Why so many comments are about high notes only? I agree, many light coloraturas could take higher notes, but only Callas could sing the ENTIRE Armida with such a passion!!! It would be fun listening to canary coloraturas sing the whole score with a powerful orchestra )
Sills is still the best coloratura. Not only the speed and agility of her voice, and the dead on accuracy, but she was a terrific actress and had in incomparable tone. Callas is legendary, but the voice was ugly. Most of her fame came from onstage, not recordings. She was apparently amazing onstage, but more for her dramatic instincts than voice or singing.
@ericscam2 There are numerous definitions of "ugly". I've never had that Callas had an ugly voice, because I'm sure she wouldn't gain anything if it was right. I appreciate your position but don't make me smile.
And I really love Sills and prefer her version of some of her arias.
Qualcuno ha ancora qualche dubbio sul fatto che la Callas sia stata e sia ancora oggi la più grande cantante lirica?.. Se avete dubbi,ascoltate questa registrazione...
Poster: this is from the old Melodram recording, I think. The tape recorder on which this was recorded in Florence ran slow. So played on a normal recorder, as for this transfer, it sounds a semitone high; they neglected to correct it so the whole opera sounds a semitone too high. The ensemble is written by Rossini in E major, ending on an E major chord. Callas interpolates a high E. Listen to the Divina Records remastering in the right key.
Callas' public note is a stretched E6, that's it. As we are all big fans of Callas we exaggerate. Hers is a great voice and historic renderings but let us not overexagerrate. Let us give the higher notes to thel ikes of Sutherland who indeed went to F6# in Der Schauspieldirektor and Sills who had clear Fs. Hallstein, Mesple, solenkova, Robin and Sack all went higher. Callas is great i am a big fan trust me, but this is not F i am a coloratura myself, this was just an E and quite forced. love her
@reginabellestar If we are only talking about high notes, Hallstein's are by far the best in quality of sound. They are melodic, not screamy up to A6 and held steady and long. If on the other hand we are talking about the performance of a role from all points of view (vocal and interpretative) then Callas stands alone above all the rest. I heard her live in the 50s and I can attest that no other performances have had anything like the same mesmeric and magnetic impact on audiences as Callas's
@reginabellestar If what we are talking about is who ca sing the highest note then Mado Robin and Ingeborg Hallstein could both go up to A6. Hallstein's top notes in particular are incredibly melodic and not screamy or whislelike. Her Olympia, Caro Nome, Bell Song and Proch Variations are great examples of her beautiful high, very melodic and virtuosic coloratura singing.
@LacrimaLunaMortua Very interesting. I didn't know that she was in the Guinness Book of Records. Of course others might be just as high or even higher but didn't submit examples of their highest notes to the Guinness judges for evaluation. Bognoa Sokorska can also sing extremely high notes but as she is not so world famous she probably has not been taken into account..
OK girls, the comments war is almost more fun than Armida with la Divina!I bought
this pirate recording in italy in the seventies and it was E she sang on that.
The quality of her high notes varied throughout her whole career,it should be mentioned that our Maria was finishing a run of die Walküre (La Valchiria)in Rome at the same time with this Armida in Firenze!
@zurriussII Regardless of whether Callas could sing an F6 or not, has anyone else sang an Armida like this since? No, of course not, and no-one can. You think that if Sutherland, Cabballe, Gruberova or Sills could have come anywhere close to this level they wouldn't have tried? I don't count Fleming's Armidas which were truly pathetic (I went to hear her at the Met last year and her sound was so weak you could hardly hear her even from the 8th row) and therefore of no consequence.
Respond to this video... In my opinion the best high notes not only F6 but A6's also are Hallstein's. They are not forced or pushed they are hit cleanly and squarely in the centre and beautifully melodic unlike anyone elses's Her top notes are by far the best by a very long margin. They are melodious and she can play with diminuendos and crescendos on them effortlessly. From that point of view she wipes the floor off everybody.
@jmitchell002 of curse it's in E! Some Callas blind fans just wont accept it, they think that they decided to perform the whole opera half a tone (one step) higher...:)
@Bhavatam Scusi ma come si permette di dire che il mio commento non e' qualificato. Lei mi conosce forse? Non sono il solo a pensarla cosi' e tra l'altro c'e' pure una ex cantante lirica mia amica che la pensa come me. Io sono un fan della Callas ma penso anche che, una cantante per tanto eccezionale che sia non puo' far sempre tutto bene.Inoltre le dico anche che ho studiato tecnica vocale quindi un pochino me ne intendo. Saluti
@frank54838 I totally agree, it sounded like a scream toward the end falling down slightly and very unstable, it was obviously too high, i love Maria but that wasn't a nice sound. Everything else is quite good thought.
@giorich well, the D6 was incredible - not unstable at all. But the Eb6 was recorded in 59 - the last year in which any records document this note from Callas - and the E6 is not her best (the live version of the Bell Song and the 54 Bolero from Vespri are beautiful E naturals).
@LohengrinT Didn't she hit two F6s in the 52 Armida, though (this one and the finale)? And aren't they both often referred to as E-naturals? I have no doubt that in her prime, F6 was a note she could reach, but it seems weird that she could hit two F6s in one night, both slightly flat and neither dissonant.
You raise an interesting point, though - that the pitch of this recording would be relentlessly put into question, and by questionable 'experts'
why only this recording is pitched up of all the prior 53 Callas recordings? :) ahahah those claims were ridiculous and they were embraced instantly by all the Sills - Sutherland Queens
@LohengrinT Callas was a great Assoluta, but her public top note was an E6. If she could reach F's in public(at her prime), why would she do it just in this particular performance, and neither in some of the others 53 prior recordings, or ever again? She was quite a show-off, and if she could, she certainly would have done it.
@The9chrip6 Infatti e un MI, i nastri della registrazione dal vivo sono mezzo tono sopra. C'è qualche fanatico cieco che vuole che sia un FA...va beh...contenti loro...
@zurriussII Nothing was ever too heavy for Sutherland she was trained to be a Wagnerian Soprano originally...and she freaking did Norma as one of her best roles
@zurriussII The same reason she would not take the high E's in Anna Bolena and Maria Stuarda sometimes the same reason the sand Der Holle Rache down 3 steps.
There were certain things that she just flat out chose not to do.....we do not know why, we do know that she was very capable but she chose not to.
@bigdigger87 You know what? I think Callas sang better on stage rather then in studio. She needed true emotions and real costumes that really helped her in singing. That's why her Aida in Mexico is so magnificent with its E-flat.
As for Sutherland, she could produce the same quality of sound both on stage and in studio. In Rigoletto "bella figlia del amore" she ended the quartet with high note and, as you've mentioned, The queen of the night - without F. It's just her interpretation.
This old recording sounds like it's being played fast, deliberately or not, resulting in her sounding like a girl and the pitch pushed up by a half tone. The last time I checked, this number is written in E, and it's being played in F. Whatever the case is, that last note was unfortunate. We ALL know what a divine performer she was, but the stratospheric high notes weren't her thing. She MUST'VE been young in this recording since she hasn't learned that yet. Or maybe it was just her off-night.
Beloved Maria confirming that she was and always will be , La Divina. What spectacular singers we had in those days............could it have been known as the "platinum age of singing"? Especially as we currently have the "tin age". Thank you so much for this upload zurriussll, it's stunning!
Under Heldago's bel canto training, Callas had to have the F# as a passing tone in the vocal drills. If in good voice, in her early career, she would and DID execute F naturals. She would have been totally opposed to speeding up the recording to attain an F. How sad one who will never accomplish, nor serve his own Art as she did will attempt decry her accomplishment. Her artistry and technique and signature voice are unmatched. truth is beauty, Callas didn't make "pretty". She gave us beauty.
@angelovocci - I find it incredible that Maria Callas sang this kind of fiorritura and high repertoire like Lakme and also Tosca and Wagner, and Orfeo. Was it common back then for singers to have to sing in so many fachs? I'm a coloratura and you wouldn't catch me dead attempting Mimi or Tosca. Callas is la Stupenda for a reason-- incredible portamenti, color, drama. I don't adore the timbre of her voice but I am never anything but captivated.
@angelovocci I wonder where you got this information because, although a number of historians agree that this note is an F, Hildago herself said, in interview, that Callas' range went up to E natural.
