This singing is like a play of light on the moving gem, perhaps a huge colored diamond, ever fascinating with its continuous flow of change - of sparkles, glowing fire, lambent magic, radiating its emotional beams from each of its countless facets, reverberating in dynamic delight, and haunting the heart at every moment.....
Your comments are nearly poetic as they are descriptive. MC’s voice is astonishing. You’ve managed to somehow articulate the mystery and magic of her talent.
She gets so much undue criticism, but here is master at work. You have to appreciate that she’s not only a singer, but she’s an actress as well. Although we can’t see her, you can experience the excellence and intensity with which she embodies the role through her careful colouring and modulation of the voice. Also the dynamics is perfect. Just listen attentively to how each word is carefully enunciated, brightened when needed, piercing at other times, and just floats when she’s giving into her psychosis. This is singing. This is opera. Well done.
She conveys so much with her voice, through her singing, that it takes very little effort to "see" the action on the stage in your mind... But I would give a lot to be able to travel back in time and actually see her on stage.
La pazzia di Lucia: Maria non la canta, la vive e lo fa con l’uso di una tecnica formidabile regalando ritmo, colore, rubato,e un’agilità incredibile in una voce potente e ricca di note basse
she paints Lucia like Michelangelo in this performance... the result is so much vocal labour from Colorizing and Dynamics that she skipped the first Eb6
An insane role insanely sung by the queen of mad scenes. No one has ever sung a better Lucia. She uses constant dynamics to represent Lucia’s state of mind, creating a dwindling effect with every dynamic variation. An entrapment between madness and sanity. She even changes the dynamics of the staccati. Each one representing an individual opinion, a voice in her head. Some are nearer while others are far away. All acting of Lucia in the mad scene should be executed with the voice. The stage movement should be minimal. She is not talking to the people around her, she is talking to the voices in her head. And the messa di voce at the end of the cadenza infuses more into Lucia’s psyche than entire performances of other famous Lucias. It is a thread of a voice that is slipping away from her. It is incredibly difficult and tiring to sing this way. It requires perfect intonation and breath control. One mistake, and the entire performance becomes a farce. I don’t know how she made it to the last Eb6 at the end of “Spargi d’amaro pianto”, and she does a petite crescendo on it, too. Lucia’s final scream before she is irreversibly mad. The harm is done. Zefirelli once remarked that Lucia was a “murdering bitch”, therefore should be represented as such (If memory serves me right, he said this while he was tutoring Sutherland for the role). Callas is the only one who made me think that Lucia was probably the victim of marital rape, among other abuses. She could have killed all the characters, and still would be the victim.
Also, check what she does with the cadenza in her studio recording. She does the same thing with the staccati and then sings a pianissimo trill. It's like all those voices in her head are whispering to Lucia. As if they become unbearable, and she murders those voices with a gigantic Eb6. The woman was insanely intelligent. Callas should be read like a text. Only then will one start to understand that she was no mere singer of notes.
hahaha don't get me started. I can talk about her Lucia all day!!! Just pour yourself a glass of cognac and savor Lucia's madness. I usually turn off the lights at night and let her voice vacuum me into her madness. God i love this recording. She was the last soprano who needed words to express feelings. And yet, she always paid ultimate attention to words, as well. Even with the trickiest coloratura passages, she bit into words, making it much harder for herself. Listen how she sings "sorge il tremendo fantasma e ne separa". It is like she is summoning the ghosts of earlier Lucias to sing along with her. Cascades of sound pour out of her. Just the idea of separation triggers that power within. It is in direct contrast with the rest of her characterization in the mad scene. That's how much she loves Edgardo. With Callas, every note, embellishment brought out an expression. That's why they hate her guts. She compels them to think and feel simultaneously. Two things humans abhor. She is the Dickinson of opera. When Dickinson wrote poetry, every syllable represented something. Every word had a purpose. Last week I was reading her poem "From Blank to Blank". It instantly reminded me of Callas' Lucia. How the two persona are paralyzed by darkness and despair webbed into their minds. That's why i used "thread of a voice". They both are rendered threadless in the end.
There's this other-worldliness about her: her singing, acting and the feelings she expressed...a true magical phenomenon in opera. Never again will the world see or hear the likes of Callas
There is a wonderful excitement full of danger in the treacherous scores she alone rethought and mastered. Like a flowing clear water river splashing out of the strong currents and suddenly become a serene quiet stream. Her power was her natural instinct for honest expression and passion, she had craft and turned it into art of the highest level of genius. Her power was also in her femininity and womanliness. She was easy to idolize because that's what a Goddess attracts. She left a gift for humanity, she made Opera better. GREAT POST LOHENGRIN.
I keep coming back to Callas no matter how many other singers I listen to. She is splendid and will forever be one of my absolute favorite singers, even when I'm old and deaf!
@@LohengrinO Very true. Though, when it comes to the absolute best singers it's almost impossible to compare - the voice is a very individualized instrument - but still, Callas shines so bright, even among the other vocal-wonders!!
This piece requires an impeccable ear for pitch and intonation as well an ability to portray a descent into madness that both terrifies and captures the compassion of the audience. How Callas did that remains t h e single absolutely memorable thing about her. In this opera and midst of her descent into the darkness of insanity, the heart is broken by her despair. Only a true artist, both in musicality and acting, can do that. Oh, and let us not forget intelligence. One can sing like an angel, but if dumb as a block of wood, it is for naught. She was a treasure and her recordings a legacy that allows us to enjoy her forever.
Ms. Callas has the vocal control to use music to turn her performances into musical conversations with her audiences. She draws you into the music. First time I heard her I felt as if she were singing directly to me. Which is amazing when you consider I was listening to a recording. Her early recordings are master classes in vocal technique.
I know we have the recordings to listen to over and over and over and over and over again, but how wonderful would footage of this have been as well... I've been listening to Maria for 30 years and I'm still in mourning.
How on earth is this possible?!? A singer whose sight is so poor that she can't see her co-performers, singing in perfect timing with perfect tuning and inspired characterisation of a woman losing her marbles ... an intensity of emotional exposure lasting over a quarter of an hour ... Surely, Callas had to BE that character during her performance of it, and her communication with the flautist must have been at a higher level than we normal mortals experience - speaking for myself, that is. Thank you so much for this, yet another, treasure, lohengrin O. Extraordinary!
