Sai quale oscura opera laggiu si compia?
POSTED at
5:02 PM
15 August 2007
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34 Comments:
Magnificent!!
Thank you for finding and sharing this gem. What an impoverished age we live in. How enviable it is that past generations could see great artistry on television! All we have is crap such as American Idol.
Stunning scene and an all-too-sad reminder that in a month, we (or at least some of us) will be remembering the 30th anniversary of Madame Callas' death.
When Callas died I was appalled at how little coverage was given her death, especially compared to the media outpouring a month earlier, when Elvis Presley died.
Doesn't seem like much has changed. So much trashy hoopla on the anniversay of Presley's death.
But though the September issue of Opera News includes a "Lucia" article, with a photo of Callas and a couple of paragraphs about her portrayal of Luica, if there is any mention that Callas died 30 years ago, I haven't been able to find it. (There is a very brief mention of Callas in the two-page-long Sills appreciation.)
My guess is that the 30th anniversary of Callas' death will largely go unremarked upon, except by opera cognoscenti.
Anyway, the "Tosca" segment with Callas and George London is superb and I join Chicagomusician in thanking La Cieca for posting it.
Glorious, glorious, glorious...
I found the spilling of the wine a very effective touch.
As a singer I can't help but note the smile that played for just a milisecond across her lips when Vissi d'arte ended and the applause began.
She stayed in it, but we felt her hunger then, too.
Callas has sung this part of Tosca with more fire in other recordings and videos, like the one with Gobbi. On this video her waistline outdoes her her singing which is rather constrained. The lore is that Onassis made for her a golden-precious stones- studded belt with a price tag of $1.8 million- big bucks then. Callas' 30 year anniversary of her death was celebrated in Athens for one month with special exihibits and artifacts from her career. One of her gowns- valued over $200,000- was stolen but recovered. Callas legacy will always remain her interpretation and not her perfect singing. She is the first singing actress of notice in the history of opera.
Dear Constantine Papas
aren't you a little ashamed to pontificate?...especially about a topic that most of us here are deeply familiar with? do you really think that your assesment of Callas' singing is really new, fresh, or revelatory?...your assessment is utterly wrong and yet it is still not new, not fresh, and not revelatroy...
Immortal Olive Fremstad was noted in the T. Roosevelt era as much for her acting as her somewhat controversial singing voice (was she a mezzo or a soprano?) And she did a knockout Tosca.
If only there was a full recording with Callas and London (and preferrably someone like Bergonzi instead of Di Stefano)!! This was fantastic...but I am disappointed that we missed the whole big scena before Cavaradossi's torture scene - that's my favorite part of Tosca (from "Ed or fra noi parliam"). Obviously, for whatever inane reasons, they had to shorten the scene - it is a bit odd to see her just walk in at that moment as if the torturing of her lover before her own ears never happened - but you can see how amazingly this woman changed her interpretation of this timeless character to suit the newly-devised situation. It is a shortened scene, and she brilliantly rethinks her motivations and reactions.
jf in dc, I don't think much will be made of her death because already so much fuss is made over her to begin with (not unwanted) - but people are always celebrating her art and life...just celebrating a 30 year milestone would be one extra thing to devote to idolizing this goddess.
La Scala will be remembering Callas in an official ceremony on Sept. 16. As special guest, Franco Zeffirelli will be there among others.
Such a treat! Thank you so much la Cieca- I've never seen this clip before and I thought I'd seen everything with la Divina on film.
I agree with all those who noted the Elvis pantomime going on all day ad nauseum- coupled with the crap on TV nowadays- the world seems crazy when you just know the anniversary of her passing will most likely go without hardly a mention.
Mediocrity and banality rules today and sadly most people wouldn't recognise legendary talent if it bit them on the goolies anyway. At least we in here will go on remembering.
' The first singing actress of note in operatic history' I hardly know where to begin (or indeed end) a list of previuos ones!!!
Muzio, Garden, Lotte Lehmann, Fremstad and Calve are just the first that spring to mind.
EMI is commemorating the anniversary with the release of a 70-disc collection of every Callas studio recording ever (remastered, certo). It comes out in September.