@gustopheles I assure you through the lineage of bel canto technique through Tetrazzinni, that Callas had to have the F as a PASSING tone developed. Heldago was referring to the note that would be optimum to sustain in power and color. The F would not have been encouraged to land as a sustained tone, but when limber and in good voice before unrequited love pressed his thumb against her larynx, Callas would execute this note. The F would have been in her drills esp. if E was considered her end.
@angelovocci once again, the fact that with de Hidalgo (not "Heldago"..) she would have vocalized till F (and I agree, she told me so) doesn't mean that she ever sang an F live.
This note here sounds like an F only because the live recording is sped up and all up half a tone, one step. The real note that she sang that night was an E.
@angelovocci I totally agree with you.. Any good voice teacher, and we know Hildago was better than good.! would have had her vocalizing to high F sharps. All of my voice teachers make me vocalize one full step higher than what I would sing easily in performance, and sometimes more.
Let's stop arguing what note she sang at the end... who cares? La Divina is La divina, she is the best, it doesn't matter if she sang an F in public or not! Let's just concentrate on her genius, forget the mechanical aspects of her singing, because her voice is simply impossible to describe and categorise mechanically!
Beautifully said! Yes, indeed. It's becoming just ridiculous to argue about what has happened long ago. History prized Callas as La Divina and the theme is closed.
Ovviamente, Maria Callas aveva il Fa sopracuto, eccome se ce l'aveva. E lo confermarono sia Sergio Failoni, che sua moglie a me personalmente anni dopo a Budapest, presso i quali la Callas fu baby-sitter. Callas studiò ed eseguì la Regina della Notte negli anni '40 in varie audizioni e forse in spettacoli. Lo conferma Rudolf Bing dal quale la Callas tentò di farsi sentire con le due arie della Konigin der Nacht, la prima aria in tono, la seconda 1 tono sotto. Saluti.
@impressart anc he io penso fermamente ce la Callas avessi il Fa sopracuto e ho sentito dire che in qualche archivio potrebbe esserci qualche incisione della sua regina della notte.
That's yr mistake. You are playing this Armida recording with a tuned instrument and you think that she sang Eb in "D'amore" and an F at the end of this quartet.
This recoring (and most labels of live Armida CDs) is sped up of almost a step (half a tone).
If you know how to read music, get an Armida score and you will see how I am right. :)
i actually do know how to read music ;) for this quartet, the tuning is out of wack, you can hear it, no need for an instrument. But as for D'amore, everything is relatively in tune. Its also notible that back in the 40-50's, it was highly common to transpose aria's to fit ones voice. Either way well never know...real point is, whatever key she was in, callas was gold in this opera and I highly doubt anyone will be able to surpase her any time soon.
very good point. But being a singer myself. I know that certain passages feel more comfortable in certain registers. Maybe for callas ( in that one aria) it felt more comfortable for her to transpose it up. Just like some tenors transpose "every valley" down a half-step (in the messiah) but keep the rest the same. As for the caro nome she might have been having a bad voice day? Who knows...this is ALL speculation...all these comments are speculation...but fun to debate none the less :)
Of course what you say can happen, but even in 1951-2 her high E was easily her limit, you can feel it in Vespri and Lakme.
Caro Nome was transposed because she had difficulties to sing high E natural at the end. I know it because I know people in Bellas Artes who were very close to her in those days.
And, by the way, de Hidalgo confirmed to me that her top was a MI naturale (E natural).
she actually said that callas can vocalize to an F but had a solid Mi. Either way none of this proves anything. She could have been in good oice that day and decided to transpose it. No one has proof of anything.
@DanyelHawkes Thank you so much. I've been trying to say the same thing for ages. I've heard that Dessay has sung a good A above high C and then crapped on Eb in the same performance (Lucia I think?). The voice is a funny thing and yet people seem to treat a singer's range as something that is definite and predictable. BTW IDK what the hell she sang that night but we shouldn't have this much discussion over one note!
You have made some valid points.. but... I might point out, this High E that you think is the end of the line... was sung in a recital! and Live! So... Callals must have felt confident that it would be there, to attempt it, because if it didnt she would have never lived it down. I am sure she had a High F and F#... Usually, if a singer can sustain An High E, in vocalization they can sing beyond that, even if for a brief time(non sustained).
So, if you think she was so confident with her E natural (MI naturale), why do you think that she transposed "Caro nome" in Mexico down a step in the same year that she sang that MI in Lakme in the concert?...
Look, do you understand Women's physiology? There are times during the month when their vocal cords are NOT the same, as a result of their menstrual cylces.. so how do we know.. why she "transposed" the Caro Nome down? Or did she really? Or is it another one of those pitch variances from old recordings? In any even,t.. yes, I think that Callas did feel confidence on most days in her top notes. including her Mi.. ..
It's not a matter of "guessing" if she really transposed Caro nome or not. She DID.
If you are a musician, follow with a score what happens immediately after when Rigoletto sings "Riedo, perche'?" when he has to change notes in order to reestablish the original key.
And also, in Mexico City Carlos Diaz-Dupond confirmed to em that she had to transpose because her MI naturale was precrious and she felt more confident singing MI bemolle.
The young Callas was a dare devil, and it is in part how she established her reputation. The High E was a part of a stage performance, live, as was Vespri... The high Es were interpolated, and as such, did not need to be sung, but she did anyway... To me, this connotes confidence in the note.
Without any doubt the young Callas loved to show off with amazing high notes. But her extreme top (E flat and very rarely high E) was not 100% secure even then. In the same night when she sang that blazing E natural she sang an unsupported E flat at the end of Lucia's madness. Her E flats in Mexico in 1952 are mostly somehow sketchy.
To me this means that E natural was her confident (but with reserve) absolute top note in her palm days.
And I guess that de Hidalgo would not have lied...
@xafnndapp The e-flat in Mexico City with Kurt Baum and Giulietta Simionato lasted close to 16 beats, rose on perfect pitch above an enormous orchestra and chorus and could have continued. Listen to all the Lucias save the 1959 commercial recording, and they are all there with every overtone accounted for. it's like complaining about Van Gogh not being as good a draftsman as Degas. Who gives a shit? Callas is still the queen, immutable and divine. Her e-flats are up on Olympus with all of it!
I never said that Callas didn't have an E flat, read well my comments. As far as we can hear in live recordings, she did only one fantastic high E (Lakme 52) and few amazing E flats, but also some so-so high E (Armida and Vespri) and so-so E flats (Lucia 52, Lucia 55, Lucia 56-57, Puritani 52, Traviatas 58), so this means something to me in terms of technique. Of course Callas was Callas, I adore her, but I think that idolazing her as absolutely perfect doesn't do her good.
It's not absolute perfection that she achieved, and she was the first to admit that. It was absolute truth, dramatically and musically, which limits a discussion of E-flats to a discussion of E-flats, and nothing having to do with the above. Simionato doesn't agree with you, if it matters
And anything above high D is a circus trick anyway, which is why P.T. Barnum preferred to promote Jenny Lind and not the Malibran/Viardot types, who got them sometimes, missed them at others.
I think I spoke about her E flats as you did speak about her E flats, so of course we both nknow that we are talking about high notes specifically, and thi has nothing to do with her ARTISTRY.
She had flaws as virtually all singers have, someone more, someone less.
What did Simionato say that doesn't agree with what I said or viceversa?...
You keep mentioning people and interviews, I would like you to be more specific...
....cont'd.... Considering that callas was in INCREDIBLE voice that night and easily pulled of the high Eb in D'amore al dolce it would highly unlikely for her to have relatively messed up and E at the end of this aria. All that said, personally im still 50/50 on this loool
if you look at the score (without listening to the wrong pitch of this and many other labels of this live Armida) you will see that at the end of this quartet the only optional interpolated high note is an E natural.
And in her "D'amor al dolce impero" she reaches a high D, not an E flat. (Still look at the score!)
Not so hard to believe for this aria considering the general pitch fluxuates. But for D'amore al dolce, she is EXACTLY on the Eb. I actually challenge you to play all of callas' (in that aria) exposed high notes in synch with any tuned instrument. Most of them, in particular the Eb is incredibly in tune. Also, artificial tuning is easily audible in aged recording. So its safe to say she sung an Eb.
