parterre box

72 comments

• Lindoro Almaviva says:

  I have had a long love affair with Callas since i heard her in my voice teacher’s home back in 89. The first thing I heard her sing was Divinite du Styx and I thought THAT is Callas? But the wobble and the problems could not make me stay away.

  For years i have read several books and seen several documentaries. Needless to say I but her recordings with no shame. My first callas recording was Gala’s The Voice within the Heart and it is still one of my favorite compilations. I have gone through 3 copies and the last one I bought at full price on eBay and do not regret it. My first complete recording with her was Lucia, first the studio and then the Berlin one. I Learned Arturo singing along with her on those recordings.

  Through the years I have learned to love her voice and her musicianship. For me, there is no other like her, even with the limitations. if there is something with her, i will want to hear it, even if I come to prefer another soprano in the role, I will still want to hear Maria’s take in the role. I know she has been accused of having an ugly voice, to be honest, i don’t hear it. I can recognize ugly moments in the voice and even less than perfect periods, but for me the voice will always retain an allure that few other sopranos with more “glamorous” voices do not have, at least not for me.

  So happy birthday Maria, thank you for making an opera queen out of me and thank you for your wonderful gift to us.

  on December 3, 2009 at 6:43 PM
  • La marquise de Merteuil says:

    Amen!

    on December 3, 2009 at 7:27 PM
  • Dan says:

    True this? My first encounter with La Divina was a late recording…I don’t even know which one it was. My piano teacher played it for me. I wasn’t immediately turned on by it, but since I respected my teacher, I knew there was something there. Then she played me someone else’s recording. I’ve worshipped at the altar of La Divina ever since.

    I bought the 1953 Tosca with de Sabata–the only Puccini I liked for a long time–and never ever looked back.

    on December 4, 2009 at 12:13 AM
    • Dan says:

      That “?” should have been a “!”

      on December 4, 2009 at 12:14 AM
  • kashania says:

    Bravo, Lindoro.

    on December 4, 2009 at 11:45 AM
  • peluffo says:

    Everybody had talked about Callas too flawed voice, specially during her career, this is something cannot be hidden, her too many flaws and her mediocre vocal instrument.
    BUT Something always impressed me is that story about how Maria takes into the roles, as Almaviva says.
    Honestly I don’t notice a strong temperament or personality in Maria assumptions.She always seems to me weaker and cold too compared with many of the other great sopranos of the last century.To my ears she sings everything like italians calls “voce piangente” that suits good for Lucìa or Puritani o Bolena or Sonnambula or bel canto , Bellini and Donizetti but she had no power for Verdi enad even less for Puccini.I don’t talk only about her voice that does not carry the weight, the steadiness , power and firm tone that ask postverdiam drama, also her personality , she may produce vulnerability but no great power or personality.
    About her voice, she sounds mostly well in coloratura, her coloratura is free but singing legato she dissapoints me, her high notes are not beautiful , I am talking about her best years 1948/55, even in those years her high notes are not firm and beautiful, her voice above FA sharp is thin and the notes are wobbly and too lyrical, her low lotes are pushed and not beautiful too and her middle is poor too.
    I tried for many years to understand her appeal to her fans but I gave up to this after listening all her legacy.

    on December 4, 2009 at 3:54 PM
• Constantine A. Papas says:

  Violetta,

  Pretre is not “was!” He is still alive and conducting sporadically.

  on December 3, 2009 at 6:44 PM
  • Violetta says:

    CAP : I am well aware of that. It, however, is somewhat unconventional say an 85-year-old man IS a hunkenconductor. And may he have many more birthdays to come.

    on December 3, 2009 at 6:57 PM
• Cassandra says:

  Happy Birthday Divina.

  on December 3, 2009 at 7:00 PM
• Squillo says:

  Grazie, Divina.

  Callas is responsible for the two most enduring and rewarding love affairs of my life: opera and my husband (to whom I was introduced because he was the only straight guy in my circle who liked opera.)

  on December 3, 2009 at 7:02 PM
• messa di voce says:

  One of her most beautiful recordings, BUT it’s easy to see that this is a vocal dead-end for her. The singing is very close to crooning at times; the mouth is always half closed; the diction is unclear; and the top notes are disembodied and lacking in support. I think this style of singing was an obvious experiment on Callas’s part, and she realized it wouldn’t work long term. She once said something to the effect that she could go on singing “like Moffo” if she wanted to, but wasn’t interested in doing so; I think this is what she was referring to.

  on December 3, 2009 at 7:18 PM
  • richard says:

    This was an experiment. Pretre had talked her into
    taping 4 pieces for French TV taking all the weight
    off her voice. It is close to crooning and would probably never carried in an auditorium. In addition
    to the Sonnambula aria, she taped an aria from Manon,
    O Mio Babino Caro, and I think a Duparc piece. the three arias were shown, the Duparc has vanished.

