Maria Callas

[Peregrine]

I'm listening to this:



Not an opera I'm familiar with, but Callas is in great voice, she sounds beautiful.

[Tsaraslondon]

I'm listening to this:



Not an opera I'm familiar with, but Callas is in great voice, she sounds beautiful.

No doubt about it. This is one of Callas's greatest nights in the theatre. 1957 probably marked the last year when her voice was in peak condition. It is the year of the Cologne La Sonnambula, the studio Barbiere,the La Scala Un Ballo in Maschera, and the Dallas inaugural concert, all of which show her in sovereign voice. But it is also the year when cracks were beginning to show - as in the studio Manon Lescaut, the obvious strain that the studio Turandot put on her (I still can't understand Legge's decision to record her in this role at this stage in her career) and in the series of Sonnambulas in Edinburgh. After that, there would be occasional great moments (the Dallas Medeas, and the Covent Garden and Lisbon Traviatas, for example) but her voice began increasingly to let her down.

[Sarastro]

I'm listening to this:



Not an opera I'm familiar with, but Callas is in great voice, she sounds beautiful.

Another praise for Callas - she revived the opera after many years of oblivion, and brought all her best to the role of Anna Bolena. Gavazzeni in his interview recalled how hard she worked with the score and settings from mornings till evenings with endless vigor, making everyone else work, too. 

I can recommend one more recording from the same year - The Barber of Seville - with Alva, Gobbi and Zaccaria. They all sound great and Callas' portrayal is a supreme one. I bet no one can sing "Una voce poco fa" with such charm and musical exquisiteness.

[Tsaraslondon]

I can recommend one more recording from the same year - The Barber of Seville - with Alva, Gobbi and Zaccaria. They all sound great and Callas' portrayal is a supreme one. I bet no one can sing "Una voce poco fa" with such charm and musical exquisiteness.

Funnily enough, I have just been re-listening to this Barbiere, having been reminded of it by a friend of mine, who is about to direct the opera in Moscow. I don't know what modern recording he had bought, no doubt of some ur-text edition, but he had listened to it and said it gave him very little enthusiasm for his task. Then he bought the Callas version (the studio one - this is one occasion where the studio version surpasses the live event of the previous year), and enthusiasm was renewed. Conducted with style and elegance by Galliera, the whole cast, in particular Callas, Gobbi and Alva, respond with performances of surprising lightness and grace. Indeed it is hardly possible to believe, in the case of Callas and Gobbi, that these are the same artists who plumb the depths of tragedy in Rigoletto, Aida, Lucia di Lammermoor, Un Ballo in Maschera and Tosca. Many more recent performances, to my ears at least, sound stodgy, the comedy drawn with heavier brush strokes. Listening to this version again, it is easy to hear Rossini's influence on Offenbach. The whole set fizzes and sparkles like an excellent dry champagne. Callas's ability to lighten her voice is indeed miraculous, but it is not just that. This set was recorded around the same time as the studio La Sonnambula, another opera for which she lightens her tone, but somehow, within that alchemy, she still presents two completely different characters, and we see that happiness for Amina is quite a different thing from what it is for Rosina. As usual, Callas is able to colour her voice to compliment the particular tinta of the score, pastels for the Bellini, set, as it is, in the Swiss Alps, and brighter, more vivid colours for the Seville of Rossini. If the other singers are not quite on this high level of achievement, they are, none the less, marvellous at vocal acting, Gobbi and Alva interacting quite wonderfully in their Act I duet. Nor do Zaccaria and Ollendorff overdo the comedy and the Buona sera quintet is one of the highlights of the performance. Gabriella Carturan, allowed her aria in Act II, is firmly in the picture, and I recommend the set unreservedly. Why (Callas in comedy being quite different from Callas in tragedy) Harry might even like it.

[stridonolassu]

I'd like to second Tsaraslondon and Sarastro.  You need to get this recording if you do not have it.  The only regrettable thing about it are the cuts.  But you just have to get over that as you must with most of Callas' recordings.  I'm so grateful for recordings like this one.  Today nobody would cast her voice as Rosina in the theater.  I love her little innocent girl voice at the beginning and how she turns during Una Voce in "ma se mi toccano".  Genius.

[Lilas Pastia]

This week I listened to the EMI reissue of Verdi arias, a conflation that brings together the first (1959) disc and adds a few later recordings. Already in vocal trouble in the first batch of recordings, Callas still makes many phrases etch themselves in the mind. Technically she is amazing, with every atrocious difficulty of Lady Macbeth and Abigaille fearlessly executed. The occasional squally, barely controlled loud top notes notwithstanding, this is an object lesson in great singing. The same qualities are in evidence in the later arias, but at that late stage she was in dire vocal straits and this is a case of the good, the bad and the uugly showing in equal measure. Still, Callas practically owned any role she sang.