Honestly i am quite sceptical as to whether this is a Flat F6. Lets look at the vocal aspect of things: logically speaking if you compare this to her High E natural in 1952's Lakme, this final high note has a less vibrant tone, almost no vibrato and callas' vocal position drops at the end (you can hear it in the drop slide) Those are all signs of vocal difficulty she did not demonstrate while singing the High E in the 1952 live Lakme Bell Song. ...cont'....
I yield to none in my admiration of La Callas, but I don't think she ever sang a high F. High E natural yes, but no F. Those live recordings on Divina) have been messed with. Moreover, I don't see how you guys can compare Callas with Sutherland. They were completely opposite in their approaches to bel canto. Sutherland had a thrilling technique and made everything sound almost too effortless. Callas made it sound more real and immediate. Her voice in the early 50's had Godzilla power!
This video has been discussed in great detail on previous occasions and this recording is not accurate because it has been sped up slightly to raise the pitch by a semitone from E to F. I own a copy of this opera with the corrected pitch and it is still amazing!
the "fast speed tape" is a speculation made by some idiotic conductor from Divina Records with whom I had 3-4 long email exchange. His main argument was the Elvira de Hidalgo had never mentioned maria having an F (AS IF SHE HAD MENTIONED MARIA'S LOW F3SHARP!) and that according to the score's key this aria must not end into an F but into an E natural (AS IF SHE WAS NOT ALLOWED TO TRANSPOSE ONCE IN HER LIFETIME!).
While I appreciate the sentiment of your words, I find them to be incongruous not only with what experts have agreed worldwide but also with what Callas herself felt about music. She was always an advocate for maintaining the composers intention through the music. Regarding Di Hidalgo, The question posed to her was whether or not she (Callas) had the F which was asked to clarify this very issue which we are now discussing.
-what do u mean by "experts"? the worldwide drag queens that are Opera Critics in the major operatic magazines?
-she has transposed upwards again in her life and it was in her live 1956 Scala Barbiere
-De Hidalgo was never asked such a thing. The interview exists and she just describes there Callas' highest note according to her opinion Where on earth do u come up with such fantasies?
of course he also never managed to explain why this particular tare is THE ONLY ONE OF ALL of maria's early recordings which is played faster by modern tapes and by EXACTLY ONE SEMITONE in order for this to sound as an F.
The entire Sutherland and Sills group of Fans (as IF they were ever Callas' rivals!) hurried up to embrace this ridicilous speculation and Divina Records sold a lot of many copies of a SUPPOSEDLY corrected tape with a lot of fffffffffffs in it!
I also think that the people who published the "F Armida" were more interested in sales than DIVINA RECORDS as the novelty of this High F would incite people to buy the recording on the basis of hearing this note as opposed to another Callas E which, while amazing, is not unique. Also Armida was/is a relatively unknown opera and only Callas Fanatics would have wanted to acquire it for the merits of her singing, the hype created by the High F would certainly have broadened the marketability of it
yes Armida is an unknown opera for people who know Tosca and Aida while it has been one of the 9 principle Assoluta Roles ever since its birth The fact you dont know it and appreciate it lessens you not this unique rossinian masterpiece (Medea is also very rarely to never performed,,, is that another uknown Opera?) No it is just an Assoluta Role, got any idea what that means?
Lohengrin refers to "the 9 principle Assoluta Roles". I'm curious: Could you possibly name all 9 and tell us where we might see them discussed?:-) Many thanks
we are discussing the greatest Gathering of Queens in the History of Opera trying to convince us that a note that we all hear it is not actually there... and in the middle there is the owner of DIVINA RECORDS who just wants to make a looooot of money out of Callas SUPPOSEDLY corrected tapes... There should be legal charges both for what they are saying and also for their mere Stupidity :)
To conclude, I don't think we should further beatify this very human woman. It is her humanity and truth that speaks to us in her music, not divinity. If we continue to create these untruths about her we lose sight of her intent which was to convey truth. She was by no means perfect but she used her flaws to their greatest advantage, which was conveying human characters and human TRUTH!
well Im sure you feel very comfortable about de-divinizing extremely talented human beings (whose talents truly approached Divine) but if you speak to a Psychiatrist he will explain to you that you suffer from an extremely common among gay people disorder that makes the gay person to desire to de-throne extremely talented human beings especially women since he cannot accept his personal "nothingness" compared to other people's unbelievable Greatness
ha ha ha well done, hit the point, but you have made this discussion slightly more difficult. Callas shouldn't be pulled off her wonderful imaginary throne, you are right.
But wasn't man (or woman) created after His image? so the humanity connects to divinity after all.
i agree that the element of Divinity in maria's case was also coming from her extreme humanity ... still in her early years her voice was not human at all ;) And it is the combination of extremely human and extremely non-human elements that creates the explosive result
yes! It was a bloody miraculous voice in the beginning! My God, thes deep demonic sounds Macbeth, angelic soft ones sometimes when required and the power and bite! A wild tiger as she herself called her earlier singing. Though, to my opinion the miracle is the way she was possessed, mentally inspired which made her do things we think are not possible. Cocteau in '58: Madame, vous etes une flamme!
for me the greatest miracle in her was her ability to sing in single phrases or words notes that could be 2 octaves apart with enormous tonal accuracy still passing from one tone to the next so naturally and easily as if speaking
That! no-one ever did even not even Sutherland in her earliest years
Yes! Amen to that! I hear her sing inside my head now.
But even rather "simple" things make her great like the utter difference with which she pronounces 'io'in Medea, Norma or as Rosina. Different according to context and personage. No one has done THAT too as she did. O, I love her.
Jesus, Lohengrin, you don't half give me much ammunition to throw back at you :P First of all, I'm going to dismiss your psychiatrical admonition with one word, because it infuriates me: bullshit.
Secondly, your discussion of "nine assoluta roles" is a nice throwback to Geoffrey S. Riggs, but it's not a commonly accepted demarcation, not even close. I would go to the extent of calling it spurious, particularly when cited under these circumstances.
And finally: this recording has been sped up. Whether accidentally or purposefully, who can say. The proof is there, aurally, in the general pervasive fogginess of sound, and in the orchestra, principally. They sound like they're accompanying a carousel. Callas' timbre is slightly too light when compared with other tracks from the 1952 Armida, and her coloratura is noticeably faster than demonstrated anywhere else. The Bonynge-like tempo is also unlike the often torpid Serafin.
I would say Callas before the weight loss had a bigger voice than Sutherland (and even right after it), but after 1954 I'm unsure... Around 1960 and beyond I would say definitely Sutherland.
I agree. After about 1955 or '56, Callas lost a lot of body to her voice and the "wobble" became much more prvalent. By the way, does anyone know / has anyone ever wondered what Callas had vocally over Sutherland and vice-versa? Callas had faster stacatti (in the beginning) and diction; and Sutherland had trills and high notes. What am I missing?
What Sutherland didn't have, was low register like Callas. Sutherland's timbre was pure Coloratura soprano, sweet, soft and bell-like, while Callas had dark, strong timbre with silvery head register. And you are right: both Sutherland and Callas had amazing techique. Sutherland had good trill and Callas had faster stacatti. AND Callas didn't have a good mezza-voce either! But Sutherland didn't have good phrases, sometimes you can't hear words. Callas' phraseology was one of the best.
You are right. In her "overweight" recordings Callas could hit top E flad with less effort. She lost her weight in 1954 and she had fantastic voice in that year. Her voice began becoming "thinner" since 1955. In 1956 Callas had problems with her E flat. A year later she recovered her high register. The last year Callas had an E flat was 1959. But that year Sutherland was discovered with her fantastic voice, so Callas' instrument went out of discussion...
In 60-s (till 1965) Callas used to take not higher than C. In that years she performed Norma, Tosca and Medea. In 70-es, after 9-year-pause, Callas sang mezzo-soprano parties. Her timbre was "broken" and only low register sounded well.
which Lucia are you listening to?? And yess, she did. One of my favourite examples is from 'D'amor sull'ali...' live at La Scala in 1953 and at the end of the mad scene, from the recording in 1953. She also sang pretty good trills on Bolena, Sonnambula, Traviata, etc. I like her trill very much. She could control it's pacing. She could make it faster or slower, stronger or softer...
She never did the trill in the middle of any of her Lucia Mad Scenes, whereas Sutherland always did. Did she ever have as 'tight,' so to speak, a trill as Joan?
I didn't say in the middle of the mad scene. At the end of ''Ardon gli incensi''. She DID sing that trill, if not always (i haven't listen to ALL the performances she ever sang, so I can't ever be absolute). Her trill was beautiful. So was sutherland's.
