The fabulous mad scene taken from BJR LP 133. I've used the same pictures in this video as the Sextet video before this, but it really is about the music! Enjoy :)
This is unearthly and beautiful. Callas not only acted the character, she became the character. She made you feel the emotions of the character like no soprano before or since. The great Maria Callas. La Divina.
i think Callas was great not because she became the characters she portrayed on stage but because she used those characters (Lucia, Violetta, Norma, Medea) to portray HERSELF. It is Maria we hear on stage, not only Lucia, but Maria speaking to us THROUGH Lucia to tell us of her hopes, her fears, her pain. This is why audiences (and fellow singers) were moved. And I also think this is true of all great singers and stage actors: they find that they are MOST THEMSELVES on stage, pouring out their souls THROUGH the characters they are portraying. This is why Callas was so indebted to composers--Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi and others--they gave her the means TO BE HERSELF.
her dication is stunning!!! With some opera singers I hear the embelishments and the sounds but there is no words. here i feel the creaziness of the person, the anguish the pain but i understand what she sings as well!!!!
The color she chose for lucia in this performance is just beautiful and perfect for a young lady such as lucia and she kept it through the whole scene!
Callas was at her absolute incomparably wonderful best in this recording. I was and still am a great Tebaldi fan having heard her at the very beginning of her Met career. Tebaldi was an enchanting Mimi, and a deeply moving Butterfly, but she could never have DREAMED of singing Norma, or Lucia, or ANY of the great bel canto roles. CALLAS n the other hand was simply GREAT at this time in her career. Sheer MAGIC! Too bad both of these women teriorated so badly too soon in their respective careers. I've always thought it was downright SILLY to try to compare them. Eac was wonderful in her own niqu way. THIS however, is truly a REVELATION. I' never heard it befor. Now I understand why Callas was SO highly regarded.
Not just perfection, coloratura, emotion... To be honest with you, this is the most UNIQUE interperatation of the Mad scene. I just don't like her nose... *jk* :P
I have read many of the commentaries below- what surprises me is that some people seem unaware of the fact that all the great sopranos who came afterward treasured Maria's experience and renovation of the role, that had been sung by birdlike agility sopranos a few years earlier- Sutherland was wonderful, truly ( I heard her on stage in Genoa many years ago) - but one cannot decide whether she would have been , had not Callas changed the approach to the character and its vocality
NO...SORRY...IT DOES NOT COMPUTE........BEFORE CALLAS BESTRODE THE OPERATIC FIRMAMENT OTHER GREAT DRAMATIC SOPRANOS WITH REAL BIG VOICES SUNG NORMA. PEOPLE LIKE CANIGLIA AND MANY OTHERS THAT REGULARLY SANG THESE OPERAS AT LA SCALA.....SO COME ON YOU GUYS......DO A LITTLE DIGGING ......THERES TREASURE IN THEM THERE HILLS.
That's right! It can be said that Virginia Zeani together with Maria Callas rescued this particular role and this particular opera for the 20th century!
There would have been no Sutherland if there had not been Callas. Bonynge studied the late 19th-early 20th century recordings - but also, Sutherland and Bonynge were young artists at Covent Garden when Callas was singing there. Of course they learned not only from the recorded history of performance practices but also from the immediate presence of Callas. Sutherland was of course a very different personality and voice. I heard her a number of times at the MET. I also attended one of Callas' Master Classes at Juilliard.
She is absolutely fantastic!!She is playing with the instruments of the orchestra!!The whole soul of that OUTSTANDING woman was on fire!!Totally gorgeous and from out of space!!❤❤❤❤❤❤Sing forever in heaven golden Queen!
Unbelievable performance...Now what starts to happen at 15:24 is just out of this world ... And no, it's not just technique, it's about how unreal it sounds...Like a thread of voice that it's so delicate that it may break and put the listener on an edge of enjoyment when it is finished. Maria Callas made the opera so real that she became unreal ...A true paradox
One of the many things I wished she passed on was her amazing, effortless control of the dynamics. She must have had messa di voce for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In a mad scene like this it just adds a whole new dimension to Lucia herself.
You have an amazing collection my friend. I am a Greek Callas fan and all I can say is that collectors and music lovers like you deserve all our respect. Many many many thanks, bravo. keep safe.
Yes…Thank You. As an artist, I’ve studied Callas, so about 20 years. I wanted to find out “the Secret” of Great Art- the Art of Van Gogh, the Art of Michelangelo, the Art of Pollock, the Art of Praxiteles. I think I’ve found it- imperfections. A Human can only be moved and relate to another Human. Autotune has destroyed that connection. Listeners don’ feel emotions from machines or perfect voices, they connect emotionally with Art made by imperfect but emotional Humans.
Somehow she makes you understand just what it was she was trying to do all her life by simply doing it. There's a compassion in her voice just in those first few words that makes you want to weep.