[Tsaraslondon]

This week I listened to the EMI reissue of Verdi arias, a conflation that brings together the first (1959) disc and adds a few later recordings.

The 1959 (actually recorded in 1958) arias do constitute one of the great recital records of all time. They were recorded at the same time as her Mad Scenes LP, which has also entered the realms of history. The voice has obviously deteriorated substantially in only 4 years since the 1954 Puccini Arias and Lyric and Coloratura. However,  it is not yet as difficult to listen to as it is in all those late 1960s recital discs, though it has to be admitted that the final screamed and squally top C at the end of the Nabucco cabaletta is something of a trial. On the other hand, if Callas had left us nothing but this 1958 performance of Lady Macbeth's Sleepwalking Scene, she would still have gone down in the annals of great singers. I know of no other performance that comes within a mile of its psychological insight and musical expertise. Here, Callas's own description of the recording of this scene.

I was in quite good voice that day, for you know we have our ups and downs. I was proud when I stepped down to listen to the playback, and I told our then artistic director Walter Legge, "that was, I think, some good singing." "Oh, extraordinary," he said, "but now you will hear it and understand that you have to redo it." I was a bit shocked and said, "What do you mean by that?". He said, "You'll listen to it and you'll see." In fact, I did listen to it, and it was astonishing, perfect vocally. But the main idea of this Sleepwalking Scene was not underlined. In other words, she is in a nightmare-sleepwalking stage. She has to convey all these odd thoughts which go through her head - evil, fearsome, terrifying. So I had made a masterpiece of vocal singing, but I had not done my job as an interpreter. Immediately, as soon as I heard it, I said, "Well, you are right; now I understand," and I went and performed it.

She then goes into a detailed examination of the aria, its shifts in thought and mood which change from one line to the next, almost from bar to bar. Her conclusion is also worth quoting.

So you see, this is actually a mad scene in sleepwalking form. How can a mad woman with crazy thoughts jumping from one to the other be conveyed in a straight, lovely kind of evenly placed vocal piece? It cannot. Therefore I had to break it into all these pieces, and Verdi helps a singer with all his diminuendos, crescendos, and allargandos.

The miracle of Callas is that she could achieve all this without destroying her impeccable legatoand appreciation of the musical line.

[zamyrabyrd]

Rather than starting a new thread, I thought the proper place for a rare recording of Maria Callas' teacher, Elvira de Hidalgo (1892-1980) might be here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pqaEf395bY&feature=related

I like especially the focus in her tones and the fetching carnaval atmosphere in the beginning.

ZB

PS Plenty of photos here, teacher and student:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlI8TkOvsIE

[Tsaraslondon]

I like especially the focus in her tones and the fetching carnaval atmosphere in the beginning.

ZB

Also interesting that, though a light voice, she is not afraid of using chest. Especially in the light of what Callas said about chest voice in her master classes ie that if the low notes weren't any good, then the high ones would end up collapsing too.

On the other hand, one might argue that Callas's top notes did indeed collapse, while her chest tones did not. What are your thoughts on that, ZB?

[zamyrabyrd]

Also interesting that, though a light voice, she is not afraid of using chest. Especially in the light of what Callas said about chest voice in her master classes ie that if the low notes weren't any good, then the high ones would end up collapsing too.

On the other hand, one might argue that Callas's top notes did indeed collapse, while her chest tones did not. What are your thoughts on that, ZB?

First of all, I am always fascinated by Callas' speaking voice where she wasn't shy of using her lower register for speech. I always had an idea that one could help one's singing voice while not singing, meaning speaking in a way that would support it. Contrast her manner of speaking to other female singers who may have mistakenly taken the advice of their own teachers, that is, "speak high" and sound superficial. I am convinced (by trying out different modes) that it is a mistake to cut off the lower register when speaking, for the same reason that is doesn't work in singing. In order to do that one has to tense the muscles of the larynx, not a good practice.

I was just listening to Sutherland in Maria Stuarda and thinking how effortless she makes it all sound compared to the screechiness of some sopranos in either of the main roles. Sutherland never pushed her voice beyond its limits, nor did she need to.  Undue air pressure causes damage. A singer has to know how much his or her voice can take and not go beyond that. I don't think it is really heroic to lose one's voice in the pursuit of equally heroic roles as what happened to Beverly Sills.

Speaking from experience and from some other opinions about this, I do believe one can discern what might be called a 4th register just around high Bb-B in a female voice. This tessitura must NOT be forced under any circumstance. Many times Callas crossed the line as in the high C's of Lady Macbeth. The result was thrilling but had the seeds of its own destruction.

The problem is finding the balance within the boundaries of art and still be dramatically convincing.

