Covent Garden "Addio,..." Callas

June 20, 1958 Live Covent Garden performance of La Traviata with Maria Callas. Here singing "Addio, del passato".
In Harold Rosenthal's review for Opera, he wrote the following:
Callas's last act was superb. Dramatically one felt how Violetta suffered, one saw the effort with which the dying woman dragged herself from bed to dressing table, from dressing table to chair. "Oh, come son mutata" brought a lump to the throat as she eagerly scanned the telltale glass for some glimmer of hope. The reading of the letter was quiet and intimate, and then came a moving "Addio del passato".

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Entertainment

Tags:

• Live
• Callas
• Traviata

[yglofmi]

If you don't like Callas why do you see her videos? Are you a masochist?

[CharlotteinWeimar]

I went to one of those performances. Her voice was very fragile, but the way she used it was all part of her conception of the role. It was unbearably moving and I remember it vividly to this day. See my version with drawings done at the time.

[Ariadne7710]

I too went to one of these performances and as CharlotteinWeimar says. It was unforgettable & intensly moving. Callas said later that she had tried hard to find the right "dying" voice for the last scene. She was also very moving during "dite alla giovine". in Act II. Many people expect opera to be pretty crystalline notes regardless of the emotions being expressed by the text. The text and the vocal sound are meant to blend to define the character and the emotional situation at each moment.

[diuscorvus]

@XavierBelles I find Callas's tone quite beautiful here. And Tito Gobbi wasn't exactly renowned for possessing a beautiful voice -- like Callas, he was more admired for vocal color and dramatic nuance (although I find his voice pleasant enough).

[saverioorlando]

sorry,1 moment

[saverioorlando]

Verdi wrote "con un fil di voce" Opera is also theatre.Violetta is ending.I saw 2 time 55 and 56 Traviata at La Scala directed by Giulini.First act,full voice,great range for a lowe=follia.The promise to Germont,the reality of the social conventions,Amami+addio.V. seems dead.Only 1 momet of full desperate voice:gran Dio morir sì ... Strong tragic rendition,Maria never was searching only a beautiful note.Addio del p. is a waltz,very sad.Maria (better with Giulini) suits perfectly this rhythm.

[cmhmuscle]

um....can't everyone just admire the fact that there are wonderful differences that are perhaps equally valid in life? As someone who has coached a gaggle of sopranos through this role, one never tries to make them into another voice that is entirely not theirs. God, get a grip.

[mightythos77]

I have two versions of this performance. A bootleg with good sound and a Melodram release which I haven't yet heard in full. I always thought she cracked the last note too but on the Melodram and here in this vid you can literally hear the note die in her throat. Amazing.

[yglofmi]

First you have to define what is beautiful to you. It's not the same thing to everybody. And who told you that Italian opera is about beauty? Wagner's operas are about what? And Russian operas? If you were right, the audiences in La Scala would never have accepted Callas.

[XavierBelles]

Sorry about this but she should have turned into Schönberg instead of Verdi if this were the case. Italian opera is about beauty. Even if the female character has to go through a miserable storyline before her best arie. Dying beautifully is what Tito Gobbi did in Don Carlo when performing Rodrigo.