A generation later
On this day 34 years ago, Maria Callas died in her apartment in Paris. Since then the iconic diva has been recollected, documented, analyzed, digitized and portrayed by Tyne Daly. La Cieca invites you, the cher public, to keep her mind today by sharing your favorite Callas performances in the comments section.
The scene in Philadelphia (which i say many years later) got me out of my ignorance about Callas. As cliche as it is, La Mamma Morta remains one of my favorite performances of her. Here is a live version
Thanks OpiNeo. This is what verismo is all about.
She gets the text right in this version (“Io sto sul tuo cammino…”) whereas in the fabulous studio version her loneliness and narcisissm ganged up and produced “sul *mio* camino”…
One of our number ( I think ) pointed this slip out on Opera-L some time ago…
Just listened to the live La mamma morta and it was frightening, frightening, frightening! Frightening because we know that we will NEVER, EVER hear supreme singing like this again. It’s is just too much to contemplate.
Hard to choose. I was a kid when she died, and had maybe never heard a note of opera, so it isn’t about that. I checked out her Carmen and her Traviata (couldn’t say which) and Lucia von Lammermoor from the library and was hooked pretty quickly.
Maybe the studio Bolena aria, which I wore out on a yellow EMI cassette in my car stereo. Maybe the Macbeth, which I found out about a lot later but am still astonished by. Some days the tiny fragment that is “Convien partir” kind of kills me, though it has nothing to do with her stage career. I do love the Aida(s) from Mexico, not just because of the E-flat, but because they feature that effect where the music is rather flat, in bad sound, and Callas enters, and it’s the reel of The Wizard of Oz and everything’s in color.
I’ll stop there because otherwise I’ll just list everything.
I am just too dumb to get this “how-to-post-a-you-tube” thing. But if I did, I’d post Callas’ “Ebben, ne andro lontana,” the single greatest thing she ever recorded. Her legacy has often been summarized oversimplistically in one sentence: “It’s all there in the score.” But that’s really the oh-so-simple truth. Every single bit of characterization in both her acting and her vocal interpretation came from what she found on the printed pages of the score. So I would rephrase that one oversimplistic sentence, and make her true legacy read: “It’s all there for us to find, too, if we want to find it badly enough.”
Crummy sound notwithstanding… THIS is what first made me realize: “Wow. So THIS is what all the fuss ia about”. Callas singing Proch’s ‘Deh, torna mio bene’ from 1951. Stunning, pedal-to-the-medal vocalism:
And then there’s this… the Norma trio that made me say “My God…”
Callas, Nicolai and Corelli from 1953:
And finally…. my absolute favorite Callas moment- interpolating a high e-flat in the Nabucco/Abigaille duet.
Callas & Gino Bechi from 1949:
Hope you all enjoy!!!
Oh shit! I love it too! Hope it shows up on my NetBook!! Dear stevey–other than to say you have great taste, I am so obliged by your kind offer regarding la mort de Cleopatre but comprimised by my ‘puter. One of these days I’ll figure it out and hear it but till then, THANKS! I’m so glad to find someone who loves Berlioz like I do.
God I lOVE me that Nabucco! That’s old time op’ry the Italian way. The audience after “Va pensiero” is a trip, too.
Thanks again for the thrill, stevey. I’ll have to make my way over to AddioBelPassato a little more frequently, as I had forgotten all about it.
I always like Callas with her claws out, like here in Nabucco. When she became too manicured, I lose interest, as she wasn’t any Milanese Housewife!
Come on — nothing that Pop Tart, Garanca and Bocelli couldn’t match…
Stevey: OMG!
And the Nabucco–…….morir mi sent!
And the Nabucco–…….morir mi sento!
Oh boy, I haven’t heard THAT one for 20 years. I am too lazy and to tired to go to UT, so I thank you, stevey. I think you are swell!
Thanks, Camille!! The feelings are more than mutual!
What a grand tour-de-force and what an absolutely magisterial musician this woman was. Everyone talks endlessly about her acting but it was all in the music and its truly superb execution. One may or may not care for the tone colour and timbre of her voice but it can not be denied that this woman had a set of skills that very, very, very few ever possessed.
Truly, for once, brava Diva!
And bravo stevey, as I haven’t listened to this for so long and am gratified so to hear it once more!
I was born about 15 years after her death, so I never had a chance to see her perform. My favourite Callas recordings are not her Norma, Bolena, Tosca, or her famous roles. My favourite recordings of her are the arias from Samson et Dalila, her Santuzza, and her Carmen. I find that in these roles, she’s completely invested emotionally and I can overlook all of her vocal flaws and it’s almost as if she is talking through the music.
Maria Callas left us on Sept.16, 1977 at only 53,but her legacy remains as one of the most stupendous examples of vocal and histrionic artistry in music history. The voice may not have held up for a very long time, but in the great years, she made an indelible impression in the music world. Here we present arias from Norma, Macbeth, Nabucco, Seraglio, Tristan und Isolde, plus the Proch Variations and the legendary finale of Act Two Aida. (55 min.)
May she never be forgotten! R.I.P.
My memorial podcast at: http://handelmania.libsyn.com
She did live for art…and gave so much to us all..R.I.P.
callas had a very short prime, but even in her prime she doesn’t sound very good to me. in my opinion her voice was very ugly. the way she squeezes and forces her voice sounds as thought it must have been painful to her, and i can barely tolerate it.
here’s a youtube clip of her singing martern aller artern in italian. this is actually more like shrieking than singing.
it is unfortunate that she died so young. i have not researched her life very much but i was told once that she died alone and didn’t have much support from family, friends, or fans. bummer.
javier: In the early 1960′s I had a close friend who worked in a record store. The minute a pirated LP of Callas came out, he got it, and played it inecessantly. I have to confess I didn’t like the sound of her voice either. She had a dark, covered tone (similar to what I hear from many eastern Mediterranean singers to this day). I prefer a brighter tone.
– It was only many years later on after meeting her and in turn seeing & hearing so many others that I went back and listened to her again. I realized what she could do better than anybody else. You can hear it above in ‘La mama morta’.
phoenix: You are much too nice. Javier will never get Callas. He doesn’t want to.
You are wasting your time. I could get much bitchier and nastier, but I won’t.
Not everyone likes Callas, and that’s okay.
But, Javier is another animal–get it?
I first heard the voice of Callas when I stumbled upon her ‘E strano…Sempre Libera’ on Youtube, the 1953 Santini version. I was blown away. Not only by her voice but also by the aria as I had no previous knowledge or preference for opera. Perhaps Callas being my first experience of the artform has made me a little biased in that I always think the Callas way is the correct way. I know this is wrong but it’s hard to fault someone, regardless of any technical flaws, when they perform with such pathos.
Her renditions of Tu Che Invoco and Imogene’s mad scene are my personal favourites.
Completely useless to say but I wish she had recorded Adriana Lecouvreur and Suor Angelica in full. I would be in an utter state of devastation listening to her in those death scenes.
Maria introduced me to the world of opera and I will always be grateful. The day she died was one of the saddest days of my life. I had indeed lost the mother to my soul. Rest in peace, my love.