ZB

[Sarastro]

Maria Callas
"Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9piRiiZ0C4Q&feature=related
Fantastic!

[Anne]

Sarastro, you were right.  Thanks, it was gorgeous!  Maybe there's a chance that I can still like her.  Any recommendations?

[Sarastro]

Any recommendations?

Maybe Lucia di Lammermoor (one of...) with di Stefano? No less fantastic.
Here is the duet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fadSL7L1i-s

And the complete cast:

Lucia di Lammermoor

Herbert von Karajan (1955)

Lord Enrico Asthon     Rolando Panerai
Miss Lucia     Maria Callas
Sir Edgardo di Ravenswood     Giuseppe di Stefano
Raimondo Bidebent     Nicola Zaccaria
Alisa     Luisa Villa
Lord Arturo Bucklaw     Giuseppe Zampieri
Normanno     Mario Carlin

Orchestra: RIAS de Berlín
Chor: Teatro alla Scala di Milano
Live Recording
Emi

[Tsaraslondon]

Sarastro, you were right.  Thanks, it was gorgeous!  Maybe there's a chance that I can still like her.  Any recommendations?

And Anne, please note, that unlike most singers, Callas sings what is written ie there is no second reponds to accomodate an extra breath. Saint-Saens instructs that the phrase Ah reponds a ma caresse be sung in one breath, and Callas is one of the very few singers who adhere to this.It makes for a very long phrase, but the gain in legato is immeasurable. Indeed she does the same on the second phrase Verse moi, verse moi l'ivresse. It is only when she sings it the last time that she introduces a breath here, and some have suggested this is the reason this aria was not passed for release until after her death.

[Anne]

Thanks Tsaraslondon and Sarastro.  Much appreciated!

[Lilas Pastia]

Indeed, the "breathing issue' seems to be the reason why Callas didn't want the record to be issued. Talk about lofty standards . Dalila's three arias have never been sung with this combinaiton of long-limbed phrasing, dark, concentrated tone, impeccable diction and seamless legato. BTW for those who are not familiar with the immensely poetic text, listen carefully with libretto and translation. Callas' response to every word and inflexion is a small miracle.

Staying with Samson et Dalila and Youtube, HERE's another one that presents one of the only singers that was vocally, musically and histrionically on a par with Callas: Jon Vickers is heard here as Samson with Verrret's quite beautiful Dalila. Listen to the excellent delivery of the aria (Verrett) and notice how Vicker's soft voice actually overwhelms Verret's full-throated singing. Hear how he vocally suggests an orgasm with his softly crooned tones and then his impassioned delivery of his single line. Excellent diction here, too - but for that you must hear him in the complete role, either on disc or on one of the numerous performances in which he sang.

Callas and Vickers sang together in Medea. Is there a goodish-sounding version of those performances ?

[Tsaraslondon]

Callas and Vickers sang together in Medea. Is there a goodish-sounding version of those performances ?

The best sounding Medea performance is from Covent Garden in 1959. Unfortunately the performance is nowhere near on a par with those she gave in Dallas the previous year, for which the sound is not so good. Indeed many said the blood curdling sounds she uttered were a response to Bing cancelling her Met contract only hours before the first night. Vickers and Callas's association is well documented in Jon Vickers: A Hero's Life by Jeannie Williams. Vickers always spoke very highly of Callas, often stating that the two people to have exerted the most influence on post second world war opera were Wieland Wagner and Callas.

Thanks for the Samson et Dalila clip by the way. As you say, Verrett singes the aria beautifully, but Vickers is something else again. What a shame he and Callas didn't work together more often. Apparently she was keen to have him sing Pollione to her Norma, but he was terrified of the (unwritten) high C in Act 1 and refused, saying the critics would slaughter him if he omitted it. He did eventually sing the role in Orange to Caballe's Norma, still without the top C. I have no idea if the critics mentioned it or not. On another occasion, he wanted Callas to sing Didon to his Aenee, but that was in 1969, and her stage career was already over. I always think it a tragedy Callas never sang Didon. One can only dream about a performance of the opera with her and Vickers.

[Lilas Pastia]

Thanks. I'll try to locate a Dallas Medea. I've never owned the complete thing, only an lp of excerpts from the Cetra album (Callas' of course  ). And as you can imagine, no Medea adventure can be complete without Callas' assumption in the Pasolini film. Blood curdling you said? Definitely. And so touching at the same time.

[Sarastro]

I like Verrett, but she is not as enchanting as Callas who sings it so naturally and ethereally. I feel like being on the Aegean sea shore with tender breeze and warm mild waves caressing my body; and it goes further than just imagination - close your eyes and sense it on the skin.

[Bulldog]

"most of Mozart's music is dull." - Maria Callas

That does it - I'm not going to listen to Mozart anymore.