From how it sounded, Maria's mouth sounded like it was more open, and Joan's was more closed (for lack of a better explanation, and since I'm just guessing). Maria's E-flats sounded louder, but Joan's sounded like they carried farher.
Joan's mouth had very different shape. If you just catch a glimse of her face, you'll see a strage shape of her jaw. Her jaw was thicker, bigger and open inside itself that provided extra space in her mouth, so she didn't need to open her mouth wider. That's all.
And Callas had other type of Soprano, she was Dramatic soprano. That's why she had such dark sound, but Callas could enlarge her vocal range to Coloratura soprano, thats why she could have E or F.
Callas didn't sing an F only once. There are very minimal Audio and Video recordings of her. Even Bemianmio Gigli has more recordings left. On the other hand, Callas didn't have a stable F, that's why she didn't sing it often. And she used to hit even E after her weight-loss. Anyway, she wasn't a coloratura soprano, but the dramatic soprano with huge register. Years ago I was also catching for highest notes of her but then I foud it useless and gave up. Just enjoy ;)
That idiot who conceived the idea of the "fast played tape", a collaborator of Divina Records, never explained to us: 1. why only this particular tape happens to be played faster by the modern players, 2. How the tone is altered by exactly 1 semitone (the difference between the supposed E natural and the truly sung high F6)
Whenever Callas sang too low the tape was played slower, whenever she sang too high the tape was played faster...
I dont expect much IQ from 2nd and 3rd class musicians :))
nope, a vocal Miracle singing Rossini's Armida in 3 fully supported octaves (no-one has ever done that and no-one ever will again) cannot be done everyday Although E flat was a note that as Simionato had said "Callas could sing as easily as drinking a glass of water" the E natural was not easy for her and the F was a one night Miracle ;)
Callas stretched herself beyond her limits that night
Well, first of all I wouldn't consider her high E as "solid and reliable".
She hit it just a few times in live operas (here, Vespri and Lakme's aria) and apart from the thrilling result of her live Lakme, the rest wasn't exactly glorious..
She decided to lower one step her "Caro nome" in Mexico City, in order to sing at the end a high E flat instead of a E natural. Why would she have done that if she had a "solid and reliable" E natural?...
And as wrote before, I spoke to de Hidalgo in 1978.
...and we all know that real Opera is NOT ONLY high notes but the whole opera. Anyway your comment is very remarkable for me. I didn't know Simionato's expression towards Callas. Thank you ;)
great!!!!!...but Dame Joan Sutherland is still the best coloratura soprano of all time!!!!
ziggylennox2012 1 week ago
Why so many comments are about high notes only? I agree, many light coloraturas could take higher notes, but only Callas could sing the ENTIRE Armida with such a passion!!! It would be fun listening to canary coloraturas sing the whole score with a powerful orchestra )
AnnaTeekhonova 2 weeks ago
Sills is still the best coloratura. Not only the speed and agility of her voice, and the dead on accuracy, but she was a terrific actress and had in incomparable tone. Callas is legendary, but the voice was ugly. Most of her fame came from onstage, not recordings. She was apparently amazing onstage, but more for her dramatic instincts than voice or singing.
ericscam2 3 weeks ago
@ericscam2 There are numerous definitions of "ugly". I've never had that Callas had an ugly voice, because I'm sure she wouldn't gain anything if it was right. I appreciate your position but don't make me smile.
And I really love Sills and prefer her version of some of her arias.
zurriussII 3 weeks ago
Yikes. Sills was much better coloratura. Callas just shrieks that last note. And she slides thought the scales, Sills hits each note dead on.
ericscam2 3 weeks ago
@ericscam2 Yes but Callas had other incomparable qualities which nobody had neither that time not now.
zurriussII 3 weeks ago
@ericscam2 MA PER FAVORE!!!!!!!!!!
galehout 2 weeks ago
Qualcuno ha ancora qualche dubbio sul fatto che la Callas sia stata e sia ancora oggi la più grande cantante lirica?.. Se avete dubbi,ascoltate questa registrazione...
Poetapersempre 1 month ago
Poster: this is from the old Melodram recording, I think. The tape recorder on which this was recorded in Florence ran slow. So played on a normal recorder, as for this transfer, it sounds a semitone high; they neglected to correct it so the whole opera sounds a semitone too high. The ensemble is written by Rossini in E major, ending on an E major chord. Callas interpolates a high E. Listen to the Divina Records remastering in the right key.
violinovoce 2 months ago
Callas' public note is a stretched E6, that's it. As we are all big fans of Callas we exaggerate. Hers is a great voice and historic renderings but let us not overexagerrate. Let us give the higher notes to thel ikes of Sutherland who indeed went to F6# in Der Schauspieldirektor and Sills who had clear Fs. Hallstein, Mesple, solenkova, Robin and Sack all went higher. Callas is great i am a big fan trust me, but this is not F i am a coloratura myself, this was just an E and quite forced. love her
reginabellestar 3 months ago 3
@reginabellestar If we are only talking about high notes, Hallstein's are by far the best in quality of sound. They are melodic, not screamy up to A6 and held steady and long. If on the other hand we are talking about the performance of a role from all points of view (vocal and interpretative) then Callas stands alone above all the rest. I heard her live in the 50s and I can attest that no other performances have had anything like the same mesmeric and magnetic impact on audiences as Callas's
Ariadne7710 2 months ago
@reginabellestar If what we are talking about is who ca sing the highest note then Mado Robin and Ingeborg Hallstein could both go up to A6. Hallstein's top notes in particular are incredibly melodic and not screamy or whislelike. Her Olympia, Caro Nome, Bell Song and Proch Variations are great examples of her beautiful high, very melodic and virtuosic coloratura singing.
Ariadne7710 2 months ago
@Ariadne7710 Remember Mado robin has a Guiness Record for the highest note without using whistle register
LacrimaLunaMortua 1 month ago
@LacrimaLunaMortua Very interesting. I didn't know that she was in the Guinness Book of Records. Of course others might be just as high or even higher but didn't submit examples of their highest notes to the Guinness judges for evaluation. Bognoa Sokorska can also sing extremely high notes but as she is not so world famous she probably has not been taken into account..
Ariadne7710 1 month ago
OK girls, the comments war is almost more fun than Armida with la Divina!I bought
this pirate recording in italy in the seventies and it was E she sang on that.
The quality of her high notes varied throughout her whole career,it should be mentioned that our Maria was finishing a run of die Walküre (La Valchiria)in Rome at the same time with this Armida in Firenze!
pump066 3 months ago
@pump066 Nice joke.
zurriussII 3 months ago
@zurriussII Regardless of whether Callas could sing an F6 or not, has anyone else sang an Armida like this since? No, of course not, and no-one can. You think that if Sutherland, Cabballe, Gruberova or Sills could have come anywhere close to this level they wouldn't have tried? I don't count Fleming's Armidas which were truly pathetic (I went to hear her at the Met last year and her sound was so weak you could hardly hear her even from the 8th row) and therefore of no consequence.
Ariadne7710 3 months ago
Respond to this video... In my opinion the best high notes not only F6 but A6's also are Hallstein's. They are not forced or pushed they are hit cleanly and squarely in the centre and beautifully melodic unlike anyone elses's Her top notes are by far the best by a very long margin. They are melodious and she can play with diminuendos and crescendos on them effortlessly. From that point of view she wipes the floor off everybody.
Ariadne7710 3 months ago
the last note isn't so good
NMEnrique 5 months ago
This is written in E major - I have a score. So the note is an E
jmitchell002 5 months ago
@jmitchell002 of curse it's in E! Some Callas blind fans just wont accept it, they think that they decided to perform the whole opera half a tone (one step) higher...:)
stefanodepeppo 5 months ago
Amo la Callas ma questa e' una delle note piu' brutte da lei eseguite, peccato che il direttore non l'abbia tagliata
frank54838 6 months ago
@frank54838
Commento non qualificato
Bhavatam 5 months ago
@Bhavatam Scusi ma come si permette di dire che il mio commento non e' qualificato. Lei mi conosce forse? Non sono il solo a pensarla cosi' e tra l'altro c'e' pure una ex cantante lirica mia amica che la pensa come me. Io sono un fan della Callas ma penso anche che, una cantante per tanto eccezionale che sia non puo' far sempre tutto bene.Inoltre le dico anche che ho studiato tecnica vocale quindi un pochino me ne intendo. Saluti
frank54838 5 months ago
@frank54838 I totally agree, it sounded like a scream toward the end falling down slightly and very unstable, it was obviously too high, i love Maria but that wasn't a nice sound. Everything else is quite good thought.
giorich 5 months ago
@giorich well, the D6 was incredible - not unstable at all. But the Eb6 was recorded in 59 - the last year in which any records document this note from Callas - and the E6 is not her best (the live version of the Bell Song and the 54 Bolero from Vespri are beautiful E naturals).
gustopheles 4 months ago
Al di là dell'altezza di quella nota,la Callas si conferma un genio vocale supremo e insuperabile.
