1954 La Scala Lucia

[MultiZahl]

Die unvergleichliche Maria Callas in einer ihrer Glanzrollen-eine sehr seltene Aufnahme aus dem Jahre 1954.-Vielen Dank operADB

[simisimi9]

BONYNGE TALKED BAD ABOUT MARIA CALLAS CAUSE HE KNEW THAT WAS IN FRONT A GENIUS OF MUSIC...AND WAS AFRAID HER WIFE WERW ECLIPSED AND COULD NOT EARN MONEY THAT MADE HIM LIVING WELL...HE WAS ALWAYS A CONDUCTOR FIT FOR A CIRCUS...A GREEDY AND MEDICRE MAN, NO WONDER HE TALKED AGAINNST MARIA, THAT IS WHAT MEAN PEOPLE DO

[neneorganico]

@simisimi9 Marico take your prozac because you will not sleep well tonight and don't do that again ! (don't put a Coca Cola bottle in your ass again, the hustler you give money have to take you to hospital every time you do that). Life is so different for each one, Maestro Bonynge is 83 and he is a millionaire and lives in Switzerland and Dame Joan enjoyed a very long an wonderful life, (she was 83 when she passed away quietly) and your mother has to work in a whorehouse in Chile to can eat

[simisimi9]

@neneorganico HA,HA...YOU DO NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT PROZAC IS...AND THE BOTTLE UP THE ASS PROBABLY IS SOMETHING YOU DO EVERY DAY,,, DO NOT PROJECT YOUR LOW LIFE AND MISERABLE PERSON IN OTHERS......AND ABOUT MOTHERS, IS YOUR MOM STILL IN TRATMENT FOR SIPHILIS.????

[simisimi9]

@neneorganico AHH, AND LEARN SOME PROPER ENGLISH BEFORE POSTING CRAP ON YOUTUBE...WELL, LOW PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS ENVY OTHERS BETTER THAN THEM !!!!!!!!!!

[neneorganico]

@simisimi9 Still wake up ? what happens ? you run out of words? You could not deny my sentences because are unappealable. Dame Joan was a great lady , a classy woman and ugly Maria was vulgar, hysterical, nasty and evil woman and she was dreadddddful as a woman too. Maria ended her life very bad, so sad, at 53.Maria prostituted with Meneghini and then she suffered the worst humiliation by Onassis, she was only Onassis' whore, Jackie was his wife. Poor Maria and with that mediocre voice !

[simisimi9]

SHE WAS , IS AND WILL BE THE VERY BEST OF ALL SOPRANOS....THE ONE AND ONLY...THOUGH TEBALDI, SUTHERLAND,ETC, FANS,, WILL ALWAYS BE HATERS....OF COURSE, THOSE OTHER SINGERS WERE JUST COMMONERS, AND MARIA CALLAS WAS THE ABSOLUTE QUEEN !!!

[neneorganico]

@simisimi9 Maria Callas debuted Lucìa in 1952 and her Eflat lasted only two years , since 1955 she missed the Eflats in her following Lucias until 1959 when she dropped the role. Joan Sutherland sang Eflat for over 30 years ! since 1959 to 1990 her farewell.

Poor Maria her career was so short , her voice dropped out so early...However she is a dear creature for me.Even here in 1954 the Eflat is a scream

[simisimi9]

@neneorganico IT IS REALLY SAD THA THE GREATEST ARTIST OF ALL TIMES LASTED SO SHORT WITH THE HIGH NOTES LIKE IN LUCIA......BUT SHE WAS MORE THAN HIGH NOTES, SHE WAS A STAGE ANIMAL, A SINGING ACTRESS, SHE LOST SOME HIGH NOTES, SO WHAT??.....THE OTHER SINGERS WITH THOSE NOTES HAVE NO POSSIBLE COMPARISON TO LA CALLAS......EVEN IN THE WORST NIGHTS OF LA DIVINA !!!