    This taping session was just a few weeks before her
    last opera performance in July of 1965, she was pretty much at a dead end. Vocal problems, terrible nerves, and serious low blood pressure.

    She still hoped to marry Onnasis at this point, a few years later, after his marriage to Jackie , she
    took up her work on her voice again. Like the 1965 experiment, her work in 1969 took a lot of the pressure off her voice, she sang a lot of the high passages very softly and it worked better this time. But she still wasn’t convinced that it was workable and cancelled a whole series of appearances
    in NY, S Fran, and Dallas.

    on December 3, 2009 at 7:45 PM
• La Valkyrietta says:

  I went to see her at Carnegie Hall on April 15, 1974. By then her voice was a wreck, of course, but the greatest voice in the world. I still have the ripped ticket stub from that evening. I sat in the middle of the orchestra. At the end I walked to the front and was very close to her when she sang as encore the “Adieu notre petite table” from “Manon”. Later backstage I made the line as I wanted her autograph, but they instructed us to put away the pens, she was not signing. I shook her hand. No opera evening, before or since, has been more exciting for me.

  Happy birthday Maria.

  on December 3, 2009 at 7:24 PM
• Ruxton says:

  Messa and Dorian….who cares…even the “imperfections” were so glorious they spoke to the soul in a way that “the rest” can only wonder at.

  If you don’t get it… best to just keep it to yourself because there’s legions that do and you’ll never convince us.
  …”and what I am needs no excuses”

  on December 3, 2009 at 7:54 PM
  • messa di voce says:

    Ruxton: I think you misunderstood our comments. It’s because we so completely get it, that we can talk about Callas in this way. Your post echoes a phrase from that old curmudgeon Michael Scott that pointing out Callas’s “flaws” is on the same intellectual plane as pointing out the Venus de Milo has no arms.

    on December 3, 2009 at 8:14 PM
    • richard says:

      The way I look at it, there are NO perfect singers.
      They ALL have flaws.

      What it boils down to for me, a strictly personal
      viewpoint, is what am I willing to accept in terms
      of imperfections in return for which set up qualities that I prize.

      I’m big on communication, expressiveness and creativity. For me Callas is a no-brainer. Sure, she had a badly flawed, manufactured voice that
      didn’t perform all that long. But what she did with it was amazing, she is able to sing things in a way that seem to me like she has composed the music herself. She had a fantastic sense of rhythm, a quality I value more and more as time goes on. (One of my pet peeves is singers with a slack sense of phrasing…no names.. I’m not looking to start any wars).

      To me an awful lot of Callas’ singing WAS beautiful. But then I’m mostly interested in what a singer does with their voice. Much more than their abstract sound.

      on December 3, 2009 at 8:47 PM
• Lindoro Almaviva says:

  Completely out of plece, but this treasure was just unearthed: Sills singing Borgia on Video!

  on December 3, 2009 at 7:58 PM
• wenarto says:

  hey hey hey, i though her birthday was dec 2nd, silly me.

  on December 3, 2009 at 9:06 PM
• Macbeth's Honor says:

  Dear Dorian,

  A lot of people are so busy busy trying to find out what is “wrong”. They live and breathe on it. They think they take some kind of pleasure by giving unnecessarily negative comments and poor judgments, although a better thought and felt opinion would be welcome. I’m not asking you to admire and worship Callas but I’m not sure how skilled and informed you are musically in order to opinionate her repertoire choice.

  I suggest you read the recent “Ceci n’est pas un commentaire” posting and the comments referred to it. You should feel familiar, for sure.

  As far as this website is concerned, there is no obligation to read or participate. On the other hand, I totally agree with La Cieca on “cleaning up” and make this a more courteous community.

  If you feel nothing is “right” in here, you are more than welcome to leave, or perhaps, better, create your own blog. It seems to me you’ll have lots of followers…alas!

  Cordially…

  on December 3, 2009 at 9:35 PM