CALLAS - REHEARSAL - DALLAS - I PURITANI - 1957

[ROMAYATENEA]

el director es Nicola Rescigno

[pointemeout]

sometimes i forget about "vien diletto" but then i come here and allow it to kill me. aaaaaaaahhh.

[pointemeout]

shit! as if the singing was not out of this world enough...but..the clapping at the end cements this one for me. I cry sitting here at home...i would have lost my mind if I heard La Divina live...gosh. callas. forever. para siempre. Mejorisima del mundo.

[ubedajils]

@pointemeout Bien dicho, man, bien dicho :)

[georgerannie]

Maria at her best--brava.

[anacleto2011]

ed erano prove !!!!!!!! accidenti che bellezza

[Keithj136]

Look,just get down on your knees and pray to god that you can hear this women,this Maria Callas is Class.

[kgarmaker123]

This is fabulous and sounds like early Callas, except the later Callas, had refined her interpretation and every note counted, it was round, and always lovely.. The top is very very resonant here., with great focus, and freedom and the E flat had real squillo. I love this!

[Alleeexoscm]

Hermoso, bello, dorado !!

Cierto, para esta epoca se comenzo a hablar del declive vocal de Maria, lo increible es que aun asi tuviese la capacidad para hacer algunas de las mejores actuaciones, no de su carrera, si consideradas en la historia, como Anna Bolena, Norma, Lucia di Lammermoor y otras, principalmente La Traviata del '58.

[Arbus2]

Que fraseo por Dios... es cautivante... la cabaletta impactante.-

[danawinsor]

Brava Callas!

[georgerannie]

Sing it the divine one!! My god you were wonderful.

[RonaldBarone]

I dont think if Maria knew how ppl would admire Callas forever she would still alive to see all this success

[henrifrombarcelona]

the best ever

[babydrane]

Some singers nowadays are so protective of their voices and the poor technique they've acquired. I've heard of a few having complicated humidifiers and warming up for hours just to go into a recital and sing everything at mf, omit high notes, omit ornaments and transpose up or down depending on how they feel that day. It's ridiculous. I keep thinking how the orchestra would sound if the violinists were more protective of their hands.

[sopranosd]

@babydrane - This has nothing to do with poor technique. When you carry your instrument inside your body, fighting germs, affected by every weather change, enduring lack of sleep and frequent travel, you too will see the necessity of humidifiers, careful vocalizing, as well as adaptation of music to suit one's health in favor of giving one's best performance. Singing on a sore throat is like bowing your vioin with a curtain rod. Stupid and damaging. The music and instrument both suffer.

[babydrane]

@sopranosd Curtain rod is a bad analogy for a sore voice. That's a stupid violinist! External effects on the voice are nothing new. This is why there are understudies. Singers pushing and machine gunning there way through operas should also not be surprised when their voices are damaged or sore. Germs etc can only exacerbate the problem but they can't be an excuse for what was often a poor way of singing or a lack of rest to begin with.

[sopranosd]

@babydrane - It is clear you are not a singer.

[babydrane]

@sopranosd No I am not. I am going to go out on a limb and assume you are one and that you use the aforesaid trappings. I'm sure it has done/is doing/ will do wonders for you career...

[sopranosd]

@babydrane - Thanks.  It has.

[sillyboydeux]

I used to own a cd with the whole rehearsal, including "Tutte le torture" from "Abduction of the Seraglio". If this was the year when her voice starting backfiring, you'd never know it from these arias, all magnificently expressed and shaped in awe-inspiring phrasing and vocal shadings. That catch in "o lasciatemi morir" says so much about her masterful interpretations, the actress in character, the singer in "piena voce". And those descending chromatics in "Vien diletto" diamonds!

[ubedajils]

thanks for your comments.

Maria Callas confesó a un amigo, tras la premiere de La sonnambula del 55 en La Scala, que "su declive... había empezado".

No obstante, se empieza a notar que algo va mal desde 1956 y, sobre todo, 1957.

[kgarmaker123]

@sillyboydeux amen.. to that.. I do not hear any vocal issues either.. This however was the start of her big "party" year.. Lots of partying with Elsa Maxwell, etc.. Callas sounds like she is rested and in excellent shape for this. That E flat was HUGE.

[assindiastignani]

@kgarmaker123 I agree. I've been listening to Callas' recordings for 50 years, and what I hear over&over again is that when she was rested, healthy and happy she sounded great, right up until the late 60's. BUT, she had phases when she sang too much, and - particularly after meeting Ari - partied too much, and neglected to rest and take care of herself. Then she didn't sound good. Gobi always insisted, there was never, ever anything wrong with her voice, it was her personal problems.

[dermann1]

nobody will succeed in reaching this song that climbs only to the gods, and to us poor deadly there is only datum to remember, and to cry in front of so much beauty.

[richard8114]

he tenido la oportunidad de escuchar en varias voces estas arias y indudablemente callas es suprema e inigualable aun sin verla se siente en su voz el sentimiento de cada papel que interpreta... pasaran años para volver a ver una artista de la talla de callas quien sera recordada siempre como la divina, la prima donna assoluta¡¡¡

[Shahrdad]

Bellini asks for this piece to be sung "con tutte desperazzione del dolore," and Callas delivers.