[neneorganico]

@simisimi9 I am in total agreement with you on this topic, Maria was an animal, each time she entered a country they asked her the certificate of vaccination, she used flea necklace and when she was on stage there was a bucket of water in the corner.When Maria was angry her finocchio fans made her sing tied.

[simisimi9]

@neneorganico YOUR WORDS ONLY TRANSLATES THE ANIMAL YOU ARE...MARIA CALLAS WAS WORLD KNOWN AS THE GREAT ARTIST SHE WAS AND HAS NEVER BEEN ANY OTHER SINGER THAT MAY BE COMPARED WITH HER GENIUS AS AN INTEGRAL ARTIST,,,,,,,,MAYBE THE FLEA NECKLACE SHOULD BE USED BY YOY, CAUSE IT SEEMS YOUR LITTLE BRAIN IS PRETTY DAMAGED BY PARASITES, DEAF MORON !!!

[simisimi9]

@neneorganico THE ONLY ANIMAL HERE IT IS YOU, SHE WAS THE GREATEST THOUGH THAT HURTS YOUR DAMAGED LITTLE BRAIN, YOU SHOULD USE THE FLEA NECKLACE , THE PARASITES ARE AFFECTING YOUR JUDGEMET AS WELL AS YOUR TASTE....GO TO A SHRINK !!!

[neneorganico]

@simisimi9 Oh I feel sorry , I didn't want to see you so nervous and in this painful condition , even less knowing you are very ill. You are one of the first cases of syphilis in Chile for many years , I pray for you because you have another terminal disease (I will not talk about this illness here).Poor Maria she died at 53 and since she was 45 she lived concealed in her Paris apartment, she ended her life at 53 and nearly out of her mind, mad, she was a looser I pray for her

[neneorganico]

@simisimi9 She lost only some high notes ? hahaha She started her professional career in 1947 (she was 23), By 1955 her voice had became very little, thin and unsteady (she was only 31) By 1959/60 her career was over because the voice was gone completely.

[neneorganico]

@simisimi9 Even in her very prime (that lasted a wind from the anus) Richard Bonynge told in an interview he attended all Callas 's Norma performances at Covent Garden in 1952. Mr Bonynge told Callas's Norma first act was always only acceptable or even, so-so , Mr Bonynge continued, he said she improved on second act but he insisted about Callas's voice was too flawed.

[distefano13069609]

They didnt encore it did they?

[zurriussII]

It was like an earthquake!

BRAVO!

[iriisblue]

Open wide and ... SCREAM.

[TheMrMarilyn]

@iriisblue Thass what singing is really (well,stratospheric high notes at least)...controlled screaming...and how magnificent Maria was at it too!!It's an art form...LoL

[TheMrMaz]

Lets face it...there will NEVER be 'another Callas'...no matter HOW hard Caballe and Sutherland &Sills and all the REST of her imitators wish it weren't so!!She IS the personification of Prima Donna Assoluta...absolute perfection!!!!I worship her and her art...magnificent suffering!!

[RichardFierceTv]

Sutherland never imitated her. They both reign as excellent Lucia's.

[TheMrMaz]

@RichardFierceTv : of COURSE she "imitated her"!!!!This was done getting on for DECADES BEFORE Slovenland 'took on' the role...and when she DID she was being directed by ZEFIRRELLI,who was doing the exact same production for Maria and then they switched!!Can't be bothered to educate you to the whole situation,but eithert look it up or buy some BOOKS about everything...it's all there babes!!Old Joanie started in the chorus of Maria's first Norma at Covent Gdn in '51/2 fo fuk sake...CHECK!!!!!!

[iriisblue]

@TheMrMaz You have no business educating anybody given your many errors. Sutherland NEVER sang in the chorus at Covent Garden. Her first role was the First Lady in The Magic Flute. She sang Clothilde in the NORMA with Callas. As for Lucia, there was no "switch." Callas CANCELLED her engagement to sing the production once she heard Sutherland do it. Even if you don't, she knew she when she was bested. As for looking it up, the name is Zeffirelli.