Peter Brodie ... Great comment my friend. It was all because of her tremendous musicianship and sense of drama, and the uncanny ability to blend the two into one.
Maria Callas totally understood and practiced the true meaning of Opera: Sung theatre. Singing and acting, not just singing within some sort of scenario. The libretto isn't there for nothing, the composers did everything based on its meaning and message. And Maria Callas incorporates everything, words, music, meaning and emotional climate in her magnificent performances. Her knowledge and mindset are part of her, as is the magnificent voice. To appreciate one and not value the others is an injustice made to her.
The only Lucia I've heard convey at least three different moods in this mad scene. Her airy girlish naivety intertwined with melancholy, the haunted sudden angst of a woman seeing spectres in her head and then finally the complete acceptance into madness as she duets with her own psychosis. I will never really understand how Callas achieves all this. All the messa di voce, the sudden amplification in volume, the drifting legato and the constant undulations in timbre are cinematic, beyond mere theatricality.
I am so sorry for her not to have been rewarded with her love in life. She deserved it more than anybody else in this world. What a shame, Maria, our lyric goddess of all times. RIP in heaven sweet one.❤❤❤❤❤❤
Unique singing. There will never be another one like her, ever..we are so lucky to have her recordings 😍 "She could have killed all the characters, and still would be the victim. ' perfect notice that describes her performance as a whole. Divine Maria!
A legendary performance: Berlin 29 September 1955, with Di Stefano under Karajan. I can detect maybe just one harsh note? She sings like a Stradivarius and acts with the voice like a lunatic in the dark. Nobody comes close, not even Sutherland at her very best. This is great Art. Oh to be able to go back in time and watch her live!
Every time I hear Maria in that role it brings tears in my eyes. I can see her I can feel her madness the darkness of her mind as spreads inch by inch throughout her body and soul I deeply love the feelings that revives in me when I hear/seen her
My god...again, I am speechless !!!! Her singing and interpretation...her VOCAL SPENDOUR....is ABSOLUTELY ASTONISHING. I know how treacherous this aria is. Thank you SOOOO MUCH !!!!
This is the perfect "Mad Scene" of Lucia in my opinion. To say that she is using 'excessive vocal dynamics' only shows me that this comment is made by one informed of the intentions of the composers of of the epoch, Bellini, Rossini, Donizetti, to mention a few. If one has the capacity and can execute perfectly with authority, then DO IT, I say. The audiences love it and fill the opera houses to hear it. I remember in Chicago at the Lyric Opera's opening season, a return to functioning. Callas was the main attraction singing Norma, Lucia and Traviatta. Callas was in rare form and after the "Mad Scene" the audience went wild, applauded for 9 minutes. Callas had to fall out of character, which she never did, to thank the audience together with the flautist who perfectly accompanied her scene. Emotions were high and Rescigno, the maestro didn't mind it seemed. He could not delicately control things to continue, and I think that it was good for the Civic Opera of Chicago.
Ali has said everything......all the equisite touches that we mere mortals hear and feel just listening to this characters mental agony and the dichotomy she suffers......he has been able vocalise what I personally feel..... that's without mentioning the actual technical skill involved in production of the highest level of the art of opera......thank you Ali, I wish I had the music/voice theory language to be able to express as you do.....I just know instinctively after listening to this women for over 50 years that this is the best there is or ever likely to get!......
Thank you Pammy. I'm flattered. It is Callas and her likes that bring out the sparks in us mere mortals ;) We should cherish and preserve such treasures as this for all eternity.
Unerreicht,niemand kann ihr das Wasser reichen,so muss Donizetti sich das vorgestellt haben.ich habe viele Sängerinnen gehört,egal wer keine hatte das Format die Callas zu toppen.ob Lucia,Violetta,Norma,Medea,Gilda, sie ist die Diva des letzten Jahrhunderts.
Love this - her interpretation is overwhelming! Although I will always return to Joan, but there’s no doubt about her exceptionalism here! Thanks for posting!
Cette dame était un miracle, et ce qui m'a toujours frappé chez elle c'est la netteté des attaques, la précision de la diction, toutes les notes sont dans les vocalises, la dynamique est parfaite (pianissimi et fortissimi), le dramatisme dans cette scène qui arrive en fin d'opéra où la fatigue a eu raison de bien d'autres est stupéfiant. Certes certains contre-mi bémol sont peut-être plus beaux, mais rarement aussi juste dramatiquement. Le dialogue avec la flûte traversière est le plus parfait que je connaisse. J'ai beau écouter d'autres versions, j'en reviens toujours à Callas, et également pour Norma, Travaita, Tosca, Somnenbula, Puritani, Butterfly et bien d'autres.
Maria ha vissuto e sofferto tutti i suoi personaggi e le traversie della sua vita hanno dato voce ad una musicalità e ad una perfeziostilistica e drammatica che forse solo la Duse poteva inscenare... in più Maria aveva uno strumento musicale nella voce che comprendeva i suoni dei fiati, degli archi, degli ottoni e di tutto l' apparato di una orchestra classica... poteva benissimo cantare anche senza gli orchestrali e spesso dava cenni ai coristi che falsavano le entrate come nel famoso concerto di Parigi trasmesso in TV... questa eccelsa artista e grande pianista aveva una musicalità che le altre soprano neppure sognavano... quanto alla Sutherland ricordiamo sempre che lei per prima la apprezzo' e la volle in una sua Norma prevedendo per lei una grande carriera... non per nulla era la Callas e riconosceva il talento...
…die Kunst der MC kann nicht nur von dieser Welt gewesen sein. Es ist der himmlische Faktor, etwas Überirdisches. Diese Frau hat als Sänger-Persönlichkeit Maßstäbe gesetzt, die nur durch ein neues, nicht ähnliches, menschliches Phänomen wieder erlebbar werden. Maria Callas wird einzigartig bleiben. Jedweder Vergleich mit Sängerinnen vor resp. nach ihr, entbehrt der Grundlage. All die wunderbaren Damen singen die gleichen Rollen. Und sie singen/sangen das großartig, traumhaft, wunderbar, ohne jeden Zweifel. Das muß genügen. Wie Pavarotti auf die Frage nach Jussi Björling und dessen Kunst antwortete: „ I am only human…“
Lohengrin O: Your analysis of this role that you wrote for this post is the best I have ever read! You truly understand the role of Lucia and her madness, from a perspective I think has sadly been lost. And as far as I know, Callas was the only soprano in our day to capture this. (Sadly, it's apparent that even the great Zeffirelli didn't really understand.) Thank you so much for your post, and your analysis.
