Highlighted comments from the commenters below:
-From Shahrdad:
William Weaver was a young man living in Italy when he and a friend wen to Naples to hear Callas in Nabucco: "Orchestra and Chorus outdid themselves in generous vigor; but our attention was focused on Callas, in the role of the wicked, treacherous, finally penitent Abigaille, a complex, unlikeable, and yet moving character. What I remember most vividly of Callas's interpretation that evening was at the end of her great scene, "Ben io t'invenni," in which, having stolen a vital document, she is free to usurp the throne and expresses her determination to do that very thing.
The set was a challenge: a huge, steep flight of steps, with the throne on a confined platform at the top. Callas began the aria below the steps, then as she continued singing, she moved up the high flight, occasionally descending a step or two, as if physically to express her lingering hesitation about her plan; but then, as the aria ended, she climbed straight to the little platform and , on the final, ringing high note, she sat down squarely on the throne. Sitting down is not the usual way a soprano concludes a great scene. More likely, she was stride toward the footlights, or raise a triumphant arm, or--in more pathetic cases--faint. But Callas's taking her seat was such an unusual and dramatic assertion of power that the audience gave her an ovation.
During the aria--indeed, during the whole performance--I had admired Callas's apparent self-assurance. Unlike most of her colleagues, she sang the whole difficult and (in the way of Italian theaters then and now) probably under-rehearsed role without ever looking at the conductor. And yet she was always perfectly in time, every attack was clean, precise. Similarly, when she had to negotiate that menacing flight of stairs, she never once looked at her shoes of raised her skirts timidly, to avoid a stumble. She displayed total confidence.
Later I learned--as all her fans did--the simple reason why she never looked at the conductor: she couldn't see him. tremendously near-sighted, during rehearsals she wore big, thick glasses and learned every position, every movement as thoroughly as she learned her notes. Then once the performance was in progress, she moved entirely on instinct. It was an example of how she was able to turn a defect into a positive merit."
-From Khalid Al-Thani:
Early Verdi was bel canto on steroids indeed! And no one ever handled the fatal demands of the role like la Callas. It was suggested by Serafin for EMI to record this role in her first batch of studio recordings but what a loss it never happened
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10 сен 2024