[Elisabetta611]

@iriisblue

Bested? Like hell. She cancelled because of a cracked high note after the first performance. The perfectionist in her made her cancel, not Sutherland.

[iriisblue]

@Elisabetta611 A perfectionist who can't sing high notes? Interesting concept. Your opinion would be at odds with history, not to mention Franco Zeffirelli's personal account, but whatever.

[Elisabetta611]

@iriisblue

She could sing them. And anyone can be a perfectionist. It doesn't follow that you have to be perfect. I for one prefer prime Callas comet like high notes to Sutherland's mushy ones. (I love Sutherland though) Zeffirelli said a lot of things... many of which being untrue.

[TheMrMarilyn]

@iriisblue Yes...old Franco can be er...'colourful' with the truth at times,LoL

[TheMrMarilyn]

@iriisblue All of the facts that you mentioned here are very well known to me...so that would make me 'educated' i guess huh!!And you can't "educate" ANYone if they're not interested...i happen to LOVE learning,AND i do my homework too...thoroughly!!But thank you for taking the time to write to me though...others thoughts are always interesting to me!!x

[TheMrMarilyn]

@iriisblue P.S: I know Franco...x

[iriisblue]

@RichardFierceTv Sutherland was a superstar for 30 years, singing magnificently into her 60s. She didn't manage that unprecedented feat by imitating Callas, whose voice was in tatters by the time she was 38.

[baritonebynight]

@TheMrMaz If you listen to Sills, Sutherland and Caballe they will speak of Callas with great admiration and they never wanted to be her "imitators". All great artists in their own right.

[TheMrMarilyn]

@baritonebynight By the sheer fact of them following after Maria in timescale alone they can be said to be 'imitating' her!!And yes...i'm aware of their comments about her over the years...Caballe was exceptionally lovely about her!!And i wasn't trying to say that none of those women have no merit,that would be lunacy (an i aint quite THAT far gone...yet,LoL)!!

[lamusicahera]

@TheMrMaz I agree 100000000000000000000000 %

BRAVA LA GRANDE MARIA CALLAS

BRAVA LA GRANDE DIVINA

[Elisabetta611]

La Scala at her feet.... That applause is a madscene itself!!!

[Kibouo]

that final note was B E A Utiful...

[MrJuan541]

Las óperas italianas del género del dramático, y del lírico, me dan ganas de sentir la luz de Dioses que brillan por mi alma humilde. Las óperas líricas y dramáticas en el genero del bel canto me hacen sentir tan contento que quiero compartir mis rayos de alegrías con todos los fanáticos de la ópera. Saludos y mucha alegría a todos los hispanohablantes.

[MrJuan541]

Llevo el gran orgullo de poseer y gozar de tantas de las contribuciones de esta gran dama al arte de ópera

[MrJuan541]

One can compare the versions of her singing LUCIA with Serafin in these early years to her performances of LUCIA under the baton of Karajan during this same period. With Serafin, she sang from the back of the throat; there's more buzzing from that veiled middle register, and the voice is fuller and more varied; very rich in sound. She also, under Serafin, sails into every last high note without the slight pauses you here in this performance. Esta señora divina vivirá para siempre.

[MrJuan541]

I I recommend this recording to anyone who appreciates the great artistry of this incomparable musician. I have her 1955 performance with Karajan in Berlin; one high E flat there in the Mad Scene. She interpolates both of them here. She sings Lucia with Karajan using a different vocal approach. With Karajan, she sings with her voice placed forward and there's a "ping" in the high notes, and a rest before the final high note.

[ezayi]

Maginificent!!!

[tneprescintr]

the crowd's enthusiasm is almost orgasmatic...

[evagheorghiu]

ahhhhh maria I adore youuu!

[houncane]

La Callas, dopo questa esibizione, si guadagnò l'appellativo di divina, e ben 38 minuti di applausi da parte del pubblico scaligero. Brava Callas!

[Alleeexoscm]

Fabulosa Maria Callas... Divina, LA DIVINA.