Viene voglia di dire una miriade di commenti sulla sua tecnica strepitosa, la fluidità, il legato, i fiati, le filature, i cromatismi, le scale ascendenti e discendenti, le fiorettature ,le agilità, la dinamica., le messe di voce, i passaggi ...etc etc. Alla fine basta dire che stiamo parlando di Maria Callas e tutto si spiega con la massima semplicità.... un mito, un monumento vivente del belcanto ed una professionista così musicale e scrupolosa che non ce ne sarà un'altra. E' una fortuna che abbia cantato di tutto, perché non avremmo documenti registrati della sua arte eccelsa in tutti i registri... Consiglio ai soprani (sigh) odierni... evitate di scimmiottare il ruolo di soprano assoluto... dopo la Callas si rischia facilmente il ridicolo od il patetico ....
GB, aggiungo che purtroppo non s'e' accostato al Barocco, almeno a un Giulio Cesare di Handel che gli era stato proposto dalla Scala, con Rossi Lemeni e poi passato alla Zeani. Peccato. Avrebbe dato filo da torcere non poco a tutte e tutti i beroccari del cavolo, mi si scusi la crude espressione poco ottocentesca, di oggi. Nessuno escluso. La Maria e' sempre la Maria, non si puo' imitare, ma seguire il suo metodo di lavoro si. Oltre ai mezzi personali, tanti e indiscussi, STUDIAVA PURE TANTO. Cordiali saluti.
Her voice has three dimensions and a sometimes a fourth one, the only thing one could compare to her art is the ceiling of the Sixtine by Michel Angelo
NO HAY NADA DE ESPECULATIVO EN SU DESPLIEGUE DE RECURSOS VOCALES. ES EL MARAVILLOSO EJEMPLO DE ADECUACIÓN PERFECTA DE LOS RECURSOS AL PERSONAJE Y SITUACIÓN. ESTO SURGE EN QUIEN SE POSESIONA DEL PERSONAJE. ¿QUÉ OTRA HA LOGRADO ESTO? CREO QUE NINGUNA DE LAS QUE CONOZCO Y HE ESCUCHADO. ES MÁS QUE UNA VOZ, FUE UNA INTÉRPRETE GENIAL PORQUE SUPO SENTIR LO QUE CANTABA. EN ESCENA MORÎA MARIA CALLAS Y EMERGÎA LA MUJER DE LA HISTORIA. ALGO PARECIDO A LO QUE LE SUCEDÎA A JAMES DEAN CUANDO INTERPRETABA A UN PERSONAJE: SE POSESIONABA.
Molti dicono che la sua carriera sia durata pochi anni (anche se cantava da quando aveva 16 anni) ma in questo periodo ha rivoluzionato la lirica al punto da avere un prima e dopo Callas, è diventata il piu grande soprano che abbia inciso un disco e tuttora non esiste nessuna che le stia non dico al pari ma almeno che possa avvicinarsi alla sua immensa arte. Non conta quanto tempo sia durata, purtroppo cmq poco per noi, ma quanto abbia cambiato l'opera e abbia scardinato i parametri del canto a spanne e ripristinato il belcanto. Spiace che non sia più con noi ma ringraziamo la provvidenza per avercela data...
That was the most fantastic journey! Nobody else can transport us like that. Unbelievable!! Truly La Divina!! How is the audience not losing their minds for her by the end??? That was some of the most gentle applause for the most phenomenal mad scene. So tepid!! Although, perhaps they are lost in the haze of Lucia's madness, still, and I am being unkind. Brava La Divina!!!
I agree with all the adoring fan comments listed here but noticed something remarkable at 9.44. She ends the phrase a ‘crazed’ half-tone up from what’s written but ingeniously converts the note into a kind of appoggiatura that magically works without disturbing het flow. Who else could do stuff like that?
More than 60 years ago I had a collection of Angel boxed operas mostly by Maria. Thanks to the student ticket office at Cal Berkeley I saw her live at the SF Civic Auditorium. Seated in front of the Queen of Greece. Callas wore a Schapiarelli pink satin strapless gown with a python pink stole that she slowly unwound as she warmed up on some Handel. How a kid from the farm town of Stockton learned of opera is a mystery even to me. My first opera was Carmen at the Baths of Caracalla when I was 16 and thumbing alone in Europe. I was fascinated by the little shots of espresso sold by vendors like hot dogs at a ballpark. When I finally met her backstage at her last tour in LA she snubbed me and my rambling story about a ring she wore on the cover of one of her wood dowelled albums to talk to Irene Dunne behind me. Thanks to TMC I’ve discovered that Miss Dunne was a capable singer on screen.
+ Lohengrin+Ali Offe From yesterday morning i am reading and listening ...again and again... i can't put my feelings in words...but i must...i am thinking in my soul/ mind...How many sounds or colors.... How many levels...How many dimensions can this singing voice have ? I am feeling is not only the voice of one woman or one human being suffering between madness and sanity... =Today=in these circumstances=is the desperate CRY of all humanity struggling in ''a thread of a voice that is slipping away'' to keep surviving and preserving the ecumenical sense of truth and beauty and love and sensibility...against...(???)...
Penny Altiparmaki Penny Altiparmaki exactly my friend. It's more than Lucia or Donizetti. It's more than life itself. Just listen to that section 15:39. She sounds like a 13 yeard old who got trafficked, raped and wasted in many ways... it's just one of many voices in this glorious recording. It's like many a voice uses Callas' voice to reach out to us.
I've always thought Callas was great regardless of later flaws, even though she was never as thrilling as my favorites. For the first time, somehow, I've just heard this recording. NOW I truly get how stupendous and absolutely great she was. I've never heard Lucia, or anything else in comparable role sung like this. I don't see how she had the voice and stamina to do so much with her voice in every line for 16 minutes, to say nothing of the soulful, heart-rending experience she gave us emotionally. NOW I even get the role of Lucia. I never saw before how truly insane anyone could make this role. My guess is we will never hear another Lucia performed like this for the next 50 years, or ever. I think this must be one of the greatest performances within the last 100 years.
