Maria Callas "D'amore al dolce impero" Armida-Rossini 1952

[pointemeout]

still....tears. they refuse to NOT come out when this is on. I cannot explain or understand it. All I know is that for some odd reason it feels good. Thanks you Callas, the regular catharsis is sooo healthy for me that I could never thank you enough.

[nanai16951]

maria callas e' leggenda

[belcantismo]

@nanai16951 Maria Callas è non solo una leggenda, ma la realtà imprescindible per chiunque voglia affrontare il mondo dell'Opera, partendo dalla fondamenta. Ecco, Maria Callas è esattamente il pilastro fondante di questo mondo. Dopo di lei, nulla è stato più come prima. Ne facessero tesoro tutti coloro che credono di essere "arrivati". La Callas non si è mai fermata nella perenne ricerca dell'assoluto. Facciano anche loro lo stesso, mettendo da parte inutili e superflui trionfalismi

[nanai16951]

@belcantismo bellissime e giustissime le cose che dici.Le condivido pienamente.grazie!

[giant469]

No doubts: God does exits, is a woman and these are her vocal cords.

[ininacsot]

il est vrai que c'est superbe,

[BurnsteinandWarenoff]

So anybody who claim Maria Callas could not sing coloratura should listen to this and bow down!

[fabrizietto1980]

@BurnsteinandWarenoff they are deaf

[ubedajils]

IN-SU-PE-RA-BLE, se pongan cómo se pongan.

Años llevo escuchando con gozo esta interpretación, años quedándome sin aliento en el Re y el estruendoso, dominante y formidable do final.

Señor, como dicen por aquí, si te mandamos a todas de vuelta, nos la devolverías??

[rossinilove]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Callas the only one to include a cadenza at the end? BRAVA!

[Ariadne7710]

@belcantismo Penso che lei e Italiano e voglio dirle che i vostri video di Maria Callas mi danno un grande piacere e mi fanno ricordare i meravigliosi spettacoli di Maria Callas in Norma ed Anna Bolena quali che ho visto al Teatro alla Scala quando ero una giovane studente alla Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia negli anni 1955 - 1957. Erano insuperabili e indimendicabili momenti nella mia vita e vi ringrazio per farmi un si bello riccordo. Mi scusi ma ho dimenticato la lingua Italiana

[belcantismo]

@Ariadne7710 Grazie mille per le sue belle parole. Adoro condividere con altri appassionati ciò che più amo della grandissima Arte canora ed interpretativa del Genio assoluto di Maria Callas. Ancor più se si tratta di persone appassionate come lei che serbano ricordi tanto cari a tutti noi. Un cordiale ed affettuoso saluto dall'Italia e non si preoccupi per la dimenticanza della lingua: ciò che lei ha voluto esprimere risulta perfettamente comprensibile! :-)

[Ariadne7710]

@belcantismo Grazie tanto anche a lei per la sua gentilezza e cortesia, e lei ritorno tutti i suoi cordiali ed affetuosi saluti dalla Grecia.L'arte di Maria Callas era un' arte unica. Lei capisceva bene la personalita, la sensibilita,e gli sentimenti dell' ogni donna che lei interpretava. Quando cantava ogni ruolo non era come tutte l' altre cantanti. Lei era DA VERO, la Norma, o la Medea, od ogni altra. Per questo, dopo tanti anni dopo della sua morte noi amamo sentir la sua voce ancor.

[Ariadne7710]

By the time she was 30 Callas had sang Armida, Turandot, Gioconda, Fidelio, Tosca, Walkure, Puritani, Macbeth, Vespri, Norma, Medea, Lucia, Die Entfuhrung, and Turco in whole operas all over the world and countless arias from these and many other operas. Can anyone name another soprano who tackled such a diverse and punishing repertoire? Most sopranos from then on have been mainly interested in a carefully chosen repertoire to preserve their voice into their sixties! And look at the results!!!

[Faust075]

Dear God, if we give you Netrebko, Gheorgju, Fleming and all the others, would you send us back Maria Callas ??? Please ... 

[belcantismo]

@Faust075 Not enough for Him to give back her! :-)

[Ariadne7710]

@Faust075 Ahhh  if only!!!!!!!!!!!

[fabrizietto1980]

@Faust075 LOL you're a genius! :D

[Donizettimaniac]

Whenever I listen to things like this by Callas, I always feel that EVERYTHING ELSE is something we have to make do with. Especially today, it all seems like a compromise. Some things can be moving or even thrilling but there's really nothing to make you think 'OMG, this has changed me'. God bless her soul, she suffered undeservedly.

