Maria Callas talks TRILLS TRILLS TRILLS

[mrharpsi]

I love her and she is a great singer, but she doesn't really know ornamentation. Sadly, so many musicians, with all great musicologist we have today, still don't know things like this. :/

[musikenergy]

Maria Callas is so intellectual in so many ways. Beyond musical. The world misses her presence...even now. One of a kind.

[revanslc]

Was she playing the piano here? That's awesome :)

[Ariadne7710]

I am surprised at the ignorance of this young singer. Callas is explaining the difference between a trill and an appogiatura on this occasion. Every musician who studies any instrument knows how to do all these ornamentations. I am amazed that singers nowdays get to the point where they go to master-classes without knowing how to differentiate between the various types of ornamentation!! How can they get anywhere!!!

[JaeMonroe]

@Ariadne7710 Even the term "Colortura Soprano" is WRONG!!! There are sopranos who sing lightly and sing the Bel Canto style colouratura. This is a style of singing not a type of singer! Almost all vocal music uses ornamentation and colortura fast "fireworks" but sopranos got the label cuz of their high high voices and they and Tenors have always been favored voice types...I should know, I'm a Mezzo-Soprano! LOL

[srinivaskari]

what an awesome teacher......the lady is perfect in her teaching...her knowledge is awesome..........just pure awesomeness

[MisterPapageno]

@srinivaskari She was a true musician :)

[lekkerejongen]

@EmeraldSky33  Thanks, I try! :-)

[TheVerdiBaritone]

Callas sang just about nothing in the period where the trill would begins on the note above.

[olympicfreak678]

Does anyone know what that book is?

[MadonnaImperia]

@olympicfreak678 Presumably the collection by Ricci of traditional variants and cadenzas.

[StevenLivesay]

As a VERY general rule, I was taught by my 'cello teacher that any trill Mozart and before begins on the grace note, or upper note, and that any trill Beethoven and after begins on the base note.

[StevenLivesay]

How do you get all the way to music school without properly understanding or being able to produce your basic ornamentation? It's like not being able to do a chromatic scale.

As I understand it, trills are not all the same; there are different executions depending on the musical period and sometimes even the country. Sometimes they are incorporated into other ornaments and sometimes they stand alone.

[operamusicfan]

Callas has to explain these basics in a masterclass? Where did these student come from?? lol

[lekkerejongen]

@operamusicfan They are singers.... duh?! It's amazing how little singers actually know. They should not be classified as real musicians.

[EmeraldSky33]

@lekkerejongen

Troll. :-P

[erginakif]

@operamusicfan Julliard, I'm afraid.

[distefano13069609]

which aria?

[Wwdancwe690]

Who do you think your talking to lady. Cieze interrupting her just nod and say yes ma'am when talking is necessary. You are talking to Maria Callas and she is giving you instruction. This lady has a nice voice though.

[raigekimaru]

I have a natural trill throughout all of my range, she gives good advice on how to use it though.

[wtoutback]

Odd that Callas labors this point with the trill at such length. Surprising is that her own voice at this point still had a spark of the old magic. Also Callas had a wonderful speaking voice and it is a pleasure to just hear her talk. Wish she had been with us longer, both on stage and as a teacher. A fan of all singers.

[GeorgiNM]

Callas considered her teaching at Julliard a failure from what I remember of her final interviews, but I am very much inclined to think that i was the people she was trying to - get to work/work with - that are to blame for this. She truly was, I think a human being, and I think the students abused the fact that she had come off the pedestal. More respect to her was advisable.

[GeorgiNM]

I don't know why but the student's questions annoy me extremely. But if this is what it takes to make Maria talk more, then I suppose...

[frontrowumbrella]

Asking questions solidifies the learning process. In the classroom, there's no such thing as a stupid question.

[GeorgiNM]

I knew someone would say this. As a student, i know questions need to be asked, but I have often enough seen professors themselves get annoyed along with me, about certain questions. I mean - at 1:37 she even interrupts Callas' trill!

[GeorgiNM]

If you listen to the whole thing, you see Callas discards most of her questions as irrelevant (not openly of course). It's even not that much her questions, it's mostly her incessant "yes"-ing and "I see"-ing. Couldn't she have just substituted with nods?

[andreasscholl]

She is good for her students!

Wooooow, so sad she didnt sang more baroque...

Curious about the way she could have sung...Handel?

[tneprescintr]

'i can't explain but..." hahah amazing.

[ChrisStockslager]

Wow. I'm amazed at Maria's quick little bits of singing. I always thought her trills were loose and wobbly after 1954. She sure proved me wrong!

[Wanshouwujiang]

We are talking MUSICIANSHIP and artistry here ...not just technique! Callas was born with the instinct - she also worked harder than most musicians if de Hidalgo's stories were anything to go by. Music and text just came together in phrases that sounded completely natural. As to what happened to her voice, she lost more than 1/3 of her body weight in the transition from dramatic soprano to the bel canto repertoire. That was RUINOUS.

