parterre box

72 comments

• lorenzo.venezia says:

  Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety…

  on December 3, 2009 at 4:32 PM
• parpignol says:

  thank you, La Cieca; what a great New Yorker!

  on December 3, 2009 at 4:33 PM
• Theseus says:

  The one and only.

  on December 3, 2009 at 4:42 PM
• rapt says:

  Wonderful choice, La C! This aria always seems to me to show the absolute best of Callas as musician and singer–it’s the one I play for people who wonder what was special about her.

  on December 3, 2009 at 4:51 PM
• kashania says:

  OMG, I’m gonna have to go into full Callas Widow mode. Brava, La Divina, my favourite soprano and the greatest of the 20th century.

  on December 3, 2009 at 4:54 PM
• dorion says:

  her birthday was yesterday, can’t we get anything RIGHT here? in any event, she was a great actress but an overrated singer with poor technique & an ulgly voice. She sang too much and the wrong music (bel canto) in a very short period, but still a phenomenal artist. happy belated birthday!

  on December 3, 2009 at 4:55 PM
  • La Cieca says:

    Dorion, because you are new here you cannot be expected to know that we always observe Callas’s birthday on December 3, splitting the difference between the date her mother said she was born (2nd) and the date she preferred to celebrate her birthday (the 4th, feast day of St. Barbara, patron saint of artillery.)

    on December 3, 2009 at 5:18 PM
    • Lindoro Almaviva says:

      And Maria was never afraid to take the guns out and shoot to kill. That’s why I love her.

      on December 3, 2009 at 6:22 PM
      • La marquise de Merteuil says:

        ‘I would spit in the faces of my enemies…and make them go on their knees in front of me! I can! I will! And I must!’

        on December 3, 2009 at 7:20 PM
    • Macbeths Honor says:

      Dear Dorian,

      It is very unfortunate to see people like you who, for some reason, always try to find what is wrong and ugly. This is their way of satisfying themselves. They live and breathe on that.

      I am not sure how educated or skilled you are musically, nevertheless posting unnecessarily negative comments only show your behavior disorder, and not a proper judgment. You sure have the right to your opinion but for those like you, I recommend you to read the recent “Ceci n’est pas un commentaire” and you will understand why. Morevover, if you consider nothing is right in this website, you can go ahead and start your own blog. You sure will have many followers…alas!

      On the other hand, I encourage and support La Cieca on her way to improve and clean-up this very magnificent website. Constructive criticism is always welcome, problem children are not.

      Regards,

      Macbeth

      on December 4, 2009 at 5:13 PM
  • Lindoro Almaviva says:

    And that is why Gobbi said that he heard her make sounds that were the most beautiful that he ever heard.

    That is why conductors and musicians outside of the field of opera still say that she was one of the most consummate all around musicians they ever worked with.

    And that is also why sopranos all over the world still mention her as the reason why they became singers or the soprano they turned to when they are learning a new role.

    Exactly how many of those things have you accomplished?

    on December 3, 2009 at 6:46 PM
    • La marquise de Merteuil says:

      You know Lindoro, anyone who says that Callas had a bad technique obviously doesn’t know what good technique is, or only heard recordings of Callas which were made at the end when her singing was no longer as good as it used to be.

      We can’t love everyone, but it seems that perspective is something that Dorion lacks. Ah, Bless.

      on December 3, 2009 at 7:24 PM
      • messa di voce says:

        As others have said, Callas’s singing at the end was like the Cheshire Cat’s grin: the voice had disappeared, but the technique remained.

        on December 3, 2009 at 8:35 PM
    • messa di voce says:

      As Ricciarelli said, every soprano in the world, after the morning coffee and OJ, puts on the Callas recordings; if they deny it, they’re lying!

      on December 3, 2009 at 8:33 PM
• Constantine A. Papas says:

  Callas was born in New York, but she remained Greek until her last breath. She spoke perfect Greek, was eductaed in a Greek conservatory in Athens, where she also made her operatic debut. Greeks have honored her by establshing a museum dedicted to her memory, and the Maria Callas international voice competition. She will remain the utmost tragician of operatic theater for ever.

  on December 3, 2009 at 5:08 PM
  • Noel Dahling says:

    I visited a theater museum in Athens four years ago. It was such a thrill to see her costumes from Norma!!!(complete with dagger). Also strange to notice how short she was. It is odd to think about towering over those you look up to! (I’m 6’3)

    on December 3, 2009 at 5:13 PM
    • richard says:

      Callas was about 5’8″, not short at all for a woman.
      I met her once at a reception and she was about the same height I am.

      on December 3, 2009 at 5:45 PM
      • messa di voce says:

        More info, please!

        on December 3, 2009 at 7:12 PM
      • Countess Guess-wit says:

        Yes, please! Pretty please! Details!

        on December 3, 2009 at 10:19 PM
      • richard says:

        This was not at all as exciting as it might sound.
        I crashed a reception following a public press conference Callas held at the Julliard announcing the master classes. Callas was escorted into an elevator. I was very brazen
        and called the elevator and took it up to the floor Callas was taken to.

