lei "sa" come deve essere cantato il pezzo, sotto tutti i punti di vista (anche pù del direttore d'orchestra). Quando aveva anche più suono a disposizione, la chiamavano Divina... ci sarà stato un motivo...
@belcantismo The rest was good in my mind but - perhaps this has something to do with the recording quality / today's - that's what we come for and expect in professional singers, isn't it? I see little reason to comment on a singer's good singing - had I thought this was an exceptional performance I would have commented and similarly when I pick up on something exceptionally awful I see fit to acknoweledge it.
@Makashi11 Callas's did not have a conventional "pretty voice" but she had a voice of immense range, versatility and power. She had a formidable technique and exceptional interpretative instinct. I was lucky enough to see her perform during the years 1956-59 when I was studying music in Italy and her portrayals of Norma, Traviata, Medea and Anna Bolena which I saw were unique and unforgettable experiences. Conductors like Karajan, Bernstein, Serafin etc lined up to conduct her. Were they wrong?
@belcantismo Personally I think Callas is an over-rated Soprano. Her technique seems impeccable and her range is impressive but there is something fundamental missing from her voice. She just lacks a certain exceptional quality about the basic quality of her voice, it just hits me as rather bland and unexciting. For one, I would put Mady Mesple above Callas. Mesple had a wider range and superior technique; the timbre of her voice is wonderful, she sounds like a nightingale.
@Makashi11 I have a feeling you need to be musically trained to judge a singer's technique. Now, apart from the final note, not exactly in tune, and that does not matter in the least after such a brilliant show (we are in the sixties, when Callas had vocal problems, check her older recordings), if you can't appreciate the understanding of Rossini's score here delivered, in each detail of the score, then maybe music is not your field, who knows?
Well I'm not an expert by any means, but this performance is a testament, I believe, to her technique. The voice is clearly diminished, and still she gets out those C#'s that seem impossible if you judged by the deteriorated sound of her notes below. And as for her acting and passion... well, not even her fiercest critics could deny them.
I adore Maria Callas and I've learned much about her, there is something that I don't quite understand about her. My voice teacher labels her as a dramatic mezzo, but as far as i can tell in her rendition of The Bell Song from Lakme, she had the coloratura range, but she also sings mezzo pieces such as this-how would you classify her....or is there no bother?
I'm asking because I'm a lyric mezzo-soprano and I'm looking for a idol, not someone I can try to sound like, but that I can look up to.
@Poet2916 Your voice teacher maybe doesn't know the exact dimension of MC art. She is still "unique" because during her entire career could sing many different parts at best, as never other singer could. "Dramatic mezzo" is only 1 part as her voice became darker, as say in last part of her magnificient career. W/h help of De Hidalgo, MC's voice teacher, using the natural possibilities of the most extraordinary singer ever appeared on stages, we have today many DEFINITIVE performances.
@Poet2916 Well, sorry to say but your teacher is rather ignorant on Maria Callas. She had a very flexible and extent voice, with very present low register and high register. She is anyway a true soprano, a soprano drammatico d'agilità, because she had a very "heavy" voice that thanks to Elvira de Hidalgo's school she managed to move to coloratura. This video is indeed at the end of her career, when the high register was shortened.
@Poet2916 Maria Callas was a soprano with a 3 octave range. Her teacher was Elvira De Hidalgo when she studied in Greece during the war. She trained her in the belcanto method which made her voice extremely agile. Callas was an amazing singer never to be rivaled. Her range was huge and she could sing anything! Your teacher is mistaken in this case.
@operasinger1981 In addition to what you say, Callas was first and foremost a musician and second a singer. Furthermore, she was a musician's musician. She is for those who can see beyond the voice (is it a "pretty voice" or not) and the technique - which is second to none - and appreciate her musicianship qualities, the voice colouring, the phrasing, the way she uses the text to formulate each phrase, and accentuate it, the use of rubato, ritardando, accellerando etc This is just for a start.
Unvergeßliche Maria Callas-ich durfte Sie damals bei ihrem Konzert 1962 in Hamburg erleben.Ein sensationeller Publikumserfolg--das Publikum war außer sich vor Freude--die Musikkritiker leider nicht -aber was macht das schon.
certo non e' la sua interpretazione migliore,ma Callas resta sempre una lezione di canto e di belcanto.Viva Maria per sempre.Senza la sua impressionante forza innovatrice o, se volete,restauratrice oggi il melodramma sarebbe certamente piu' povero.
I am one of those who often find Callas's voice too ugly to bear, but this clip is quite felicitous, esp given that it is from 1962 when her voice was generally considered to have declined. She HAS technique. And drama. Unquestionably a great actress (duh, eh?).
is so refreshing reading decent discusions about Callas without horrible words and feelings here! She surely love this like i do! thumbs up! Callas forever!
It is still amazing singing although this is from 1962 when her voice had deteriorated substantially. Can you imagine how it would have sounded 10 years earlier, around the time of her 1952 Armida with its superhuman coloratura, or her 1953 Norma and its equally divine example of pure art and interpretation as well as technique. I am sad that moltoallegro19 can't appreciate it. I hope he will some day.
Was that a trill at the end or... ? lol Love ya girl... Love her interpretation though and the way she moves through those notes - it's seamless! So different than Cecilia, but love them both.
Comment: apart from the wonderful expression, her vocal decay is absolutely objective :( how it could have sound 10 years before ... Just imagination :)
I don't want any haters thrown all over me now, but I have never, personally, liked Callas' voice. I love opera and especially the soprano arias, but I've never been able to hear that which makes people so madly in love with her. I don't know, she's good and all, great even, one can't deny that. But it's the sound of her voice, I just can't stand it.
@moltoallegro19 It is a question of taste, and the taste is totally personal. But if you consider Callas' fans all over the World, you can understand why they are so many. So, you do start to think that the absolute Art cannot be consider only a question of taste or of personal preference.
@belcantismo No, I realize that and I truly respect people who love Callas. But as you say, the taste is personal. Still, it's very hard to define "absolute art" when talking about opera since it's a mixture of so many art forms (drama, music, poetry etc.), and I'm certainly no opera expert and therefore not the one to say what is universally the best. I simply listen to what I enjoy in opera, without the ambition of listening to absolute art - that I find in Beethoven's instrumental works.
@moltoallegro19 It is exactly the same of what you well explain about Beethoven works. In general, never for instrumental parts only. At his time not all people could understand his works. Someone was talking about him like "the deaf", saying it in dispregiative way. The absolute Callas' Art is strangely not for everybody, never has been for her contemporaries only. I started to fully understand her message later, after the listening of almost all the music I would to consider: indeed so much.
@belcantismo I'm not saying there is no true art in what Callas did, only that I can't see it the way I do with Beethoven (but I am a violinist and not a singer, and I've listened to far more instrumental music than classical singing). Maybe one day I will. But for now, I respectfully dislike the sound of her voice without denying her great skills.
@belcantismo Once, Callas mentioned in an interview that she knows she has an ugly voice, but her control over it is what makes for such an interesting sound. I myself cannot see how her voice is horrible, but it does have somewhat of a peculiar quality that distinguishes it very well from other voices--perhaps this is what you don't find agreeable?