This is outrageous. I feel like I'm hearing Callas for the first time. The ambient sounds of the theater, the clarity of the sound, the size and inherent qualities of her voice-everything simply sounds more realistic, more true. Thank you, thank you, thank you for making this available. :)
This is my favourite recording of the opera and my favourite one of Callas's recordings in the role. It's just astounding. What a shame we don't have it on film. But I am blown away each time I hear it.
This entire recording is beyond reality of this work. Calls is beyond amazing. So many sopranos sing this rep. And many are well regarded fawned over and followed. However even till this day this rendition is something beyond the grave. The absolute assoluta aspect of almost every nuance is presented here. This is what happens when a dramatic soprano is trained by a coloratura soprano from 14. We get all the extras. Sfogato heaven. The entire recording is gorgeous and virile and so very alive. post 1950's..We all know of the plushness and technical scale of Sutherland almost Nordic Germanic version, Sill's magical birdlike ornamenti, Welting's F major version, Gruberova's violin like version, Robin's insane Bb above high C, Peters gorgeous tone with soubrette charm and acuti accuracy, Devia's warmth and dark tone Italianate sound with total solid coloratura, Anderson's scale and darkness of tone alongside bright solid Eb's , Aliberti's closeness of the Callas tone and range, O'Flynn's flute like ethereal version, Jo's high clear pure toned almost boy soprano , Moffo wasa very well rounded version of course...etc etc.. but no one has reached this level of tone facility and power and interpretation except maybe - Leyla Geyncer and Renata Scotto. Those two are the closest really in scale and all the rest of it to this sort of approach. This mad scene is musically correct, in pitch, tonally this sound is a miracle and very peculiar , range wise ideal and the EB at the end is just gorgeous and expressive. The dark and the light are all here . The diction. The legato, the runs, diminuendi, fioritura..Everything. It is an overwhelming operatic experience.
+mariano barbieri Ever heard of dramatic coloratura? Tebaldi sings with even voice but how wide her range was? 2 octaves at most, her high notes are nearly screaming and flat as a pancake. while Callas had a wider range and tessitura, she sings low as a contralto and high as a coloratura soprano. she didn't want to be an assoluta, she was an assoluta. She is the first singer in the 20th century to be called an assoluta, and she is still the only. she sang die Walkure + Turandot the most demanding dramatic roles for dozens of times. Never, not even in her last recordings, like in her decline in 1964 she sang one aria from i vespri, ascending a chromatic scale to a high C descending to low F#3 without landing on the wrong pitch and without bumps and register breaks. uneven register yes but is it a serious flaw as you say? no it was something highly praised in bel canto music and older styles.
I have to agree with you on this. Callas made something of Lucia and Norma that has yet to be equaled. She made everything she sang sound new and as though it were never heard before. She turned her vocal flaws into assets and her ability to shade and color phrases were/are totally beyond the ability of anyone else before or since. In fact, I prefer her 1959 and 1960 recordings of Lucia and Norma to her earlier ones. She wrenches everything from the music. Tebaldi was a different kind of soprano -------- a modern soprano whose stylistic realm remained in the early part of the Twentieth Century. She had no coloratura or florid ability and everyone knew it. It was a beautiful voice, though she had pitch problems and a very short top register. Callas in her prime sang everything (though she paid the ultimate price), but while it lasted, it burned brighter than any operatic light in the history of singing. She was a revelation and she lived on her own planet.
Who's arguing????? NO ONE had the ability to undertake the Callas repertoire. From Sonnambula to Lady Macbeth via Alceste, Iphegine, Bolena, Pirata, Norma, Puritani, Armida, etc. Tebaldi was a verismo-based, albeit a luscious sounding soprano who sang a typically appropriate repertoire for her particular voice. She gave great pleasure, but the demonic genius of Callas (both vocally, musically, and dramatically) was something one encounters MAYBE once in a century. Callas WAS opera!
@Daniel - don't upset yourself about Mariano barbieri. Callas in her prime had a large Dramatic Soprano, but one that had a florid technique, not unlike Lillian Nordica in the early part of the century. She was a "sfogato" who had, albeit for only a decade, the ability to sing just about anything. She had a three octave range, a fully developed coloratura technique (she was trained by the famed Spanish coloratura Elvira de Hidalgo), and had the low notes of a contralto. Her coloratura was true, real, and formidable. Very rare voice, very rare artistry, and a totally unique and never-to-be-repeated artist. Her legacy in opera is virtually etched in granite.
My father and I used to listen to Maria Callas in a Lucia di Lammermore production recorded on an Angel brand LP record. This is stunning. Thank you! All of your captures are divine - like La Divina!
L'un des morceaux les plus difficiles à interpréter dans l'opéra et on peut compter sur les doigts d'une main, les cantatrices qui sont arrivées à chanter ce morceau avec autant de talent !! BRAVO !!
