Nel dì della vittoria, sung by Maria Callas (1952, La Scala)

[MrAlfio095]

è inraggiungibile.....NESSUNA è come lei

[michelangelobo]

Vieni t'affretta! Accendere

Ti vo' quel freddo core!

L'audace impresa a compiere

Io ti darò valore;

Di Scozia a te promettono

Le profetesse il trono...

Che tardi? Accetta il dono,

Ascendivi a regnar.

[ErytheisK620]

La cabaletta è la migliore che abbia mai sentito da tutte le soprano e dalla Callas stessa dal vivo.

LA MIA LADY MACBETH PREFERITA

[georgerannie]

NOW that's HOW that aria SHOULD be sung--brava LaDivina. 

[abracadabranque]

Callas en forme dans un de ses meilleurs rôles!

[Aetion]

Whatever can be written, negative or positive, for Maria Callas, has already been. It doesn’t remain but to listen to this phenomenon and enjoy it.

Thanks for the wonderful post.

[dressage123]

i dont think so Sutherland her voice is DRAMATIC! if you say her voice was dramatic, how about Maria Callas ? Callas voice was large dramatic!

i just think sutherland her voice is coloratura! ever now anna netrbko her voice not much hard to dramatic

[tripleaxell]

vieni T'affretta gave me chills!!!the way she started the line was like wow!!!

[fajamaqui]

True demonic Lady, only surpassed by Verrett that clarifies more in the complete roll. Brava Callas!

[MariaCaIIas]

@fajamaqui I will not write why your comment is sadly wrong because I respect Verrett and I do not want to sound like a detractor.

But it IS wrong after all...

[fajamaqui]

@MariaCaIIas Why wrong? It is his right so that you say your and your opinion the absolute truth?

[FirefoxWhite]

questa lettura della lettera è quella comica ahahah :)

[CatalinaDM56]

Whether or not Callas appeals to any listener's ears, one can't deny the impact her artistry has had on the world as a whole!!! No one can claim she is overrated...in fact she is occasionally underrated. Anyone who dedicates their entire being to an art, and actually succeeding at it, are never overrated.

[1810fox]

Perfect. Treble very well and coloratura. It is very difficult to sing the first aria in that slow time. The cabaletta is perfect.

The recording is very bad

[callasadmirer]

This is a real amazing performace. A young Callas in all her glory performing one of her marsterpieces.

[LittleNightMusic]

chrystal clear voice with the character of Lady Macbeth!!!! Only Maria Callas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!!

[cmmenah]

Callas gives an Italian sound, perfect Verdi sound. Birgit gave a Scotland or English sound, but also in Verdi terrific style of early days. This role is for a dramatic coloratura (the whole spartito). But for a particular one. It should sound harsh at some moments, and smooth at others. Not for everybody, you can bet. Both dIVAS are pure art performance. I enjoy both of them.

[TIBETANMELOMAN]

Callas is a legend, but i prefere Shirley Verret in this role. She is more natural and her voice just flows...

[CONTESTAR]

With all respect for the great Verret, I am not in favor of mezzos singing Lady.

Verdi noted very consciously that this is a soprano part. He does want the change of registers (the break of uneven color) that a soprano has to go through in order to deal with the often low tessitura. For once nobody could accuse Callas for that idiom of her voice.

Mezzos are darker by nature and the brutal/deliberate break is limited. Also, Verdi notes often "cupo" for the soprano: Mezzos have no more cupo there.

[moghedien13]

what is meant by cupo?

[CONTESTAR]

Maybe we should ask Verdi!

Well, simply translating "cupo", this is obviously a covering of the sound to give it an ominous, darker quality.

Cupo is also a technical element of healthy singing that applies to some passagio notes in order to smoothen their sound.

Verdi obviously means the implementation of this element deliberately as a histrionic device. An effect lost when the singer has already a low tessitura voice that is darker by nature. Verdi explicitly noted that Lady is a soprano part!