@belcantismo If I may intrude myself, this video is from 1962: Callas' voice was very worn out by that moment. A recording of the 40's or the 50's could show her voice in all its greatness. Besides, she is better suited for Verdi or Puccini, rather than the agilities of Rossini. In my opinion, of course.
@moltoallegro19 I hear you. Look, I'll admit it: I wince when I hear the high B at the end of this clip, and I'm a die-hard Callas fan. But what I love about Callas isn't the beauty of her voice, because it wasn't an intrinsically beautiful voice. It was an intensely *dramatic* voice. In one of her Jiulliard master classes she told a student to pour her entire soul into one word. I laughed when I heard that, because only Callas could do such a thing. That's why I fell in love with her.
@moltoallegro19 Quality of the voice is not the only factor to consider when analysing these singers. Callas is most renowned for her technical mastery rather than any ravishing beauty in her voice.
@moltoallegro19 I won't try to convince you Callas is everything everyone say she is, but you picked a video of one of her worst periods to comment on her voice. I'm not saying you you haven't heard other performances of better times but try listening to a specific rendition of 'O rendetemi la steme', from bellini's I Puritani, recorded in Studio in 1953. I think its one of the best examples of of her full capabilities. Please, tell me what you think then.
@moltoallegro19 Part of me feels like it's because her overtones weren't captured in recordings or something. Even listening to the violins doubling on the octaves... You can't hear some sweetness to the tone. I learned to appreciate her for her versatility. That woman sung SO many different operas. I think I read that she sung Wagner intermitantly between Rossini and the like. Now that is versitile haha. I wish that I could have gone back in time and could have seen her live...
@moltoallegro19 Yes, definitely a strange voice to many; I agree Callas' voice, just the sound of it, can be an acquired taste, and here her top notes are not good. Aside from what others have said in response, what attracts me to Callas is her absolute musicianship. The way she holds her phrases, the choice of tempi, the scrupulous attention to note duration. She was a monster musician. Wait, there's more! She inhabited her roles not so much through acting, but aligning herself with the music.
@moltoallegro19 Haha, well, this is much more normal than you think. Was she the greatest soprano of history? Yes. Was she really that great on stage for people to talk so much about her, even all those years after she died? Absolutely. But her voice is REALLY particular. You either LOVE it, or don't care for it at all. Maybe in time you'll love it, maybe you won't. It's either your taste, or it's not. No in-betweens. At first i hated her. Now she moves me to tears everytime.
Era però una voce penetrante,mordente e singolarissima:misteriosa e quasi disumana in certe inflessioni fosche e proterve ,alata ed eterea nel gioco sottile dei piani e dei pianissimi.
Erano poi eccezionali la musicalità,il senso del teatro,la fantasia e la preparazione tecnica,dovuta a quelle assidue esercitazioni virtuosistiche che sono le uniche che contano ai fini della formazione dello strumento vocale. Celletti
belcantismo, shes more of a record braker signing the fastest la cenerentola kind og .... i know what you mean .very talented but she does not touch my soul ....agree.thanks for your honesty
belcantismo. i agree she evoques such emotions maby thats it ,anyway in my apreciation of CALLAS ,i feel that her grace is part of her natural talent and she as my full attention ,cecillia bartolli sings the same arias shes a absolute marvel.....thanks ....
@otorino9o9 I do agree with you, but unfortunately some people listening to her doesn't understand her message and her Art. Sometimes I receive some message on my videos (filtrated by me) that are full of hate and contempt for her. Ignorance, insensibility, envy? Perhaps one, perhaps all three.
o piuttosto il suo intento è quello di trasmettere emozioni? nella mia modesta opinione penso che la sola volontà di un artista sia trasmettere emozioni...e dunque basta continuare ad analizzare la voce, le prestazioni, le imperfezioni o i tecnicismi dell'arte! Maria Callas era (ed è ancora per fortuna, grazie alla tecnologia) capace di trasmettere delle emozioni profonde e straordinarie e questo la rende GRANDISSIMA E IMMORTALE!
io non capisco niente di tecnica del canto, sono assolutamente ignorante e prima di ascoltare Maria Callas non conoscevo l lirica, e come gran parte dei comuni mortali mi annoiava e non la capivo...Ma quando per la prima volta ascoltai Maria il mio cuore balzò come lo si sente tremare quando si è innamorati. Non è forse questa la vera essenza dell'arte? un'artista opera per rispettare pedissequamente regole tecniche tendendo alla perfezione? o piuttosto il suo intento è quello di trasmettere
@jomoses07 I don't know, but I would think so. Although Cenerentola is a little lower than Rosina, I remember her saying on the Master Class CD that she sang Una voce poco fa in the original key, so it's all very likely that this is also in the original key.
Callas in '62... with all the problems Callas had at that time.... GIVES MORE MEANING, MORE SENSE OF TRUE, AND MAKES MORE MUSIC THAN ALMOST ANY OTHER SINGER BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER HER TIME.How she manages to transform the vocalises into an expressive element of the aria, is truly unbelievable, and UNIQUE....A true artist and a true musician.... Her singing, with obvious problems, transcends the moment to become an extraordinary experience... A GENIUS! Art at its best.
The natural beauty and versatility of voice, combined with an excellent training and technique, gave Maria the possibility to sing everything. Apart from that, she had an artistry and perfectionism that made her the strictest judge of herself. Thank you for the post.
Finally, a tempo that makes musical sense and not just a rushed jumble to see how fast the singer can get those runs out. You can actually hear the off beats in the 3rd variation.... so musically satisfying, so full of Italian soul. And Callas? She turns notes on a page into meaning; how does she do that?
è una MAESTRA! sia chiaro per tutti. Se poi quella sera aveva digerito male, se aveva 39 anni e non 29 ecc., sono tutti fattori incidentali, ma è una maestra, ANCHE qui
What I love about her coloratura singing is how easy and inevitable she makes the whole thing sound. You feel like you yourself could sing it. That is until you try. There is never any of aspirating and gargling and hammering out of the notes one hears so much nowadays. The voice just glides and dances and plays on the notes as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Makes you wonder how much practice and work she had to go through to make her voice be able to do that.
@Shahrdad Sounds like she did a hell of a lot of practicing as any good musician should. The inevitability comes from good musical instincts and phrasing. I always find that her coloratura makes sense within the music rather being some appended ornament or, as you rightly mention, an aspirated vocal exercise. Aspirated coloratura BTW, is the standard these days. Can't leave home without it.
Mi presento ,sono un callassiano di vecchia data e le mie considerazioni erano di carattere generale.
Ho tanti "anta" alle spalle e a quei tempi l'unico modo per sentire la Meneghini-Callas era la radio! Poi sono arrivati i dischi -pirata dall'America.....
Sono contento di aver scoperto il tuo sito, cordiamente .