I can't believe that people are still arguing about Callas vs. Tebaldi. It's apples and oranges! Tebaldi had a creaminess and beauty of sound in her prime. Tebaldi had a gorgeous tone and beautiful phrasing. Having said that, Callas was a total artist whose ranges of vocal expression knew no limits. If Callas had a voice like Tebaldi's, she'd have never been able to accomplish what she did artistically. If Tebaldi hit a flat high C, it was a big deal; if Callas hit an insecure top note, is was a small price to pay for the overall performance. With due respect to Tebaldi, whom I admire, ----- to compare her to Callas is sheer nonsense.
Larry Mitchell, again I agree with you completely. I myself have trouble with Tebaldi's voice, and it bothers me. You see for many years I listened to that voice, still do, but somehow it does not agree with me. It irritates me that everybody is talking about Tebaldi's voice as being angelic and creamy, and I just don't hear it like that! There is something in the voice I don't care for, her voice comes across for me as elderly, matrone like. I have that with most Italian soprano's from the twenties onward, like Caniglia, Maria Vitale, even Muzio a bit. I wonder, did they train the voicec in a different way, where they aiming for a certain sound?For me a creamy voice is the voice of Francoise Pollet, Jessey Norman, etc. Do you think I have a hearing problem?
@Christian Wijnoogst - I understand your point. Tebaldi takes the typical Italian soprano approach, which is now perhaps a bit dated. I loved her voice per se, but I found her interpretations to be very generic and sometimes pedestrian. This is where Callas shows what a gap there was between them. Those who cling to Callas' vocal imperfections have absolutely no idea of what she was even about. She conquered roles that were way out of bounds for Tebaldi. Tebaldi was a typical Italian soprano who sang like an Italian was instructed to sing ---------- and she did so beautifully, until jungle rot set in around 1961. She had only her voice to rely on. Callas could elicit euphoria from audiences no matter what condition her voice was in. She was an "artist"; Tebaldi was merely a beautiful voiced Italian soprano.
Tebaldi had a wonderful voice. callas on the other hand had it all. Her range was phenominal. an original Mezzo turn lyricist. callas can sing any female role. hands down.
Tebaldi had a wonderful voice. callas on the other hand had it all. Her range was phenominal. an original Mezzo turn lyricist. callas can sing any female role. hands down.
Apart from the amazing range of her remarkable voice, she is really unique in that she is the only one who has managed to put "flesh and bone" onto the part of Lucia and make her sound real and human.
Her voice was responding perfectly that night. Soft high notes were never easy for her, but here they just float out of her throat. If only she could have somehow captured this form -- true, she doesn't have the sheer volume of the "fat" voice, but the passaggio is cleared and the legato is somehow smoother, more easily sustained. And to think she cried after these performances because she felt she was horrible!
I agree with most of the people who found this channel!! AMAZING!! I THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!! I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THIS!! I adore Callas!!! Thank you Thank you Thank you from New York City!!!
I've heard this performance many times and I have it on CD in the Callas live boxed set on Warner, but it never ceases to amaze me. Where is the wobbling and screeching Callas was so often accused of? Not here! Aided by a superb supporting cast and conductor Herbert von Karajan at his best (before he got unbearably fussy and prissy in his later years), she turns in a remarkable performance that makes one believe in Donizetti's rather silly opera as great music drama. I only wish Karajan had included Donizetti's original scoring for glass armonica in the Mad Scene (the first conductor to do so was Thomas Schippers in Beverly Sills' recording, and it really adds a lot and makes the scene more real as a depiction of insanity and less the "test of skill with the first flute" George Bernard Shaw famously dismissed it as). I'm surprised some of the other commentators dredged up the old Callas vs. Tebaldi rivalry; Tebaldi was a superb singer in her own right, especially in Verdi and Puccini, but she didn't sing Lucia, she wasn't a coloratura, and when she recorded "Traviata" she had to simplify it and transpose a lot of it down, while Callas sang it as written and at score pitch.
@@Shahrdad And because of all this, she is the only artist I have ever heard who went so way beyond perfect singing, perfect musicianship, perfect drama, etc, and actually used those abilities to bring Lucia (or any other role) to life for us, so we could actually experience and feel the horrific emotional mental and emotional state of poor Lucia.
All this talk of technique! This is 'short & curlies' -- that eerie thrill you know when someone is reaching out to you from the past -- the tragedy of her own life presented here with the beauty of shot silk....now you see it, now you don't; heartbreaking 💔 from Lockdown Brighton, UK 🌈 🙏🏼🌹🙏🏽. -- be well y'all! 🌿
A moment in time like no other...Any true opera lover who hears this glorious performance by the iconic diva of divas, Maria Callas, will never forget it...
Scena della pazzia, interprete Maria Callas: non si può ascoltare seduti e neppure in piedi, Viene voglia di mettersi in ginocchio ed a occhi chiusi......Maria ,ormai immortale.
Hai perfettamente ragione sono decisamente le migliori registrazioni che io abbia mai sentito. Ti ringrazio per queste magnifiche pubblicazioni. Mi stai regalando belle ore musica di Maria. La mia preferita da sempre.