Poetapersempre 6 months ago 2
Probably the only F6 that we have heard held and sustained by any soprano coloratura or not
And the Sutherland/Sills fanatics who have been promoting the speed-up theory can all eat their fake Manolo Blahnicks :)))
LohengrinT 6 months ago
@LohengrinT yeah yeah....
stefanodepeppo 5 months ago
@LohengrinT Didn't she hit two F6s in the 52 Armida, though (this one and the finale)? And aren't they both often referred to as E-naturals? I have no doubt that in her prime, F6 was a note she could reach, but it seems weird that she could hit two F6s in one night, both slightly flat and neither dissonant.
You raise an interesting point, though - that the pitch of this recording would be relentlessly put into question, and by questionable 'experts'
gustopheles 4 months ago
@gustopheles
why only this recording is pitched up of all the prior 53 Callas recordings? :) ahahah those claims were ridiculous and they were embraced instantly by all the Sills - Sutherland Queens
Nothing more nothing less
It is a gloriously sustained F6 here ;)
LohengrinT 4 months ago
@LohengrinT Callas was a great Assoluta, but her public top note was an E6. If she could reach F's in public(at her prime), why would she do it just in this particular performance, and neither in some of the others 53 prior recordings, or ever again? She was quite a show-off, and if she could, she certainly would have done it.
pedrofribeiro 1 month ago
@pedrofribeiro
it wasnt a note she could easily reach ;)
If you study the Armida live complete performance you will realize it is Callas stretched to inhuman limits - it was a one time attempt ;)
LohengrinT 1 month ago
A me sembra più che un Fa un Mi crescente. Comunque magnifica come sempre!
The9chrip6 7 months ago 3
@The9chrip6 Infatti e un MI, i nastri della registrazione dal vivo sono mezzo tono sopra. C'è qualche fanatico cieco che vuole che sia un FA...va beh...contenti loro...
stefanodepeppo 5 months ago
@stefanodepeppo Già! Più che cieco è sordo...
The9chrip6 5 months ago
I respect Callas' contribution as much as the next person, but this was never quite the right fach for her--that F is pretty harrowing!
orsino88 8 months ago
so??? its callas and when then callas sings all the others shut the f. up.
markellagr 9 months ago
... and this is why Sutherland never dared this role!
NEBESHIKU 9 months ago
@NEBESHIKU don't know really. May be it was tooo heavy for her or she just forgot it :lol:
zurriussII 9 months ago
@zurriussII Nothing was ever too heavy for Sutherland she was trained to be a Wagnerian Soprano originally...and she freaking did Norma as one of her best roles
bigdigger87 8 months ago
@bigdigger87 Then I ask you why she didn't sing this role.
zurriussII 8 months ago
@zurriussII The same reason she would not take the high E's in Anna Bolena and Maria Stuarda sometimes the same reason the sand Der Holle Rache down 3 steps.
There were certain things that she just flat out chose not to do.....we do not know why, we do know that she was very capable but she chose not to.
bigdigger87 8 months ago
@bigdigger87 You know what? I think Callas sang better on stage rather then in studio. She needed true emotions and real costumes that really helped her in singing. That's why her Aida in Mexico is so magnificent with its E-flat.
As for Sutherland, she could produce the same quality of sound both on stage and in studio. In Rigoletto "bella figlia del amore" she ended the quartet with high note and, as you've mentioned, The queen of the night - without F. It's just her interpretation.
zurriussII 8 months ago
@zurriussII I agree with you 100%
bigdigger87 8 months ago
@bigdigger87 Thank you
zurriussII 8 months ago
whatever you want to call the high note at the end, it's flat, off pitch and out of tune.
tklogan111809 10 months ago
@tklogan111809 I think I'm fed up with all of these arguments. Anything more?
zurriussII 10 months ago
who cares what note it was, it sounded awful
skitzo429 11 months ago
@skitzo429
her high notes tended to go a bit sour and flat didn't they?
ilfig1iomio 10 months ago
@ilfig1iomio Callas was never known for intonation problems, but her top notes were always pinched and forced
skitzo429 10 months ago
This old recording sounds like it's being played fast, deliberately or not, resulting in her sounding like a girl and the pitch pushed up by a half tone. The last time I checked, this number is written in E, and it's being played in F. Whatever the case is, that last note was unfortunate. We ALL know what a divine performer she was, but the stratospheric high notes weren't her thing. She MUST'VE been young in this recording since she hasn't learned that yet. Or maybe it was just her off-night.
vitellia 1 year ago
Beloved Maria confirming that she was and always will be , La Divina. What spectacular singers we had in those days............could it have been known as the "platinum age of singing"? Especially as we currently have the "tin age". Thank you so much for this upload zurriussll, it's stunning!
petelovesbevsills 1 year ago
Under Heldago's bel canto training, Callas had to have the F# as a passing tone in the vocal drills. If in good voice, in her early career, she would and DID execute F naturals. She would have been totally opposed to speeding up the recording to attain an F. How sad one who will never accomplish, nor serve his own Art as she did will attempt decry her accomplishment. Her artistry and technique and signature voice are unmatched. truth is beauty, Callas didn't make "pretty". She gave us beauty.
angelovocci 1 year ago 14
@angelovocci Pls explain to me how do you know that "she would and DID execute F naturals"....
xafnndapp 1 year ago
@angelovocci - I find it incredible that Maria Callas sang this kind of fiorritura and high repertoire like Lakme and also Tosca and Wagner, and Orfeo. Was it common back then for singers to have to sing in so many fachs? I'm a coloratura and you wouldn't catch me dead attempting Mimi or Tosca. Callas is la Stupenda for a reason-- incredible portamenti, color, drama. I don't adore the timbre of her voice but I am never anything but captivated.
sopranosd 1 year ago
@sopranosd She is la Divina¡ La Stupenda is Sutherland!
NEBESHIKU 1 year ago
@angelovocci I wonder where you got this information because, although a number of historians agree that this note is an F, Hildago herself said, in interview, that Callas' range went up to E natural.
gustopheles 1 year ago
@gustopheles I assure you through the lineage of bel canto technique through Tetrazzinni, that Callas had to have the F as a PASSING tone developed. Heldago was referring to the note that would be optimum to sustain in power and color. The F would not have been encouraged to land as a sustained tone, but when limber and in good voice before unrequited love pressed his thumb against her larynx, Callas would execute this note. The F would have been in her drills esp. if E was considered her end.
angelovocci 1 year ago
@angelovocci That does make sense. Thanks for the very interesting info.
gustopheles 1 year ago
@angelovocci once again, the fact that with de Hidalgo (not "Heldago"..) she would have vocalized till F (and I agree, she told me so) doesn't mean that she ever sang an F live.
This note here sounds like an F only because the live recording is sped up and all up half a tone, one step. The real note that she sang that night was an E.
xafnndapp 10 months ago
@angelovocci I totally agree with you.. Any good voice teacher, and we know Hildago was better than good.! would have had her vocalizing to high F sharps. All of my voice teachers make me vocalize one full step higher than what I would sing easily in performance, and sometimes more.
leonardovittori1 1 year ago
@leonardovittori1 Exactly !! What my voice teacher calls the "safety third" !!
breton2 1 year ago
come on you bunch of silly opera queens... just enjoy the sheer magic and shut the f up...
debislo 1 year ago 10
It does sound a bit sped up, but it sure as hell is exciting to listen to! XD
lalagonegaga 2 years ago
suena como High F, aunque en directo fuese un High E.
ubedajils 2 years ago
es un mi6 aunq no suena muy bien
rhapsodyaaa 2 years ago 2
Wow callas, la verdad no es muy claro el sonido pero esta de mas
maragato23 2 years ago
This IS an F6, strange for my ears, but an F6!
allanrosendo 2 years ago
i check it on my keyboard and it's an f6, but it sounds a little strained,,,
discorules2009 2 years ago
Not an F6! For sure!
yodavidnavarro 2 years ago
I agree. E flat?