@MrPipposiculo Non sono d'accordo: parlando in termini puramente prestazionali è chiaro che la voce subisce cambiamenti negli anni e la cosa vale ancor di più per una superatleta mai risparmiatasi ai massimi livelli possibili, come la Divina. Ma per l'interpretazione ci sono pietre miliari assolute che sono venute ben dopo il 1957. Carmen ad esempio, ma non solo. Cenerentola (ah, se l'avesse fatta nel 50/52) nonostante la voce compromessa in quanto ad interpretazione e giocosità resta unica
Parte 2: E c'è da aggiungere che nonostante tutti i limiti riscontrabili, e assolutamente non negabili, considerando il fantastico passato, la versione attuale svetta ben al di sopra di moltissime altre, passate e presenti. Mi astengo dal dire della totalità di esse, per non incorrere nel pericolo, sempre incombente quando si parla di Maria Callas, di essere tacciato di "vedovanza"! :-)
@belcantismo Ciao Belcantismo, non sono molto esperto della biografia di Maria Callas. Nella tua introduzione citi una malattia. Sai che malattia era con esattezza?
@liberadico La malattia attribuita alla cantante porta il nome di dermatomiosite. Una malattia a supposta patogenesi autoimmune caratterizzata da doppia sintomatologia: cutanea e muscolare. Per le alterazioni muscolari colpisce esclusivamente i muscoli striati dapprima con sola dolenzia poi con impotenza funzionale ingravescente (può essere anche completa, in tal casi ha una prognosi infausta).
Opera died when Callas died. A true belcantanista. Fantastic flexibility, and vocal line! Interpretation is so committed and emotionally connected. The musicianship lives and is fused to the meaning of the text. Amazing. There are no more great Sopranos.
She took crazy gambles with her voice and her sound, and even if the sound wasnt always perfect, the roller coaster ride was unforgettable. I think in the end, all her gambles paid off--some 40+ years later we are still discussing her!
I love Callas but to my ears I detect a tremolo here, (especially toward the end of the aria), that got noticeably worse with the years. Still, her singing goes straight from her mouth to my heart - there's been no better communicator either before or since!
The reason Callasvoice is captivating, is the fact that it was never tamed;it had rough edges &a wildness about it, coupled with her persona on stage resulted in a unique performer. Singers today areover-educated& tamedinto submission, losing all their wildness &fire.Opera singers are like athletes, need training, but must retainthe killer instinct; look at singers from the old days, they had thefire;it doesnt please the critics &the purists, but it captivates audiences.
Current opera singers are only concerned with pure technique and are tame. They take out the drama out of opera, which for me makes it dull. Callas LIVED all her roles. But Callas was not the last of the dramatic types. You hear wild fire in such voices as Birgit Nilsson, Montserrat Caballe, Grace Bumbry, Shirley Verrett, Edda Moser, Jessye Norman, Carol Vaness & Ghena Dimitrova, all who sang after Callas in the 60's, 70's and 80's. Today, only Dimitra Theodissou sings with fire
It is true, and many speak it to the 60's Maria Callas voice was in decline, then listen in imanginemos arias of this type several years earlier.
What surprises me about my truth, is to hear her Lucia (di Lammermore), Violetta (Traviata) or other specific roles for soprano. And although not the best in role as Cerentola sounds pretty good, powerful and hágil.
I'm sorry, I'm not a big fan when sopranos take up arias written for contraltos, it just doesn't sound right, especially the low notes. (5:25 is an obvious example) I mean what would people say if Corelli had started singing O Isis und Osiris ? of course Callas's talent allows her to sing everything but here it's a bit too stretched, in my humble opinion.
...she is essentially a mezzo with an extended range....to say she doesn't have the low notes to do this justice is an unvalidated statement. Soprano sfogato. Her predecessors, such as Malibran, Colbran, Pasta called roles such as Angelia were their bread and butter.
I agree with you. During that low note, the voice is lost. But if you listen years ago this flaw was not and indeed accused of serious too dark and rough, almost masculine.
That's why she is considered a vestige of the former line of the Soprano Sfogatto (soprano-contralto) with contralto voices (perhaps mezzo) but tessitura and great agility soprano ..
Bartoli, DiDonato...I love them very much. But in comparison, their coloratura technique to Calla's....they are defeated. No chance. Their coloratura technique is stunning and artistically powerful, but Callas's coloratura is as smooth and connected as the technique of Maria Malibran and her comtemporaries.
Not only Rossini. Maria Callas was able to sing from Rossini to Verdi and Puccini and from Mozart to Wagner everything. Beyond this, she could sing mezzo and soprano. She was a phenomenon and did not gain the title of La Divina for nothing.
What a deliciously fantastic lesson for the nonsense singers that we are cursed with today. I really hope they take a close look at what "style" "class" and "stage presence" is all about . Brava Maria! Will we EVER hear true talent again I wonder.
I don´t like the slow vibrato rate in the last high note (as it happens in almost all her recordings at that stage of her career), and the lowest notes at the end of the chromatic runs can't not be very well listened (because of being so thin?)... But I don't care, she's still my favorite! Her voice was not perfect but simply stunning! Callas forever.
Una forza travolgente tenta di domare una voce ormai compromessa. Nonostante sforzi sovraumani per riacquistare il controllo tenuto nei migliori anni della gloriosa carriera MC si trova davanti la montagna insormontabile del limite fisico. Lo strumento che tanto aveva dato al mondo intero non risponde più come prima. Non lo farà mai più! Nonostante i limiti che si addebitano a uno strumento consunto e in declino MC respira ammicca accenta interpreta in modo unico e irripetiibile da par suo.
Ich will die Qualität der M.Callas nicht herabsetzen um mich nicht "dem Zorne des Volkes" auszusetzen. Sie gestaltete hochdramatische schwere Rollen bestens stimmlich und schauspielerisch, jedoch für diese, leicht dahintänzelnden ,Coloraturrollen war sie nicht prädestiniert. Vergleichen Sie dazu die Bartoli, die Rita Streich, die Graziella Scutti u. v. a. . Aber bitte um Entschuldigung, Kunst und Geschmack sind individuell, daher verschieden.
What makes me really happy when I watch this video is that you can see that Maria the woman is happy herself, when you watch the entire concert (Hamburg 1962) you can see she's a happy woman, and it's awesome to watch.
About this performance, I think she's doing great regarding the vocal problems she's facing. The cadenza is really good, the only thing that show she's tired is that she's short breathing. You can also hear the wobble on the final note, which is the main sign of her vocal issues.
Brava! What a brilliant singer! Even thirty years after her death she is still one of, if not the best selling opera singer of all time. It's no wonder she is referred to as "La Divina."
After 1960, La Divina faultered. But even her declined vocal powers are more technically perfect, more emotionally connected then any Soprano currently singing in the Met. In 1954 she already complained of exhaustion, yet continued and gave us perfection, and great Art. She inaugerated more opera houses, brought operas to light that would have been lost, restored belcanto technique when it was at a low point, and had the largest repetoire of any singer.
Yeah there are some vocal problems, BUT LISTEN and WATCH! The truth is she doesn't sing! Facial expressions never betray anything but the Music! Technical difficulties are never revealed, her art serves the character through the music, and when the scales start at 5:22, since everyone here seems to be obsessed with scales, watch the body language she throws in at 5:38 - the utter simplicity of it all. She was a natural interpretive GENIUS!