        All these people were talking to her and I was mostly interested in getting some autographs. While people where chatting, I stuck a few LP
        booklets in front of her and she signed them.

        After a while someone in authority noticed that there were a couple of gate crashers and directed me and my friends back into the elevator.

        I did exchange a few pleasantries with her and she was polite but not terribly interested.
        That was pretty much it.

        on December 3, 2009 at 10:37 PM
  • Baltsamic Vinaigrette says:

    Constantine –

    I am sure, therefore, that you at least will join me in remembering La Divina’s countrywoman, contemporary and sometime colleague, soprano Arda Mandikian [1924-2009]:

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6919118.ece

    RIP

    on December 3, 2009 at 5:56 PM
    • J. G. Pastorkyna says:

      Mandikian was a wonderfully ghostly Miss Jessel.

      on December 3, 2009 at 7:16 PM
• CruzSF says:

  Thanks for the info re: the birthdate of La Divina. I’m going to celebrate with a drnk and a slice of cake. I ask le Cher Public: what kind of cake most appropriately honors La Callas?

  on December 3, 2009 at 5:39 PM
  • Violetta says:

    I sort of picture her picking away at a salad, but I’m not very informed in the this matter.

    on December 3, 2009 at 5:52 PM
    • Lindoro Almaviva says:

      LOL! Callas used to go back and forth between extreme dieting and not. She loved ice cream and she loved food. It was a comfort zone for her, and given her childhood and her many insecurities, I can see why.

      Zefirelli tells a story of inviting her to dinner and also this famous Italian stage actress who was a famous Medea on her own right. The stage actress was one of those who loved food and ate anything that was put in front of her with no shame. Fearing that Callas would be offended (given her weight problems), Zefirelli cooked 2 dishes: one some sort of greasy pasta with the cheese and the calories galore and another one more weight conscious for Maria (a salad or something like that).

      The story goes that after the introductions were made (and both ladies going out of their way to praise each other’s Medeas) dinner started, with Callas attacking the pasta like it was Aristo and the other lady eating the salad because she had to watch her figure…

      on December 3, 2009 at 6:31 PM
      • Dan says:

        Wasn’t Callas a huge fan of red meat? Like big f*cking steaks smothered in butter?

        Anyway, yea Callas was the queen of yo-yo dieting LONG before Oprah.

        on December 4, 2009 at 12:09 AM
  • Baltsamic Vinaigrette says:

    Cruz: in Sirmione on the southern [Lombardy] shore of Lake Garda, where she used to reside, they’re big on an almond cake called Sbrisolana at this time of year. And Lombardy also takes the credit for the famous panettone which everybody eats in the run-up to Christmas and is surely available in San Francisco.

    If you’re feeling flush, be sure to log on to Peck’s web-site – Milan’s (and Italy’s) toniest deli – though of course it’ll be well after St Barbara’s Day before you get your mitts on their goodies. Still, perhaps you’ll be taking delivery in time for next Monday’s opening night at La Scala?

    on December 3, 2009 at 6:05 PM
    • CruzSF says:

      Excelllent suggestions, Baltsamic! Panettone is one of the foreign treats easily found in SF. Violetta’s salad idea would make a great start to the evening, too.

      on December 3, 2009 at 6:18 PM
• Violetta says:

  Lovely!
  And what a hunkenconductor Pretre was!

  on December 3, 2009 at 6:03 PM
  • manou says:

    I saw Pretre this summer in Orange, where he was conducting Cav and Pag. He stayed at our hotel, and was not only still very dishy, but utterly charming and completely unpretentious (also lovely to all the children)

    on December 3, 2009 at 8:21 PM
    • CarlottaBorromeo says:

      And often under-rated… Talking recently to a singer who worked with him she had nothing but praise and felt he knew his business much better than many more highly-celebrated maestri with whom she sang

      on December 4, 2009 at 7:07 AM
• callasorphan says:

  Happy birthday mommie!

  on December 3, 2009 at 6:39 PM