Sublime!!! She surpasses all her other Lucias. I think it must be the rapport she had with Karajan that produced this superhuman, divine, unequalled performance.
Well her life was wonderful and triumphant at that point. Such Artistry is larger than life which is quite common, squalid and frequently dull. Callas never could be any of that.
It was not only her talent, it was hard work and she used her mind. She honored the Art of old Belcanto technique and keeps Opera alive! Today its only a World of fake Singers, and true Artists have to fight against that- mostly unknown voices!
I own this on LP. I was over the moon when I found this BJR set in the 1980s, and I still treasure it. Callas is so good here, though I still prefer her 1953 EMI version of the mad scene a bit more. I like the fuller pre-weight-loss sound, and I also love how the high E-flats just pop out of her as if they were. nothing. Dramatically, saving the E-flat for the very end actually makes a lot of sense.
Muchísimas gracias por subir esta excelente grabación. Es un deleite para el espíritu, enaltece, emociona y en definitiva nos mejora como humanidad. Nuevamente muchas gracias por el video y gracias a María Callas por haber existido, existir y existitirá mientras haya alguien que aprecie a la prima donna assoluta. .
Interesting how she avoided the High Eflat in the first part...but sang a very good one at the end. She knew her instrument and was very intellegent about how she used it...
Maria Callas is a jewel and phenomenon in the history of world culture.
No one can sing Lucia better than Maestra Callas.
One says the name of many opera singers with respect. One says the name of Callas with reverence.
This is unearthly and beautiful. Callas not only acted the character, she became the character. She made you feel the emotions of the character like no soprano before or since. The great Maria Callas. La Divina.
i think Callas was great not because she became the characters she portrayed on stage but because she used those characters (Lucia, Violetta, Norma, Medea) to portray HERSELF. It is Maria we hear on stage, not only Lucia, but Maria speaking to us THROUGH Lucia to tell us of her hopes, her fears, her pain. This is why audiences (and fellow singers) were moved. And I also think this is true of all great singers and stage actors: they find that they are MOST THEMSELVES on stage, pouring out their souls THROUGH the characters they are portraying. This is why Callas was so indebted to composers--Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi and others--they gave her the means TO BE HERSELF.
Callas was one of the all-time great Lucias. Rest in peace, Maria.
..drops jaw.. and after 10:05 with the flute...16:03 the chromatics!! God! She had the greatest instrument!
tears... every time.
@@marilynmichaels8358 Indeed!!!
Wow!!!!!Wow!!!! I have no words. She is so very, very good. Spine chilling.
Callas, like Beethoven, was a tone-poet. And a great genius.
María Callas,la Única,la Divina insuperable!,después de escucharla, cada vez la admiro más,pero haberla visto en Vivo.....no hay palabras.
her dication is stunning!!! With some opera singers I hear the embelishments and the sounds but there is no words. here i feel the creaziness of the person, the anguish the pain but i understand what she sings as well!!!!
The color she chose for lucia in this performance is just beautiful and perfect for a young lady such as lucia and she kept it through the whole scene!
Yep it's sensational!
Callas was at her absolute incomparably wonderful best in this recording. I was and still am a great Tebaldi fan having heard her at the very beginning of her Met career. Tebaldi was an enchanting Mimi, and a deeply moving Butterfly, but she could never have DREAMED of singing Norma, or Lucia, or ANY of the great bel canto roles. CALLAS n the other hand was simply GREAT at this time in her career. Sheer MAGIC! Too bad both of these women teriorated so badly too soon in their respective careers. I've always thought it was downright SILLY to try to compare them. Eac was wonderful in her own niqu way. THIS however, is truly a REVELATION. I' never heard it befor. Now I understand why Callas was SO highly regarded.
Tebaldi was so boring....
Beautiful singin, cntrol, drama, coloratura the best lucia mad scene she deserves to be called even now days LA DIVINA... BRAVA!
She was/is the Queen and Perfection of all that opera is.
Not just perfection, coloratura, emotion... To be honest with you, this is the most UNIQUE interperatation of the Mad scene. I just don't like her nose... *jk* :P
I have read many of the commentaries below- what surprises me is that some people seem unaware of the fact that all the great sopranos who came afterward treasured Maria's experience and renovation of the role, that had been sung by birdlike agility sopranos a few years earlier- Sutherland was wonderful, truly ( I heard her on stage in Genoa many years ago) - but one cannot decide whether she would have been , had not Callas changed the approach to the character and its vocality
NO...SORRY...IT DOES NOT COMPUTE........BEFORE CALLAS BESTRODE THE OPERATIC FIRMAMENT OTHER GREAT DRAMATIC SOPRANOS WITH REAL BIG VOICES SUNG NORMA. PEOPLE LIKE CANIGLIA AND MANY OTHERS THAT REGULARLY SANG THESE OPERAS AT LA SCALA.....SO COME ON YOU GUYS......DO A LITTLE DIGGING ......THERES TREASURE IN THEM THERE HILLS.