Totally agree with you! Callas was such a fine musician and natural interpreter, the real charm of Rossini's music shines through so brightly because she gives the music the space it needs. I love the balance of her voice and the orchestra in the final variation, the way she never pulls the vocal line out of shape but keeps moving it forward without rushing. Only musicians of the highest caliber can strike that balance of relaxation and drive. She was genius!
Surely her scales are the correct way to be performed. She said to the soprano Anita Terzian (i think thats how u spell her last name) in her master classes upon this same aria, that you must start the scale & slide it downwards. Anita was scooping according to Callas & its true its a nasty sound that Bartoli seems to have immortalised. Maria Callas's scales were perfect. listen 2 how she descends how magnificent. Example :: Cologne Sonnambula E-Flat diminuendo.. PRICELESS !! VIVA !! :D !!
Actually this role was never meant for a soprano or even mezzo-soprano to perform. Rossini had it written for, believe it or not, contraltos with the ability to perform coloratura. It is perhaps the one saving grace (in terms of roles) for that particular range.
Ehh, here she is absolutely exceptional albait the time that her voice had only started to leave her and her jet set lifestyle had taken its tool on her. Vibrato was always low on her voice anyway: But she manages to produce great convincing acting with virtousity unparalled by others singing this difficult aria.
She mentions Concone and also Panofka. A lot of her agility was natural I think, but she also honed and polished it through hard work. Growing up in Greece also might have had an effect, as a lot of the music is very melismatic.
i don't know what she did. but, in my experience, to successfully perform any Rossini aria, you must have your scales up to speed. so practice scales constantly. start slow, then build up speed.
I think these too , and I also think that every singer could be many things they don't sing, look at her(but stop: she really was a genius!!!!) she started singing how a drammatic soprano, and her voice "appeard darkly sombre", how she saied, but with the study, she became a DRAMMATIC COLORATURA, the voice we know XD
Un vero soprano belcantistico non può avere una voce angelica!
Il dramma è aceto !
Poetapersempre 2 days ago
lei "sa" come deve essere cantato il pezzo, sotto tutti i punti di vista (anche pù del direttore d'orchestra). Quando aveva anche più suono a disposizione, la chiamavano Divina... ci sarà stato un motivo...
galehout 3 weeks ago
That last vibrato trail was nasty, very sharp.
Makashi11 3 weeks ago
@Makashi11 Maybe, but and all the rest?
Is it possible to concentrate the attention on a small part of a wonderful and definitive performance, perfect for singing and acting examples?
belcantismo 3 weeks ago
@belcantismo The rest was good in my mind but - perhaps this has something to do with the recording quality / today's - that's what we come for and expect in professional singers, isn't it? I see little reason to comment on a singer's good singing - had I thought this was an exceptional performance I would have commented and similarly when I pick up on something exceptionally awful I see fit to acknoweledge it.
Makashi11 3 weeks ago
@Makashi11 Callas's did not have a conventional "pretty voice" but she had a voice of immense range, versatility and power. She had a formidable technique and exceptional interpretative instinct. I was lucky enough to see her perform during the years 1956-59 when I was studying music in Italy and her portrayals of Norma, Traviata, Medea and Anna Bolena which I saw were unique and unforgettable experiences. Conductors like Karajan, Bernstein, Serafin etc lined up to conduct her. Were they wrong?
Ariadne7710 3 weeks ago
@belcantismo Personally I think Callas is an over-rated Soprano. Her technique seems impeccable and her range is impressive but there is something fundamental missing from her voice. She just lacks a certain exceptional quality about the basic quality of her voice, it just hits me as rather bland and unexciting. For one, I would put Mady Mesple above Callas. Mesple had a wider range and superior technique; the timbre of her voice is wonderful, she sounds like a nightingale.
Makashi11 3 weeks ago
@Makashi11 Yeah, that is the problem! At least for me and for lovers of Maria Callas: she (Mady Mesple) "sounds like a nightingale".
Total opposite "conception" of Maria Callas' singing.
belcantismo 3 weeks ago
@Makashi11 I have a feeling you need to be musically trained to judge a singer's technique. Now, apart from the final note, not exactly in tune, and that does not matter in the least after such a brilliant show (we are in the sixties, when Callas had vocal problems, check her older recordings), if you can't appreciate the understanding of Rossini's score here delivered, in each detail of the score, then maybe music is not your field, who knows?
MarcoCallas 3 weeks ago in playlist Maria Callas (Best)
@Makashi11 Mady Mesple above Callas?...Oh God, God, where are you??
stefanodepeppo 2 weeks ago
Well I'm not an expert by any means, but this performance is a testament, I believe, to her technique. The voice is clearly diminished, and still she gets out those C#'s that seem impossible if you judged by the deteriorated sound of her notes below. And as for her acting and passion... well, not even her fiercest critics could deny them.
hac2011 3 weeks ago
Thank you for posting these-there are no words
rodlarocque 1 month ago
no words.
diesis23 2 months ago
@diesis23 I agree, it's enough to listen and to watch her to have the right response for all is opera acting and singing.
belcantismo 2 months ago
I adore Maria Callas and I've learned much about her, there is something that I don't quite understand about her. My voice teacher labels her as a dramatic mezzo, but as far as i can tell in her rendition of The Bell Song from Lakme, she had the coloratura range, but she also sings mezzo pieces such as this-how would you classify her....or is there no bother?
I'm asking because I'm a lyric mezzo-soprano and I'm looking for a idol, not someone I can try to sound like, but that I can look up to.
Poet2916 2 months ago
@Poet2916 Your voice teacher maybe doesn't know the exact dimension of MC art. She is still "unique" because during her entire career could sing many different parts at best, as never other singer could. "Dramatic mezzo" is only 1 part as her voice became darker, as say in last part of her magnificient career. W/h help of De Hidalgo, MC's voice teacher, using the natural possibilities of the most extraordinary singer ever appeared on stages, we have today many DEFINITIVE performances.
belcantismo 2 months ago 3
@Poet2916 Well, sorry to say but your teacher is rather ignorant on Maria Callas. She had a very flexible and extent voice, with very present low register and high register. She is anyway a true soprano, a soprano drammatico d'agilità, because she had a very "heavy" voice that thanks to Elvira de Hidalgo's school she managed to move to coloratura. This video is indeed at the end of her career, when the high register was shortened.
MisterPapageno 2 months ago in playlist Non piú mesta/nacqui all'affanno
@Poet2916 The Bell song of Maria Callas is a total compendium of her technical mastery!
MisterPapageno 2 months ago in playlist Non piú mesta/nacqui all'affanno
@Poet2916 Maria Callas was a soprano with a 3 octave range. Her teacher was Elvira De Hidalgo when she studied in Greece during the war. She trained her in the belcanto method which made her voice extremely agile. Callas was an amazing singer never to be rivaled. Her range was huge and she could sing anything! Your teacher is mistaken in this case.
operasinger1981 3 weeks ago
@operasinger1981 In addition to what you say, Callas was first and foremost a musician and second a singer. Furthermore, she was a musician's musician. She is for those who can see beyond the voice (is it a "pretty voice" or not) and the technique - which is second to none - and appreciate her musicianship qualities, the voice colouring, the phrasing, the way she uses the text to formulate each phrase, and accentuate it, the use of rubato, ritardando, accellerando etc This is just for a start.