[MrPipposiculo]

Da Epoca n. 1408- - Celletti.

Ci si accorse anche che gli ornamenti e le fiorettature ..non erano vacuo ciarpame virtuosistico...rientravano in un linguaggio e in una poetica legati a periodi che erano tutti da riesaminare ...La novità ,però, non consisteva soltanto nelle scale e nei vocalizzi dipanati con varietà di colori e piglio ardito e veemente..investiva tutto il canto ,anche quello non quello non melismatico,attraverso il ritorno .... all'incisiva ampezza del fraseggio.....

[philipc67]

Sheer perfection, the volume, speed, agility, sovracuti, clarity of ALL the notes, phrasing, breathing, fearless delivery...superhuman. Listen to this, THEN go and listen to versions by Deutekom, Caballe, Gasdia, Donato, Fleming (disaster), or similar efforts by Sutherland, Gruberova, and the machine-gun hysterical Bartoli....and you see the difference between Callas and THE OTHERS. In her prime (too brief) she was an Assoluta, incomparable. No one can ever sing like this and no one ever will.

[belcantismo]

@philipc67 Thank you for your commenty. It is exactly what I think about Callas and "the Others", but it seems that to express in this way gave the etiquette of Callas widower! :-)

[pointemeout]

@philipc67

so here is what I see when I read your comment..."sheer perfection...Fleming(disaster)­..........." and it's simply amazing. 

[lloydsk]

How is this possible how does she go up and down those notes so clearly at that speed and return with these piercing dangerous shattering high notes did she break all the glasses in the theater? She si the most courageous singer I have ever heard.

[jocmuc1]

this aria is why i started to like callas, to love her.

i was really not the biggest callas-fan before.

but now i know why she is a really assoluta.

great, great, great.

[SweetFiness]

I have yet to hear coloratura done as Callas does it... PURE with out this "HHa-HHa-HHa" between notes.

Nevertheless, Armida is just one of those operas that must be laid to rest. Too demanding, it was too late for Fleming, and Callas has already closed the book on it!

[Homoclassicus]

@SweetFiness Actually, Fleming sang Armida early on, in 1993 and later in 1996, and in those occasions she was marvelous. Not the superhuman coloratura singing of Callas in 1952, but definitely amazing, accurate and extremely beautiful. I liked Fleming's 2009/10 Armida, but her coloratura and top just aren't as accurate and clear as before. You can't judge her based on that performance the same way you can't judge Callas for her 1959/60 performances, because her really best was in 1950-1956.

[sillyboydeux]

This performance demonstrates what she later emphasized at Juilliard: in coloratura passages, the notes are not skimmed, but rather emphasized precisely, and without pressure. All the dynamics have to be there, and their variations, as well as fermati, in order for something this complex to make any sense musically. Her version is the definitive one, as usual; the rest are just vague musical approximations with varying degrees of tonal beauty.

[Shahrdad]

@sillyboydeux The beauty and wonder of Callas's coloratura technique is how she is able to sing every single note cleanly, without resorting to aspiration or the gargling, machine-gun style of Bartoli and other Rossini "specialists". The voice dances on the notes, the passages are clean and legato, and one hears the shape and the beauty of the melody rather than hearing a bunch of notes shot at us like bullets. She makes music, not notes.

[danawinsor]

Brava Callas! You were the greatest of them all.

[tetrazzini]

This recording is a testimony of maybe the most amazing voice ever recorded.(whith the recording of Proch's variations...just MAD) And not only because of the virtuosity and the qualitiy of low and high notes, but also for her musicality, this unique phrasing (4.26 - 4.35 just let me speechless) completely effortless. When I discovered this recording of Armida years ago, It was a huge shock...and now it's still !!! Divina Maria Callas

[pointemeout]

@tetrazzini

ha. that's her first orgasmic note, as i call it. no one can touch her skill there. and it leaves me speechless daily as well

[operamaniac68]

I have commented on this before. I cannot stay away from it. It is like a fabulous glass of wine, more, more, more.

[pointemeout]

her precision in this number brings me back here:

listening to this song several several times each day is absolutely mandatory.

for me, the first tear always falls around 2:39..and then i'm just a ball of "callas-like" glue.

Author Wayne Koestenbaum, in "The Queen's Throat", says something to the effect of "her feet must be calloused from walking so far up the hill of magnificence" I did scream[and maybe get a little teary-eyed] when I read this..but is it not the most true statement ever?

[pointemeout]

THIS IS BY FAAAAAAAR THE BEST THING THAT I HAVE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE.

there are not words to describe what just happened inside of me.

i saw fleming at the met and thought she managed, but now that i've heard this, all hope for all other singers is lost. Maria Callas Simply Is the Unattainable perfection that normally only happens in dreams.