Thank you I understand better now and am better able to appreciate Joan. I guess since I have no music training my reaction is purely emotional. I'm getting better though. Thanks again
Ho letto libri sulla Callas scritti da persone serie,le nemiche non erano le colleghe,ma la madre e la sorella che volevano essere mantenute da lei,purtroppo lei e'morta prima di loro con mio grande disappunto,questo pezzo e'meraviglioso,voce da usignolo.
Vorrei avere parole nuove per definire l'eccessività della Callas. Se c'è stato qualcosa di eccessivo in questa interpretazione o in altre, è senza dubbio l'eccessiva bravura con la quale ha fatto sì che non si può ascoltare nulla dopo aver sentito la Callas.
"Mirror Mirror on the wall, who's the greatest Callas Art expert of them all?" Mirror: "It is ALI OFFE, she alone holds this privilege". "How do you know?" Mirror: "MARIA herself told me..."
Lohengrin O, I know you've mentioned to me that "in Amina, Lucia and Elvira Sutherland climbed up there with her (Callas)". I find the above video difficult to match. As I've explained to you before, I'm learning and in particular trying to understand your point of view which I greatly appreciate. Can you point me to something by Sutherland to compare to this? Thank you
well not interpretively.. I dont think anyone will ever approach Callas in terms of color and interpretation but definitely in terms of Vocal Dexterity and Virtuosity and above all regarding the ability to sing that role with the entire Body of the Voice and a full Column of SOund and not thinning out as 99% of coloraturas do...
very heartening to see CIVILITY and humanity: you are willing to listen to another point of view. So rare these days! I really congratulate you on your humanity and your sanity!
Callas changed the idea of this role forever. Since then, every single soprano in the world has tried to emulate her performance, but unfortunately to no avail.
teachers first should know first how Callas achieved that level of artistry and second be less envious of Maria Callas. BTW how you can teach the ART to somebody. How many Michelangelo, Leonardo, Tintoretto etc. you have , they are just unique as Maria Callas was.
I saw a video where a “vocal coach” reacted to a terrible video, that I hadn’t seen before- it looked like a rehearsal or something- Anyway, this gal seemed to know nothing about the Emotional Art of Callas and was analyzing how her face & mouth moved instead of listening to the emotion. So much for vocal teachers who know nothing. 🤯
Maria Callas era nata con l'ugola d'oro,divina e splendida voce,la sua forza era lo studio sempre,dalla mattina alla sera,anche di notte,era musicista e musicale,non ci sarà mai piu' un timbro musicale come il.suo,mi dispiace x le altre soprano,chiedo scusa.
...chromatizing is when a singer has the ability to sing the same pitch (note) but sound different according to the feeling she wants to suggest... vocal colorizing... it is unbelievably difficult to do it without changing the pitch
This singing is like a play of light on the moving gem, perhaps a huge colored diamond, ever fascinating with its continuous flow of change - of sparkles, glowing fire, lambent magic, radiating its emotional beams from each of its countless facets, reverberating in dynamic delight, and haunting the heart at every moment.....
And all in her complete control. She's doing all of this by intention.
Your comments are nearly poetic as they are descriptive. MC’s voice is astonishing. You’ve managed to somehow articulate the mystery and magic of her talent.
She gets so much undue criticism, but here is master at work. You have to appreciate that she’s not only a singer, but she’s an actress as well. Although we can’t see her, you can experience the excellence and intensity with which she embodies the role through her careful colouring and modulation of the voice. Also the dynamics is perfect. Just listen attentively to how each word is carefully enunciated, brightened when needed, piercing at other times, and just floats when she’s giving into her psychosis.
This is singing. This is opera. Well done.
She conveys so much with her voice, through her singing, that it takes very little effort to "see" the action on the stage in your mind... But I would give a lot to be able to travel back in time and actually see her on stage.
La pazzia di Lucia: Maria non la canta, la vive e lo fa con l’uso di una tecnica formidabile regalando ritmo, colore, rubato,e un’agilità incredibile in una voce potente e ricca di note basse
I've never heard her in more extraordinary voice. Her instrument did absolutely everything she willed it to do that night. Oh to have been there!
she paints Lucia like Michelangelo in this performance... the result is so much vocal labour from Colorizing and Dynamics that she skipped the first Eb6
"She is not talking to the people around her, she is talking to the voices in her head." One of the main key of this mystery
An insane role insanely sung by the queen of mad scenes. No one has ever sung a better Lucia. She uses constant dynamics to represent Lucia’s state of mind, creating a dwindling effect with every dynamic variation. An entrapment between madness and sanity. She even changes the dynamics of the staccati. Each one representing an individual opinion, a voice in her head. Some are nearer while others are far away. All acting of Lucia in the mad scene should be executed with the voice. The stage movement should be minimal. She is not talking to the people around her, she is talking to the voices in her head. And the messa di voce at the end of the cadenza infuses more into Lucia’s psyche than entire performances of other famous Lucias. It is a thread of a voice that is slipping away from her. It is incredibly difficult and tiring to sing this way. It requires perfect intonation and breath control. One mistake, and the entire performance becomes a farce. I don’t know how she made it to the last Eb6 at the end of “Spargi d’amaro pianto”, and she does a petite crescendo on it, too. Lucia’s final scream before she is irreversibly mad. The harm is done. Zefirelli once remarked that Lucia was a “murdering bitch”, therefore should be represented as such (If memory serves me right, he said this while he was tutoring Sutherland for the role). Callas is the only one who made me think that Lucia was probably the victim of marital rape, among other abuses. She could have killed all the characters, and still would be the victim.
magnificent comment, gave me goosebumps... placed it above
Magnificent post... Thank you!
Also, check what she does with the cadenza in her studio recording. She does the same thing with the staccati and then sings a pianissimo trill. It's like all those voices in her head are whispering to Lucia. As if they become unbearable, and she murders those voices with a gigantic Eb6. The woman was insanely intelligent. Callas should be read like a text. Only then will one start to understand that she was no mere singer of notes.
