Maria Callas "Tosca" by Giacomo Puccini act.2 part.5 Tosca: Maria Callas Cavaradossi: Renato Cioni Scarpia: Tito Gobbi Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Convent Garden: Carlo Felice Cillario (1964) Directed by: Franco Zeffirelli
As one critic so aptly said, she did not discover the knife, the knife discovered her. Her Tosca will never be equaled. So fortunate this was filmed so further generations will see what great acting can be in opera.
Such intensity! Callas pulled absolutely no punches here. The way she gave that knife the long staredown...the flinch when Scarpia calls her name after. And then, like a rattlesnake, BOOM! Simply earth-shattering. There is no other like Callas. Brava, La Divina!
How does she do it? All the others I heard struggle in the parlando passages. With her it flows so naturally. She keeps the tension so alive (of course she has a congenial partner). Callas was unique. As for the 13 thumbs down those "people" don t know anything about music and opera.....
Maybe those 14 who gave a thumbs down wish that Callas and Gobbi could have been joined in this production by Di Stefano. After the brilliant 1953 Tosca recording with Callas Gobbi and Di Stefano it is a shame they could not bring all three together for a staged Tosca production.
What a lot of people do not know is that Tosca was not a favorite role and opera of Callas. She actually performed it infrequently. Gobbi on the other hand performed the role of Scarpia 879 times and Tosca was the opera of his long awaited Metropolitan Opera debut with Zinka Milanov as Tosca and Giuseppe Di Stefano as Cavaradossi
How I envy your having seen the iconic performance of Tosca. No one could perform Tosca or Scarpia after this. Can't you just feel her terror, trying to do everything quickly enough to escape before being discovered.
Muore, muroe....e morrrtoooo! I love this bit and the music that comes right after, it is the epitome of drama! I would even fall dead on my feet if I'd ever come accross Maria singing this one! She is the best Tosca of all times!
That moment when she puts down the glas and sees the knife..... it all appears before her inner eye... desolation, death, horror, fate. She should have gotten an OSCAR for those few seconds of concentrated acting alone
After Gobbi in this role there is no other. Why ? Such a menacing tone and superb acting 🎭 This falls exactly into his best notes. Above F Gobbi struggles to match his luxurious lower tones. High Baritones like Merrill , MacNeil and Milnes don’t come into this realm of greatness. Nor does any Tenor like the young Di Stefano in the I think 1953 to 56 recordings have the beautiful tone he possessed. As regards to Callas, she is TOSCA and never has had a rival in this stunning rendition. Bravo 👏
Callas is truly the devine one. Not only was she born with the rare soprano assoluta voice, but her interpretative skills are beyond any of her peers. She might not have the most beautiful instrument nor the best technique, but her understanding of characters and lyrics and her ability to interpret this knowledge are just mezmerizing and simply jaw dropping to witness. Every word that she sings she manipulates to give it meaning. Whether it is adding the right amount of intensity, anger, and drama with her naturally dark, heavy dramatic voice, or exposing her fragility and vulnerability as a woman through her pianissimo lines, she can do no wrong. Many people are blessed with one talent, whether it is being born with a beautiful timbre, a great vocal capability, or a great acting talent. But in the case of Callas, she has two. She is an amazing singer and an astonishing actress who, in fact, puts to shame many of the 20th century Classic Hollywood actresses. Today we have Meryl Streep as the most respected film actress and perhaps the late Whitney Houston as the defining voice of her time, but in the 20th century, Callas was both The Actress and The Voice. She is simply La Divina.
So gloriously tragic! And it was even more 'tragic' in the production where some fool had taken the retractable knife away, and left a real one! Tito was blooded for real, and being very naughty, pretended to be really dead for a few seconds...
Wow. I've known ABOUT Callas for a long time, but never especially cared for opera. Then saw a performance of La Boheme up close, and after the performance we spent hours talking with a young tenor. Here, Callas is awe-inspiring.
Muori dannato! And then that scene when she places the two candles and the cross on the body before her exit. It devastates me every time. Callas was divine, and Puccini had an incredibile empathy. I am grateful to both
One magical moment for me that truly summarizes Tosca happens 5:46 on this video. When Scarpia callas her name, Tosca is started, and when he says "Finalmente mia," there is this indescribable look on Callas's face that says everything that is going on in her mind: it's a look of dread and resignation at the same time. She dreads having to stab and kill Scarpia, but she also knows she has no other choice.
For me, Tosca by Callas is the greatest performance in theatrical history and Callas was a Genius of Theatrical Charisma. Callas is incomparable, from the moment of her entrance, you cannot take your eyes off her. Fortunately, she had the Brilliant Tito Gobbi to play off of. THE GREATEST PERFORMANCE IN THEATRICAL HISTORY, truly genius acting with voice and body, a Masterpiece.
