Maria Callas - Vieni! T'affretta! - Rome 1952 GREAT SOUND! 

Please Robert, tell us more about the roles you saw her play in Chicago and New York. Have you seen an entire I Puritani for example ? Thanks for your answers !

The first season I saw the second performance of Norma with Simionato, Picchi and Rossi-Lemeni. Rescigno conducted all of Maria's performances in Chicago. Serafin conducted Tebaldi and others. Then Traviata with Gobbi and Simoneau and finally Lucia with Guelfi and di Stefano. It was during the mad scene after the long cadenza with flute that she received the well-deserved 12-minute record setting standing ovation. I saw one performance of each role. My piano teacher gave me a ticket to see an 8 hour dress rehearsal of Traviata. Can you imagine! The second season I became an usher and saw two performances of I Puritani with Callas, di Stefano, Rossi-Lemeni and Bastianini. Then two Trovatores with Bjoerling, Stignani/Turner and Bastianini/Weede. Finally, the three Butterflies with di Stefano. It was the first and only times she did this role and each performance was entirely different as the character developed into the final perfection of the third performance. Of course there were tremendous ovations for her and for many others. It wasn't unusual at that time for other artists to receive 5 and 6 minutes of applause. Carol Fox imported and entire opera company (La Scala) to launch Lyric Theatre (as it was then called) - singers, conductors, productions, stage directors. I saw her Lucia a year later in New York and there were some vocal problems starting at that time that were not apparent in Chicago. She came back to do a benefit concert in Chicago with orchestra which I attended. And then I saw the farewell concert in Los Angeles. Although the voice was pretty much gone by the the magic was still there and the audience just would not let her go. But, I've gone on too long about all of this. I'll just say that if you love Callas on record you know just a part of her. Read the reviews in the Metropolitan Opera Archives and watch the 2nd act of Tosca from London here on youtube and you will get a glimpse of the real Callas.

Thank you very much for your answer ! It wasn't long enough for me, it is never ! You have had such an amazing luck to have seen her in the best period, circa 1954-1956, in her most reknown dramatic roles. I wish I could get a video of her, like the ones for Tosca, but in her signature roles like Norma, Trovatore, Medea (!), or Anna Bolena. I'm trying to follow your advice. I started reading Italian and American reviews on divina records and on the Met website. So interesting. I didn't know she sung Lucia in 1959 transposing the Spargi d'amaro pianto, one tone lower. Who would have thought she'd accept that? I was born too late for Callas, and Pippo, and Björling, Simionato, Pavarotti etc. But I do my best to see the best singers nowadays, I want memories like yours, strong emotions music produces, I want to fall in love, die and kill thousands of times, so that one day, when I'm older, I'll be able to share souvenirs with amateurs, like you did with me. Thank you for that. Grüberova, Devia, Sumi Jo, Juan Diego Flores, Dessay, Netrebko in Trovatore, Lemieux, Kunde, Bronwlee, Nucci, some of them are alreaday legendary, and I can say "I heard them, saw them", I know I belong to the lucky ones. Each time I'm in the theatre, during the ouverture, I remind of that. We're lucky. Vincent, from Paris

I was indeed lucky to have grown up in a Golden Age and to have seen so many Callas performances, and Tebaldi, Nilson, Bjoerling, Gobbi, Krause and so many others. But I was a teenager and adults at that time talked about the previous Golden Age in Chicago with Mary Garden, Rosa Raisa (the first Turandot), Tito Schipa, Edith Mason, Frida Leider, Chaliapin, Ruffo,etc. So, we have only rudimentary recorded performances of these legendary singers and no films. I did see Gigli on his farewell tour and was very impressed how a singer could float a tone across a large opera house. At that time the Civic Opera House was the largest in the U.S. and is still the second largest after the Met. But the great old Auditorium where the Chicago Opera companies performed before 1929 is still operating in all of its glory and seated about 4200. I saw two performances there a long time ago when it reopened. Someone observed that the greatest performances always happened ten years before we started going to the opera, or symphony, or ballet. I was fortunate to usher at Orchestra Hall during Fritz Reiner's tenure and saw so many memorable concerts there as well. Richter's American debut, Horowitz, and more. It's a continuum and we just jump in the stream when we can and see the best that's available as you are doing now. Best wishes to you.

Robert Palmer did her voice sound different live than it did in recordings. Some people's do like birgit Nilsson

The concert did NOT take place in Rome, buti in TORINO, orchestra members have testified to that.