Pls pls pls pls post more comments...
hahaha don't get me started. I can talk about her Lucia all day!!! Just pour yourself a glass of cognac and savor Lucia's madness. I usually turn off the lights at night and let her voice vacuum me into her madness. God i love this recording. She was the last soprano who needed words to express feelings. And yet, she always paid ultimate attention to words, as well. Even with the trickiest coloratura passages, she bit into words, making it much harder for herself. Listen how she sings "sorge il tremendo fantasma e ne separa". It is like she is summoning the ghosts of earlier Lucias to sing along with her. Cascades of sound pour out of her. Just the idea of separation triggers that power within. It is in direct contrast with the rest of her characterization in the mad scene. That's how much she loves Edgardo. With Callas, every note, embellishment brought out an expression. That's why they hate her guts. She compels them to think and feel simultaneously. Two things humans abhor. She is the Dickinson of opera. When Dickinson wrote poetry, every syllable represented something. Every word had a purpose. Last week I was reading her poem "From Blank to Blank". It instantly reminded me of Callas' Lucia. How the two persona are paralyzed by darkness and despair webbed into their minds. That's why i used "thread of a voice". They both are rendered threadless in the end.
There's this other-worldliness about her: her singing, acting and the feelings she expressed...a true magical phenomenon in opera. Never again will the world see or hear the likes of Callas
La perfezione per vocalità, coloritura, interpretazione, dizione. Eterna Callas !
There is a wonderful excitement full of danger in the treacherous scores she alone rethought and mastered. Like a flowing clear water river splashing out of the strong currents and suddenly become a serene quiet stream. Her power was her natural instinct for honest expression and passion, she had craft and turned it into art of the highest level of genius. Her power was also in her femininity and womanliness. She was easy to idolize because that's what a Goddess attracts. She left a gift for humanity, she made Opera better. GREAT POST LOHENGRIN.
..also read the Magnificent comment by Ali
MrQbenDanny thank you ❤️😢
After reading your post, I feel more experienced listening to opera and my capacity to appreciate the wonder of the female voice has grown.
I keep coming back to Callas no matter how many other singers I listen to. She is splendid and will forever be one of my absolute favorite singers, even when I'm old and deaf!
incomparable... the best singer who ever lived
@@LohengrinO Very true. Though, when it comes to the absolute best singers it's almost impossible to compare - the voice is a very individualized instrument - but still, Callas shines so bright, even among the other vocal-wonders!!
Is there other singers??
So many singers ignore dynamics and just blast constantly. Brava to Callas for such a psychological and harrowing portrayal.
Who? Voices are so small in comparison nowadays.
This piece requires an impeccable ear for pitch and intonation as well an ability to portray a descent into madness that both terrifies and captures the compassion of the audience. How Callas did that remains t h e single absolutely memorable thing about her. In this opera and midst of her descent into the darkness of insanity, the heart is broken by her despair. Only a true artist, both in musicality and acting, can do that. Oh, and let us not forget intelligence. One can sing like an angel, but if dumb as a block of wood, it is for naught. She was a treasure and her recordings a legacy that allows us to enjoy her forever.
Ms. Callas has the vocal control to use music to turn her performances into musical conversations with her audiences. She draws you into the music.
First time I heard her I felt as if she were singing directly to me. Which is amazing when you consider I was listening to a recording.
Her early recordings are master classes in vocal technique.
I know we have the recordings to listen to over and over and over and over and over again, but how wonderful would footage of this have been as well... I've been listening to Maria for 30 years and I'm still in mourning.
How on earth is this possible?!? A singer whose sight is so poor that she can't see her co-performers, singing in perfect timing with perfect tuning and inspired characterisation of a woman losing her marbles ... an intensity of emotional exposure lasting over a quarter of an hour ...
Surely, Callas had to BE that character during her performance of it, and her communication with the flautist must have been at a higher level than we normal mortals experience - speaking for myself, that is.
Thank you so much for this, yet another, treasure, lohengrin O. Extraordinary!
Peter Brodie ... Great comment my friend. It was all because of her tremendous musicianship and sense of drama, and the uncanny ability to blend the two into one.
Maria Callas totally understood and practiced the true meaning of Opera: Sung theatre. Singing and acting, not just singing within some sort of scenario. The libretto isn't there for nothing, the composers did everything based on its meaning and message. And Maria Callas incorporates everything, words, music, meaning and emotional climate in her magnificent performances.
Her knowledge and mindset are part of her, as is the magnificent voice. To appreciate one and not value the others is an injustice made to her.
The only Lucia I've heard convey at least three different moods in this mad scene. Her airy girlish naivety intertwined with melancholy, the haunted sudden angst of a woman seeing spectres in her head and then finally the complete acceptance into madness as she duets with her own psychosis.
I will never really understand how Callas achieves all this. All the messa di voce, the sudden amplification in volume, the drifting legato and the constant undulations in timbre are cinematic, beyond mere theatricality.
RAPING her voice apart... read the comments by Ali.. Exquisite!
There's really only one answer to how she did all this...she was Callas.
Grazie Maria, UNICA NEL MONDO!
La più grande Lucia di sempre! Perfetto. Tutto. Inarrivabile ❤️ Buon compleanno Divina!🌹🌹🌹
I am so sorry for her not to have been rewarded with her love in life. She deserved it more than anybody else in this world. What a shame, Maria, our lyric goddess of all times. RIP in heaven sweet one.❤❤❤❤❤❤
I think she lived exactly like her Art
One of the greatest of all Callas' live documents. Absolutely spellbinding - at the peak of what opera can do.
Unique singing. There will never be another one like her, ever..we are so lucky to have her recordings 😍 "She could have killed all the characters, and still would be the victim. ' perfect notice that describes her performance as a whole. Divine Maria!
A legendary performance: Berlin 29 September 1955, with Di Stefano under Karajan. I can detect maybe just one harsh note? She sings like a Stradivarius and acts with the voice like a lunatic in the dark. Nobody comes close, not even Sutherland at her very best. This is great Art. Oh to be able to go back in time and watch her live!
Who says it’s excessive? That’s a dramatic coloratura! They just are rare!
she over-does it here with dynamics, switching volume up and down all the time... rare inside Callas' Lucias
Every time I hear Maria in that role it brings tears in my eyes. I can see her I can feel her madness the darkness of her mind as spreads inch by inch throughout her body and soul
I deeply love the feelings that revives in me when I hear/seen her
My god...again, I am speechless !!!! Her singing and interpretation...her VOCAL SPENDOUR....is ABSOLUTELY ASTONISHING. I know how treacherous this aria is. Thank you SOOOO MUCH !!!!