Ariadne7710 3 weeks ago
Unvergeßliche Maria Callas-ich durfte Sie damals bei ihrem Konzert 1962 in Hamburg erleben.Ein sensationeller Publikumserfolg--das Publikum war außer sich vor Freude--die Musikkritiker leider nicht -aber was macht das schon.
MultiZahl 2 months ago
les bijoux de la castafiore ♥♥♥
babazertouille 3 months ago
Say what you want about her voice, but nobody can say she isnt riveting to watch. She just becomes the heart and soul of the music she's singing.
drewqq 4 months ago
@drewqq Oh... out of their league... I would have assumed they would have learned this...
Oh well, there is no accounting for the mistakes of stupidity...
TheWisemonkey8 3 months ago
Simply: The best!
rausis 5 months ago
certo non e' la sua interpretazione migliore,ma Callas resta sempre una lezione di canto e di belcanto.Viva Maria per sempre.Senza la sua impressionante forza innovatrice o, se volete,restauratrice oggi il melodramma sarebbe certamente piu' povero.
nanai16951 5 months ago
I am one of those who often find Callas's voice too ugly to bear, but this clip is quite felicitous, esp given that it is from 1962 when her voice was generally considered to have declined. She HAS technique. And drama. Unquestionably a great actress (duh, eh?).
55archduke 5 months ago
How stunning. Beautiful!
foreskinforest 7 months ago
is so refreshing reading decent discusions about Callas without horrible words and feelings here! She surely love this like i do! thumbs up! Callas forever!
rausis 7 months ago
It is still amazing singing although this is from 1962 when her voice had deteriorated substantially. Can you imagine how it would have sounded 10 years earlier, around the time of her 1952 Armida with its superhuman coloratura, or her 1953 Norma and its equally divine example of pure art and interpretation as well as technique. I am sad that moltoallegro19 can't appreciate it. I hope he will some day.
Ariadne7710 8 months ago
Was that a trill at the end or... ? lol Love ya girl... Love her interpretation though and the way she moves through those notes - it's seamless! So different than Cecilia, but love them both.
RionPhotography 9 months ago
Preface: I love Callas :D
Comment: apart from the wonderful expression, her vocal decay is absolutely objective :( how it could have sound 10 years before ... Just imagination :)
MisterPapageno 9 months ago
I don't want any haters thrown all over me now, but I have never, personally, liked Callas' voice. I love opera and especially the soprano arias, but I've never been able to hear that which makes people so madly in love with her. I don't know, she's good and all, great even, one can't deny that. But it's the sound of her voice, I just can't stand it.
moltoallegro19 9 months ago
@moltoallegro19 It is a question of taste, and the taste is totally personal. But if you consider Callas' fans all over the World, you can understand why they are so many. So, you do start to think that the absolute Art cannot be consider only a question of taste or of personal preference.
belcantismo 9 months ago 9
@belcantismo No, I realize that and I truly respect people who love Callas. But as you say, the taste is personal. Still, it's very hard to define "absolute art" when talking about opera since it's a mixture of so many art forms (drama, music, poetry etc.), and I'm certainly no opera expert and therefore not the one to say what is universally the best. I simply listen to what I enjoy in opera, without the ambition of listening to absolute art - that I find in Beethoven's instrumental works.
moltoallegro19 9 months ago 4
@moltoallegro19 It is exactly the same of what you well explain about Beethoven works. In general, never for instrumental parts only. At his time not all people could understand his works. Someone was talking about him like "the deaf", saying it in dispregiative way. The absolute Callas' Art is strangely not for everybody, never has been for her contemporaries only. I started to fully understand her message later, after the listening of almost all the music I would to consider: indeed so much.
belcantismo 9 months ago
@belcantismo I'm not saying there is no true art in what Callas did, only that I can't see it the way I do with Beethoven (but I am a violinist and not a singer, and I've listened to far more instrumental music than classical singing). Maybe one day I will. But for now, I respectfully dislike the sound of her voice without denying her great skills.
moltoallegro19 9 months ago
@belcantismo Once, Callas mentioned in an interview that she knows she has an ugly voice, but her control over it is what makes for such an interesting sound. I myself cannot see how her voice is horrible, but it does have somewhat of a peculiar quality that distinguishes it very well from other voices--perhaps this is what you don't find agreeable?
echlyn 5 months ago
@echlyn Maybe yes, but who cares? The most important thing is to know she was - and still is - the best of all.
belcantismo 5 months ago
@belcantismo If I may intrude myself, this video is from 1962: Callas' voice was very worn out by that moment. A recording of the 40's or the 50's could show her voice in all its greatness. Besides, she is better suited for Verdi or Puccini, rather than the agilities of Rossini. In my opinion, of course.
doctormantell 5 months ago
@moltoallegro19 i agree whit you,i just like her in that music l´amor est un oiseau rebelle.....
vxz76 8 months ago
@moltoallegro19 I hear you. Look, I'll admit it: I wince when I hear the high B at the end of this clip, and I'm a die-hard Callas fan. But what I love about Callas isn't the beauty of her voice, because it wasn't an intrinsically beautiful voice. It was an intensely *dramatic* voice. In one of her Jiulliard master classes she told a student to pour her entire soul into one word. I laughed when I heard that, because only Callas could do such a thing. That's why I fell in love with her.
Jokanaan 8 months ago
@moltoallegro19 Quality of the voice is not the only factor to consider when analysing these singers. Callas is most renowned for her technical mastery rather than any ravishing beauty in her voice.
Makashi11 7 months ago in playlist La Cenerentola /Rossini
@moltoallegro19 I won't try to convince you Callas is everything everyone say she is, but you picked a video of one of her worst periods to comment on her voice. I'm not saying you you haven't heard other performances of better times but try listening to a specific rendition of 'O rendetemi la steme', from bellini's I Puritani, recorded in Studio in 1953. I think its one of the best examples of of her full capabilities. Please, tell me what you think then.
tneprescintr 7 months ago
@moltoallegro19 Part of me feels like it's because her overtones weren't captured in recordings or something. Even listening to the violins doubling on the octaves... You can't hear some sweetness to the tone. I learned to appreciate her for her versatility. That woman sung SO many different operas. I think I read that she sung Wagner intermitantly between Rossini and the like. Now that is versitile haha. I wish that I could have gone back in time and could have seen her live...
kittykyd15 6 months ago
@moltoallegro19 You're young and need more seasoning then.
jmahlon 5 months ago
@moltoallegro19 Yes, definitely a strange voice to many; I agree Callas' voice, just the sound of it, can be an acquired taste, and here her top notes are not good. Aside from what others have said in response, what attracts me to Callas is her absolute musicianship. The way she holds her phrases, the choice of tempi, the scrupulous attention to note duration. She was a monster musician. Wait, there's more! She inhabited her roles not so much through acting, but aligning herself with the music.