That's right!
That's right! It can be said that Virginia Zeani together with Maria Callas rescued this particular role and this particular opera for the 20th century!
There would have been no Sutherland if there had not been Callas. Bonynge studied the late 19th-early 20th century recordings - but also, Sutherland and Bonynge were young artists at Covent Garden when Callas was singing there. Of course they learned not only from the recorded history of performance practices but also from the immediate presence of Callas. Sutherland was of course a very different personality and voice. I heard her a number of times at the MET. I also attended one of Callas' Master Classes at Juilliard.
Imagine being in the audience that night. It must have been a transcendent experience.
Indeed)))
But I would like to be there the night she interpolated high E flat in the Triumphal march in Aida...
That was really a real "hystery"...!
Indeed, a peak experience
This is the best Lucia even sung by anyone... And yes if time travel is permitted, this is the performance to be.
She is absolutely fantastic!!She is playing with the instruments of the orchestra!!The whole soul of that OUTSTANDING woman was on fire!!Totally gorgeous and from out of space!!❤❤❤❤❤❤Sing forever in heaven golden Queen!
This is a pearl. I would have loved to sit in a box of that theatre, listening at this beauty! It would have been a sacred experience!
Donizetti grandissimo e splendida la signora Callas
Astonishing artistry and vocal agility. Surely one of the great vocal recordings of all time!
Unbelievable performance...Now what starts to happen at 15:24 is just out of this world ... And no, it's not just technique, it's about how unreal it sounds...Like a thread of voice that it's so delicate that it may break and put the listener on an edge of enjoyment when it is finished. Maria Callas made the opera so real that she became unreal ...A true paradox
Callas was the unique able to put phantasy in reality and to convince that something real was really happening in front of the amazed audiences.
oh my god.... such perfection.... and that ending.... gah
Mio marito mi osserva mentre piango ,e mi dice : stai ascoltando la Callas : !!!!questo mi sprigiona la sua toccante voce !!!Mari
imagen being in the theater seeing this beautiful woman singing and moving around the stage the way only Maria could do it amazing experience
In the 20th Century, there was La Callas ... and then there were also all the other great opera singers who were mere mortals.
So WONDERFULLY. SHE IS GREAT! Bravo! Lovely Maria.
Even repeated hearings of this historic live recording is an excitement for the entire senses.
For ever the Best Lucía!! For ever all óperas!! María Callas the Greek Godess!!
Almost 70 years later, she's still the BEST!!!
It is the high wire act of all time, breathtaking, chilling, the definitive Lucia of all time !
One of the many things I wished she passed on was her amazing, effortless control of the dynamics. She must have had messa di voce for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In a mad scene like this it just adds a whole new dimension to Lucia herself.
It's truly my pleasure to share the spectacular works of such an amazing woman.
CallasFan thank you don much😊
You have an amazing collection my friend. I am a Greek Callas fan and all I can say is that collectors and music lovers like you deserve all our respect. Many many many thanks, bravo. keep safe.
Yes…Thank You. As an artist, I’ve studied Callas, so about 20 years. I wanted to find out “the Secret” of Great Art- the Art of Van Gogh, the Art of Michelangelo, the Art of Pollock, the Art of Praxiteles. I think I’ve found it- imperfections. A Human can only be moved and relate to another Human. Autotune has destroyed that connection. Listeners don’ feel emotions from machines or perfect voices, they connect emotionally with Art made by imperfect but emotional Humans.
Somehow she makes you understand just what it was she was trying to do all her life by simply doing it. There's a compassion in her voice just in those first few words that makes you want to weep.
Lindow you said it all
Agree with both of you 100%!!!!
This is outrageous. I feel like I'm hearing Callas for the first time. The ambient sounds of the theater, the clarity of the sound, the size and inherent qualities of her voice-everything simply sounds more realistic, more true. Thank you, thank you, thank you for making this available. :)
This is my favourite recording of the opera and my favourite one of Callas's recordings in the role. It's just astounding. What a shame we don't have it on film. But I am blown away each time I hear it.
La más Grande de todos los tiempos. MARIA CALLAS !!!
This entire recording is beyond reality of this work. Calls is beyond amazing. So many sopranos sing this rep. And many are well regarded fawned over and followed. However even till this day this rendition is something beyond the grave. The absolute assoluta aspect of almost every nuance is presented here. This is what happens when a dramatic soprano is trained by a coloratura soprano from 14. We get all the extras. Sfogato heaven. The entire recording is gorgeous and virile and so very alive. post 1950's..We all know of the plushness and technical scale of Sutherland almost Nordic Germanic version, Sill's magical birdlike ornamenti, Welting's F major version, Gruberova's violin like version, Robin's insane Bb above high C, Peters gorgeous tone with soubrette charm and acuti accuracy, Devia's warmth and dark tone Italianate sound with total solid coloratura, Anderson's scale and darkness of tone alongside bright solid Eb's , Aliberti's closeness of the Callas tone and range, O'Flynn's flute like ethereal version, Jo's high clear pure toned almost boy soprano , Moffo wasa very well rounded version of course...etc etc.. but no one has reached this level of tone facility and power and interpretation except maybe - Leyla Geyncer and Renata Scotto. Those two are the closest really in scale and all the rest of it to this sort of approach. This mad scene is musically correct, in pitch, tonally this sound is a miracle and very peculiar , range wise ideal and the EB at the end is just gorgeous and expressive. The dark and the light are all here . The diction. The legato, the runs, diminuendi, fioritura..Everything. It is an overwhelming operatic experience.