Estupenda su capacidad vocal, creo que en realida Maria Callas se clasificaría dentro de una matiz de soprano mucho más amplio que la S. de Coloratura y menos Dramatica, porque no encuentro ninguna con ese tipo de voz que cante el repertorio tan gigante como el de la Callas (tal, S. Sfogatto, aunque con algo de deficit en tesituras supergraves)

Pero más importante fue ponerle lo que solo ella podía: sentimiento, hacer de la obra un melodrama real.

[powrpuff]

Part horn, part clarinet, part flute, part human... i wish i saw this live.

[Frufrucucu]

Callas had such an agile voice! She was able to sing with such ease...and you can really notice that. One thing I notice a lot in comments is people reffering to Callas as a Dramatic Soprano while comparing her with others. One correction, she was a Dramatci COLORATURA Soprano, not a Dramatic Soprano, although her voice was as powerful as one.

[ezayi]

Why should we believe what you or the others say whether she was a dramatic coloratura or a dramatic soprano?. At the end she was whatever she was... and will be for eternity.

[JuillHope17]

are you kidding me? you know NOTHING of callas. she sang plenty of wagner and many dramatic soprano roles, and just because she has agility in her voice and coloratura notes, doesn't mean that she's a coloratura at all. look at joan sutherland!!! she sang plenty of things, but what she was most popular in was the coloratura stuff. even so, callas was popular in all kinds of things, not JUST coloratura repertoire. i mean, hello!!! she even sang MEZZO roles. seriously, go learn REAL FACTS.

[dosquinientos]

JullHope, for the FACTS we all are best served by consulting John Ardoin's book on Callas' complete recordings. The fact is that she got away from Wagner forever as soon as she could, and that she never sang those mezzo roles live on stage. To understand Callas we need do no more than research which roles she herself chose to interpret when her voice was at its peak and when she had the clout to choose.

[JuillHope17]

callas never said she got away from wagner as soon as she could, and continued to sing wagner arias well into the late 50's you dolt. THEY'RE EVEN ON YOUTUBE, and as for the roles: yes she stopped singing them early, but it wasn't because she didn't want to, and there is no record of her saying she didn't want to. i know more about callas than you think. i've been her fan since age 5, and i've continued to listen to and study her voice and her as a person since then. don't try to school me.

[Shahrdad]

@JuillHope17 Actually, after her 1951 Kundrys, the only other example of Callas singing Wagner is her Liebestod which she did at her Athens concert in 1957. I'm not sure she ever really cared that much for Wagner: i think her heart was in the bel canto world of Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini, and Verdi. She even thought that La Gioconda was just on the border of decent singing.

[diuscorvus]

Callas herself said in her interview with Harewood that she found Norma much more difficult to sing than Wagner. I agree. I imagine she changed repertoire because her heart was in bel canto. She did say in the Harewood interview that she enjoyed singing Wagner very much. I think it's because the women roles in Wagner are noble, like Norma & Violetta (she disliked Tosca & Medea).

[birgitnilsson]

Se lo dejaste claro, dosquinienaetos. I en términos que yo mismo habría empleado. un campeon!!!!!

[Shahrdad]

@JuillHope17 The ONLY mezzo role Callas ever sang on stage was the Rosina in tBarbiere. She did sing some "mezzo" arias, even in her early days in Athens (Nacqui all'affanno), and she liked singing Una Voce Poco Fa a lot too. Later on in the 60's, she sang some mezzo arias such as O Don Fatale, as well as the arias from Werther and Damnation of Faust. She only recorded Carmen and sang arias out of it, but never sang the whole role on stage. Barbiere is the only mezzo role on stage.

[actor001]

i mean opera is divided before and after Callas

[dosquinientos]

bravo.

In Zefirelli's words; "the most important event in the history of Italian opera since Verdi" (notice the omission of Puccini); And- adding to JullHope's observation - the fact that someone CAN sing Wagner (as infrequently as possible) does not mean that one is happiest or best singing Wagner.

[dosquinientos]

Ê vero actor001. Ê vero. That is what Visconti always said.

