The Great Maria Callas in her only MET Broadcast singing with cold...but WHAT A VOICE!! I have colorized a rare image of her 1956 Lucia at the old MET and have remastered the sound of the broadcast!! Hope to enjoy!!
This is so amazing!! I don't think I've ever heard this recording before and I know that this performance was not considered one of her great Lucias, but for me, how appropriate is her voice here? It is so light without being contrived or sweet, yet she also does not shy away from her powerful chest tones, all the while keeping them well with in the voice, character and personago of Lucia. She was truly a magician and she owned this role much more than Sutherland did imo.
Callas and Sutherland were phenomenal Lucias in their own right. I wouldn't say that either one owns the role because I enjoy both of them for different reasons and many great singers have put their own mark on it. Callas reinvented Lucia which had been a show piece vehicle for light and agile coloraturas of the Lily Pons type (who was a great Lucia in her day). Ironically, Callas retired the role when Sutherland started singing it in 1959 and focused on only three operatic roles for the remainder of her career (Norma, Medea, and Tosca.....fiendishly difficult roles but without the need for the stratospheric gymnastics). Sutherland's Lucia was a different animal than Callas'.....her upper register was nearly superhuman in what she could do with it in the role of Lucia, only transposing the mad scene down a major second when she was over 60 years old. We are all better off for having these two great artists leaving their mark not only on the role of Lucia...but pretty much every role they ever sang.
@@jimbuxton2187 The only thing that lacked in Callas was a good relationship and a vocal coach to look her, like Richard did with Sutherland. But this 2 singers are the symbol of bel canto
Callas didn't like singing at the Met, didn't like the old productions, didn't like the routine system of that haus: every day a new tenor, or a new baritone, new conductors, etc, etc... she says it herself in a video from Dallas, she never felt comfortable singing there, and it shows, and she didn't like Bing, the director of the house in those years..... She wanted a cast, a team, and a long rehearsal period, and the Met didn't offer that ... and she was damm right!!!!... the only time she sung in New York and she was REALLY in top form, is the Pirate at Carnegie Hall in 1959.
Wow this remasterization you did is amazing, the sound is much clearer here! Please could you consider uploading the recording of the whole performance? This wasn't one of her best efforts as Lucia, but she owned every facet of this role, every word and note is sung in the most meaningful and also beautiful sense, beauty and expression are perfectly matched. The crescendo in 4:13-4:23 leading to "Alfin son tua" is so full of pain, angst, repressed desire, like someone with a volcano erupting within, under an apparently fragile and romantic figure. Amazing.
I will upload a link with the Perfomance! But I would like to share by emails!! So everyone interested please just write a mail!! Since RU-vid doesn’t have a private mail box!
@@OperaMyWorld what is your emailadress? Would love to recieve the link to the whole opera :) Thanks and you really did a great job! Very good Quality :) Thanks from the Netherlands, Bram
Nessun essere umano prima oggi e domani potrà cantare come Maria anche le più brave di oggi Netr ekbo Dambrau sono solo i mille miglia da come cantava la Divinissima!
Always a real pleasure to hear something «new» of Maria. Thanks for sharing this moving document. Do you know if the Norma sung by Maria with Del Monaco at the Met in 56 exists? It would be a magnificent document. Grazie mille😊🙏🙏
Wonderful. Callas voice was indeed astonishing. The version with Joan Sutherland / Alfredo Kraus at the Met is also stunning. Callas and Sutherland were the 2 best sopranos of the XX century.
Having never been a Callas fan, I have to say that this is the very best I’ve ever heard her, except,and sorry to all her real fans, she still had that wobble on the highest ( not very high) notes, but otherwise a lovely rendition.
Dopo un’interpretazione del genere lamentarsi per la mancanza di un acuto è come notare che su una tovaglia preparata in modo perfetto si vede una macchiolina in un angolo!
Not her best Lucia, too much vibrato, short breath control, and she avoids the high Eb6. Refer to the magnificent 1955 Berlin performance under Karajan.
