I had no idea how privileged I was, at age 17, to hear her sing this at the Edinburgh Festival, in 1957, when I was just starting my degree at Edinburgh University. She was unforgettable, and I have always loved her amazing singing - including some years later, on the stage of a Paris Concert Hall, where I could almost have reached out to her from my front row, as she sang, alone and with minimal accompaniment…
It's a voice from another Galaxy! Nobody else could do what Callas did in the finale! She started singing her final thrill with very delicate "piano", gradually, intensified it with the immense "crescendo" and then her voice exploded with electrifyingly powerful B flat outburst!!! Her voice could sound, incredibly, tender and delicate and also, volcanically, explosive, so that it'll overpower the whole chorus, orchestra and all other singers on stage! Like in Aida in the first act finale in Mexico City. And she did it dozens of time in multiple numbers of operas she sang. She is our collective gift from Heavens forever!!!
She killed these roles, in the scense that no one has ever been able to bring them to life the way callas did… her voice is in the middle of sleeping and awakening, is just amazing what she was able to do with such a frail instrument.
Hello my friend, I'm noticing that 4 people gave this perfornace a dislike. So very sad. that they can't truly appreciate the GREATEST OPERA VOCAL ARTIST IN THE 20TH CENTURY. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK. VIVA LA DIVINA REGINA 👑💙 PER SEMP. Arnold Bourbon Amaral
As Callas began to sing "Ah! non giunge" all of the lights in the auditorium of La Scala were switched on and blazed forth. Callas sent that incredible voice out into the auditorium. And before the final note was sung the audience rose, applauded, and cheered. After she completed the finale the applause and cheers went on and on. The audience was electrified by her performance.
@@danawinsor1380 I was seventeen years old. I was very fortunate indeed. I am now 84 years old and I remember. She was unique. Gian Carlo, Florence, Italy.
I was fascinated when I first listened to a recording of Callas in Sonnambula. Her difficult-to-describe voice, which always seemed primarily dramatic, singing those lovely, light bel canto strains was a revelation, as I found many of her recordings. Those light, staccato "bell tones" during the repeat of "Sovra il sen" (sp.?) were such a delightful unexpected moment, something to this day I have never heard from another artist.
I had a very dear friend who did not at least at first like Maria Callas, as a matter of fact he made fun of her singing in the 60s , but I heard great drama from her, even in pieces that were not great vocally. So I bought her studio of Norma, and played it and was just astonished with her singing, and what an impact it made on me as a 16 year old listener. The reason Callas was the greatest singer of the 20th century is simple, she was simply a phenomenon! She was so good she put the rest to shame, and she did it with high sublime art , where perfection counted.. She set the bar very high for herself and for others to follow. None have reached it. Thats's the fact. Her recording of Ah Non Credea in 1965 is as good as this is. But by 1965 she could not sing the cabaletta, this way. Phenomenal!
Maria is the singers singer. She pays attention to every marking every nuance of text and wraps it in a gorgeous voice. No one else does these roles this well
This is my favorite night of callas somnambula... the ah non giunse is just a real masterpiece, a moment out of time she was certainly out pf out world at this moment of singing. Every sopranis should listen and work with this amazing singing in mind.... can we really believe the same Lady was singing medea and tosca and girondins ?? Callas is just the real diva assoluta.
I agree with the comment immediately below. We seem to have reached a point where some people do not grasp the meaning of opera at all. Some seem to think it is just a concert with pretty clothes and stage decorations; some seem to think that it is a sort of extra loud pop singing that isn't any harder than tune by Bjork or Pink [no reflection on their skills in their own genre] or, spoiled by amplification in non-classical musical modes, they do not understand the achievement of even mediocre opera singers let alone Callas. Also, the overtaking of the singer's role by overly egotistical conductors [Gergiev in particular] who think they can take a good voice [no matter whether you like her or not, in the right role Netrebko can sing beautifully] and "make a new Callas" out of it while ignoring the musical traditions and types of training that are actually need to sing the music Callas sings. Finally, rather like the divide between liberals and conservatives in politics, the divide between expectations for the "beautiful voice" and the "singing actor" has become such a deep chasm that it sometimes feels that composers nowadays must write for one or the other thus preventing the development of a contiuation of the living tradition which Callas represented.
Watt: Can't agree with u more. My brain is on absolute fire-- and melting down. Callas absolutely gave it all on this version: The trills were so very free, borderline pure madness, as if her life was at stake, as if her very existence totally depended on it, that level of vulnerability in her voice, that she was prepared to venture into.... and that, sets her apart from us mere mortals, cos for her, "vissi d'arte"...