[ubedajils]

In the HOLY NAME OF G... this is absolutly the crazyness!! DEA, CALLAS, DEA, ON MY KNEES.

[operaboy81]

I think Callas had a secure high e flat, before the 1960s. When her voice was in its prime she could sing the bell song from Lakme. Whether you like her voice or not, she had a very agile voice. Dramatic voices usually are not capable of singing with much agility. This is why casting a role like Norma is so damn difficult.

[sour7lemon]

At the end of the video you hear the intro to Spargi come back in... was she just about to perform an encore of the aria?

[niklausse]

Unsurpassable!

[meltzerboy]

Elisabetta611, I agree about Callas' ability to color her voice according to the role, but her physical acting, while sincere, was sometimes hammy. She was a great artist nonetheless, despite certain technical shortcomings, such as uneven registers and high-note problems. One minor correction about Sutherland: she did sing Aida during her early Covent Garden days.

[ezayi]

And?

[DessayBestSinger]

HAhA Gab!!! t'as de koi casser les gens!!!

[zurriuss]

No words can express her!

[DessayBestSinger]

So right! she's more than the best!

[zurriuss]

THE DIVA OF DIVAS!!!!

[gspichuni]

The darling of the seven seas!!

The precious gift to humans straight from Gods House !!

The mother of all the Muses!!

L-A D-I-V-I-N-A!!!!

[tiennouts]

Impressionnant. Maria Callas est ma préférée je trouve qu'elle la seule qui a chanté Lucia avec une telle puissance. Son contre mi bémol est d'une puissance phénoménal

[chloric1]

Forget high notes - listen to the runs and the fioriture - is there anyone that sings these ornaments as seamlessly? Even Sills who had a quick voice did a more mechanical articulation of these passages. It's as if Callas runs lightly and precisely over each distinct note...like a flute. AMAZING.

[zurriuss]

E flat was like a voulcano! VIVA DIVA!

[amorepercallas]

no other singer emotes the torture and craze of lucia the way callas did. she became every character she sang, there will never be another like her

[saverioorlando]

Attention:the audio live of this period (listen to Corelli,Del Monaco,Tebaldi...) cannot be compared with recent audio.

[katiafeodorovna]

It is ridicullous to compare Callas with Sutherland, because, simply Joan was never able to do what Callas did, because Callas was unique, that simple. Callas was giant, she was theatre. Joan had a very little voice, very nice, but little and unexpressive, so it is not possible to compare.

[ganteros]

With all respects, I think this wonderful recording session was singing by Callas AND no Di Stefano, but Lauri-Volpi!!, really in 1954 in La Scalla. Check it.

[xafnndapp]

No, at La Scala she sang with di Stefano.

She sang Lucia in Florence in 1953 with Lauri-Volpi

[yunshanwanli]

Bravo!

[opera60]

Maria always walked the tightrope in every performance thats what's so great about her good or bad,would love to have been at one of her performances!

[zoozooyou]

Amazing! I wish I were there.

[sicuro75]

This was the very beginning of 1954 and the voice still had it's qualities of her 1952 Armida..

[panheat]

one word:..nobodycandoublecallasan­dthatsthat..

[fantasual]

Any of this mad scene in it's entirety operADB? i do know in this 1954 performance she had another high E preceding this final high E flat.

[operADB]

There was apparently some radio transmission problems that night and unfortunately it occurred in the middle of the mad scene. So you get some distortion and then it goes dead and then it picks up again. I can, and will, post the end with the first E flat though.

[fantasual]

Yes!that High E flat blew the freakin roof off and the audience went bazerk.

[MAPIAKALLAS]

Wow just WoW what a wonderful performence Callas was Divina in this aria of lucia BRAVA Callas the last E flat was out of this world hear that public

[saverioorlando]

audio old style,historical performance:callas karajan scala's orchestra,hot public...

[dugbin]

That's the natural ability of Callas' voice; to be able to execute diminuendos on her high notes, like the E-flat on the final Sonnambula aria. Can Sutherland do that? I don't think so.