MisterSoprano 2 years ago
almost, she's swimming between and E and an F she's like a quarter step below F
tCrOMez1990 2 years ago
OMG! What was wrong with the audience? This is so amazing!
doubtberry 2 years ago
Ballsy
bradleyjenks 2 years ago
Let's stop arguing what note she sang at the end... who cares? La Divina is La divina, she is the best, it doesn't matter if she sang an F in public or not! Let's just concentrate on her genius, forget the mechanical aspects of her singing, because her voice is simply impossible to describe and categorise mechanically!
eugenelohks 2 years ago 18
Beautifully said! Yes, indeed. It's becoming just ridiculous to argue about what has happened long ago. History prized Callas as La Divina and the theme is closed.
zurriussII 2 years ago 2
I agree with you. And I think that discussing over the unique and huge importance of this Artist in the world of Opera is alwasys fascinating.
But the title of this thread still remains wrong, a bit like stating that she sang Amneris at la Scala with Tebaldi...
She never did, even if it doesn't take away anything from her greatness!
xafnndapp 2 years ago 2
THANK YOU FOR YOUR OPINION
zurriussII 2 years ago
@xafnndapp
Ovviamente, Maria Callas aveva il Fa sopracuto, eccome se ce l'aveva. E lo confermarono sia Sergio Failoni, che sua moglie a me personalmente anni dopo a Budapest, presso i quali la Callas fu baby-sitter. Callas studiò ed eseguì la Regina della Notte negli anni '40 in varie audizioni e forse in spettacoli. Lo conferma Rudolf Bing dal quale la Callas tentò di farsi sentire con le due arie della Konigin der Nacht, la prima aria in tono, la seconda 1 tono sotto. Saluti.
impressart 9 months ago
@impressart anc he io penso fermamente ce la Callas avessi il Fa sopracuto e ho sentito dire che in qualche archivio potrebbe esserci qualche incisione della sua regina della notte.
Speriamo lo trovino presto.
lantis323f 9 months ago
That's yr mistake. You are playing this Armida recording with a tuned instrument and you think that she sang Eb in "D'amore" and an F at the end of this quartet.
This recoring (and most labels of live Armida CDs) is sped up of almost a step (half a tone).
If you know how to read music, get an Armida score and you will see how I am right. :)
xafnndapp 2 years ago
Comment removed
DanyelHawkes 2 years ago
i actually do know how to read music ;) for this quartet, the tuning is out of wack, you can hear it, no need for an instrument. But as for D'amore, everything is relatively in tune. Its also notible that back in the 40-50's, it was highly common to transpose aria's to fit ones voice. Either way well never know...real point is, whatever key she was in, callas was gold in this opera and I highly doubt anyone will be able to surpase her any time soon.
DanyelHawkes 2 years ago 2
Your last statement is absolutely true.
And yes, if you play an instrument with the final note it is indeed between E and F.
But only because the recording varies from 1/2 to 3/4 of a tone sped up from reality!
And you are also right, in those days it was very common to transpose.
Nevertheless, do you really think she would transpose up a whole opera?...
And why did she transpose DOWN 1/2 a step her Caro Nome in Mexico City just two months later?...
xafnndapp 2 years ago
very good point. But being a singer myself. I know that certain passages feel more comfortable in certain registers. Maybe for callas ( in that one aria) it felt more comfortable for her to transpose it up. Just like some tenors transpose "every valley" down a half-step (in the messiah) but keep the rest the same. As for the caro nome she might have been having a bad voice day? Who knows...this is ALL speculation...all these comments are speculation...but fun to debate none the less :)
DanyelHawkes 2 years ago
I am a singer too.
Of course what you say can happen, but even in 1951-2 her high E was easily her limit, you can feel it in Vespri and Lakme.
Caro Nome was transposed because she had difficulties to sing high E natural at the end. I know it because I know people in Bellas Artes who were very close to her in those days.
And, by the way, de Hidalgo confirmed to me that her top was a MI naturale (E natural).
xafnndapp 2 years ago
she actually said that callas can vocalize to an F but had a solid Mi. Either way none of this proves anything. She could have been in good oice that day and decided to transpose it. No one has proof of anything.
DanyelHawkes 2 years ago
OK...:)
xafnndapp 2 years ago
That was my point exactly.. She can vocalize to an F and has a good sustained E natural. Thats good enough..LOL.
kgarmaker123 2 years ago
@DanyelHawkes Thank you so much. I've been trying to say the same thing for ages. I've heard that Dessay has sung a good A above high C and then crapped on Eb in the same performance (Lucia I think?). The voice is a funny thing and yet people seem to treat a singer's range as something that is definite and predictable. BTW IDK what the hell she sang that night but we shouldn't have this much discussion over one note!
babydrane 2 years ago
You have made some valid points.. but... I might point out, this High E that you think is the end of the line... was sung in a recital! and Live! So... Callals must have felt confident that it would be there, to attempt it, because if it didnt she would have never lived it down. I am sure she had a High F and F#... Usually, if a singer can sustain An High E, in vocalization they can sing beyond that, even if for a brief time(non sustained).
kgarmaker123 2 years ago
So, if you think she was so confident with her E natural (MI naturale), why do you think that she transposed "Caro nome" in Mexico down a step in the same year that she sang that MI in Lakme in the concert?...
xafnndapp 2 years ago
Look, do you understand Women's physiology? There are times during the month when their vocal cords are NOT the same, as a result of their menstrual cylces.. so how do we know.. why she "transposed" the Caro Nome down? Or did she really? Or is it another one of those pitch variances from old recordings? In any even,t.. yes, I think that Callas did feel confidence on most days in her top notes. including her Mi.. ..
kgarmaker123 2 years ago
It's not a matter of "guessing" if she really transposed Caro nome or not. She DID.
If you are a musician, follow with a score what happens immediately after when Rigoletto sings "Riedo, perche'?" when he has to change notes in order to reestablish the original key.
And also, in Mexico City Carlos Diaz-Dupond confirmed to em that she had to transpose because her MI naturale was precrious and she felt more confident singing MI bemolle.
xafnndapp 2 years ago
Then, why did she agree to sing Armida with quite a few E naturals? If she didn;t think she had the note, she would not have attempted the role..
kgarmaker123 2 years ago
Not "quite a few" E Naturals, only one, at the end of this quartet!
One E flat at the end of the duet with the tenor and one at the very end of the opera.
All interpolated and not written, of course.
She loved adding hign notes, I am sure you are familiar with the E flat story in Aida...
She added a high E natural only in Vespri and Armida, apart from that Lakme concert.
xafnndapp 2 years ago
The young Callas was a dare devil, and it is in part how she established her reputation. The High E was a part of a stage performance, live, as was Vespri... The high Es were interpolated, and as such, did not need to be sung, but she did anyway... To me, this connotes confidence in the note.
kgarmaker123 2 years ago
Without any doubt the young Callas loved to show off with amazing high notes. But her extreme top (E flat and very rarely high E) was not 100% secure even then. In the same night when she sang that blazing E natural she sang an unsupported E flat at the end of Lucia's madness. Her E flats in Mexico in 1952 are mostly somehow sketchy.
To me this means that E natural was her confident (but with reserve) absolute top note in her palm days.