[kgarmaker123]

This is so understated and so beautiful as a result.. The melody dominates,as it should. Her singing is exquisite. artistic, you hear every word. It is also very steady singing.

[TheMrMaz]

Jesus WEPT...that was AWESOME man!!!!Wow...i mean what can you possibly SAY about this...this REHEARSAL!!!!Shockingly brilliant!!

[dermotafan]

This is so perfect.

[ubedajils]

Cualquier insulto será borrado. Gracias.

[andrecueca]

thank you ubedajils....very much

[poupounakis]

her rehersal was like a perfomence.....great Callas!!!

[andrecueca]

it had to be back then...today these fake sopranos sing mid voice in rehearsals

[nichtsleezy]

I think that it is both unfair and quite stupid for you to make such an asinine comparison to sopranos singing in rehearsals today!!!! Have you ever been to any of these arduous rehearsals that exist today in a crazy director's market?? The poor singers must endure excruciating circumstances to have a career, so if they feel the need to mark or sing everything in one register, please do not fault them. Callas' era was quite different, and the circumstances were different.

[andrecueca]

i think its very stupid and ignorant of you to come here and call me stupid without knowing me or my background...and even if you did...i can express my opinion here....so fuck off cause i think that today sopranos are less, yes less, then callas, caballe, sutherland, nilssen, and so on....

[ubedajils]

totalmente de acuerdo

[doremicde]

Yes, you're right, I didn't finish to explain: there was a lettre she send to her husband Meneghini, wich is abuot her rehearshal in Palermo-I think- and she didn't sang in forte because she wanted to see how was the people the music, the scenes and many other factor, but in the other rehearshal she sang with all her voice, how you told us : )

[ubedajils]

I remembber the comments about how she came into the rehearsal of, i.e., I vespri siciliani, and sang in fortissimo even the final Mi sobreagudo (high E5 or 6, don't remember) roducing absolute àstonishment among attendees. What a wonderful years...

[nichtsleezy]

Judging from how you express yourself through your writing, I will not take your opinions seriously. Obviously, you have a very limited knowledge about the topic and you resort to unnecessary language. Go back to school and actually learn a thing or two!!!!

[andrecueca]

i resort to bad language? please...go read your own coment before you say i cant express myself....and this is the last thing ill right to you....

[doremicde]

Absolutely!!!! And nichtsleezy says there are some crazy director...would he like to try to work with Arturo Toscanini? HE WAS CRAZY!!!! CERTANLY A GENIUS, BUT HE HAD A VERY BAD TEMPERAMENT.....and also Callas was a genius, the director didn't tell to her anything because her performance were perfect every time, AND, for his information, also Maria, in a letter said that she sung the rehearshal in piano.

[RonaldBarone]

@andrecueca isso mesmooooo cuecaaaaaa hahahahaaha esfrega essa porra na cara desse otario kkkkkkkk

[stomachpunch]

The music engulfs her-and she as always obliges-as though in a recording session-live -whatever-Callas-is as always -the Diva-no singer today is comparable

[TrevorDaniels]

I concur. When I was in music school all of my teachers were from the old school. One sang with San Francisco back in the 50's and the other at the MET in the mid 70's early 80's. There was no such thing as marking in rehearsals. We had to sing full voice and if unprepared, you were asked to leave. Those people did not play!!!!!

[scarlatti8]

Profesionlidad absoluta, artisa absoluta

[fachassf]

MUY INTERESANTES,GRAN VOZ

[Faust075]

And this is "just" a rehearsal !!! No more Opera singers are singing with full voice this during rehearsal today ! But this was not an "Opera singer" ... this was CALLAS !

[MarcoCallas]

Exactly. "Irripetibile" (in Italian). Not out of fanatism, but just to state that she is the only soprano that is actually able to not only feel the music she is performing, but also to respect the score (with minor changes, but always in good taste, always with a view to 'doing justice to the composer').

[paddymusic]

hear that e-flat!!!! goes right through me!!!

she will be the real opera-diva forever!!! noone can match this!

[BeauTenor]

Pretty amazing considering the hall she was singing in. Music Hall at Fair Park in Dallas is a CAVE. It's 3500 seats, and acoustically pretty dead. Out in the hall you can hear pretty ok, but onstage you feel like you're singing right into a felt wall. If you're not used to it and trusting of your technique you'll push yourself hoarse thinking you're not being heard well.

[paddymusic]

wow hear that e flat!!! goes right through me

[DanBarthy]

Sensacional!!!!

I loved! \o/

[saverioorlando]

Very famous live hidden-rekord.For Callas voice history,it's remarkable the powerful Eflat from Vien diletto...

[diuscorvus]

wow! i always wished callas hadn't dropped puritani from her repertoire, as she sang it so beautifully before 1953. this is great, thanks so much for uploading!

[ubedajils]

Yes, I think the same. The live puritani of 1952 is not very good, but she sang in Chicago, it seems to me, years before 1953 I Puritani. But ther is no recording available