[federricoilgrande]

Verdi wrote that for his Lady he liked not a pure voice but some like a devil...Callas!

[johndlabella]

Calls was a dramatic colorature, not a dramatic soprano. The voice types are different - and although with better mental health and some limit setting, she could have regained \her vocal health even late in life, singing dramatic soprano roles would still have affected her voice. If she'd had the stability/support to recognize her limits and push *only a bit* beyond them over the years,, we might have had her alive and in solid vocal health for many more years. Alive is better, no?

[quis178]

Macbeth's role is written for a dramatic colorature soprano.Defining Callas' voice is very difficult since the only true dramatic colorature to compare is Sutherland.There is a live recording of Norma demostrating both soprani singing together and Callas' voice was much bigger,darker more metallic Sutherland's tone had a lyric quality.

[comey717]

No it WAsn't SHUT THE FUCK UP!!

[mariagalvany]

Actually Joan Sutherland and Maria Callas sound very much alike in that video. I could barely tell who was who. Maria was a dramatic coloratura.

[MAPIAKALLAS]

jajajaja ok that is just comical Callas sounding like Sutherlands thats just pure crazynessss thats all.

[mariagalvany]

What do you mean by comical?

[quis178]

In 1950 Sutherland was trying to sound like a dramatic soprano later she lightened her voice in order to sing coloratura.Also Sutherland sang very covered vowels while Callas sang pure vowels and still her voice was darker and more metallic.Sutherland was never a real dramatic coloratura she couldn't sing in the tessitura of roles like Anna Bolena without upward transpotions and her chest voice was very weak.

[VivaMariaCallas]

But Sutherland is a dramatic coloratura. She doesn't need to have a huge chest voice to be one, the point is that her voice as a totality was very large. Lightening the voice to sing coloratura is something every singer has to do to a certain extent.

[VivaMariaCallas]

In the case of Anna Bolena, because she sang it late in her career, she actually had to transpose downwards. In any case, she didn't transpose upwards very often. For example, she sang the Lucia mad scene in the Callas key. And she transposed downwards in Der Hölle Rache, which is completely understandable for a voice of with that much size.

[moghedien13]

not only that but she just didnt have secure f's

[fajamaqui]

@VivaMariaCallas Never sang Der Hölle Rache in pich because Sutherland never above a high E-flat, it was her top note. Lakme 's aria need a high E and Stutherland in her commercialy recording low tone, sang a E-flat

[raigekimaru]

@fajamaqui

actually, Sutherland sang several High Es in Lakme, Semiramide, Vespri Italiani and other bel canto roles. they seldom made an appearence after the 60s tho when her voice began to lower.

[cer1n]

Her voice was large but she couldn't sing in the tessitura of dramatic coloratura soprano roles such as Lady Macbeth.She did transposed certain phrases of Anna Bolena up to avoid ches voice.Just check her Guidici ad Anna she added a bunch of ridiculous ornaments to avoid the dramatic low-chest notes.A dramatic coloratura must have a very solid chest voice.

[AOG93]

Um... Callas not having chest voice...???

CALLAS NOT HAVING CHEST VOICE??? TRANSPOSING upwards?! TRANSPOSING anything?!! I won't comment to that... what planet are you from?

[babydrane]

thank u cern1! that is what I was taught at any rate. Sutherland was a lyric coloratura that sang dramatic coloratura roles - just like Sills. If you have not good, loud chest notes, I don't see how you can be a dramatic coloratura - that's the reason they were often so difficult to find. Anyway, Callas shines here and in the role more generally. I like Nilsson's heft for the role but she simply cannot carry the fioritura...at least not credibly.