[Fairpavel]

Trills are always a means of expression. Period. If U understand that, the rest will come along too.

[moghedien13]

GENIUS!!

[minakontog]

In what year was this recording?

[actionsrlouder]

Which book is Maria talking about, I would like to find it. Does anybody know?

[CONTESTAR]

Luigi Ricci

Variazioni-Cadenze Tradizioni per Canto

[zava0]

Actually I think she's right, Drelnis. The only difference between baroque singing and, let's put it this way, the bel canto technique is that there used to be a bigger control on vibrato and also on the weight inflicted upon the notes during the baroque era. Baroque singing was meant to be sort of lighter. Perharps that might be the reason why trills sound a bit different from what the bel canto technique tries to reach for.

[Bigman240]

Bel canto IS Baroque...

[SsteinwayS]

The term originated in the Baroque, but was not really used until the early 19th century. "Bel canto" normally refers to a style of early ROMANTIC operatic music, but can also be applied to any manner of "lyrical" singing.

[Bigman240]

According to my sources, BELCANTO refers to opera from the Baroque to the first decades of the nineteenth century. It is an error to use it to refer to the vocal style of Romantic opera composers and Verismo, etc. Although this error has become so commonplace that it has been widely accepted by opera lovers

[SsteinwayS]

I'm saying that it is "normally" - i.e. "commonly" though not correctly applied to early Romantic opera; however it is also too broad to say it is just Baroque, as well as Baroque to Romantic. However, it is indeed such a poorly used and vague term! However, you are certainly correct that composers such as the members of the Florentine Camerata in the late Renaissance/Baroque.

[tamerlano]

Oops, Steinway, I meant to reply to another commentor, not you. Sorry.

[SsteinwayS]

Oops! That's okay :)

[tneprescintr]

You can say that Bel Canto originated in Baroque, but then became a whole thing within itself. If you compare, for instance, Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini to Vivaldi and Händel, you'll see a huge gap. All of them had ornaments, but with different usage and relation between voice and orchestra. So you can say that bel canto is bel canto. it came from Baroque and ended in Romantic.

[BetuliaLiberata]

Simply putting, in the Baroque it was up to the singers, it was THEIR show,,,they did not care about the drama, SIMPLICITY simply was no part of the thing-the result was nothing more nothing less than FIRE WORKS! The Bel Canto era, the composers took control back and the singers were their vessel.

[Lohengrin]

i'd never imagine callas herself saying smth against those "damn" stacatti ahahahahha (the worst habit that coloratura soprani developed in time - to add them here and there and everywhere making music ridicilous) This brought shivers to me

[willthrillws]

All trills are the same!!! Except you know what note it starts on. Also in the later romantic period there was no preparing the trill it was right on it just like this Mozart. tamerlano what is your problem!? Do you really think you know what your talking about?!

[agnellodei]

There are many different types of trills, I got a book about it...early music trill, italian baroque trill, french baroque trill, austrian baroque trill, bel canto trill and verdi trill!

[tamerlano]

All trills are NOT the same. A trill as it was heard in Monteverdi's time would not have sounded the same as a trill in Handel's time. And know, I have no idea what I am talking about. None at all. Eat me.

[SsteinwayS]

No, you DO make sense! The difference would have been more profound from the Baroque or Classical to the Romantic though (Monteverdi didn't use all that many trills, though? I'm not a Renaissance expert though!). However, with numerous interpretations, it's hard to distinguish what is correct; however, the ornamentation of the time is often well-documented.

[distefano13069609]

@tamerlano Were you there to hear the performances in Monteverdi or Haendel's times??? I hope not... ;) hahaha

[tamerlano]

I think Callas is a little out of her element with Mozart. She sang very little of his music and her take on Mozartean style strikes me as a tad naive. The truth is, Mozart likely expected a light amount of ornamentation in his music and to take a come scrito approach is not historically correct. And to say that there is only one style of trill is just a wee bit ignorant on La Callas' part. Also, it is hard to take a come scrito approach because so much of the markings are there by an editor.

[SsteinwayS]

Well, I wouldn't say "come scrito approach", but the trills are written with such a standard and well-defined notation (especially in the Classical era) that it's hard to interpret a trill differently than it's written. You're right, however, in the respect that editor did interpolate and clarify trill markings and generally, trills were not always performed in a strict manner, as light improvisation in the early Classical era was still being carried over from the Baroque.

[Drelnis]

I thought in the Baroque period the trill is different, or am I mistaken?

[agnellodei]

It is more common in the baroque period to trill on semitones. Also, in early baroque a trill was also a sort of pulsating tone in the same note, just a slight pulse.

[babydrane]

isn't that tremolo? The symbols might have been different during the time of baroque music and the semitone trill may have been more dominant but you can generally describe the ornaments using bel canto era designations. People always make this distinction between baroque ornaments and bel canto and I don't really see it. The music is very different but the basic technique appears to be the same (vibrato aside).