You might be interested in knowing Callas was never really fond of Tosca. It was not a favorite role for her. She went long stretches of her career without singing it.
da mucha tristeza pensar q ya nunca podremos volver a ver a la Callas en operas como poliuto ( que en estos momentos estoy escuchando por milésima vez jaja) medea, norma, il pirata, etc. y como dices ella revivio operas como Anna bolena, medea, la vestale y otras q no recuerdo ahora su obra se perdio para esta generacion q solo nos limitamos a escucharla mas no verla actuar pero mi imaginacion m ayuda personalmente
Wow, this sends chills up and down my spine. Vocally she is not at her peak ( before 1955 before she lose all that weight ). But who cares. This is one of the greatest achievement in Callas's career and one of the most spellbinding performances of all time.
bringing news to you it was not a murder scene, we refer to this scene as the act of self-defense, murder suggests tosca was a criminal and that would be insulting not only to the music but to history
maria callas dijo alguna vez que ella no creia en las peliculas de opera porque era tonto verla en casa ya que no hay la emocion que transmite el teatro la presencia de los artistas el telon los aplausos, etc y tambien lo dijo Visconti aunq Zeffirelli pensaba diferente puesto q filmo muchas operas
Saw this years ago...then saw that dress in Venice in an exhibition and just had to touch the big red stone on the front just to come back and watch and say....
@Diegooover gracias, pero me refiero al final de la ópera, éste es el final del segundo acto...como sea, qué bueno que subes estos videos plenos de belleza y de sentimiento
The moment of decision a few moments after 4:30 in this vid. Zeffirelli's direction had the house transfixed with Callas' discovery that the dagger was the way she was going to do it . . ! So much for le droit du seigneur !
I know it's not okay to go to certain singer's video and just talk about how bad they are, I hate it myself, but sometimes just by seeing how closeminded some people are I just can't...
***** Well imagine what is it like for people who aren't Callas's fanboys and try to enjoy other singer's work but under almost every opera-related video on yt is at least one comment saying that Callas sung/would have sing it better. That is simply annoying.
Qué falta grabación de esta función de tosca de puccini con María callas tito gobbi como franco zeffirelli nograbo firmo completa está ópera tosca de puccini y la tv está completa grabada por la radio y editada cd y el único acto 2 en dvd y bluray críticas del crítico José Andrés Maza espero que encuentre el acto la ópera tosca de puccini completa
a ver que hay de nuevo en tu blog personalmente he escuchado casi todo lo grabado de LA CALLAS xD incluso ensayos de grabacion y de puestas en escena es bueno encontrar a alguien como tu que sepa de LA CALLAS estare encantado de entrar a tu blog para hablar de la musica que era de lo que mas le gustaba hablar a Maria
@lateralex90 Oooooooohhhhh that would be hardcore!!!!!! I would have killed to see that, they made a GORGEOUS onstage couple, both as performers of Belcanto as well as their looks... I'd LOVE to see that!!!
@AlexCabrer87 eso si...ademas a callas no le gustaba que la filmaran de por si...y justamente un año antes que se grabara esto, grabo la opera completa en paris en sonido estereo con georges petre la cual iba a servir de banda sonora para una pelicula de la opera dirigida por zeffirelli...pero luego la productora trunco el proyecto por que querian que la grabacion la dirigiera herbert von karajan...pesadeses :/
y Visconti se apendejo al no filmar ninguna de sus producciones con ella; Anna Bolena por ejemplo solo se represento en las funciones con callas en 57 y 58. y ameritaba grabacion ya que fue exhumacion de la obra en ese entonces. La Scala represento de nuevo el montaje en los 80´s con Montserrat caballe y hasta ahi...mi esperanza es que la vuelvan a reponer en estos tiempos y ahora si se Filmen las Funciones!!! XD
A VER SI ME DEJARIAS TU FB PA PODER SEGUIR CHARLANDO D LA MUSICA... Y UNA PREGUNTA SABES SI EXISTE UNA GRABACION DE VIDEO DE LA SONAMBULA CON LA CALLAS HE ESCUCHADO POR AHI
si..pero en fin. ya que mencionas que andas escuchando musica, te dejo el nombre de de mi blog por si gustas descargar algo.. recientemente me cerraron el 4shared pero resubi varias cosas..de echo en el blog deje un post donde esta todo lo que no pude subir de nuevo XD lesbijouxandcolors.blogspot.
pero no m dijiste cual era tu blog jaja o te referias a tu canal de youtube? yo tambien tengo material solo q creo q m da algo de pereza hacer los videos jajaj pero ya estare subiendo videos
poes ahi si te dejare mal ya que el "inteligente" de zeffirelli solo grabo el 2 acto, eso si me decepciono bastante cuando lo supe :/ ademas esto se grabo en el 65, el mismo año ke filmo su boheme en la scala dirgida por karajan y a color! .__. pienso que pudo haber quedado mejor esta tosca completa aunke estuviese a blanco y negro.
precisamente la intencion de Zefirelli era dejar testimonio de la mejor actuacion de callas. podria decirse que fue como una toma de prueba para Zeffirelli el video d convent garden, para ver como le iba hacer. de echo hay mucho mas dramatismo en la grabacion con Bergonzi que iba a ser soundtrack, que en la grabacion de Victor De Sabata: eso sumado a la actuacion de Callas y en una pelicula a Color Sin duda alguna hoy tendriamos La Tosca de Referencia en DvD.