yawn
+mariano barbieri Ever heard of dramatic coloratura? Tebaldi sings with even voice but how wide her range was? 2 octaves at most, her high notes are nearly screaming and flat as a pancake. while Callas had a wider range and tessitura, she sings low as a contralto and high as a coloratura soprano. she didn't want to be an assoluta, she was an assoluta. She is the first singer in the 20th century to be called an assoluta, and she is still the only. she sang die Walkure + Turandot the most demanding dramatic roles for dozens of times. Never, not even in her last recordings, like in her decline in 1964 she sang one aria from i vespri, ascending a chromatic scale to a high C descending to low F#3 without landing on the wrong pitch and without bumps and register breaks. uneven register yes but is it a serious flaw as you say? no it was something highly praised in bel canto music and older styles.
I have to agree with you on this. Callas made something of Lucia and Norma that has yet to be equaled. She made everything she sang sound new and as though it were never heard before. She turned her vocal flaws into assets and her ability to shade and color phrases were/are totally beyond the ability of anyone else before or since. In fact, I prefer her 1959 and 1960 recordings of Lucia and Norma to her earlier ones. She wrenches everything from the music. Tebaldi was a different kind of soprano -------- a modern soprano whose stylistic realm remained in the early part of the Twentieth Century. She had no coloratura or florid ability and everyone knew it. It was a beautiful voice, though she had pitch problems and a very short top register. Callas in her prime sang everything (though she paid the ultimate price), but while it lasted, it burned brighter than any operatic light in the history of singing. She was a revelation and she lived on her own planet.
Who's arguing????? NO ONE had the ability to undertake the Callas repertoire. From Sonnambula to Lady Macbeth via Alceste, Iphegine, Bolena, Pirata, Norma, Puritani, Armida, etc. Tebaldi was a verismo-based, albeit a luscious sounding soprano who sang a typically appropriate repertoire for her particular voice. She gave great pleasure, but the demonic genius of Callas (both vocally, musically, and dramatically) was something one encounters MAYBE once in a century. Callas WAS opera!
@Daniel - don't upset yourself about Mariano barbieri. Callas in her prime had a large Dramatic Soprano, but one that had a florid technique, not unlike Lillian Nordica in the early part of the century. She was a "sfogato" who had, albeit for only a decade, the ability to sing just about anything. She had a three octave range, a fully developed coloratura technique (she was trained by the famed Spanish coloratura Elvira de Hidalgo), and had the low notes of a contralto. Her coloratura was true, real, and formidable. Very rare voice, very rare artistry, and a totally unique and never-to-be-repeated artist. Her legacy in opera is virtually etched in granite.
This is much better than the version I have of her singing it on the 1953 version. Truly remarkable.
To have been able to hear her sing life just once.......
My father and I used to listen to Maria Callas in a Lucia di Lammermore production recorded on an Angel brand LP record. This is stunning. Thank you! All of your captures are divine - like La Divina!
The sound of The SUPREME! SUPREME VOICE OF ALL TIME! CALLAS 💖🙏👏👏👏👏
L'un des morceaux les plus difficiles à interpréter dans l'opéra et on peut compter sur les doigts d'une main, les cantatrices qui sont arrivées à chanter ce morceau avec autant de talent !! BRAVO !!
Almost 70 years later, she's still the BEST Lucia !!!
And Norma Violetta Leonora etc.
@@jenylogan1 I need to add another one Tosca.
And perhaps above all, Medea!
I can't believe that people are still arguing about Callas vs. Tebaldi. It's apples and oranges! Tebaldi had a creaminess and beauty of sound in her prime. Tebaldi had a gorgeous tone and beautiful phrasing. Having said that, Callas was a total artist whose ranges of vocal expression knew no limits. If Callas had a voice like Tebaldi's, she'd have never been able to accomplish what she did artistically. If Tebaldi hit a flat high C, it was a big deal; if Callas hit an insecure top note, is was a small price to pay for the overall performance. With due respect to Tebaldi, whom I admire, ----- to compare her to Callas is sheer nonsense.