[aseretkavon]

@babydrane tremolo doesn't exactly exist in singing, but it certainly exists in string music, but it's a different command entirely. I both sing and play cello, but I've almost never heard the term 'tremolo' in singing except when an orchestra director makes the reference in mistake or else he/she tries to show the connection between the orchestra accompanying a choir. Tremolo for strings is generally the same note held while making quick, short bow strokes. It's notated like repeated 32nd notes

[aseretkavon]

@babydrane Now that I think of it, the fact of the matter is, tremolo for voice doesn't really exist mostly because it's very close to impossible to re-accentuate a note so many times in a row (at least 16 times if a tremolo notation is to be used) with only your voice, without switching to another note in between (like a trill would). Just try using that definition of 'tremolo' that string players use with your own voice. It's incredibly difficult, and without slowing down tempo, impossible.

[merefoix]

@aseretkavon

As far as I know in singing 'tremolo' refers to a very slow 'wide' vibrato, equivalent to 'wobble'. It 's like the cardinal sign of voice over-usage e.g. Carreras; or simply age-related defect e.g.current Ramey.

[babydrane]

@aseretkavon I agree that in general it should not exist and trying to basically pluck the same note with your vocal cords in an especialy long phrase would be ridiculous and I don't think any composer (baroque or not) ever wrote anything like that for the voice. Some singers do something similar though (Beverly Sills for insance) where they vibrate the same note. People have slowed down her recordings and that is what you hear - the same note sort of trembling.

[babydrane]

@aseretkavon Now I have heard (only on Youtube) that this is somehow good technique and that baroque trills should give more of a trembling effect rather than the distinct alternation one hears in bel canto vocal music. I don't think this is true though. A trill is a trill regardless of what era the music was written in. Additionally, not many people "trill" like Beverly Sills. That skill is rare indeed.

[RoOodOoOloOmeg]

@aseretkavon actually it exists, you must listen to Lisa Gerrard, is not an operatic voice (she tries), but she does a very good tremolo, look for a song called Ocean (she sings is with Dead Can Dance) that's more than a normal vibrato, that's a tremolo.

[aseretkavon]

@RoOodOoOloOmeg Thank you for the video!

Honestly, that's not what I think of when I think tremolo. When I think tremolo, I think the way it was taught to me in orchestra; the same note (frequency pitch) re-attacked as if it were 32nd notes or faster.

The way she sang is what I think of when I think TRILLS, however, and that is exactly what Maria Callas is talking about in the video.

Lisa Gerrard in her trills eventually ends on the same note in most of them, but during varies the pitch.

[RoOodOoOloOmeg]

hope you've liked the video. well about tremolo or vibrato in Lisa Gerrard's voice, I like, even if it's one or the other. of course, what Callas does here in the Trill it's a vibrato (am I wrong?) kjakja well, anyway, I like the way she manages her voice.

[SsteinwayS]

Not much more than the Classical era, although cadential trills were not used as often.

[operanord]

Fanstic!!! Thank you!!!Leonora026

[hdsmileus2007]

Does anyone know the name of the book of ornamentation she is talking about?

[ma34xl]

Yes I wonder what book it is.. ughh if only she were alive 2day to continue teaching!!

[AlexiouValenti]

I think that it is called "bel canto ornementation" and is published by ricordi! If you want the exact name it is written in john ardoins book " callas mastreclass"

[agnellodei]

There's actually 3 books of ornamentations and cadenzas by Ricordi, one for females, one for males and one of mixed voices...in the one of mixed voices for example there's 6 or 7 different cadenzas for Lucia!!!

[moghedien13]

What a musician!!

[DanBarthy]

Maria Callas was amazing!!! Great Singer!!!

She knows everything about Opera!

[mdcam89]

um.. considering she is wrong about the trills, i don't think she knows everything about opera...

trills and ornementations do in fact, change throughout the time periods...

[DanBarthy]

Sorry, but you said stupity. Maria Callas did a fantastic career and you know that very well. She knows all about opera (moore that many outhers artists)...she change the opera (You must know that too).

[mariagalvany]

And what happened to her voice...

[micioamilano]

I totally agree, in EVERY book of ornamentations we can see trills change throughout the time periods...but she was indeed a grear musician!

[NEBESHIKU]

trills may change but what the composer wrote doesn't change.

[micioamilano]

and who ever said that she changed what the composer wrote?

[NEBESHIKU]

who said that? Callas always sang come escrito. What the composer wanted she sang it, if it was a trill, legato, triple piano, pianismo, e-flat, etc. i was giving my opinion on what mdcam89 said! An artis the claiber of Callas knows trills are tools for expresion used by the composer few if any other soprano are able to use trills as expresive means and can only give a firework show empty of any fealing

[ChrisStockslager]

Her 1957 Ah non Giunge sounds pretty ornamented to me. Just sayin'. :)

[distefano13069609]

@ChrisStockslager check out the 1955 one.. OMG!!

[NEBESHIKU]

sure they do, the composers come back from their grave and re write the partitura!

[ioSonoCallas]

Génial! Merci beaucoup.