Comments for re-visioning callas :: marion lignana rosenberg

Comment on Une revenante by VS

VS — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 21:34:31 +0000

First, it’s lovely to see you here again, though I’ve been reading your reviews as they arrived: if it wasn’t obvious already, I’m a fan.

Second, is there anything not to like about this excerpt? No sobs and gulps as in the “Trovatore” you once posted, and no interpolations that aren’t cast-iron tradition (whether one approves of them or not) in this role. No scenery-chewing here. Those high pianissimi are beautiful, and she times the phrases and fermatas hypnotically. It doesn’t have quite the terrifying rightness of the 1955 Berlin recording, but then what does? I think it’s stunning.

Third, I saw the broadcast of Parsifal, and yes, it was stunning music-making all round; Mattei was wonderul, and I held my breath right through the seduction in Act II. If I can’t say I enjoyed it anything like as much as you did, it’s because I’ve never been in love with the work itself.

Comment on Callas sings Thomas by Ninetta

Ninetta — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 18:07:13 +0000

I can’t believe I discover your blog so late! This is what I’ve always wanted to read about Callas. I spend a half of day reading your notes. Can’t wait for the book. Great job, I became your devoted fan!

Comment on Callas sings Thomas by VS

VS — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 15:29:30 +0000

Glad you’re safe and well!

Comment on “Inventing Elsa Maxwell” by VS

VS — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:51:56 +0000

I’ve just come across an essay of yours, “The Sound and the Fury”, from the Women’s Review of Books in 2000! I was very pleased.

Comment on “Inventing Elsa Maxwell” by VS

VS — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 10:50:41 +0000

Oh, I read the excerpt of the Sam Staggs book that showed up on the Opera News site, and it seemed gossipy and dull. I can never read celeb- or high-society biographies anyway.

You make the new Die Schöpfung recording sound exciting indeed.

Comment on Callas as Medea by mlr

mlr — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 01:41:37 +0000

Angelo, just curious: Do you think that the tape of Callas singing “Forza,” supposedly from 1976, is correctly dated? The sound is wretched, but she does seem to be in blazing voice. To my mind, that rather supports what Gobbi said: that Callas never lost her voice, just her nerve. (The recording is supposed to be from a rehearsal or coaching session.)

Comment on Callas as Medea by Angelo

Angelo — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:24:17 +0000

I have to agree with Marion here. Callas only “actually” reviving Armida is a fact (?) that obscures the truth of how important she was in reevaluating bel canto works.

As to the Callas vocal decline… I think a fact that gets overlooked is that Callas had gained a considerable amount of weight from 1949 onwards. In fact, she might have weighed the same in her 1949 zenith as in her 1954 “decline.” So weight is not everything! Yes the FORZA manifests a wobbly tone, most evident at the end of the second act. But what about the Berlin LUCIA? Even in 1958, the same year as the Verdi LP, the voice in the Los Angeles concert is strong and controlled.

The Callas voice never recovered after 1959, but the point that I, and I think Marion, is trying to make is that it did not have to be that way, and it was not solely caused by weight loss. It was a disastrous confluence of the weight loss, wear on the voice from two decades of singing, stress from “riding the tiger,” and not practicing after joining Onassis’s jet set.

The 73-74 concerts are indeed very, very vocally frayed, but I don’t see them as a disaster. In some concerts, notably in 74, the basic elements of the voice are there enough to deliver and enlighten the music. And the voice she had from the very beginning is laid bare: a sepulchral chest, a weak passagio, and maybe five good notes C5 to G5. What singer hasn’t playing the great game of concealment, stretching the voice to encompass the full range demanded? Goodness knows Sutherland did it with everything lower than D5!

Comment on Maria Callas sings Delibes II by Roy

Roy — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:43:48 +0000

It is indeed from the astonishing 1952 RAI Turin concert in which she also sang Lady Macbeth, Abigaille, and her first Lucia mad scene. Her diamantine staccati are extraordinary and there’s a whopping final top E natural. Re saris, I often thought she looked quite ‘oriental’ in Henry Koerner’s portrait of her, done for the cover of Time magazine at the time of her Met debut in 1956, and her red stole is somewhat sari-like. This is the best portrait of her to my mind. It was on show at the National Portrait Gallery in London some years ago and is quite covetable!

Comment on Maria Callas in Princess Grace biopic by mlr

mlr — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 21:32:30 +0000

Your guess on Callas: a wig or hairpiece, or had her hair grown back by 1964? (She cut it in 1959.)

I have no idea, but ladies back in the day really liked wigs. Nowadays who wears them besides the Ga?

Comment on Maria Callas in Princess Grace biopic by VS

VS — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 15:10:10 +0000

I’m not excited at the prospect of this biopic, but I do like the coiffes in this photograph.