[raigekimaru]

@babydrane

Sutherland's voice was dramatic as hell! she started with roles like Tosca and Aida and was heading down the road to become the next Kirsten Flagstad, that is before Richard Bonyge rescued her awakened her true bel canto powers. Sutherland is one of only 3 real dramatic coloratura sopranos we've seen in the last 100 years. the voice was at once gigantic and capable of coloratura facility matched only by Sills. just because a voice is bright and agile does not mean it's not dramatic

[babydrane]

@raigekimaru I don't disagree i.e. not as it concerns the size of her voice and the fact that she sang dramatic coloratura roles. I just don't think she ever really had any strong chest tones and those are essential to being a dramatic coloratura. Her timbre and her range seems to suggest she's a lyric coloratura soprano. When she ventured to perform in the lower regions, it just sounded weird and unrehearsed.

[raigekimaru]

@babydrane

1) she was orginally training to become a wagnerian soprano and sang roles like Aida and Tosca with ease in her late 30s. that's later than most lyrico spinto sopranos take on those roles.

2) if you have any doubt, listen to her

a) Turandot

b) Santo di Patria

c) Lucrezia Borgia

d) Lucia di Lammermoor (compare to lyric coloraturas across the board)

[babydrane]

@raigekimaru I've heard all of these and the Turandot is the most convincing but it's also not a dramatic coloratura role. I'm not saying she cannot sing these roles. Just saying her voice is not that of a dramatic coloratura. Big lyric coloratura is where I'd put her as her voice really isn't that dark and her lower notes are lacking.

[raigekimaru]

@babydrane

I don't see how it's possible for a lyric coloratura to sing turandot tho, most dramatic sopranos even stay away from the role. as for callas, i think you are confusing her with the equal rare but vastly different dramatic soprano d'agilita. this is a dramatic soprano with lots of agility but still possessing the thick, dark sound and powerful chest mechanism of a dramatic soprano. 2 other prime examples of this voice type are ghena dimitrova and marissa galvany =)

[babydrane]

@raigekimaru You are right, though Ricciarelli and quite a few others have sung the role anyway. In any event I don't think Sutherland ever sang it on stage - for obvious reasons...too light and would be somewhat incapable of doing dramatic justice to the role. Nope I am not talking about soprano d'agilita - that's for roles like Lady Macbeth and Abigaille. I am talking about Lucia, Elvira, Gilda etc. The very roles Sutherland to which Sutherland took a very 'lyric' approach.

[raigekimaru]

@babydrane

1) you're confusing her singing style with her fach. a true dramatic voice will be able to sing dramatic rep naturally and lyrically when appropriate

2) Dame Joan was a bel canto singer, it comes with the territory

3) a dramatic coloratura is a dramatic voice, a lyric voice and a coloratura voice all in the same instrument, sutherland did all 3 splendidly

4) Joan's voice was much too rich, powerful and heroic to be a lyric voice

[babydrane]

@raigekimaru The voice was no richer than Te Kanawa, for eg. Might have been lighter if anything. True, style is not equal to fach but Joan never could really color her voice in any sort of dramatic way - probably as she was not trained so to do. The voice was not heroic except in very rare instances. Weak chest tones and lack of dramatic coloring make it difficult to take her dramatic forays seriously, tho she certainly did try.

[raigekimaru]

@babydrane

"the voice was not heroic" lol you are insane! I don't have anything more to say =P

[ezayi]

@raigekimaru Did you hear her?... I guess not. Are you saying that everybody who heard her live is lying?... Te kanawa´s voice was liric and normal size, not even big. Joan´s voice was dark, rich and huge, and that my friend, makes her a dramatic coloratura.

[raigekimaru]

@ezayi

you have replied to the wrong person, I do indeed believe her to be a dramatic coloratura =)

[ezayi]

@raigekimaru Sorry... lol... didn´t have glasses on! ;)))

[raigekimaru]

@ezayi

no probs. as it stands now tho, do we have any dramatic coloraturas singing today?

[ezayi]

@raigekimaru No one I could recall. There have to be a few. They´re just not famous. Well, everybody knows the business it´s VERY unfair.