Larry Mitchell, again I agree with you completely. I myself have trouble with Tebaldi's voice, and it bothers me. You see for many years I listened to that voice, still do, but somehow it does not agree with me. It irritates me that everybody is talking about Tebaldi's voice as being angelic and creamy, and I just don't hear it like that! There is something in the voice I don't care for, her voice comes across for me as elderly, matrone like. I have that with most Italian soprano's from the twenties onward, like Caniglia, Maria Vitale, even Muzio a bit. I wonder, did they train the voicec in a different way, where they aiming for a certain sound?For me a creamy voice is the voice of Francoise Pollet, Jessey Norman, etc. Do you think I have a hearing problem?
@Christian Wijnoogst - I understand your point. Tebaldi takes the typical Italian soprano approach, which is now perhaps a bit dated. I loved her voice per se, but I found her interpretations to be very generic and sometimes pedestrian. This is where Callas shows what a gap there was between them. Those who cling to Callas' vocal imperfections have absolutely no idea of what she was even about. She conquered roles that were way out of bounds for Tebaldi. Tebaldi was a typical Italian soprano who sang like an Italian was instructed to sing ---------- and she did so beautifully, until jungle rot set in around 1961. She had only her voice to rely on. Callas could elicit euphoria from audiences no matter what condition her voice was in.
She was an "artist"; Tebaldi was merely a beautiful voiced Italian soprano.
Tebaldi had a wonderful voice. callas on the other hand had it all. Her range was phenominal. an original Mezzo turn lyricist. callas can sing any female role. hands down.
Tebaldi had a wonderful voice. callas on the other hand had it all. Her range was phenominal. an original Mezzo turn lyricist. callas can sing any female role. hands down.
100% agree!
Masterpiece of interpretation. Unequaled!!
Her voice is lovely in this early period, and her coloratura technique is delightful. I like how well she suggests the frailty of the mad Lucia.
This is recording is spectacular. Callas at her best.
C'est un très grand moment de Maria Callas. Quelle grandiose interprétation ! Laissez-vous emporter cette écoute toute en émotion.
Apart from the amazing range of her remarkable voice, she is really unique in that she is the only one who has managed to put "flesh and bone" onto the part of Lucia and make her sound real and human.
Spectacular, incomparable, the best soprano in the world
The BEST Lucia!
@@jamestaylor6053And Norma, Violetta, Leonora , the list is endless !
@@jenylogan1 Definitely.
@@jenylogan1 And Medea--by miles!
Perhaps the best description for her Mad Scene is "haunting". And that's as it should be. No one to date has compared with LA Divina.
+Art Danks no one...
Amen to that!!! Callas lived on her own galaxy.
That voice was superhuman!
Her voice was responding perfectly that night. Soft high notes were never easy for her, but here they just float out of her throat. If only she could have somehow captured this form -- true, she doesn't have the sheer volume of the "fat" voice, but the passaggio is cleared and the legato is somehow smoother, more easily sustained. And to think she cried after these performances because she felt she was horrible!
Unglaublich, übermenschlich, atemberaubend, göttlich ! ❤️❤️❤️
I agree with most of the people who found this channel!! AMAZING!! I THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!! I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THIS!! I adore Callas!!! Thank you Thank you Thank you from New York City!!!
I've heard this performance many times and I have it on CD in the Callas live boxed set on Warner, but it never ceases to amaze me. Where is the wobbling and screeching Callas was so often accused of? Not here! Aided by a superb supporting cast and conductor Herbert von Karajan at his best (before he got unbearably fussy and prissy in his later years), she turns in a remarkable performance that makes one believe in Donizetti's rather silly opera as great music drama. I only wish Karajan had included Donizetti's original scoring for glass armonica in the Mad Scene (the first conductor to do so was Thomas Schippers in Beverly Sills' recording, and it really adds a lot and makes the scene more real as a depiction of insanity and less the "test of skill with the first flute" George Bernard Shaw famously dismissed it as). I'm surprised some of the other commentators dredged up the old Callas vs. Tebaldi rivalry; Tebaldi was a superb singer in her own right, especially in Verdi and Puccini, but she didn't sing Lucia, she wasn't a coloratura, and when she recorded "Traviata" she had to simplify it and transpose a lot of it down, while Callas sang it as written and at score pitch.
this is incredibly beautiful
I do not know who said that Callas started where all the others stop, but by Jove was that person right.....She is beyond words....
+123pailin There are many wonderful singers, but she was not just that, she was also a musical, artistic, and dramatic genius, and music was her fuel.
+Shahrdad My God, what a PERFECT description of Callas!
@@Shahrdad And because of all this, she is the only artist I have ever heard who went so way beyond perfect singing, perfect musicianship, perfect drama, etc, and actually used those abilities to bring Lucia (or any other role) to life for us, so we could actually experience and feel the horrific emotional mental and emotional state of poor Lucia.
All this talk of technique!
This is 'short & curlies' -- that eerie thrill you know when someone is reaching out to you from the past
-- the tragedy of her own life presented here with the beauty of shot silk....now you see it, now you don't; heartbreaking 💔
from Lockdown Brighton, UK 🌈
🙏🏼🌹🙏🏽. -- be well y'all! 🌿
Callas même était stupéfaite en écoutant cet enregistrement, 20 ans plus tard. Et nous avec elle !!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
One thousand thanks to you.