No artist benefits from over-the-top raves. There were/are/will be good and well-known singing actors before/during/after Callas. Scotto for one was a recent singing actress of distinction. So were Geraldine Farrar, Maria Jeritza, Emma Calve, Chaliapin,Gobbi .... But this does not diminish Callas artistry.
Um, hello, GORGEOUS George London, anyone????
As much as I do love Callas and the rest of the great singers mentioned here, you do realize that none of what they did can really be considered what theatre people call "acting." The behavior of these singers onstage while theatical and dramatic is really not "characterization" manily because the choices are too intellectual and self-aware and secondly because the style is still a bit melodramatic...what theatre people call real acting is more in line with Teresa Stratas, Karita Mattila, etc...while many of us bemoan the golden days of the past, what the new generation of opera singers have contributed to the artform is not only visual credibility but also real acting and character development.
I'd never heard/seen this clip before--fascinating. I liked the whole stabbing to the end sequence far better than in the familiar Gobbi performance. London was excellent, as was Callas' intensity. I loved the speaking of "Avanti a lui...". Thanks to La Cieca.
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Brilliant!
Terrifying!
Extraordinary find!
I offer this anecdote as remembered through a vague recollection of something I read; I wonder if anyone can authenticate the story. London, as I recall reading, was nervous as hell about singing with Callas, whom he had never met before. His wife remarked, "What's the worst that could happen: she'll use a real knife."
Yes...Old dansker...as sure as God made little green apples, that story is 100% true
Wow! Callas is truly mesmerising. Great though London is, I just couldn't take my eyes off Callas.
I'm guessing that this was broadcast live - is that right?
As for Callas not 'acting' in the way that theatre folk would consider 'acting', Judi Dench has raved about Callas' acting skills.
Id like to know which theatre people wouldnt consider Callas' non-acting.
Surely only those "anonymous" ones...
I was 22 when I saw this on TV it brought tears then and it does still. Thank you for the memory of my youth and of the great Callas.
Whatever one's view about Callas' acting being or not being "what theatre people call acting", effective operatic acting neither started nor finished with Callas.
This will probably result in a cyber-lynching, but that really didn't do much for me (though I like London's voice very much).
To my ear, Callas never fills Puccini's lines with enough body of tone and her acting seemed rather inhibited, tears at the end of Vissi d'arte notwithstanding. She never liked Tosca much, did she?
She was far more convincing in bel canto - especially descending chromatic runs!
Mother of god, the woman was incredible, no, beyond that... there are simply no words for it. I saw her at the end in '74 when she had no voice but the magnetism and presence was still there, I could only imagine what she had been like in her heyday. I could only stay for one aria, it was just too sad, but was glad to experience her legendary presence in the flesh. Thanks La Cieca for this gem.
Callas + Pasolini = film = Medea = good "theatrical acting" ... I don't think so
How strange are the workings of the sub-conscous mind. When I saw Callas in the Pasolini film, the name which kept coming into my head was Lucille Ball.
Before this entry goes into the archive, let us remember that besides this being the 30th anniversary of Elvis and Callas leaving us, it is also the 30th anniversary of the departure of Groucho Marx--who had some talent also.
Has anyone read a really funny book called WHEN BAD ACTING HAPPENS TO GOOD PEOPLE? It really is about great opera singers who can't utilize a theatre/acting setting to perform. Someone as glorious as Caballe or Horne (just to mention a couple) would be much more credible on the concert stage...even concert versions of operas...but to spend all that money for costumes, sets, directors, tech support....seems extraneous...
Someone has mentioned here that Jidy Dench has raved about Callas' acting skills...well, coincidentally Callas once raved about Judy Dench's singing skills...it is called "being nice".
Some interesting TV camera angles in this scene. Makes you wonder what she (and he) could have done in a Playhouse 90 performance of something . And, was Scarpia planning to eat that whole chicken?
La Cieca, what can I write but thank you, and would write is many more times over if it wouldn't take up so many seats in the Parterre Box. Blessings upon you for posting this glorious gem.
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