tenorbear60 3 months ago 3
@moltoallegro19 Haha, well, this is much more normal than you think. Was she the greatest soprano of history? Yes. Was she really that great on stage for people to talk so much about her, even all those years after she died? Absolutely. But her voice is REALLY particular. You either LOVE it, or don't care for it at all. Maybe in time you'll love it, maybe you won't. It's either your taste, or it's not. No in-betweens. At first i hated her. Now she moves me to tears everytime.
killerbunny123123 3 months ago
The world-reknowned BBC got her art, naming her " The Greatest Soprano OF All Time ", in 2007.
hammer55292 10 months ago 7
@hammer55292 Nobody has ever had doubts about it! :-)
belcantismo 10 months ago 4
Era però una voce penetrante,mordente e singolarissima:misteriosa e quasi disumana in certe inflessioni fosche e proterve ,alata ed eterea nel gioco sottile dei piani e dei pianissimi.
Erano poi eccezionali la musicalità,il senso del teatro,la fantasia e la preparazione tecnica,dovuta a quelle assidue esercitazioni virtuosistiche che sono le uniche che contano ai fini della formazione dello strumento vocale. Celletti
MrPipposiculo 1 year ago 2
maria, i love you!
overhetfeld 1 year ago 3
belcantismo, shes more of a record braker signing the fastest la cenerentola kind og .... i know what you mean .very talented but she does not touch my soul ....agree.thanks for your honesty
otorino9o9 1 year ago
belcantismo. i agree she evoques such emotions maby thats it ,anyway in my apreciation of CALLAS ,i feel that her grace is part of her natural talent and she as my full attention ,cecillia bartolli sings the same arias shes a absolute marvel.....thanks ....
otorino9o9 1 year ago
@otorino9o9 Sorry, I don't like Cecilia Bartoli at all!
belcantismo 1 year ago
CALLAS never can or should be compared to .....anyone,just listen. its ,,,just look for god sake....shes wonderfull that it....
otorino9o9 1 year ago 2
@otorino9o9 I do agree with you, but unfortunately some people listening to her doesn't understand her message and her Art. Sometimes I receive some message on my videos (filtrated by me) that are full of hate and contempt for her. Ignorance, insensibility, envy? Perhaps one, perhaps all three.
belcantismo 1 year ago
Grazie :)
MrOrlando189 1 year ago
1957?y la Traviata en San Carlos de Lisboa junto a Kraus?no es acaso la version definitiva de esta opera?
arles1889 1 year ago
o piuttosto il suo intento è quello di trasmettere emozioni? nella mia modesta opinione penso che la sola volontà di un artista sia trasmettere emozioni...e dunque basta continuare ad analizzare la voce, le prestazioni, le imperfezioni o i tecnicismi dell'arte! Maria Callas era (ed è ancora per fortuna, grazie alla tecnologia) capace di trasmettere delle emozioni profonde e straordinarie e questo la rende GRANDISSIMA E IMMORTALE!
vabbana 1 year ago 3
io non capisco niente di tecnica del canto, sono assolutamente ignorante e prima di ascoltare Maria Callas non conoscevo l lirica, e come gran parte dei comuni mortali mi annoiava e non la capivo...Ma quando per la prima volta ascoltai Maria il mio cuore balzò come lo si sente tremare quando si è innamorati. Non è forse questa la vera essenza dell'arte? un'artista opera per rispettare pedissequamente regole tecniche tendendo alla perfezione? o piuttosto il suo intento è quello di trasmettere
vabbana 1 year ago
is this the mezzo key?
jomoses07 1 year ago
@jomoses07 The aria and the role is actually written for a coloratura contralto.
EmilyGreene1984 1 year ago
@jomoses07 I don't know, but I would think so. Although Cenerentola is a little lower than Rosina, I remember her saying on the Master Class CD that she sang Una voce poco fa in the original key, so it's all very likely that this is also in the original key.
SoundsFromTheKitchen 11 months ago
wonderful
kraechr 1 year ago
Callas in '62... with all the problems Callas had at that time.... GIVES MORE MEANING, MORE SENSE OF TRUE, AND MAKES MORE MUSIC THAN ALMOST ANY OTHER SINGER BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER HER TIME.How she manages to transform the vocalises into an expressive element of the aria, is truly unbelievable, and UNIQUE....A true artist and a true musician.... Her singing, with obvious problems, transcends the moment to become an extraordinary experience... A GENIUS! Art at its best.
colonia3059 1 year ago 4
The natural beauty and versatility of voice, combined with an excellent training and technique, gave Maria the possibility to sing everything. Apart from that, she had an artistry and perfectionism that made her the strictest judge of herself. Thank you for the post.
Aetion 1 year ago 2
I never liked Callas but this was and is beautiful............ I repent!
charlesprinceofswing 1 year ago
@charlesprinceofswing
all is forgiven. now go listen to her 1952 "D'amore al dolce impero" from Armida.
she defines what god is in that song.
pointemeout 1 year ago
bravooo
tenordramaticitm2 1 year ago
Finally, a tempo that makes musical sense and not just a rushed jumble to see how fast the singer can get those runs out. You can actually hear the off beats in the 3rd variation.... so musically satisfying, so full of Italian soul. And Callas? She turns notes on a page into meaning; how does she do that?
tenorbear60 1 year ago 5
Simply: THE BEST VOICE AND PERFORMANCE EVER
tallerdefreddy 1 year ago 4
i.cry.every.time
jimjam88 1 year ago 2
è una MAESTRA! sia chiaro per tutti. Se poi quella sera aveva digerito male, se aveva 39 anni e non 29 ecc., sono tutti fattori incidentali, ma è una maestra, ANCHE qui
galehout 1 year ago 5
She looks happy, so her singing is tremendous.
ghbook 1 year ago 3
What I love about her coloratura singing is how easy and inevitable she makes the whole thing sound. You feel like you yourself could sing it. That is until you try. There is never any of aspirating and gargling and hammering out of the notes one hears so much nowadays. The voice just glides and dances and plays on the notes as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Makes you wonder how much practice and work she had to go through to make her voice be able to do that.
Shahrdad 1 year ago 3
@Shahrdad Sounds like she did a hell of a lot of practicing as any good musician should. The inevitability comes from good musical instincts and phrasing. I always find that her coloratura makes sense within the music rather being some appended ornament or, as you rightly mention, an aspirated vocal exercise. Aspirated coloratura BTW, is the standard these days. Can't leave home without it.
babydrane 1 year ago
Mi presento ,sono un callassiano di vecchia data e le mie considerazioni erano di carattere generale.
Ho tanti "anta" alle spalle e a quei tempi l'unico modo per sentire la Meneghini-Callas era la radio! Poi sono arrivati i dischi -pirata dall'America.....
Sono contento di aver scoperto il tuo sito, cordiamente .
MrPipposiculo 1 year ago
La sua vita artistica incominciò nel 1947 con Gioconda,finì nel 1957 con Anna Bolena.