[belcantismo]

@pointemeout Thank you for your enthusiastic comment. Well, yes, Maria Callas in the first years of her magnificient career was beyond humans. Hard to accept for everyone, especially for some her colleagues, but it is the truth!

[SerchWagnerianBear]

@pointemeout I was new at opera when I first heard this aria sung by Maria, and what you say is very close to what I felt then I still feel. Thanks to life for this amazing beauty.

[Ariadne7710]

@pointemeout I couldn't agree with you more. I also saw the Met Armida with Fleming. There is no comparison. You could hardly hear her (and I was sitting about 8 rows from the front.) She just couldn't hack it. It was completely beyond her capabilities. She should stick what she can do. Which at her age is not Armida!!

Of course nowadays they are all used to broadcasts etc which magnify the voice and they all sound good on screen. But in the theatre it is a different story

[MrPipposiculo]

Scrive sempre R: Celletti a proposito del celeberrimo "D'amor al dolce impero"

...ma non bisogna fermarsi qui.Bisogna ascoltare lo "Sventurata or che mi resta"e "E' ver gode quest'anima".

E' il satanismo sublimato alla vocalità allegorica; è l'impervio ghirigoro dell'agilità di forza illuminato dall'espressione oltre che della bravura;è l'astrazione vivificata da un linguaggio chiaro ed eloquente.

.. La ripresa è morchiosa,sorda a trattiveramente precaria... I tenori ..urlano,storpiano ...

[olartetenor]

Perfect technique, this is Bel Canto! the voice is not in the throat all the time like Fleming, is all in the mask and beyond, forward and the vowel is placed correctly , I saw Fleming at the Met, what a waste of time and money. never again!

[belcantismo]

@olartetenor

Thank you for you comment but I would to add something.

Maria Callas in those magnificient years belonged to 'NOT-human' sopranos (in Italy we name her as "sovraumana".

I think any comparison with any other singers we know is totally misleading.

[rcsop]

@belcantismo That is because it is so rare that anyone teaches that style of singing. Luckily, some still do, and you will hear it again.

[meltzerboy]

@olartetenor I agree that Fleming disappoints in this aria, especially compared to Callas. But much of Fleming's performance of Armida sounded quite good to me--at least on television--compared to a few of the other singers, who were really out of their league. However, you're right in that Callas is in a class of her own.

[andrewoconnorblue]

This is simply phenomenal. I mean... WOW

[garhouse70]

An incredible performance. Just heard the Fleming/Brownlee Met HD broadcast. Stunning, but I would give my eyetooth to have been at the Teatro Communale in 1952 to have heard this performance. Serafin's advice that Callas specialize in bel canto roles doomed her - what a spectacular run. Whoever recorded this clip deserves our everlasting gratitude.

[Filippo2192]

usually i'm not a Callas fan... but this is amazing!! =)

[operas6]

Callas makes this music come to life....something that Ms. Fleming faliled to achieve at the Met last week.

[33blueberries]

@operas6 Haven't seen the Met Armida yet, but I did chuckle when I read your comment :)

[MastersoftheOpera]

@33blueberries. I have been listening on Youtube the sopranos who have recently sung Armida, considered the most challenging Rossini role. Fleming and Di Donato sing it at present. Di Donato is far superior than Fleming at that kind of music. Callas is by far the best. She was singing this role during her bel canto revival with a voice that was born to sing this music. Callas was a skilled stage actress but Fleming sings blandly with only an obsession for technique. A good singer can also act!

[lesliecrescent]

simply fnatastic and having just heard renee fleming from the met although very good the ending let her down, but this is phenomonal singing!!

[juandelospalottes]

Maria, la unica que entendía de qué se trataba la opera!

[juandelospalottes]

María Callas, insisto, fue la única, LA UNICA, que como soprano, como cantante mujer, como interprete de la voz femenina en las partituras de opera, FUE LA UNICA QUE ENTENDIA PERFECTA Y PROFUNDAMENTE DE QUÉ SE TRATABA LA OPERA, cuál era el sentido de estar, dos, tres, cuatro horas a los gritos pelados viviendo, muriendo, cantando opera arriba del escenario, la Unica!

[MenaOperaHouse]

Que se puede decir despues de escuchar tremenda voz, con alma con el corazon y las entrañas asi canta. Nadie la puede superar.

[debislo]

thank Go she waw there at that time to reveal all that music that otheriwise mighyt today be altogether lost... and is still afer her... a dream...

[debislo]

3:33... can you sense the makic? the urgency... the sheer abandon that comes with total control and understanding of the music? ... wow... forever unmatched...