Meravigliosa creatura..ti amiamo Maria
I played lucia di lammermoor again and again about 60 years ago, toturing my parentes almost to madness. It is wonderfull.
This is the perfect "Mad Scene" of Lucia in my opinion. To say that she is using 'excessive vocal dynamics' only shows me that this comment is made by one informed of the intentions of the composers of of the epoch, Bellini, Rossini, Donizetti, to mention a few. If one has the capacity and can execute perfectly with authority, then DO IT, I say. The audiences love it and fill the opera houses to hear it.
I remember in Chicago at the Lyric Opera's opening season, a return to functioning. Callas was the main attraction singing Norma, Lucia and Traviatta. Callas was in rare form and after the "Mad Scene" the audience went wild, applauded for 9 minutes. Callas had to fall out of character, which she never did, to thank the audience together with the flautist who perfectly accompanied her scene. Emotions were high and Rescigno, the maestro didn't mind it seemed. He could not delicately control things to continue, and I think that it was good for the Civic Opera of Chicago.
I remember the first time I heard this recording. Callas made me understood (or shall I say- feel) the meanig of catharsis.
I get the exact same feeling with her Medea
Ali has said everything......all the equisite touches that we mere mortals hear and feel just listening to this characters mental agony and the dichotomy she suffers......he has been able vocalise what I personally feel..... that's without mentioning the actual technical skill involved in production of the highest level of the art of opera......thank you Ali, I wish I had the music/voice theory language to be able to express as you do.....I just know instinctively after listening to this women for over 50 years that this is the best there is or ever likely to get!......
totally agree
Thank you Pammy. I'm flattered. It is Callas and her likes that bring out the sparks in us mere mortals ;) We should cherish and preserve such treasures as this for all eternity.
Unerreicht,niemand kann ihr das Wasser reichen,so muss Donizetti sich das vorgestellt haben.ich habe viele Sängerinnen gehört,egal wer keine hatte das Format die Callas zu toppen.ob Lucia,Violetta,Norma,Medea,Gilda, sie ist die Diva des letzten Jahrhunderts.
Love this - her interpretation is overwhelming! Although I will always return to Joan, but there’s no doubt about her exceptionalism here! Thanks for posting!
Cette dame était un miracle, et ce qui m'a toujours frappé chez elle c'est la netteté des attaques, la précision de la diction, toutes les notes sont dans les vocalises, la dynamique est parfaite (pianissimi et fortissimi), le dramatisme dans cette scène qui arrive en fin d'opéra où la fatigue a eu raison de bien d'autres est stupéfiant. Certes certains contre-mi bémol sont peut-être plus beaux, mais rarement aussi juste dramatiquement. Le dialogue avec la flûte traversière est le plus parfait que je connaisse. J'ai beau écouter d'autres versions, j'en reviens toujours à Callas, et également pour Norma, Travaita, Tosca, Somnenbula, Puritani, Butterfly et bien d'autres.
Écoutez les autres, puis venez écouter La Callas pour purifier votre âme
@@LohengrinO ASSOLUTAMENTE VERO!!!
Maria ha vissuto e sofferto tutti i suoi personaggi e le traversie della sua vita hanno dato voce ad una musicalità e ad una perfeziostilistica e drammatica che forse solo la Duse poteva inscenare... in più Maria aveva uno strumento musicale nella voce che comprendeva i suoni dei fiati, degli archi, degli ottoni e di tutto l' apparato di una orchestra classica... poteva benissimo cantare anche senza gli orchestrali e spesso dava cenni ai coristi che falsavano le entrate come nel famoso concerto di Parigi trasmesso in TV... questa eccelsa artista e grande pianista aveva una musicalità che le altre soprano neppure sognavano... quanto alla Sutherland ricordiamo sempre che lei per prima la apprezzo' e la volle in una sua Norma prevedendo per lei una grande carriera... non per nulla era la Callas e riconosceva il talento...
This is truly incredible! Thank you for posting this Lohengrin!
…die Kunst der MC kann nicht nur von dieser Welt gewesen sein. Es ist der himmlische Faktor, etwas Überirdisches. Diese Frau hat als Sänger-Persönlichkeit Maßstäbe gesetzt, die nur durch ein neues, nicht ähnliches, menschliches Phänomen wieder erlebbar werden. Maria Callas wird einzigartig bleiben. Jedweder Vergleich mit Sängerinnen vor resp. nach ihr, entbehrt der Grundlage. All die wunderbaren Damen singen die gleichen Rollen. Und sie singen/sangen das großartig, traumhaft, wunderbar, ohne jeden Zweifel. Das muß genügen. Wie Pavarotti auf die Frage nach Jussi Björling und dessen Kunst antwortete: „ I am only human…“
Merry Christmas to all the friends of music 🎼 and to keeping the greatest memories alive
Wonderful!
Lohengrin O: Your analysis of this role that you wrote for this post is the best I have ever read! You truly understand the role of Lucia and her madness, from a perspective I think has sadly been lost. And as far as I know, Callas was the only soprano in our day to capture this. (Sadly, it's apparent that even the great Zeffirelli didn't really understand.) Thank you so much for your post, and your analysis.
You mean the comment above? it belongs to Ali Offe as I write (in the above section I place the best comments).. Ali always writes incredible comments
Viene voglia di dire una miriade di commenti sulla sua tecnica strepitosa, la fluidità, il legato, i fiati, le filature, i cromatismi, le scale ascendenti e discendenti, le fiorettature ,le agilità, la dinamica., le messe di voce, i passaggi ...etc etc. Alla fine basta dire che stiamo parlando di Maria Callas e tutto si spiega con la massima semplicità.... un mito, un monumento vivente del belcanto ed una professionista così musicale e scrupolosa che non ce ne sarà un'altra. E' una fortuna che abbia cantato di tutto, perché non avremmo documenti registrati della sua arte eccelsa in tutti i registri...
Consiglio ai soprani (sigh) odierni... evitate di scimmiottare il ruolo di soprano assoluto... dopo la Callas si rischia facilmente il ridicolo od il patetico ....