And I guess that de Hidalgo would not have lied...
xafnndapp 2 years ago
@xafnndapp The e-flat in Mexico City with Kurt Baum and Giulietta Simionato lasted close to 16 beats, rose on perfect pitch above an enormous orchestra and chorus and could have continued. Listen to all the Lucias save the 1959 commercial recording, and they are all there with every overtone accounted for. it's like complaining about Van Gogh not being as good a draftsman as Degas. Who gives a shit? Callas is still the queen, immutable and divine. Her e-flats are up on Olympus with all of it!
sillyboydeux 2 years ago 4
I never said that Callas didn't have an E flat, read well my comments. As far as we can hear in live recordings, she did only one fantastic high E (Lakme 52) and few amazing E flats, but also some so-so high E (Armida and Vespri) and so-so E flats (Lucia 52, Lucia 55, Lucia 56-57, Puritani 52, Traviatas 58), so this means something to me in terms of technique. Of course Callas was Callas, I adore her, but I think that idolazing her as absolutely perfect doesn't do her good.
xafnndapp 2 years ago
It's not absolute perfection that she achieved, and she was the first to admit that. It was absolute truth, dramatically and musically, which limits a discussion of E-flats to a discussion of E-flats, and nothing having to do with the above. Simionato doesn't agree with you, if it matters
sillyboydeux 2 years ago
And anything above high D is a circus trick anyway, which is why P.T. Barnum preferred to promote Jenny Lind and not the Malibran/Viardot types, who got them sometimes, missed them at others.
sillyboydeux 2 years ago
I think I spoke about her E flats as you did speak about her E flats, so of course we both nknow that we are talking about high notes specifically, and thi has nothing to do with her ARTISTRY.
She had flaws as virtually all singers have, someone more, someone less.
What did Simionato say that doesn't agree with what I said or viceversa?...
You keep mentioning people and interviews, I would like you to be more specific...
xafnndapp 2 years ago
Not TRUE, Elvira de Hidalgo said on the book :Callas, The Early Years-Callas top note was an E natural!
BetuliaLiberata 2 years ago
And she said the same thing in 1968 in a filmed interview in French made for a program on Callas!
xafnndapp 2 years ago
....cont'd.... Considering that callas was in INCREDIBLE voice that night and easily pulled of the high Eb in D'amore al dolce it would highly unlikely for her to have relatively messed up and E at the end of this aria. All that said, personally im still 50/50 on this loool
DanyelHawkes 2 years ago
There is not much to consider.
if you look at the score (without listening to the wrong pitch of this and many other labels of this live Armida) you will see that at the end of this quartet the only optional interpolated high note is an E natural.
And in her "D'amor al dolce impero" she reaches a high D, not an E flat. (Still look at the score!)
xafnndapp 2 years ago
Not so hard to believe for this aria considering the general pitch fluxuates. But for D'amore al dolce, she is EXACTLY on the Eb. I actually challenge you to play all of callas' (in that aria) exposed high notes in synch with any tuned instrument. Most of them, in particular the Eb is incredibly in tune. Also, artificial tuning is easily audible in aged recording. So its safe to say she sung an Eb.
DanyelHawkes 2 years ago
Honestly i am quite sceptical as to whether this is a Flat F6. Lets look at the vocal aspect of things: logically speaking if you compare this to her High E natural in 1952's Lakme, this final high note has a less vibrant tone, almost no vibrato and callas' vocal position drops at the end (you can hear it in the drop slide) Those are all signs of vocal difficulty she did not demonstrate while singing the High E in the 1952 live Lakme Bell Song. ...cont'....
DanyelHawkes 2 years ago
The scene is written in E Major, so the final note is an E, not an F.
operastud82 2 years ago
I yield to none in my admiration of La Callas, but I don't think she ever sang a high F. High E natural yes, but no F. Those live recordings on Divina) have been messed with. Moreover, I don't see how you guys can compare Callas with Sutherland. They were completely opposite in their approaches to bel canto. Sutherland had a thrilling technique and made everything sound almost too effortless. Callas made it sound more real and immediate. Her voice in the early 50's had Godzilla power!
Zva26 2 years ago 5
I agree with you abouc Callas' and Sutherland's approach.
zurriussII 2 years ago
This video has been discussed in great detail on previous occasions and this recording is not accurate because it has been sped up slightly to raise the pitch by a semitone from E to F. I own a copy of this opera with the corrected pitch and it is still amazing!
Joeleole 2 years ago
the "fast speed tape" is a speculation made by some idiotic conductor from Divina Records with whom I had 3-4 long email exchange. His main argument was the Elvira de Hidalgo had never mentioned maria having an F (AS IF SHE HAD MENTIONED MARIA'S LOW F3SHARP!) and that according to the score's key this aria must not end into an F but into an E natural (AS IF SHE WAS NOT ALLOWED TO TRANSPOSE ONCE IN HER LIFETIME!).
Lohengrin 2 years ago
While I appreciate the sentiment of your words, I find them to be incongruous not only with what experts have agreed worldwide but also with what Callas herself felt about music. She was always an advocate for maintaining the composers intention through the music. Regarding Di Hidalgo, The question posed to her was whether or not she (Callas) had the F which was asked to clarify this very issue which we are now discussing.
Joeleole 2 years ago
-what do u mean by "experts"? the worldwide drag queens that are Opera Critics in the major operatic magazines?
-she has transposed upwards again in her life and it was in her live 1956 Scala Barbiere
-De Hidalgo was never asked such a thing. The interview exists and she just describes there Callas' highest note according to her opinion Where on earth do u come up with such fantasies?
Lohengrin 2 years ago 2
of course he also never managed to explain why this particular tare is THE ONLY ONE OF ALL of maria's early recordings which is played faster by modern tapes and by EXACTLY ONE SEMITONE in order for this to sound as an F.
The entire Sutherland and Sills group of Fans (as IF they were ever Callas' rivals!) hurried up to embrace this ridicilous speculation and Divina Records sold a lot of many copies of a SUPPOSEDLY corrected tape with a lot of fffffffffffs in it!
Lohengrin 2 years ago
I also think that the people who published the "F Armida" were more interested in sales than DIVINA RECORDS as the novelty of this High F would incite people to buy the recording on the basis of hearing this note as opposed to another Callas E which, while amazing, is not unique. Also Armida was/is a relatively unknown opera and only Callas Fanatics would have wanted to acquire it for the merits of her singing, the hype created by the High F would certainly have broadened the marketability of it
Joeleole 2 years ago
yes Armida is an unknown opera for people who know Tosca and Aida while it has been one of the 9 principle Assoluta Roles ever since its birth The fact you dont know it and appreciate it lessens you not this unique rossinian masterpiece (Medea is also very rarely to never performed,,, is that another uknown Opera?) No it is just an Assoluta Role, got any idea what that means?
Lohengrin 2 years ago
Lohengrin refers to "the 9 principle Assoluta Roles". I'm curious: Could you possibly name all 9 and tell us where we might see them discussed?:-) Many thanks
grig035 2 years ago
Ha HA Lohengrin, you are kicking some legs!
velazquez2009 2 years ago
we are discussing the greatest Gathering of Queens in the History of Opera trying to convince us that a note that we all hear it is not actually there... and in the middle there is the owner of DIVINA RECORDS who just wants to make a looooot of money out of Callas SUPPOSEDLY corrected tapes... There should be legal charges both for what they are saying and also for their mere Stupidity :)
Lohengrin 2 years ago
To conclude, I don't think we should further beatify this very human woman. It is her humanity and truth that speaks to us in her music, not divinity. If we continue to create these untruths about her we lose sight of her intent which was to convey truth. She was by no means perfect but she used her flaws to their greatest advantage, which was conveying human characters and human TRUTH!
Best Regards
Joeleole 2 years ago
well Im sure you feel very comfortable about de-divinizing extremely talented human beings (whose talents truly approached Divine) but if you speak to a Psychiatrist he will explain to you that you suffer from an extremely common among gay people disorder that makes the gay person to desire to de-throne extremely talented human beings especially women since he cannot accept his personal "nothingness" compared to other people's unbelievable Greatness
Lohengrin 2 years ago
Profound...
Joeleole 2 years ago
ha ha ha well done, hit the point, but you have made this discussion slightly more difficult. Callas shouldn't be pulled off her wonderful imaginary throne, you are right.
But wasn't man (or woman) created after His image? so the humanity connects to divinity after all.
velazquez2009 2 years ago
i agree that the element of Divinity in maria's case was also coming from her extreme humanity ... still in her early years her voice was not human at all ;) And it is the combination of extremely human and extremely non-human elements that creates the explosive result
Lohengrin 2 years ago
yes! It was a bloody miraculous voice in the beginning! My God, thes deep demonic sounds Macbeth, angelic soft ones sometimes when required and the power and bite! A wild tiger as she herself called her earlier singing. Though, to my opinion the miracle is the way she was possessed, mentally inspired which made her do things we think are not possible. Cocteau in '58: Madame, vous etes une flamme!
velazquez2009 2 years ago
for me the greatest miracle in her was her ability to sing in single phrases or words notes that could be 2 octaves apart with enormous tonal accuracy still passing from one tone to the next so naturally and easily as if speaking
That! no-one ever did even not even Sutherland in her earliest years
Lohengrin 2 years ago
Yes! Amen to that! I hear her sing inside my head now.