[tubmanb]

This is incredible. In '52 the technique was all there; combined with her phrasing and naturally tragic sound, this is the stuff of myth. And the previous comment is right, she's fearless.

[SIMONEVITTORINI]

la adoro...;)

[cairuzz]

wonderful!!!!

[InformedListener]

THIS is the stuff...FEARLESS!!!!!!!!! Aw, man!!!!! What must it have been like to be there in the audience??? I feel cheated, y'all...NO ONE sings like this today...there's a certain element of "Look how b-b-b-b-bad I am-- you think you can do this?" that is thrown into the mix...Callas doesn't care if you think that she's stylistically correct or what...she just did what she did, without apologizing and blew us all outta the water. FEARLESS!!! Thanks so much for posting!

[LazarNewDeal]

@InformedListener

Do not feel cheated. Can't u see the privilege? Serafin had only read in books about this kind of soprano. We at least have this recordings. If it weren't for her we would only know that by books also.

[babydrane]

Ok folks, the pyrotechnics at the end are spectacular but do you know how difficult it is to sing the first four minutes of this aria? Those first four minutes are essential Rossini for any singer (soprano or not) and everyone should be taking notes.

[tenortobe]

How it's done! Just finished listening to Fleming butcher this. No comparison. None at all. Callas was Callas first a singer, the glamour came later. Not glamour first, like Fleming. They were just looking for a pretty face to sell tickets and records and BAM! Fleming is born.

[OperaLover84]

@tenortobe I understand what you're saying -- but they are two different voice types, and each does her own thing better than the other. Ever heard Callas' "Porgi Amor"? Disaster. Renee's Armida today? Also disaster though.

[eugenelohks]

@OperaLover84 Callas' 'Porgi Amor' is only a disaster because she did it so late in her carrer, anyway Mozart was never her most suitable repetoire!

[MisterSoprano]

Superb!

[Faust075]

Was she human ? hard to believe when you listen to Callas singing this terrible aria ... Today's singers seem pathetic compared to this "monster".

[Liwah]

I was listening to this in the background while typing some other stuff.... the last 20 seconds of the aria. I just threw up my hands and listened, immobile, in complete silence while pins and needles were shooting all over my body and it felt like I was having an orgasm spurred solely by this woman's voice.

[doremicde]

HemHem....well I'm to happy you felt like this, but it isn't hem, appropriate for the situation, she's a great singer and woman, not a hem, this kind of actrice....:D ;) XD, but I agree with you, she the Greatest

[GONDREMARK]

Just extraordinary !!! Even after having listened so carefully for many years to her best recordings, this aria leaves me ... sur le cul !!!

[rjw0886]

Rossini's hardest aria sung by his best interpreter!

[dimitriosmichael]

i would say that she led the idea of divinity

sooooo . .......... unexplainable

[ma34xl]

Does no one else see this magnificent being.. her magnificent voice & technique. How brilliant her mastery, how immense this voice & personality all roled into 1. The Supreme Diva, the ultimate female artist, if only she were alive today to perform Armida.. she would surely show Renee Fleming the way on how to CORRECTLY perform music. This woman ruined us, she came through & spoiled us for all the rest!! God Bless you Maria, God Bless YOU !!! :'(

[LazarNewDeal]

Critics and fans alike appear to ignore some facts about her carrer (it was not monolitic:

What Callas u like (or don't)?

From 49 to 53 a FORCE OF NATURE in both Macbeth and Armida... from Gioconda to Elvira: A"SOPRANO SFOGATTO"

From 54 to 58 More refined interpretation and dramatism: Un soprano ASSOLUTA. From 1960 to 1965 A "CHARACTER TRAGEDIÈN" Severe decadence in the voice and sublime actress!

I like the 1957 ANNA BOLENA: the highest point of her career (voice and drama well balanced)

[LeNozze44]

I had never been a big fan of Maria Callas until I heard this video. Sure, I had admired her as the operatic icon that she was, but nothing above that. But this...this is unreal. Sheer perfection. This is what opera is about. Any person that can't see the glory and wonder in this magnificent performance needs to get their ears checked.

[CarmenMirandasHat]

Divine.

that is all :)

[LesterBPearson12]

Apparentl, Marilyn Horne said that pre-weight loss, Callas's technique was flawless.

[Sotzume]

What can one really say about Callas? This definitive performance of Rossini's aria speaks for itself. Callas was sent from the Gods....and we are so lucky to have recordings of her to hear a semblance of what she must have sounded like in person. I am sure Callas now sings for the Angels. God Bless Her!!!