[espacecardin]

What you call a natural ability is to use the falsetto!.Sutherland NEVER cheated the public using falsetto, Sutherland voice is the same voice from the begining to the end , from top to bottom like a great singer must be

[dugbin]

Well, if it is a natural ability to use the falsetto, then Sutherland does not have that.

[Elisabetta611]

A diminuendo isn't a falsetto. Sutherland never was capable of using vocal colors, she sounds the same in everything. And she was a bad actress.

[espacecardin]

Darling you are a baby, have to learn many thing about singing.Joan Sutherland voice and singing were perfect.She sang as it must be, from bottom to full body top, ONLY one PERFERT voice from top to bottom.Callas sang as she could, a lot of voices, many colors in her register, lightening her voice to reach the high notes, and even though (very bad high notes, wobbly, thin, unsteady, using falsetto, etc)

[Elisabetta611]

No dear, I'm an opera critic with two degrees. Sutherland's voice wasn't perfect. She had diction problems, her lower register was woolen, her singing was one-dimensional and flat. Again, I love Sutherland. A lot. But she wasn't perfect. (And neither was Callas)

[Elisabetta611]

As for forte high notes...

Callas interpolated a ringing E-flat in the triumph march of Aida. Did Sutherland do that? Wait, no, she never sang Aida. Or Armida? Or the hellishly difficult Proch variations? Nope. Or Abigail? Lady Macbeth? Medea? Kundry? Brünnhilde? Isolde? Nope, no Sutherland doing those.

[espacecardin]

Callas high notes are always awful, never beautiful.On that '51 Aida, she cannot be heard in the two ensemble 2nd act and at she only can be heard at the end with that Eflat that it is a scream, an awful note

[Elisabetta611]

They were gorgeous from 1947-1958. She DOMINATES the Act 2 finale, drowning out both the Amneris and Radames. The E-flat is perfection itself. Neither Sutherland nor anyone else was capable of such vocal miracles.

[espacecardin]

Gorgeous ? Callas notes never were gorgeous, unless you lost your mind.Vocal miracles ? Callas ??? But if her voice was very mediocre ! in all sense

[Elisabetta611]

Dear, yes, vocal miracles. The greatest musicians, singers, conductors, critics and directors knew that. She was an artist through and through. What are those silly vanilla voices compared to her who lived and breathed every role she ever did? Callas was a once in a lifetime artist. One of the greatest ever. And she is recognised as such and always will be.

[espacecardin]

Silly vanilla voices compared with Callas ? It speaks of the typical Callas fan psycothic illness.You have the right to like her but you know you are telling lies to yourself.

Callas instrument was mediocre and she, her persona and as an artist, she was ugly, her interpretations are not sincere and are weak, bland sometimes or ugly

[Elisabetta611]

Yes, silly vanilla voices. You are telling lies to yourself. The greatest musicians, critics, singers, conductors and directors respect and revere Maria Callas. Caballe called herself "small compared to Maria" for example. Prefer other singers, that's alright. But respect those who deserve respect. You have never met Maria, how can you judge her character? Cont.

[Elisabetta611]

And if there is anything her interpretations never were it's bland (Sutherland was bland), weak or insincere. She wasn't flawless. She was human. But she was and is one of opera's greatest icons. And you won't change that. To me and many others she had a beauty no other soprano ever achieved. She gave everything she had to her art.