[raigekimaru]

@ezayi

people say diana damrau and edita gruberova are "dramatic" coloraturas, but I certainly don't think so. many singers sing dramatic coloratura roles, but that does not make them true dramatic coloratura sopranos

[ezayi]

@raigekimaru If they´re dramatic coloraturas, you and I are Clinton and Obama sitting at the coffe break talking about how well we played last year at Wimbledon Grand Slam.

[quakercub]

Actually it was the other way round. Sutherland's tones were not covered at all. Also, she didn't transpose up at all; she sang the roles in the keys they were originally written in (particularly in Norma). Her chest voice was just fine, btw. Not as dramatically expressive as Callas' but still very strong.

[babydrane]

That's very interesting. I'd heard that Sutherland had transposed up for the latter parts of her signature role...Lucia. I think her chest voice was there (didn't she start out as a mezzo) but it just never sounds quite right...like another person has stepped in to sing.

[kgarmaker123]

I agree with you! thats exactly what Joanie did.

[diuscorvus]

Sutherland's middle was rather weak, and she transposed up liberally when she sang Anna Bolena. I don't think Sutherland would've made a credible Macbeth, though more because she wouldn't have brought dramatic truth to the role, than that her voice couldn't handle the notes. Callas is unsurpassed here.

[operagodess78]

Jajjaa. Shut the fuck up.

[MAPIAKALLAS]

haaa you shut up you monkey shit....thank you thats all.

[kgarmaker123]

This was so very well stated, as to the reason for her vocal decline, further, after meeting Onassis, she stopped practicing. That is the kiss of death.

[neronnenn]

Preferire Birgit a Maria in questo ruolo è come preferire Maria che canta Isolde...:)

[Operanut9]

neronnenn,

"Preferire" Birgit too. Callas is so overrated.

[Operanut9]

I prefer Nilsson on all counts although this is one of Callas's better performances. There is simply more tension from the outset with Nilsson, and she doesn't let up with an incomparable voice to boot

[willthrillws]

I love Maria in this role! However I tnink out of all of her early roles (the ones that have a record at least) that she pushed her voice to make an effect.

[sicuro75]

Pushed to make an effect? She was an effect; A Dramattic soprano is what they call it.

[goldenthroat86]

VERDI HIMSELF wanted his Lady Macbeth to "have an ugly, dark, choked voice..learn your music history grandissimo rospo!

[Lindow]

As fabulous as her singing is in this recording you can hear what killed her voice in the end - her dramatic instincts were way ahead of her voice. She was way too young and so was the voice to tackle this kind of repertoire. Here she forces it to make up for its lack of maturety & volume. It shows in the middle, the beginning wobble at the very top and the pressure being released off her cords whenever she finishes a note. Still the greatest EVER, no question!

[sicuro75]

If her singing is fabulous then why go into mentioning all those flaws you mention. Callas at this point in time was far from lacking she was in rock solid vocal form and her voice was quite mature and huge from bottom to top after all she was dramattic soprano. A spinto is what you sound like youre describing wich is a lyric soprano voice that is pushed into more forceful singing like Verret,Price...etc.

[nadopera90]

The best lady Macbeth!! Brava!!

[sicuro75]

Her vocals here are on a Grand scale like no other. Especially her huge coloratura passages and notably her huge trills in the drinking song segment wich i wish someone would post.

[grandissimocazzo]

orfeus80, but her high notes are ugly and she screams!

[xafnndapp]

sicuramente il tuo cazzo deve essere grande come il tuo cervello, cioe' minuscolo.

Chi si loda di averlo grande, SEMPRE ce l'ha piccolo!!

:)))

[ma34xl]

grandissimocazzo is a r.e.t.a.r.d. :). WOW !!

[sicuro75]

grandissimocazzo but she is portraying an evil character not a pretty one so what good is pretty notes. And she belts her high notes hear like a true dramattic would she doesn't scream.

[goldenthroat86]

For the role of lady macbeth VERDI HIMSELF wanted not the typical "beautiful" soprano..."It should be sung by a dark, ugly, choked voice..."