GB, aggiungo che purtroppo non s'e' accostato al Barocco, almeno a un Giulio Cesare di Handel che gli era stato proposto dalla Scala, con Rossi Lemeni e poi passato alla Zeani. Peccato. Avrebbe dato filo da torcere non poco a tutte e tutti i beroccari del cavolo, mi si scusi la crude espressione poco ottocentesca, di oggi. Nessuno escluso. La Maria e' sempre la Maria, non si puo' imitare, ma seguire il suo metodo di lavoro si. Oltre ai mezzi personali, tanti e indiscussi, STUDIAVA PURE TANTO. Cordiali saluti.
Infatti ritengo sia stupido imitarla.
Lei é stata assolutamente unica...
Absolutely the most beautiful.Thank you so much for uploading .Merry Christmas to everyone.
Spare a thought, too, for Serafin and the RAI Orchestra whose flexibility and alertness allows Callas to work her miracles.
indeed!, Karajan here though
Her voice has three dimensions and a sometimes a fourth one, the only thing one could compare to her art is the ceiling of the Sixtine by Michel Angelo
Her voice sounds so much lighter here. Esp the lower notes. Love her - the singing actress.
almost girlish.. can u imagine this was the voice of Medea?
NO HAY NADA DE ESPECULATIVO EN SU DESPLIEGUE DE RECURSOS VOCALES. ES EL MARAVILLOSO EJEMPLO DE ADECUACIÓN PERFECTA DE LOS RECURSOS AL PERSONAJE Y SITUACIÓN. ESTO SURGE EN QUIEN SE POSESIONA DEL PERSONAJE. ¿QUÉ OTRA HA LOGRADO ESTO? CREO QUE NINGUNA DE LAS QUE CONOZCO Y HE ESCUCHADO. ES MÁS QUE UNA VOZ, FUE UNA INTÉRPRETE GENIAL PORQUE SUPO SENTIR LO QUE CANTABA. EN ESCENA MORÎA MARIA CALLAS Y EMERGÎA LA MUJER DE LA HISTORIA. ALGO PARECIDO A LO QUE LE SUCEDÎA A JAMES DEAN CUANDO INTERPRETABA A UN PERSONAJE: SE POSESIONABA.
she was so generous, she gave us all the voice she had and then some
Molti dicono che la sua carriera sia durata pochi anni (anche se cantava da quando aveva 16 anni) ma in questo periodo ha rivoluzionato la lirica al punto da avere un prima e dopo Callas, è diventata il piu grande soprano che abbia inciso un disco e tuttora non esiste nessuna che le stia non dico al pari ma almeno che possa avvicinarsi alla sua immensa arte. Non conta quanto tempo sia durata, purtroppo cmq poco per noi, ma quanto abbia cambiato l'opera e abbia scardinato i parametri del canto a spanne e ripristinato il belcanto. Spiace che non sia più con noi ma ringraziamo la provvidenza per avercela data...
That was the most fantastic journey! Nobody else can transport us like that. Unbelievable!! Truly La Divina!! How is the audience not losing their minds for her by the end??? That was some of the most gentle applause for the most phenomenal mad scene. So tepid!! Although, perhaps they are lost in the haze of Lucia's madness, still, and I am being unkind.
Brava La Divina!!!
it is because the mad scene had no Eb6... opera fans are only about sustained high notes... very few appreciate the overall singing
I'm in love. I don't understand why people say she hadn't the best voice of all.
ακριβώς επειδή είχε την καλύτερη όλων των εποχών...
Lohengrin O Όπα τόσο καιρό βλέπω βίντεο σου και δεν ήξερα ότι ήσουν Έλληνας ;)
Είπα να πάω κόντρα στο κύμμα και αντί ως γνήσιος Έλλην να την μισώ σαν να μου σκότωσε τη μάνα να την αγαπάω εκ βαθέων...
Lohengrin O Εύγε
Μπορείς να δημιουργήσεις playlist με τα βίντεο της Κάλλας γιατί κάθε φορά ψάχνω για ώρα μέχρι να βρω κάποιο βίντεο της
I agree with all the adoring fan comments listed here but noticed something remarkable at 9.44. She ends the phrase a ‘crazed’ half-tone up from what’s written but ingeniously converts the note into a kind of appoggiatura that magically works without disturbing het flow. Who else could do stuff like that?
her pitch sometimes hurts my absolute musical ear . A bit tooo much for me .....
More than 60 years ago I had a collection of Angel boxed operas mostly by Maria. Thanks to the student ticket office at Cal Berkeley I saw her live at the SF Civic Auditorium. Seated in front of the Queen of Greece. Callas wore a Schapiarelli pink satin strapless gown with a python pink stole that she slowly unwound as she warmed up on some Handel.
How a kid from the farm town of Stockton learned of opera is a mystery even to me. My first opera was Carmen at the Baths of Caracalla when I was 16 and thumbing alone in Europe. I was fascinated by the little shots of espresso sold by vendors like hot dogs at a ballpark.
When I finally met her backstage at her last tour in LA she snubbed me and my rambling story about a ring she wore on the cover of one of her wood dowelled albums to talk to Irene Dunne behind me. Thanks to TMC I’ve discovered that Miss Dunne was a capable singer on screen.
the best of the best...the supreme voice of all Time❤
ÚNICA!!!
Pure perfection.
+ Lohengrin+Ali Offe From yesterday morning i am reading and listening ...again and again... i can't put my feelings in words...but i must...i am thinking in my soul/ mind...How many sounds or colors.... How many levels...How many dimensions can this singing voice have ? I am feeling is not only the voice of one woman or one human being suffering between madness and sanity... =Today=in these circumstances=is the desperate CRY of all humanity struggling in ''a thread of a voice that is slipping away'' to keep surviving and preserving the ecumenical sense of truth and beauty and love and sensibility...against...(???)...
indeed this particular recording is one of the most multi-layered performances of Callas ever... it contains myriads of colors
Penny Altiparmaki Penny Altiparmaki exactly my friend. It's more than Lucia or Donizetti. It's more than life itself. Just listen to that section 15:39. She sounds like a 13 yeard old who got trafficked, raped and wasted in many ways... it's just one of many voices in this glorious recording. It's like many a voice uses Callas' voice to reach out to us.
''It's like many a voice... uses C.'voice...to reach out to us...'' ...
Great comment !
