Maria Callas Mild und Leise Tristan und Isolde

[KaleidoscopeAct]

IL Diva teaches how to do Wagner. Superb. Thank you so much for posting. Most Wagner have the voice the size of a mountain but most lost the acting energy and beauty in the middle of this "aria". Callas takes me through the whole time. She's a marvel that I will never hear in person.

[vilaineries]

Incredible to hear her in isolde!! I always new she started with the role but never had the opportunity to hear her in it. This will make me think a long time... Thank you... You made my day

[zurriussII]

@vilaineries Thank you for this comment :)

[jmccracken1963]

Thank you VERY much for sharing this with us!!!! VERY well-sung by Callas - at age TWENTY-FIVE!!!!!

[MastersoftheOpera]

If Callas had been trained to sing German language Wagner opera, she would have been a grand Wagnerian soprano and a great Isolde. But she couldn't sing German. This is gorgeous but it just doesn't right in Italian. Keep in mind I do like Callas, but Wagner was not her repertoire.

[Tiefland1913]

@MastersoftheOpera

My favourite: Kirsten Flagstad!

[dougbalt]

@MastersoftheOpera That's not true. She often sang Bach, Handel, Mozart, and Brahms lieder all in German in recital in the late 40's at the beginning of her career. Not being able to sing in German was not the reason she avoided Wagner. It was because Serafin discovered that she had a Wagnerian size voice that could also do coloratura, which had not been heard since the 19th Century, and then it became the mode to reinvent older operas when fewer great ones were being written.

[imogene1952]

Thank you for posting-this is the great "dolce incanto" from 1949

[eugenelohks]

forgive me if I'm wrong but isn't the Italian title 'dolce e calmo'?

[imogene1952]

Sorry - forgive me - the italian title is "dolce e calmo - sorridente"..... my mistake!

Best, Imogene