It is ashame the fidelity of this recording is not better. Her voice is so complete, intact, flawless, so unassailable in '54. (With the exception of the intrusive fioritura at the end), I would argue this is not only her best rendition of "Tu che invoco", but one the the best versions ever recorded, pace Ponselle.
+Arbiter Veritatis Actually, I too like more the first part, but her way of attacking the fioriture is so neat, without hammering each note (like la Bartoli, sorry Bartoli), and yet the notes can all be clearly distinguished.
+Fidulario Rabel I despise Bartoli's way of singing coloratura passages. She doesn't sing but aspirates every notes, hahahahahaha, and shoots the notes like a machine gun. I think that style started with Marilyn Horne, and now almost everyone does it.
+Shahrdad I despise coloratura passages that are sang this way, it makes them far too pronounced within the musical line and legato gets completely ignored. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf always maintained that when singing coloratura 'don't let notes stick out anywhere at all'. It must be sewn into the phrases like liquid silk.
jmiller05 I agree. They must always serve the mood of the piece being sung. Never be out of place or purely self-gratifying.. I believe even la Callas, who should have known better, indulged in this sort of narcissism in live performances. Her studio recordings are more "orthodox."
Well sometimes a little theatrics isn't a bad thing, provided you prove you can actually sing what the score demands more often than not. A lot of singers simply added coloratura because they couldn't sing what the composer wanted- at all. That's the difference.
According to the first notes, I hear the hand of an excellent conductor - he understands the meaning and nature of the music, and in addition to the voice of Callas conducts. Bravo Votto!
From what I read, Callas asked Ghiringelli for a revival of La Vestale. I also feel that because Ponselle was her idol and sang Vestale at the MET and also at Teatro Communale in Firenze, it could have prompted Callas to add Vestale to her repertoire. Giulia suits her perfectly, but which role doesn't, given her incredible vocal and interpretive gifts. The vocal line is perfectly executed and the intensity heightens the drama. She had lost about 80 lbs at this point in her career, and despite what many people say about her voice being affected by the weight loss, it is easy to detect here that she still has vocal power in reserve. Just listen to that blazing high C at the end.
At this point, her voice still had some of the heft of her heavier days, but the sound was slimmer, and the top had more edge to it. When you listen to her sing the exact same aria in her RAI concert of 1956, you can hear how much power the voice had continued to lose. I'd been happy if she had been able to keep this state of the voice for the next ten years. Walter Legge wrote about how she would listen to recordings of her heavier days and try to return to the old vocal "positions" she used back then. But of course, to do that, she would have needed the bigger, stronger body.
She didn’t lose power until the Paris Normas, then the voice was in trouble. Contrary to all the armchair prima donnas, she simply refined her technique after 1955 and ceased to sing “like a wildcat”, modulating breath and volume more in accordance with what the composers had written. Many of her greatest performances occurred between 56 and 61. And when the score itself indicated fff, Callas never dissapointed!
@@maxinecornucci5953 Her voice changed right along with her body weight, though in 54, she still had a bit of the heft of her heavier days, though the wobble had started to creep in already, as can be heard in her Forza (Legge told her that they'd have to give out seasickness pills with the LP if she didn't get a handle on it). The voice was solid until '54, and then the continual decline began, though she still managed some incredible and unequalled performances till 1959, but the trajectory of the voice was obvious once she got thin. I was friends with Cesare Siepi who had sung with her many times, and he also talked about how the voice changed when she became so slim. There is an article in the New Yorker by Will Crutchfield called "The Story of a Voice." It's definitely worth reading.
Tu Che invoco con orrore, Dea tremenda, alfin m'ascolta; Questo misero mio core fa che possa respirar. Or che vedi il mio tormento ,la mie smanie, I miei contrasti, Deh! Ti basti - in me l'ardore puoi tu sola dissipar. Su questo sacro altare, che oltraggia il mio dolor, fremendo io porto la sacrilega mano. L'odioso aspetto mio pallida rende questa immortal fiamma: Vesta ricusa I voti miei; E m'urta il braccio suo lungi da lei. Amor, tu il vuoi, m'arrendo... Ma dove io porto il pie? E qual delirio, ohimè! Miei sensi invade? Invincibil potere A'Danni miei cospir; Mi stringe, mi trasporta... T'arresta: hai tempo ancor; sotto I tuoi passi la morte, o Giulia, stassi, la folgo sul tuo capo... Ma licinio e cola, posso mirarlo, favellargli, ascoltarlo, E il Timor mi trattiene?... Non piu; del mio delitto furore, amor, la pena han Gia prescrittio. Sospendette qualche istante la vendetta, O crudi numi, finche possa il caro amante coll'aspetto e i vaghi lumi questo soglie consolar. Poi somessa alla vostra possansa quella vita fatal che m'avanza sia l'ogetto del vostro furor
C'est une scène très difficile à bien chanter , à cause de la tessiture très tendue et de la rythmique .On est dans un récit avec de longues phrases à chanter ,il faut déclamer et chanter en même temps avec véhémence .Il faut une voix douce dans la première partie ,et très héroïque ensuite ,avec un rythme soutenu .Callas nous livre une interprétation historique tant vocalement que dramatiquement car elle s'empare littéralement de la partition et fait corps avec la musique .Et avec son tempérament ,elle met le feu sur la scène de la Scala .Magnifique témoignage de son Art .