I've always thought Callas was great regardless of later flaws, even though she was never as thrilling as my favorites. For the first time, somehow, I've just heard this recording. NOW I truly get how stupendous and absolutely great she was. I've never heard Lucia, or anything else in comparable role sung like this. I don't see how she had the voice and stamina to do so much with her voice in every line for 16 minutes, to say nothing of the soulful, heart-rending experience she gave us emotionally. NOW I even get the role of Lucia. I never saw before how truly insane anyone could make this role. My guess is we will never hear another Lucia performed like this for the next 50 years, or ever. I think this must be one of the greatest performances within the last 100 years.
she is the ultimate acquired taste
Lohengrin you are the Lighthouse to the World thank you so much.
Thank you I understand better now and am better able to appreciate Joan. I guess since I have no music training my reaction is purely emotional. I'm getting better though. Thanks again
Ho letto libri sulla Callas scritti da persone serie,le nemiche non erano le colleghe,ma la madre e la sorella che volevano essere mantenute da lei,purtroppo lei e'morta prima di loro con mio grande disappunto,questo pezzo e'meraviglioso,voce da usignolo.
🌹🍀🌹THE FAMOUS LUCIA IN WORLD!!!🌹🍀🌹
Glorious.
The best soprano of all time!❤️
Vorrei avere parole nuove per definire l'eccessività della Callas. Se c'è stato qualcosa di eccessivo in questa interpretazione o in altre, è senza dubbio l'eccessiva bravura con la quale ha fatto sì che non si può ascoltare nulla dopo aver sentito la Callas.
She was the art of Opera.
Magical and unic!!!
Just wow..............
Mágica.
O my,o my. My beloved.
No words, just let her wash over you!
La Callas è tutto forse l’ha voluta Dio anche per se stesso!!!
"Mirror Mirror on the wall, who's the greatest Callas Art expert of them all?"
Mirror: "It is ALI OFFE, she alone holds this privilege".
"How do you know?"
Mirror: "MARIA herself told me..."
thank you very much. i am flattered, but i am no expert :)
Bravo super music and vocal brilliance
Une Lucia exceptionnelle vocalement ,et une approche vraiment approfondie du personnage de Lucia .Sans égale musicalement et dramatiquement .
Lohengrin O, I know you've mentioned to me that "in Amina, Lucia and Elvira Sutherland climbed up there with her (Callas)". I find the above video difficult to match. As I've explained to you before, I'm learning and in particular trying to understand your point of view which I greatly appreciate. Can you point me to something by Sutherland to compare to this? Thank you
well not interpretively.. I dont think anyone will ever approach Callas in terms of color and interpretation but definitely in terms of Vocal Dexterity and Virtuosity and above all regarding the ability to sing that role with the entire Body of the Voice and a full Column of SOund and not thinning out as 99% of coloraturas do...
very heartening to see CIVILITY and humanity: you are willing to listen to another point of
view. So rare these days! I really congratulate you on your humanity and your sanity!
Una maestra de la podremos seguir aprendiendo siempre
ÙNICA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
VOCE,tecnica, interpretazione personale che rende lo stato del personaggio
ÙNICA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Le bonheur absolu.
Returning to this jewel. Which year/performance? Would love to hear the rest.
You should ALWAYS return to Callas' Lucia ;) this is the fabled Berlin Lucia under Karajan with the greatest regnava/quando rapito and sextet EVER.
@@alioffe4321 Thank you!!
@@greatmomentsofopera7170 you're welcome :)
Eximia Maria Callas
Почему под видео нет сообщения из какой оперы отрывок, кто дирижёр? Михаил. Хотелось бы. больше информации.
Callas changed the idea of this role forever. Since then, every single soprano in the world has tried to emulate her performance, but unfortunately to no avail.
all the roles she sang she changed them forever... even Fiorila!!! not even remotely approached by none
callas is unique.magnificent forever.bravissima...
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Exquisite.The best Lucia maybe.Thank you for posting.♪♫•*♫♪ ¨*•♫♪
Pure soul...poignant indeed
SUBLIME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
UNIQUE!!!!!!!
they should teach Mariah Callas at school
teachers first should know first how Callas achieved that level of artistry and second be less envious of Maria Callas. BTW how you can teach the ART to somebody. How many Michelangelo, Leonardo, Tintoretto etc. you have , they are just unique as Maria Callas was.
You can't teach genius
I saw a video where a “vocal coach” reacted to a terrible video, that I hadn’t seen before- it looked like a rehearsal or something- Anyway, this gal seemed to know nothing about the Emotional Art of Callas and was analyzing how her face & mouth moved instead of listening to the emotion. So much for vocal teachers who know nothing. 🤯
Vocal gymnastics
We
Maria Callas era nata con l'ugola d'oro,divina e splendida voce,la sua forza era lo studio sempre,dalla mattina alla sera,anche di notte,era musicista e musicale,non ci sarà mai piu' un timbro musicale come il.suo,mi dispiace x le altre soprano,chiedo scusa.
She got this bizzarely Sutherland-style sound for a brief moment around 4:40, and I had to do a double take.
ohhh the "raaaaaa" haha i heard sutherland too
There are no singers today...listen to the floating pianisimo.
Which recording is this?
callas debía sos dos divas
I worship Callas. But why is no one mentioning Serafin, who had such a profound effect on her art?
Both Callas (1953) and Sutherland (1959) sang Lucia under Serafin. Neither one can match this performance!
Poor mad, Lucia.
Is this 1959's Lucia, right?
1955 Live Berlin.
What year was this?
it is the Berlin Lucia
The chromatics would be what?
...chromatizing is when a singer has the ability to sing the same pitch (note) but sound different according to the feeling she wants to suggest... vocal colorizing... it is unbelievably difficult to do it without changing the pitch
Thanks for the quick response!
@@LohengrinO Coloratura = χρωματισμος αφου πρωτα έχεις κατορθωσει σχεδον απολυτο ελεγχο της φωνης. Απίστευτα δύσκολο.
@@giannistsoukatos4205 ναι απλα στην όπερα coloratura δεν σημαίνει χρωματισμός..
@@LohengrinO Εγω περιγραφω περίπου πως καταφερνε να περνα την μοναδικότητά της μεσα στις αριες και σε ολόκληρο το εργο.
Хто б не любив Машеньку...
Devine.....but I prefer Dame Joan Sutherland.