[ssballs]

She must have frightened and stunned people in 1952,this is unreal.

[OperaLover84]

There are great interpreters of this role out there -- but this can never be matched!

[tazkorinthos]

DIVA FOR EVER..........

[fpngan]

Amazing....just amazing

[fadasutherland]

Divinissima!!!!!!!!!Unica!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!

[ubedajils]

Absolutamente magistral en el retrato de Armida con una voz superlativa, de una contundencia y aplomo fascinantes, con todo su torrente que imprimen al personaje una veracidad que nadie ha conseguido siguiera igualar. Dea!

[ubedajils]

Y qué seguridad, qué aplomo en cada nota, a pleno pulmón, qué fortíssimos!

[glottide60]

La dimostrazione e l'inizio di come si canta il Rossini Tragico, non si deve pigolare (vedi incisione della Gasdia) ma le agilita' , almeno in Armida vanno cantate di forza.Come de resto e' stata l'unica che ha cantato in Norma i "trilli con furore"nella frase Adalgisa fia punita....

[Arsace83]

Ma cosa si può dire..DIVINA!!!

[cornucopia2]

Come canta Norma, qua siamo "oltre ogni umana idea"! Una voce che pare non aver confini, una sensualità di forza inusitata... Raramente si è sentita una Callas più grande di questa.

[RobNYNY1957]

The amzing thing is: she sang it exactly as written. Come scritto. All she did was sing as Rossini wrote it, and no one came close.

[wironalga]

Armida the magician comes out from Callas vocal mastery. The enchanteress of all time listeners

[Damiancontratenor]

unica inigualable maria callas la divina mas grande de todos los tiempos.

[perla51]

La più grande soprano di tutti i tempi!!!!! Voce unica,nell'impronta e nei gorgheggi splendidi.Chissà se potremo mai riavere una voce così. Perla.

[giant469]

Fifty-five years after, she's still THE benchmark.

[Samurai9]

This is phenomenal singing. The Callas voice during its short prime of seven or eight years on the world scene was remarkable for its range, with alto low notes and amazing notes above high C, tremendous ability in florid passages, musicianship, etc. Her life was tragic: she sacrificed her voice, first for a slim figure, then for her love life, WWII delayed her emergence as an international star, and her ability to suppress the wobble gradually disappeared after she lost all the weight.

[saverioorlando]

Rispetto al 33 giri l'audio è migliorato.Fenomenale,avevo scritto:l'edonismo canoro,a danno della linea del compositore,non le apparteneva,così come non le si poteva imputare l'eccessiva differenza tra live e studio,cosa evidentissima in altri casi.Armida è una maga e anche questo aspetto trionfa in questo canto alla Colbran.

[clashguy]

Callas ... toujours!!

[cherubino57]

Escalofrios emocionantes para esta leccion absoluta de canto.

[Lohengrin]

this is one kind of singing that can only be described as not-human. The range of the voice, the accuracy of coloratura, the incredibly effortless production of sound... from the deepest contralto the highest soprano, from dark dungeons to high mountains... With this role Callas gained the descrption of Phenomenon and ALL who followed spent their entire lives trying to prove they were better than Callas (from the phenomenal Sutherland all the way to poor little Renata Scotto) but in Vain! :))

[stomachpunch]

thank you--

[Shahrdad]

@Lohengrin Don't forget that this is one of the few roles that Callas learned and performend in about a week (Medea, Puritani, and Andrea Chenier were the others). Keeping that in mind makes her achievement even more mind-boggling. And as far as Scotto, she was a great artist in her own right, and she had a real understanding of what set Callas apart. I her own words, "But SHE (Callas) was the genius. Genius comes from genio--spirit--and that makes her more than all of us."

[pointemeout]

@Lohengrin

very nicely said darling!

her precision is so unreal. no one will ever recreate it.

[ChrisStockslager]

@Lohengrin Sutherland was definitely her own singer who carved her own career. Can you see Callas doing La Fille du Regiment?

[lydiaguarro]

@ChrisStockslager Que importa si María no hizo La hija del Regimiento si fue la mejor Violeta, Lucía,Norma, Leonora, Amina,Bolena, y tantas otras a las que dio voz y alma? Incomparable, insustituible?

[b13ne]

La vera riscoperta, nel '900, del canto rossiniano così come dev'essere.

Con vent'anni di anticipo sulla Rossini-renaissance.

[gabilondos843]

sì savinio, anche in questo, un genio

[SACDDSD]

Strepitosa!

[belcantismo]

Direi di più: ASSOLUTA!

[saverioorlando]

Una nuova Colbran,forse.Fenomenale.