Amina was a wonderful role for her!!! She had a great affinity for the Bellini cantilena! Fabulous Callas!! Technically amazing too: Her diminuendo on the high E-flat before the repeat of "Ah! Non giunge" is uncanny!! And she did it in every performance after the Bernstein 1955 role debut, that is, it was not a one time thing!!!!
Decent or good sound! I saw her Sonnambula 2 time at La Scala.The great poet Montale wrote:la scena del sonnambulismo è una sua creazione,la cabaletta contiene un carillon stregato...
U lucky.. I was only a kid and had no idea who Maria Calkas was until a friend of mine introduced her to me in 1988 and fell in love her so hard! But I do listen other sopranos like Leontyne Price, Birgit Nielsen, Joan Suntherland, Mirella Freni and Monsterratt Canaletto!
Vincenzo Bellini,un geniu al operei ,dar in mod special al genului BellCanto in mod ferice a avut o intersectie fericita cu o cea mai superba voce din sec. xx ,Maria Callas !
Buna ziua, Sunt bucuros sa vad si comentarii în limba română la aceasta inregistrare legendara a Mariei Callas, unica şi singura Callas. Eu sunt un fan român al fenomenalei dive, Gabriel D, Cu sincere salutări. Viva Maria
There are technical details of Callas' performances that I find interesting. First, Callas' intonation was so accurate that following an unaccompanied segment such as a cadenza, she was always in tune with the orchestra (no one is perfect -- I realize there may have been a rare exception) As for artistry, I don't know why her interpretation of parts such as La Sonnambula are so spellbinding. I'm afraid I can no longer enjoy other sopranos' renditions many of Callas' roles, no matter how great the artist.
I don't think they knew what they were hearing at that performance - the space and acoustics in 'Ah! non credea mirarti'... (probably closest to what was heard in the past; her true ancestors). That live recording was probably the period that was the last flip between the good old voice and the new one.
Thank you for this incandescent performance by Maria. A minor correction: I believe this performance took place at La Scala on March 7, 1957 not on April 7th. According to several sources that have chronicled the diva's live performances, she sang Amina at La Scala in March, 1957 for a total of 6 performances: March 2, 7, 10, 12, 17 and 20. I believe this excerpt is from the March 7th performance. Incidentally, this run of Sonnambula coincides with the recording of the opera by Callas for EMI which took place in Milan between March 3-9, 1957. The following month, April, 1957, Maria appeared at La Scala in the fabulous production of Donizetti's Anna Bolena, a recording of which can be had from the April 14th premiere performance.
To my knowledge, the only live recorded performances of Callas singing sonnambula were at la scala in 1955, koln in 1957 and Edinburgh on 1957. My guess is this is from the latter.
I think it was the La Scala forces and production that toured to Edinburgh and to Köln. In 1957, she did Bolena, Iphigenia, and Ballo at Scala theater. I don't think she sang the opera at La Scala again after her 1955 performances.
This is the recording of a performance in Köln at Das Großes Haus, July 04, 1957 (normally written in Europe 04/07/1957, as stated in the title), by the La Scala company. Black Disc BJR 152 {3LPS}; Historical Recording Enterprises HRE 276-3 {3LPS}; foyer FO-1005 {3LPS} (1980); Paragon DSV 52006 {3LPS} (1980). Compact Disc Legato H503-2 {2CDS}; Melodram MEL 26003 {2CDS}; DiVa 1133-1134 {2CDS}(2000); EMI Classics 7243 56267-2 {2CDS} (2003); Sakkaris PRSR 279 {2CDS}; Myto MCD 00132 {2CDS} (2007).
I heard her in August ‘57 when in Edinburgh to matriculate for my first term at the University. I believe it would have been a Festival performance - absolutely thrilling for a ‘wee Falkirk Bairn’…
Where was this performance Dresden, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Berlin,Cologne, Dusseldorf . I know LA Scala 💙👑🎹🎵🎶🎼 VIVA LA CALLAS. Thank you my friend. Arnold Bourbon Amaral
@@arnoldamaral7406 Cologne, July 1957, visiting with La Scala. She is in excellent voice, just as good if not even better that 2 years earlier in Milan under Leonard Bernstein. That high Eb diminuendo at 14:45 followed by a perfect chromatic descending scale is astonishing.
Deine Augen verzerren das Hören. Sumi Jo ist sehr gut, bloss beim Hören (mit der akustischen Auswertung des Gesang und der Musikalität) würde sie einige Stufen tiefer fallen als MC.