But even rather "simple" things make her great like the utter difference with which she pronounces 'io'in Medea, Norma or as Rosina. Different according to context and personage. No one has done THAT too as she did. O, I love her.
velazquez2009 2 years ago
I agree, Callas was one of the best - but you guys are delusional.
JovKickers 2 years ago
why delusional?
velazquez2009 2 years ago
Jesus, Lohengrin, you don't half give me much ammunition to throw back at you :P First of all, I'm going to dismiss your psychiatrical admonition with one word, because it infuriates me: bullshit.
Secondly, your discussion of "nine assoluta roles" is a nice throwback to Geoffrey S. Riggs, but it's not a commonly accepted demarcation, not even close. I would go to the extent of calling it spurious, particularly when cited under these circumstances.
33blueberries 2 years ago
And finally: this recording has been sped up. Whether accidentally or purposefully, who can say. The proof is there, aurally, in the general pervasive fogginess of sound, and in the orchestra, principally. They sound like they're accompanying a carousel. Callas' timbre is slightly too light when compared with other tracks from the 1952 Armida, and her coloratura is noticeably faster than demonstrated anywhere else. The Bonynge-like tempo is also unlike the often torpid Serafin.
33blueberries 2 years ago
I would say Callas before the weight loss had a bigger voice than Sutherland (and even right after it), but after 1954 I'm unsure... Around 1960 and beyond I would say definitely Sutherland.
hac2011 2 years ago
I agree. After about 1955 or '56, Callas lost a lot of body to her voice and the "wobble" became much more prvalent. By the way, does anyone know / has anyone ever wondered what Callas had vocally over Sutherland and vice-versa? Callas had faster stacatti (in the beginning) and diction; and Sutherland had trills and high notes. What am I missing?
ChrisStockslager 2 years ago
What Sutherland didn't have, was low register like Callas. Sutherland's timbre was pure Coloratura soprano, sweet, soft and bell-like, while Callas had dark, strong timbre with silvery head register. And you are right: both Sutherland and Callas had amazing techique. Sutherland had good trill and Callas had faster stacatti. AND Callas didn't have a good mezza-voce either! But Sutherland didn't have good phrases, sometimes you can't hear words. Callas' phraseology was one of the best.
zurriussII 2 years ago
You are right. In her "overweight" recordings Callas could hit top E flad with less effort. She lost her weight in 1954 and she had fantastic voice in that year. Her voice began becoming "thinner" since 1955. In 1956 Callas had problems with her E flat. A year later she recovered her high register. The last year Callas had an E flat was 1959. But that year Sutherland was discovered with her fantastic voice, so Callas' instrument went out of discussion...
zurriussII 2 years ago
And even then, from what I've heard, Callas' E-flat was not the best sounding in 1959. What was the highest note she sang from 1960 - 1974?
ChrisStockslager 2 years ago
In 60-s (till 1965) Callas used to take not higher than C. In that years she performed Norma, Tosca and Medea. In 70-es, after 9-year-pause, Callas sang mezzo-soprano parties. Her timbre was "broken" and only low register sounded well.
zurriussII 2 years ago
what stupid text.
velazquez2009 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Did Callas ever have good trill? All of her trills on Lucia sound wobbly and loose.
ChrisStockslager 2 years ago
which Lucia are you listening to?? And yess, she did. One of my favourite examples is from 'D'amor sull'ali...' live at La Scala in 1953 and at the end of the mad scene, from the recording in 1953. She also sang pretty good trills on Bolena, Sonnambula, Traviata, etc. I like her trill very much. She could control it's pacing. She could make it faster or slower, stronger or softer...
AOG93 2 years ago 2
She never did the trill in the middle of any of her Lucia Mad Scenes, whereas Sutherland always did. Did she ever have as 'tight,' so to speak, a trill as Joan?
ChrisStockslager 2 years ago
I didn't say in the middle of the mad scene. At the end of ''Ardon gli incensi''. She DID sing that trill, if not always (i haven't listen to ALL the performances she ever sang, so I can't ever be absolute). Her trill was beautiful. So was sutherland's.
AOG93 2 years ago 2
Okie dokie, I'll have to look that up! :D
ChrisStockslager 2 years ago
YES; ABSOLUTELY
doremicde 2 years ago
I totaly agree. That trill at the end of "D'amor sull'ali rosee" live from La Scala in 1953 is FANTASTIC!!
xafnndapp 2 years ago
IDIOT!!!!!!!!! Listen to quando rapito in estasi, IDIOT, IF YOU WANT TO FIND SOMEONE WHO IS AT YOUR LEVEL; GO TO GIOVANNI ALLEVI, IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!
doremicde 2 years ago
Well, that was helpful.
ChrisStockslager 2 years ago
From how it sounded, Maria's mouth sounded like it was more open, and Joan's was more closed (for lack of a better explanation, and since I'm just guessing). Maria's E-flats sounded louder, but Joan's sounded like they carried farher.
ChrisStockslager 2 years ago
Joan's mouth had very different shape. If you just catch a glimse of her face, you'll see a strage shape of her jaw. Her jaw was thicker, bigger and open inside itself that provided extra space in her mouth, so she didn't need to open her mouth wider. That's all.
And Callas had other type of Soprano, she was Dramatic soprano. That's why she had such dark sound, but Callas could enlarge her vocal range to Coloratura soprano, thats why she could have E or F.
zurriussII 2 years ago
Callas didn't sing an F only once. There are very minimal Audio and Video recordings of her. Even Bemianmio Gigli has more recordings left. On the other hand, Callas didn't have a stable F, that's why she didn't sing it often. And she used to hit even E after her weight-loss. Anyway, she wasn't a coloratura soprano, but the dramatic soprano with huge register. Years ago I was also catching for highest notes of her but then I foud it useless and gave up. Just enjoy ;)
zurriussII 2 years ago
I will. :-)
operagodess78 2 years ago
That idiot who conceived the idea of the "fast played tape", a collaborator of Divina Records, never explained to us: 1. why only this particular tape happens to be played faster by the modern players, 2. How the tone is altered by exactly 1 semitone (the difference between the supposed E natural and the truly sung high F6)
Whenever Callas sang too low the tape was played slower, whenever she sang too high the tape was played faster...
I dont expect much IQ from 2nd and 3rd class musicians :))
Lohengrin 2 years ago
Why would Callas sing an "F', only once in her career? Wouldn't she kept interploting them?
operagodess78 2 years ago
nope, a vocal Miracle singing Rossini's Armida in 3 fully supported octaves (no-one has ever done that and no-one ever will again) cannot be done everyday Although E flat was a note that as Simionato had said "Callas could sing as easily as drinking a glass of water" the E natural was not easy for her and the F was a one night Miracle ;)
Callas stretched herself beyond her limits that night
Lohengrin 2 years ago
Thank you. You gave me a mature and correct explanation. Callas had big E-flats, but her E's sounded like she stretched it. =)
operagodess78 2 years ago
And she never had an F.
xafnndapp 2 years ago
Though I completely agree that it is irrelevant because she is and will always be LA DIVINA, are you sure you know what you're talking about??
Someone who has a solid and reliable High E of course has access to High F. Callas says it herself in a recorded interview.
eradesso 2 years ago
Well, first of all I wouldn't consider her high E as "solid and reliable".
She hit it just a few times in live operas (here, Vespri and Lakme's aria) and apart from the thrilling result of her live Lakme, the rest wasn't exactly glorious..
She decided to lower one step her "Caro nome" in Mexico City, in order to sing at the end a high E flat instead of a E natural. Why would she have done that if she had a "solid and reliable" E natural?...
And as wrote before, I spoke to de Hidalgo in 1978.
xafnndapp 2 years ago
...and we all know that real Opera is NOT ONLY high notes but the whole opera. Anyway your comment is very remarkable for me. I didn't know Simionato's expression towards Callas. Thank you ;)
zurriussII 2 years ago
We all know that most of Callas' recordings were lost or not recorded. Even Gigli's archive is much bigger than Callas'. So you don't say that.
zurriussII 2 years ago
What are you talking about" So you don't say that"???
operagodess78 2 years ago
Nothing special.
zurriussII 2 years ago