Maria Callas - Fiorenza Cossotto - Mira o Norma - Norma - Live in PARIS 1965 - Her Last Norma!

[Maripudelmonaco]

COSSOTTO NO TENIA POR QUÉ HUNDIRSE EN LA REPRESENTACION PORQUE LA DIVINA , COMO LA LLAMAN, ESTUVIESE YÁ EN ESE MOMENTO ACABADA, LA OBLICACIÓN DE COSSOTTO ERA CANTAR CÓMO DEBÍA, QUIERE DECIR BIEN, Y LA OBLIGACIÓN DE CALLAS ERA NO HABER CANTADO, CANCELAR Y RETIRARSE DIGNAMENTE,

[Tenorbravo]

Maria Callas always original, unique and magnifique. It is one of the best, I have ever heard! Gorgeous voices .

their voices are to die for!!! awesome performance

****It is Sad....... perfection like this is no longer available!

[LaPolymita]

Callas .... Corazon de Leona ... I cry my eyes out every time I hear this recording...

[vnpei]

I think this was a fine rendition!!! I have heard many singers done worse than this and still sounding fine. Despite not delivering the most athletic performance of her carreer, Callas still produces beautiful, if somewhat restraint sounds (which in fact works well with the interpretation). Come on, just listen to the frasing and the telling of the moment - it´s wonderful!

[Robertgrade]

Callas is not up to her previous Normas, but Cossotto is magnificent.

[Matt75003]

Even at this late stage, Callas was incapable of giving an indifferent performance of Norma. Her singing may be hit-and-miss, but she handles the music with loving care, and the result is highly touching. Imho, the problem with Cossotto is not that her voice is too loud, but that it does not blend convincingly with Callas's—it is too steely and her singing lacks subtlelty. Berganza would have been a far more suitable partner.

[ioSonoCallas]

@Matt75003 The biggest regret of Berganza is to have said "no" when him suggested singing Adalgisa with Callas. In an interview Berganza said about this refusal: " I knew that I was capable of singing Aldagisa with Maria Callas, but I say "NO", today I regret, it's a very big pain for me "!!!

[vanzofaust]

@ioSonoCallas

Cossotto is being a good colleague and good musician. She is following Callas and definitely helping where she can.

[ioSonoCallas]

@vanzofaust Oui, je suis d'accord avec vous! J'avais lu tellement de critiques acerbes sur le compte de cette malheureuse Fiorenza Cossotto à propos de son Adalgisa face à Callas que quand j'ai entendu cet enregistrement pour la première fois il y a une trentaine d'années, j'ai été fort étonné car je n'entendais rien de ce que j'avais lu dans les comptes-rendus de cette représentation. Tout comme vous j'entend effectivement une très bonne collègue.

[Jeanne90275]

I've listened to this CD many times and, quite frankly,

I don't think Cossotto was trying to sabotage Callas.

Cossotto was ambitious and the last thing she would

have wanted to do was alienate Maria Callas, who WAS

opera at that time. It simply would not have been in her

own self-interest. She had no way of knowing Callas'

career was almost over, although I think Callas knew.

She was her own worst critic. How tragic to have her

voice desert her just as her personal life was unraveling.

[Tenorbravo]

Magnifique interprepation .

[jfsanin]

This is one of the saddest videos I've seen. I think that Caruso had to go through this calvary with the opera Martha, about six months before his untimely death. In fact I don't want to be disrespectful but I prefer Callas than Caruso, for the beauty of her voice and technique.

[colonia3059]

I honestly don't hear any animosity in Cossotto's singing. I have heard her life and she would sing MUCH louder than she does here. Callas is being terribly cautious, and sounds terrified, and strangely as it may sound, I find Cossotto is trying to adapt to it, not and easy task for a young singer. I am not a Cossotto's fun, and I adore Callas, one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century; we don't need to add problems to a difficult performance of the woman who change the path of opera.

[ptichkagulnara]

cossotto ist ein herzloses wesen.Für sie damals lauter als callas zu singen war eine werbung...Callas ist für millionen immer noch eine legende und an cossoto erinnern sich nur operhistoriker...

[AOG93]

Who does Cossotto think she is?? They didn't go to see her, they went to see La Divina! And this Norma, when Maria's voice was-truth be told-in tatters, is still remembered for her only. Not Cossotto, who has nothing of bel canto in nor near her.

[Orfeus80]

what a load of BS. Cossotto is serving the composer and hired to sing, not whisper. In fact she's helping Maria but she still has to sing. The audience doesn't need 2 singers singing badly.

[moghedien13]

well said

[yodavidnavarro]

I agree!

[kgarmaker123]

@Orfeus80 And frankly , when Callas even in this performance felt comfortable with the music and her voice she sang out, and her voice was quite resonant. When she was worried about the high notes, she sang softly.. and the result was that her voice sounded weak, for instance have you heard the In mia man duet>? She sounds fine on it.

[caspiman]

"They didn't go to see her, they went to see La Divina!" ===>

===> they come for the opera. Opera of Bellini. And they want it to be performed well. "La Divina" is merely unprofessional here. The great Cossotto just saves this duet, as any professional should do in such situation. Nobody can't throw any guilt of Callas's primadonna histery and uprofesionalism (at this stage) and usual stupidity of public on Fiorenza.

[caspiman]

...Stupid public which went to hear baby Mozart and was delighted only by the tricks he did, and not by his genious, remained stupid in 1965 as well. Sorry....

[kgarmaker123]

What a pig Cossotto is, hogging the whole thing. Trying to drown out Maria.

[Orfeus80]

the problem is Cossotto can sing, Callas can't. tough!

[kgarmaker123]

WEll, at least in 1965 you are right... Callas was out of shape, stopped singing, which ... had devastating effects on her voice, But trust me, from 1957 through 1960,cAllas set so many standards, that singers never could equal, again.