[actor001]

Calm down

you know that comparing La Divina and La Stupenda is like compare an apple and a pear

both have different voices and styles one is dark- metalic and the other is crystalline

one was an excellent Tosca and the other and excellent Lucrezia Borgia

But both were the Lucia´s of 20th century

one was absolutly dramatic and makes you feel the tragedy of the character the other one is a sweet creature defeated by the people around her

It is a fact that opera... (Continue)

[actor001]

Before and After Callas but Sutherland is recognized as one of the best COLORATURA sopranos of the 20th century

so i think there is not comparison

dont read negative comments because in every video you will find it just ignore them

Cheers

[espacecardin]

To sing at Palacio Bellas Artes Mexico, what major opera house is Palacio Bellas Artes? It is even less important than an Italy small provincial theater (Bari or Trieste).Stop with that horrible '49 Abigail ! taht she only gave 3 performances and she sounds awful, ugly vibrato, ugly high notes

[Elisabetta611]

Everyone starts somewhere. In 1951 she already sang at La Scala. It doesn't matter where you sing, it's how you sing. Amelita Galli Curci never sang at La Scala at all. Does that make her any less of an artist?

Callas' Abigaille is amazing. She has the Bel Canto technique AND the huge voice for it. The trills in "Ben io t'invenni" for example. Picture perfect. Amazing.

[espacecardin]

Lady Macbeth ? only one time in 1952 at LaScala and goodbye, and the performamce is lousy, Callas screams and has some accidental notes as well.Isolde ??? To speak of Callas as Isolde is fiction, only in the mind of a Callas fan

[Elisabetta611]

She was to sing Lady Macbeth under Toscanini and in 1958 at the MET. Sadly it did not happen. She is recognised as the greatest Lady Macbeth ever. When Caballe was offered the Lady she asked Callas whether she should sing it or not. Her performances in 52 and the arias on her Verdi recitals are examples of how to sing Verdi. And her Isolde? The critics adored it.

[espacecardin]

You are out of your mind.Callas Verdi albums are a shame."Non pianger mia compagna" Aroldo arias, etc, are painful.This is an aexample of the Callas fan illness.She sang Macbeth at LaScala in 1952 and no more.You speak of plans that never took place to sing it again, you speak of Caballe as a possible Lady, you don't know anything about voices ! Have you ever heard Amy Shuar '60 London Lady ?It is inmensely greater and better tahn '52 Callas

[Elisabetta611]

Callas' Verdi albums are THE standard of how to sing Verdi. End of the story.

The Macbeth plans are facts. Toscanini wanted her as his Lady but sadly he had to retire before it could happen. At the MET the Lucia/Lady problem came between its realisation and Rysanek replaced Callas.

[Elisabetta611]

Caballe was offered the Lady but never sang it, I'm not saying she should have done it because she did not have the voice for it. (She asked Callas whether she should do it or not and Callas advised against it. She did record the madscene though) Yes, I have heard Amy as Lady Macbeth. She was great. Very underrated, she should be more famous.

[fideliosmum]

Hooray - someone who rates Amy Shuard. She had a fabulous voice, and she was shamefully under recorded. I have her Lady Macbeth with Gobbi on cd and also Verdi Requiem cond. Guilini, would like to post but am really stupid with computers

[saverioorlando]

Gavazzeni said at his studio (Milano) 56;Maria will never admit transpositions!She had dominion about 3 octaves.Her D natural was wonderful,very strong.

[LazarNewDeal]

Whenever I listen to Sutherland singing (after 1976) I wonder what language she is using. It is like a flute, for example. Good music but it could be in arabic when you would not differentiate

[tripleaxell]

callas was known for her acting abilities..and you got everything the other way around..it was sutherland who adds more color in her register and callas was the one who sings AS IT MUST BE

[espacecardin]

Joan wasn't a superb actress like for example Regine Resnik but Joan wasn't an awful and ridiculous actress like Callas please !

[Elisabetta611]

Callas was, is and always will be recognised as a great actress and musician. She was an artist. A perfectionist. Case closed.

[dugbin]

And I also noticed that Sutherland also did that on her performance of this aria. She had to thin down the high notes.

[mdancer01]

breath taking

[jjcbss]

Was there an encore?

[operADB]

No encore....I messed up the end and it started over again, I'll have to correct it. However, from what I have read, at this performance the audience did interrupt the Mad Scene with a prolonged standing ovation.

[rockyriver]

la divina defining one my favorite operas, live, it doesn't get any better. thanks so much. every note and word so telling. like those soltanto's!!