+bodiloto Estoy totalmente de acuerdo con usted: inimitable, inolvidable, incomparable, insustituible,inalcanzable. Me gustaría conocer su opinión sobre Jonas Kafmann. Atentos saludos.

+Lino Anzoletti Cual es la razón. A mi Kaufmann no me gusta pues engola, no tiene una línea de canto pareja. Pero el quizas tenga otros argumentos para aprobarlo o rechqazarlo y es un maestro.

Si,ai raggione Bodiloto !

Esattamente dello stesso parere

So agreed!!!!!

Perfectly expressed--'if you're lucky', which we weren't! 'Like a cow wading through the mud'. She eclipsed Roberta Peters in the public taste the way 'the dullard moon obscures the radiant sun.' ha...

Absolutely true.

mine too .....

John Falstaff gencer also

@@angelabender8132 Gencer? Are you kidding? Definitely second string, no matter what Stefan Zucker says about "emanaziones." If you compare any--ANY--of Gencer's performances with Callas's of the same role, it is beyond clear that Gencer was a "wanna be." Aida? Anna Bolena? Lady Macbeth? Please...!

@@jamesnickoloff6692 "In vieni t'affretta" La Gender is equivalent or superior to others Her ferocity seems to be unequaled

Die beste Lady Macbeth überhaupt,grandios.dämonisch,teuflisch,machtgeil,Superb.

@@jamesnickoloff6692 I think that Gencer was a very great artist. I have all of her "pirate" recordings. An incredible voice and obvious acting ability. Of course she wasn't Callas, but then who is? Callas was unique, the greatest singer of all time.

Yes! To listen to other sopranos/mezzos in some roles one must first prepare by telling oneself this will not be Callas but she would want me to hear the greatness in this person's voice. Then one can listen freely.

You said it all! How I wish she was still alive. But she does live ... In our hearts.

SIEMPRE honesta

Kas gali buti graziau uz jos dainavima?

LA TUA LINGUA E DIFICILE DI RICONOSCERE

grazie signora !

I think today they try to sing it all but do everything mostly poorly. One has to have a voice to sing these different operas from different periods. Few can do it with the vocal equipment they possess and the training that is not very good either or the artists are not the best. Perhaps it is unfair as we only hear the best of the last century. The mediocre are long forgotten!

Alternating all those different tessiture...that was what ultimately destroyed her voice...

@Annunziata Castro, pero' nessuno vuole ammettere che il paragone con "l'altra" era ridicolo e oggi ancor piu'...ciao Annunziata e buoni ascolti. F

And for learning chest notes.

@@ms.chaewon9231 You & your chest notes my friend. VIVA CALLAS👑 VIVA HERNANDEZ👑💙 LAS UNICAS AMIGO MIO. ADIOS Arnold Bourbon Amaral

@@ms.chaewon9231 That would be Elvira de Hidalgo

Only Callas executed that line perfectly with unprecedented ease

What nonsensical fake news. Everyone who can read knows she grew up in New York. Check your facts!

Daniel Ng NETRBETKO HAS HORRIBLE PLACEMENT. AND WHEN SHE WAS PREPARING FOR AIDA SHE SAID THAT TEBALDI IS HER FAVORITE AIDA. BECAUSE AS U WELL KNOW TEBALDI SANG MACBETH 50 TIMES IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. AND SHE WAS MARIA CALLAS RIVAL " IN HER DREAMS" THAT SHOULD EXPLAIN EVERYTHING U NEED TO KNOW ABOUT NETREBKO. AND IT GETS BETTER NEXT YEAR NEBTREKO WILL TRY TO SING IL PURATINI. IT DOESN'T GET ANY MORE BEZARE THAN THIS. THIS IS WHAT WILL HAPPENED CALLAS & SUTHERLAND WILL COME BACK FROM THE DEAD AN SNATCH NETREBKO BALD HEADED! IN THE FIRST ACT. NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL GETTING YOUR MONEY'S WORTH FOR YOUR. $ 200.00 TICKET. ARNOLD BOURBON AMARAL excuse my typos I use the microphone when I make a comment later days

INCOMPREHENSIBLE JUJU!!! THANK U CALLASFAN THESE POST ARE SOMETHING TRULY FANTASTIC!! ARNOLD BOURBON AMARAL

Si ,Roberto Torrini ! Questo ruolo ,con questa voce e creata del MAESTRO VERDI ! Scusami la mia lingua italiana !