MareForza9, si, Votto e' straordinario, forse una delle sue piu' belle direzioni in assoluto. Maria poi non ne parliamo. Serata di grazia. Beati chi c'era.
I wish this were in better sound. Callas's voice was already slimmer and a bit lighter than it was a year before, when she still had her normal weight on her. But she still uses a lot of the vocal positions of her heavier days and her voice pours forth passionately. Her 1956 concert performance is just as good, with a slightly lighter voice, a great high C at the end, and much better recording quality.
The sound is actually not all that bad. All the voices and details of the orchestra are well balanced and picked up. The only problem is the scratchiness when they get loud. It’s like hearing a radio broadcast with telephone poles nearby.
@@morganchan2465 I think Sondra Radvanovsky or Angela Meade could do it. They're not Callas but they're great singers in their own right with superb senses of drama.
@@davidattardmontalto6260 You are right to note Cerquetti's recording of O Re, from the same classical era as Vestale. It is perhaps one of the greatest single opera recordings of all time. It is unfortunate that she could not handle the pressures of being compared repeatedly to Callas and left the stage after only about 8 years of singing.
Only Callas could overcome such a powerful instrumentation
What a beautiful voice! This is opera!
,,,,,senza parole..... perfezione assoluta,, fraseggio dizione.. a me sconvolge questa aria, questa registrazione poi..
It is ashame the fidelity of this recording is not better. Her voice is so complete, intact, flawless, so unassailable in '54. (With the exception of the intrusive fioritura at the end), I would argue this is not only her best rendition of "Tu che invoco", but one the the best versions ever recorded, pace Ponselle.
+Arbiter Veritatis Actually, I too like more the first part, but her way of attacking the fioriture is so neat, without hammering each note (like la Bartoli, sorry Bartoli), and yet the notes can all be clearly distinguished.
+Fidulario Rabel I despise Bartoli's way of singing coloratura passages. She doesn't sing but aspirates every notes, hahahahahaha, and shoots the notes like a machine gun. I think that style started with Marilyn Horne, and now almost everyone does it.
+Shahrdad I despise coloratura passages that are sang this way, it makes them far too pronounced within the musical line and legato gets completely ignored.
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf always maintained that when singing coloratura 'don't let notes stick out anywhere at all'. It must be sewn into the phrases like liquid silk.
jmiller05 I agree. They must always serve the mood of the piece being sung. Never be out of place or purely self-gratifying.. I believe even la Callas, who should have known better, indulged in this sort of narcissism in live performances. Her studio recordings are more "orthodox."
Well sometimes a little theatrics isn't a bad thing, provided you prove you can actually sing what the score demands more often than not.
A lot of singers simply added coloratura because they couldn't sing what the composer wanted- at all. That's the difference.
According to the first notes, I hear the hand of an excellent conductor - he understands the meaning and nature of the music, and in addition to the voice of Callas conducts. Bravo Votto!
Qui la Callas è sovrumana 🤩
From what I read, Callas asked Ghiringelli for a revival of La Vestale. I also feel that because Ponselle was her idol and sang Vestale at the MET and also at Teatro Communale in Firenze, it could have prompted Callas to add Vestale to her repertoire. Giulia suits her perfectly, but which role doesn't, given her incredible vocal and interpretive gifts. The vocal line is perfectly executed and the intensity heightens the drama. She had lost about 80 lbs at this point in her career, and despite what many people say about her voice being affected by the weight loss, it is easy to detect here that she still has vocal power in reserve. Just listen to that blazing high C at the end.
