all depends on how you sing them - how many compromises you make

Coloratura that is so "simple" as to convey a very strong melody is the key to failure because it must be sung with extreme accuracy otherwise the melody is ruined = the audience feels it instantly

[philipc67]

@LohengrinT Hello, dear LohengrinT, please can I have your list of Assoluta roles? And what are your references for it? I suppose they are all 19th century Italian sfogati? I would agree that Norma, Lady Macbeth and Abigaille belong there, but Bolena or Borgia?

[LohengrinT]

@philipc67

the 9 defining assoluta roles are Norma, Bolena, Elisabetta (Devereux), Abigaile, Lady Macbeth, Armida, Medea, Reiza (Oberon) and Gemma di Vergy and it is not my list :))

[philipc67]

@LohengrinT Remember, Caballe never sang Abigaille, Lady Macbeth or Armida on stage, although she recorded some scenes.

[LohengrinT]

@gustopheles

ever asked yourself why 99% of singers fail as Carmen? is it too difficult to sing? not really - but the melodies are so strong that everyone knows them, the deviation from perfect tonality is instantly felt. Rosa Ponselle was a failure as Carmen - the list is endless, most singers fail as Carmen

[LohengrinT]

@cuoredeinidi

at least renee has a tremendous vocal instrument in her throat - how about comparing Callas to every 3rd to 4th class singer who appears every now and then? or even worse to some coloraturas with 5 notes in their throat (like Dessay)

[tetrazzini]

iNSANNNNNE ! That's pure energy

[ungiornodiregno]

@tetrazzini Yes, I fully agree with you. Do you know a better Abigaille then? Just perfect!

[gustopheles]

Astonishing! Thank you for posting this!

[alehamdro]

Credo di questo fu a Napoli. Grazie, complimenti.

[Aetion]

I am afraid that such performances will not be seen/heard again!

[LohengrinT]

@philipc67

I cannot say but "Viva l Italia" for giving us the Ecstatic Pleasure of Opera which led the Human Singing to "INSANELY HIGH" levels of Superiority (I worship all forms of the Superior!) but I will say from my heart "Viva Vittorio Gui" for he was a small God among the Great Gods

[MrTatzelwurm]

This is not a Duett, this is a Duell ..... Duell of the Giants. A Greatful Moment of Opera. Incredible Artists, both!!!!!!

[debislo]

MAN! Those sounds, those timings are almost inhuman. She was really a beast of the scene, a monster of tragedy and a total gift to world music. Forever.

[galehout]

and she was only 26! In a letter to her husband from Naples, she wrote that the other singers were out of shape, the smoke of the burnt paper irritated her throat, and that the director did not understand anything, so she just have to invent all the character of Abigaille

[pitvla8]

One of my favorite moments from Callas's entire recorded career.

[benedett89]

bravissima la callas! bravissimo comunque (da non dimenticare) anche gino bechi!!!

[Aetion]

Thrilling, just thrilling!

[Klassizismus]

I love this duet! And Callas adds the most insane but greatest theatrical effect I have ever heard!!!

Where are the great Abigailles of our time????

[LohengrinT]

the soprano Assoluta in general (Abigaille, Lady Macbeth, Norma, Medea, Bolena etc) does not live. We are still waiting for the next Assoluta to be born.

[Dymension]

@Klassizismus Dimitrova was probably the last. Guleghina showed great prommise, but she sang to big....

[primohomme]

Electric!!!