parterre box

72 comments

• 31
  Clita del Toro says:

  December 4, 2009 at 3:46 PM

  Ruxton:

  I was just lucky–started going to the opera in 1954 and saw many great singers in the 50’s and 60’s. I was also fortunate to have heard my favorite tenor, Jussi Björling a number of times as well.
• 32
  Batty Masetto says:

  December 4, 2009 at 4:13 PM

  I’m amazed nobody has mentioned this audio clip of La Divina teaching the same aria:

  Firm yet generous, and marvelously sharp-eared, dealing with a student who has a basic technical problem that means she’s not ready to approach the piece subtly without hurting herself.
• 33
  luvtennis says:

  December 8, 2009 at 12:37 PM

  As ill-considered as Dorion’s comments were (Maria had a fabulous technique for the most part), I think the fetishism of Callas has been a largely negative phenomenon.

  She was a great musician. Her attention to detail, her amazing rythmic accuracy, her perfect legato all bespeak a master artist.

  BUT, she made a lot of bad choices from a rep perspective. Like so many singers trained in Europe in her era (bad versimo influence), she had real problems managing the ascent into her upper register. And while the extant videos show her to have been a commanding, overwhelming stage presence, she was hardly the first or last great actress in opera.

  What bothers me about opera is that despite all of her great qualities, I don’t think her overwhelming fame – especially since her death – has as much to do with her vocal artistry as it does her tabloid life.

  Had she not shed all that weight and fallen in love with a thug, I doubt very seriously that she would have become the oppressive presence in opera that she remains.

  Finally, her influence has been largely pernicious – mostly due the fact that many confuse her flaws with virtues. The wobble, the shrieking, the overuse of chest voice, the singing of wildly inappropriate rep – they were flaws not the badges of honor that some find so compelling. Maria didn’t sing ugly for the drama (to paraphrase a queen or three), she sang ugly because the voice had really troubled spots, she sang an exposed repetoire that aggravated those flaws, her her personal life interfered with the technical work necessary to fix a voice that she ruined far to soon.

  Maria worshipped Ponselle. Too many forget that Callas’ own personal gold standard was the epitome of beautiful singing.