I almost cannot believe my ears. I will be ordering this cd on the Divina web site.
I am forever grateful to you.
Wonderful quality recording of a stupendous performance.
mi uccide dolcemente,ad ogni ascolto.. che bel morire
she's 💣💣 her voice is on fleek. absolutely one of my favorites.
A moment in time like no other...Any true opera lover who hears this glorious performance by the iconic diva of divas, Maria Callas, will never forget it...
In the 20th century- Callas is it-the supreme voice of Opera-and probably beyond-
Incomparable
Scena della pazzia, interprete Maria Callas: non si può ascoltare seduti e neppure in piedi, Viene voglia di mettersi in ginocchio ed a occhi chiusi......Maria ,ormai immortale.
InBoccaChiusa io piango, piango ,piango!!!!! Mari
하느님의 선물입니다
@@user-dn9hb5fr6e 난 당신이 무슨 뜻인지 모르겠어요. 나는 신을 믿지 않는다.
I'm glad you did too :) I live to share Callas!
Life is about sharing. Greetings from Mexico
SHE WAS AND IS UNIQUE. AFTER HEARING HERES INTERPRETENTION I CAN NOT HEAR ANY OTHER.
Hai perfettamente ragione sono decisamente le migliori registrazioni che io abbia mai sentito. Ti ringrazio per queste magnifiche pubblicazioni. Mi stai regalando belle ore musica di Maria. La mia preferita da sempre.
그녀는 신이 주신 선물입니다
What a Soprano ! What a Lady ! Forever to be regretted. Thanks for posting this :-)
Sublime!!! She surpasses all her other Lucias. I think it must be the rapport she had with Karajan that produced this superhuman, divine, unequalled performance.
phenomenall.. other worldly in it's greatness
Almost 70 years later, she's still the BEST!!!
thank you for this, and BIG thank you to the DIVINA for her voice and her superb singing.
Carlo Pietroniro ok
Carlo Pietroniro ok
Only an extremely tragic life can create this kind of beautiful voice filled with such emotion.
Well her life was wonderful and triumphant at that point. Such Artistry is larger than life which is quite common, squalid and frequently dull. Callas never could be any of that.
You said it all!
It is so beautiful!!!better than an angels voice! A river of emotions!!!WOW!!!
Almost 70 years later, she's still the BEST!!!
One of the greatest Mad Scenes ever, and I LOVE the crescendo on the eflat.. WAOW
where at?
at the end please
Incrível interpretação! Belíssimo!
Brava, Callas, Brava! 👏
She commands a perfect instrument. Beyond human.
Die Interpretation dieser Musik , Grandios!
Norma and Lucia were written for Maria also Anna Bolena....Tosca yes , she has more
feeling in her voice in the 50;s and early 60;s.
And Violetta as well.
after hearing that "discesa" at 0:48 you know it's going to be an entirely killer performance!
The 'discesa' is actually sung with a huge wobble.
@@ransomcoates546 to me it sounds like normal overtones
La Divina at her best. What can one say? One can only kneel and worship.
Maria è Lucia!
meravigliosa: irripetibile talento😍
It was not only her talent, it was hard work and she used her mind. She honored the Art of old Belcanto technique and keeps Opera alive! Today its only a World of fake Singers, and true Artists have to fight against that- mostly unknown voices!
Она лучшая!!!Космос!Моя любимая опера Г.Доницетти!Голос Марии Каллас неподражаем и неповторим!👏👏👏
Espectacular, a nosotros sí que nos vibra la piel oyendote ♥️
La mejor Cantante del Mundo!!!!
Sinceramente maravilhosa! Callas, Divina.
Amazing recording! She is beyond reality! Amazing!!!
I own this on LP. I was over the moon when I found this BJR set in the 1980s, and I still treasure it. Callas is so good here, though I still prefer her 1953 EMI version of the mad scene a bit more. I like the fuller pre-weight-loss sound, and I also love how the high E-flats just pop out of her as if they were. nothing. Dramatically, saving the E-flat for the very end actually makes a lot of sense.
Muchísimas gracias por subir esta excelente grabación. Es un deleite para el espíritu, enaltece, emociona y en definitiva nos mejora como humanidad. Nuevamente muchas gracias por el video y gracias a María Callas por haber existido, existir y existitirá mientras haya alguien que aprecie a la prima donna assoluta. .
Interesting how she avoided the High Eflat in the first part...but sang a very good one at the end.
She knew her instrument and was very intellegent about how she used it...
Superhuman Callas!!!
Exquisite in every way.
Décidément la plus grande "for ever".
Sublime su voz divina
Потрясающее исполнение!!!
Inapprochable !
This performance pretty much spoiled me as to all future Lucias
Almost 70 years later, she's still the BEST!!!
Her state of mind could be characterized as in pure madness...She is The Lucia .
Bravíssimo! Deusa da ópera!