Gli anni che seguirono,venti,videro lo spegnersi di un mito nella consapevoleza di essere stata unica
MrPipposiculo 1 year ago
@MrPipposiculo Non sono d'accordo: parlando in termini puramente prestazionali è chiaro che la voce subisce cambiamenti negli anni e la cosa vale ancor di più per una superatleta mai risparmiatasi ai massimi livelli possibili, come la Divina. Ma per l'interpretazione ci sono pietre miliari assolute che sono venute ben dopo il 1957. Carmen ad esempio, ma non solo. Cenerentola (ah, se l'avesse fatta nel 50/52) nonostante la voce compromessa in quanto ad interpretazione e giocosità resta unica
belcantismo 1 year ago 6
Parte 2: E c'è da aggiungere che nonostante tutti i limiti riscontrabili, e assolutamente non negabili, considerando il fantastico passato, la versione attuale svetta ben al di sopra di moltissime altre, passate e presenti. Mi astengo dal dire della totalità di esse, per non incorrere nel pericolo, sempre incombente quando si parla di Maria Callas, di essere tacciato di "vedovanza"! :-)
belcantismo 1 year ago 5
@belcantismo Ciao Belcantismo, non sono molto esperto della biografia di Maria Callas. Nella tua introduzione citi una malattia. Sai che malattia era con esattezza?
liberadico 1 year ago
@liberadico La malattia attribuita alla cantante porta il nome di dermatomiosite. Una malattia a supposta patogenesi autoimmune caratterizzata da doppia sintomatologia: cutanea e muscolare. Per le alterazioni muscolari colpisce esclusivamente i muscoli striati dapprima con sola dolenzia poi con impotenza funzionale ingravescente (può essere anche completa, in tal casi ha una prognosi infausta).
belcantismo 1 year ago
Opera died when Callas died. A true belcantanista. Fantastic flexibility, and vocal line! Interpretation is so committed and emotionally connected. The musicianship lives and is fused to the meaning of the text. Amazing. There are no more great Sopranos.
angelovocci 1 year ago
un legato nelle agilità stupendo....unico.....un fenomeno!!!!
a96577 1 year ago
fantastica!!
Agodipino 1 year ago 2
che tenerezza
michelangelobo 1 year ago
Callas' voice was MEASURED at 38% above the human voice, an unheard of number!!!!
Wikipedia, very long article on her.
hammer55292 1 year ago 2
She took crazy gambles with her voice and her sound, and even if the sound wasnt always perfect, the roller coaster ride was unforgettable. I think in the end, all her gambles paid off--some 40+ years later we are still discussing her!
drewqq 1 year ago
I love Callas but to my ears I detect a tremolo here, (especially toward the end of the aria), that got noticeably worse with the years. Still, her singing goes straight from her mouth to my heart - there's been no better communicator either before or since!
skyhunk 1 year ago
The reason Callasvoice is captivating, is the fact that it was never tamed;it had rough edges &a wildness about it, coupled with her persona on stage resulted in a unique performer. Singers today areover-educated& tamedinto submission, losing all their wildness &fire.Opera singers are like athletes, need training, but must retainthe killer instinct; look at singers from the old days, they had thefire;it doesnt please the critics &the purists, but it captivates audiences.
jchurnside 2 years ago 14
Current opera singers are only concerned with pure technique and are tame. They take out the drama out of opera, which for me makes it dull. Callas LIVED all her roles. But Callas was not the last of the dramatic types. You hear wild fire in such voices as Birgit Nilsson, Montserrat Caballe, Grace Bumbry, Shirley Verrett, Edda Moser, Jessye Norman, Carol Vaness & Ghena Dimitrova, all who sang after Callas in the 60's, 70's and 80's. Today, only Dimitra Theodissou sings with fire
MastersoftheOpera 2 years ago 2
@jchurnside oh man you explained so perfectly what I couldn't find words for--I couldn't agree more
alaskannarwhal 8 months ago
It is true, and many speak it to the 60's Maria Callas voice was in decline, then listen in imanginemos arias of this type several years earlier.
What surprises me about my truth, is to hear her Lucia (di Lammermore), Violetta (Traviata) or other specific roles for soprano. And although not the best in role as Cerentola sounds pretty good, powerful and hágil.
Alleeexoscm 2 years ago
I'm sorry, I'm not a big fan when sopranos take up arias written for contraltos, it just doesn't sound right, especially the low notes. (5:25 is an obvious example) I mean what would people say if Corelli had started singing O Isis und Osiris ? of course Callas's talent allows her to sing everything but here it's a bit too stretched, in my humble opinion.
xav71176 2 years ago 2
...she is essentially a mezzo with an extended range....to say she doesn't have the low notes to do this justice is an unvalidated statement. Soprano sfogato. Her predecessors, such as Malibran, Colbran, Pasta called roles such as Angelia were their bread and butter.
CatalinaDM56 2 years ago 2
I agree with you. During that low note, the voice is lost. But if you listen years ago this flaw was not and indeed accused of serious too dark and rough, almost masculine.
That's why she is considered a vestige of the former line of the Soprano Sfogatto (soprano-contralto) with contralto voices (perhaps mezzo) but tessitura and great agility soprano ..
Alleeexoscm 2 years ago
La Callas finish that aria like Queen!
Perfect presentation! ; )
DanBarthy 2 years ago 2
FANTASTICA INTERPRETATION.
Tenorbravo 2 years ago 2
i never tire of watching this video. not only the voice, but the face is also mesmerizing.
eliasbb 2 years ago 2
Quite so. I wonder how would one get the whole DVD of this.
JudithSpotheim 2 years ago
Amazon shop searching: 'callas emi hamburg dvd'
belcantismo 2 years ago
Bartoli, DiDonato...I love them very much. But in comparison, their coloratura technique to Calla's....they are defeated. No chance. Their coloratura technique is stunning and artistically powerful, but Callas's coloratura is as smooth and connected as the technique of Maria Malibran and her comtemporaries.
CatalinaDM56 2 years ago 2
I love how she repeats Tutto in 3 different ways.
papagena92 2 years ago
Even if the picture is starting to deteriorate, it remains the greatest picture in the world.
Zva26 2 years ago 2
La Callas should not have retired from opera so soon. She could have sung wonderfully for at least another decade.
Listening to this aria, I see no flaws in her voice; it mesmerizes audiences with their pure hearts.
Operalover12002 2 years ago
She should have sung more of these mezzo roles...
lalagonegaga 2 years ago 3
Actually, I think it's even a contralto role... Very impressive for a soprano!
rnbldsrnmsvlbl 2 years ago 7
Having said that, I've never heard it performed by a contralto. Mezzos, mostly.
rnbldsrnmsvlbl 2 years ago
It is actually a contralto role, but as coloratura contraltos became few - the role was played by mezzo-sopranos more.
EmilyGreene1984 2 years ago
It seems no one can get close to Maria singing this aria. She defines Rossini like no one else. Such a unique interpretation.
bacersaci 2 years ago 6
Not only Rossini. Maria Callas was able to sing from Rossini to Verdi and Puccini and from Mozart to Wagner everything. Beyond this, she could sing mezzo and soprano. She was a phenomenon and did not gain the title of La Divina for nothing.
