My God! I'm shocked by this mini movie. The voice, the acting, everything is so real! The enormous voice of La Divina and a video of such great quality for 1958!! We've been waiting years to see and hear live videos of Callas on stage for the first time🥹👏 thank you so much for this treasure!
Even the sound is from an in house recording! You can here how huge and powerful Callas's voice still was in 1958! Her vocal performance alone in this Dallas productiono of Medea is one of the top 10 operatic performaces ever recorded by anyone!
Every time something like this comes up, we all get so excited at the idea of maybe, one day more and longer material will come up..... it is simply so wonderful.
There are those that say it was Callas' Greek heritage that gave her that innate gift for the drama. This precious excerpt leads me to think that may be true. The fluctuation of her facial expressions and physical movement leaves one to think that she lived the drama, that she WAS Medea until the conclusion of the drama. Then, her acceptance of the ovation was another artistic moment. She smiles, then bows, and then lowers to one knee as she humbly accepts the thunderous applause. There will never be another Callas.
The most astonishing look of deceitfulness I’ve ever seen was at the beginning, where keeping her head bowed in mock humility, her eyes are riveted on his body language while listening for a weakness in his words as she inches away, then suddenly lunges at him with that magnificent twirl of the cape describing the evil calculations in her mind! Amazing!
I love that upward glance she casts at Creon, as if trying to see if he's falling for her ruse. I really wish this whole performance had been captured. Vocally, she's not what she was in Florence, but she's in her best "thin" voice, and she was absolutely on fire this night. In this performance, she brings out not only Medea the vengeful demigoddess, but also Medea the woman, the wife, and the mother. It's one of the greatest performances ever captured on a recording.
Wouldn't that be amazing? Another idea would be to create a realistic animation of one of those operas set to one of Callas' performances, either live or studio.
Con gli occhi recita al pari della voce e del canto. Lo sguardo, che dovrebbe essere accorato e implorante, dice il contrario delle parole del testo: è ambiguo e minaccioso. Medea non ha ancora scoperto le carte e ciò che si vede è solo un anticipo della tragedia! SUPREMA, non trovo aggettivo migliore!
Questo video è uno dei più preziosi mai apparsi. E ce ne sono così pochi (almeno per ora) della Callas! Sarebbe fantastico se emergesse altro da chissà dove… Grazie di cuore!
Grazie Opera❤E’ un frammento piccolo, ma prezioso. Da l’idea di come recitasse Maria in Medea. In tanti ci lamentiamo che non esistano opere cantate da lei e filmate, ma dimentichiamo che era proprio Maria ad essere contraria alle opere filmate. Non prevedeva di passare alla storia, evidentemente
Wish there is more!! Also notice the in-house audio that is different than the recording we have and give as a Great example of how Callas sounded in house!! 😁
Her greatest performance of all. But Londoners who saw both claim the 59 London was even better. Her bows were better and more artistic than anyone else’s entire career!
All these glories of a Gloden Age: Armida, Anna Bolena, Medea, Traviata, Puritani, Lucia...not a single complete official document, except for Act II from Tosca. Curse, curse, curse😮
![Maria Callas’s Medea in Dallas (1958) [Rare Video]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