[Orfeus80]

This is Callas' greatest role and performance for me, nothing else comes even close. The voice had everything the role needed. It's the one performance I always return to, to admire her greatness.

[abracadabranque]

@Orfeus80 Tout à fait, à son apogée!

[gvjps123]

It would be hard to imagine a more perfect Lady M , artistically, vocally or technically. She masters the roles brutal vocal demands, and creates a masterful, unforgettable interpretation.

[coloraturafan]

This is one of the best readings of this aria ever. Lady Macbeth is a tricky role, to say the least, and Callas was vocally unmatchable at this point in her career. She digs into the music with such passion it is intense.

[VivaMariaCallas]

I must say, I was slightly surprised to read your comment. I had thought you disliked Callas's voice in general (judging on a comment of yours on another page, where everyone was an ally except for one;) ), but it's nice to know that you are objective in your assertions.

[meltzerboy]

When it comes to expressing intense, passionate emotions, especially of the dark, evil kind, Callas is virtually unrivaled. Lady Macbeth, Medea, Norma, Tosca...these are a few of her supreme roles.

[mojekajby]

Callas' entrance aria in this 1952 "Macbeth" is absolutely spine-tingling....there is NO "Vieni, t'affretta" to compare with this one...NONE....her whole performance is legendary.....

[akenato62]

Ciò che colpisce è, in effetti, il senso di calma impresso alla coloratura. In genere le altre soprano, anche brave, la eseguono in modo nervoso, concitato (nello stile di Traviata, o del Trovatore), perché non viene capito che non si tratta di un carattere "appassionato", ma "fermo". In tal modo la Callas costruisce un personaggio gigantesco, titanico, dalla volontà incrollabile (ogni nota deve dare forza ai crimini del marito!).

[giusalu]

Perfetta osservazione. Se si pensa che questa è l'unica registrazione - tra l'altro "pirata" - di un ruolo che era davvero della Callas. Come avrei voluto vederla recitare in questo ruolo!

giusalu

[Shahrdad]

I was just marveling at how patiently she sings the florid sections, not slowly, but patiently. Even when the coda starts speeding up, she maintains the perfect patient attitude, singing each not flawlessly and with the same determined attitude. Amazing.

[Shahrdad]

She's the ONLY one I've ever heard--and I've heard LOTS of Lady Macbeths--who does all those low trills in the first part, and she also has the cleanest coloratura for the rapid passages in the cabaletta, especially the final series of turns before the final B natural. Everyone including Verrett and Dimitrova, smudge some of those notes. Like Medea, Norma, Tosca, she has set another unachievable standard in this role.

[xafnndapp]

I totally agree with you!

The final triplets that lead to the high B in the cabaletta are absolutely amazing, flawless, intense!

[Reinaldo146]

Young Callas is truly impressive. What's your take on Shirley Verrett's "Nel di della Vittoria", etc. (The one with Nicolai G. and Piero Capuccilli?) What a wide and clean voice range: great lows and spectacular highs, not unlike her "Oh Don Fatale".

[Shahrdad]

Verrett was truly great, but Callas set the gold standard in this role and no one has matched her (same with Abigaile, Medea, etc). Verrett is magnificent, though she smudges the coloratura passages. I would way she's second only to Callas.

[sevoflurane]

This is so true! It makes me laugh when I hear people criticize her technique. From the musical point of view she knew exactly what she was doing!!

[OperaGhost1990]

The best Tosca, the best Macbeth, the best Medea.

[MAPIAKALLAS]

Here we have the real Macbeth only Callas can sing with so mach dark drama and realistic emotions her voice is so heavy its great... and that high C was out of this world... viva la Divina

[linhcba]

I love the way Maria Callas performs this letter scene because Maria's Lady Macbeth is quite scary and very dark. I think this is one of the best Lady Macbeths ever sung by any opera singer. Viva La Divina!