Aetion 2 years ago 2
What a deliciously fantastic lesson for the nonsense singers that we are cursed with today. I really hope they take a close look at what "style" "class" and "stage presence" is all about . Brava Maria! Will we EVER hear true talent again I wonder.
Thank you belcantismo for this stunning clip!!!
petelovesbevsills 2 years ago 7
I don´t like the slow vibrato rate in the last high note (as it happens in almost all her recordings at that stage of her career), and the lowest notes at the end of the chromatic runs can't not be very well listened (because of being so thin?)... But I don't care, she's still my favorite! Her voice was not perfect but simply stunning! Callas forever.
gustavox1985 2 years ago
Una forza travolgente tenta di domare una voce ormai compromessa. Nonostante sforzi sovraumani per riacquistare il controllo tenuto nei migliori anni della gloriosa carriera MC si trova davanti la montagna insormontabile del limite fisico. Lo strumento che tanto aveva dato al mondo intero non risponde più come prima. Non lo farà mai più! Nonostante i limiti che si addebitano a uno strumento consunto e in declino MC respira ammicca accenta interpreta in modo unico e irripetiibile da par suo.
belcantismo 2 years ago
I agree! That voice is unique.
gustavox1985 2 years ago 6
her voice was already severely damaged and still she was able to do that... unbelievable...
tneprescintr 2 years ago 3
a beautifull performer....i love this woman...
tazkorinthos 2 years ago
Callas forever!!!
saigoners 2 years ago
There is something childish/sweet about her on this video. I really like it. A lot.
fansclubnicolalecca 2 years ago 2
lol... she makes it look so easy :).
Lanark8 2 years ago
i think the rossini's characters are not for her...
Rusalkalila 2 years ago
I think the exact contrary... :-)
belcantismo 2 years ago
Ich will die Qualität der M.Callas nicht herabsetzen um mich nicht "dem Zorne des Volkes" auszusetzen. Sie gestaltete hochdramatische schwere Rollen bestens stimmlich und schauspielerisch, jedoch für diese, leicht dahintänzelnden ,Coloraturrollen war sie nicht prädestiniert. Vergleichen Sie dazu die Bartoli, die Rita Streich, die Graziella Scutti u. v. a. . Aber bitte um Entschuldigung, Kunst und Geschmack sind individuell, daher verschieden.
WQ673 2 years ago
5 stars is not enough!
braveheart030 2 years ago 12
I agree XD
doremicde 2 years ago
Oh... Iagree! lol... 100%. Hurrah!
Lanark8 2 years ago
What makes me really happy when I watch this video is that you can see that Maria the woman is happy herself, when you watch the entire concert (Hamburg 1962) you can see she's a happy woman, and it's awesome to watch.
About this performance, I think she's doing great regarding the vocal problems she's facing. The cadenza is really good, the only thing that show she's tired is that she's short breathing. You can also hear the wobble on the final note, which is the main sign of her vocal issues.
lapoireUS 2 years ago 4
But even with her so-called 'vocal problems'... she is still light years ahead of any other operatic soprano, even to this day!
eugenelohks 2 years ago
Brava! What a brilliant singer! Even thirty years after her death she is still one of, if not the best selling opera singer of all time. It's no wonder she is referred to as "La Divina."
irishcolleen06 2 years ago 3
Magnificent. No one comes close to her. NO ONE.
angelovocci 2 years ago 6
After 1960, La Divina faultered. But even her declined vocal powers are more technically perfect, more emotionally connected then any Soprano currently singing in the Met. In 1954 she already complained of exhaustion, yet continued and gave us perfection, and great Art. She inaugerated more opera houses, brought operas to light that would have been lost, restored belcanto technique when it was at a low point, and had the largest repetoire of any singer.
angelovocci 2 years ago 3
Yeah there are some vocal problems, BUT LISTEN and WATCH! The truth is she doesn't sing! Facial expressions never betray anything but the Music! Technical difficulties are never revealed, her art serves the character through the music, and when the scales start at 5:22, since everyone here seems to be obsessed with scales, watch the body language she throws in at 5:38 - the utter simplicity of it all. She was a natural interpretive GENIUS!
lemagnificat 2 years ago 5
Totally agree with you! Callas was such a fine musician and natural interpreter, the real charm of Rossini's music shines through so brightly because she gives the music the space it needs. I love the balance of her voice and the orchestra in the final variation, the way she never pulls the vocal line out of shape but keeps moving it forward without rushing. Only musicians of the highest caliber can strike that balance of relaxation and drive. She was genius!
tenorbear60 2 years ago
Surely her scales are the correct way to be performed. She said to the soprano Anita Terzian (i think thats how u spell her last name) in her master classes upon this same aria, that you must start the scale & slide it downwards. Anita was scooping according to Callas & its true its a nasty sound that Bartoli seems to have immortalised. Maria Callas's scales were perfect. listen 2 how she descends how magnificent. Example :: Cologne Sonnambula E-Flat diminuendo.. PRICELESS !! VIVA !! :D !!
ma34xl 2 years ago 2
Actually this role was never meant for a soprano or even mezzo-soprano to perform. Rossini had it written for, believe it or not, contraltos with the ability to perform coloratura. It is perhaps the one saving grace (in terms of roles) for that particular range.
EmilyGreene1984 2 years ago
you could drive a truck through that vibrato. But oh my goodness wasn't she something to behold...the resonance is unbeatable.
Lizzyjean5 3 years ago
Ehh, here she is absolutely exceptional albait the time that her voice had only started to leave her and her jet set lifestyle had taken its tool on her. Vibrato was always low on her voice anyway: But she manages to produce great convincing acting with virtousity unparalled by others singing this difficult aria.
iWalkure 2 years ago 2
would anyone care to explain .. what exercises she did to perform such beautiful scales ?! ANYONE !! :D :D .. God she's so perfect !! :)
ma34xl 3 years ago 5
She mentions "conoco"(sp) and "concone " vocalize excerises in her Master classes at Juliard.
magicmonkichi 2 years ago
She mentions Concone and also Panofka. A lot of her agility was natural I think, but she also honed and polished it through hard work. Growing up in Greece also might have had an effect, as a lot of the music is very melismatic.
Shahrdad 2 years ago
i don't know what she did. but, in my experience, to successfully perform any Rossini aria, you must have your scales up to speed. so practice scales constantly. start slow, then build up speed.
feenie1186 2 years ago
I think these too , and I also think that every singer could be many things they don't sing, look at her(but stop: she really was a genius!!!!) she started singing how a drammatic soprano, and her voice "appeard darkly sombre", how she saied, but with the study, she became a DRAMMATIC COLORATURA, the voice we know XD
doremicde 2 years ago
Genialità allo stato puro
cherubino57 3 years ago 9
Hard to imagine Callas as a poor Cinderella... but when she sings, you believe anything she wants!
b13ne 3 years ago 35
Super!
fd60 3 years ago 27