At this point, her voice still had some of the heft of her heavier days, but the sound was slimmer, and the top had more edge to it. When you listen to her sing the exact same aria in her RAI concert of 1956, you can hear how much power the voice had continued to lose. I'd been happy if she had been able to keep this state of the voice for the next ten years. Walter Legge wrote about how she would listen to recordings of her heavier days and try to return to the old vocal "positions" she used back then. But of course, to do that, she would have needed the bigger, stronger body.
She didn’t lose power until the Paris Normas, then the voice was in trouble. Contrary to all the armchair prima donnas, she simply refined her technique after 1955 and ceased to sing “like a wildcat”, modulating breath and volume more in accordance with what the composers had written. Many of her greatest performances occurred between 56 and 61. And when the score itself indicated fff, Callas never dissapointed!
@@maxinecornucci5953 Her voice changed right along with her body weight, though in 54, she still had a bit of the heft of her heavier days, though the wobble had started to creep in already, as can be heard in her Forza (Legge told her that they'd have to give out seasickness pills with the LP if she didn't get a handle on it). The voice was solid until '54, and then the continual decline began, though she still managed some incredible and unequalled performances till 1959, but the trajectory of the voice was obvious once she got thin. I was friends with Cesare Siepi who had sung with her many times, and he also talked about how the voice changed when she became so slim. There is an article in the New Yorker by Will Crutchfield called "The Story of a Voice." It's definitely worth reading.
Tu Che invoco con orrore, Dea tremenda, alfin m'ascolta; Questo misero mio core fa che possa respirar. Or che vedi il mio tormento ,la mie smanie, I miei contrasti, Deh! Ti basti - in me l'ardore puoi tu sola dissipar. Su questo sacro altare, che oltraggia il mio dolor, fremendo io porto la sacrilega mano. L'odioso aspetto mio pallida rende questa immortal fiamma: Vesta ricusa I voti miei; E m'urta il braccio suo lungi da lei. Amor, tu il vuoi, m'arrendo... Ma dove io porto il pie? E qual delirio, ohimè! Miei sensi invade? Invincibil potere A'Danni miei cospir; Mi stringe, mi trasporta... T'arresta: hai tempo ancor; sotto I tuoi passi la morte, o Giulia, stassi, la folgo sul tuo capo... Ma licinio e cola, posso mirarlo, favellargli, ascoltarlo, E il Timor mi trattiene?... Non piu; del mio delitto furore, amor, la pena han Gia prescrittio. Sospendette qualche istante la vendetta, O crudi numi, finche possa il caro amante coll'aspetto e i vaghi lumi questo soglie consolar. Poi somessa alla vostra possansa quella vita fatal che m'avanza sia l'ogetto del vostro furor
C'est une scène très difficile à bien chanter , à cause de la tessiture très tendue et de la rythmique .On est dans un récit avec de longues phrases à chanter ,il faut déclamer et chanter en même temps avec véhémence .Il faut une voix douce dans la première partie ,et très héroïque ensuite ,avec un rythme soutenu .Callas nous livre une interprétation historique tant vocalement que dramatiquement car elle s'empare littéralement de la partition et fait corps avec la musique .Et avec son tempérament ,elle met le feu sur la scène de la Scala .Magnifique témoignage de son Art .
🍀MAESTRA!!! 🍀VERY, VERY NICE INTERPRETATION!!!🍀
🍀BRAWISSISSISSIMO MAESTRI!!!🍀
... che intensificazioni drammatiche ! ! !
la conduzione del Maestro Votto e superlativa.ti toglie il fiato.
MareForza9, si, Votto e' straordinario, forse una delle sue piu' belle direzioni in assoluto. Maria poi non ne parliamo. Serata di grazia. Beati chi c'era.
The dramatical intensity is at peak ~ My god ~
miracolo vocale e interpretativo... ineguagliabile...la DIVINA,,,,,
I wish this were in better sound. Callas's voice was already slimmer and a bit lighter than it was a year before, when she still had her normal weight on her. But she still uses a lot of the vocal positions of her heavier days and her voice pours forth passionately. Her 1956 concert performance is just as good, with a slightly lighter voice, a great high C at the end, and much better recording quality.
Extremely powerful
fantastica
insuperabile
Qué impresionante ! Ya no las hacen así.
By the way, did you know that La Vestale was the favourite opera of Napoleon Bonaparte?
magnifica.la potenza e assoluta.
Genio e Dea
Tomba 2...hai poi ascoltato Christoff e Talvela?
@@giudiciadanna4550Talvela in cos'era poi? 😂
Superbe
The sound is actually not all that bad. All the voices and details of the orchestra are well balanced and picked up. The only problem is the scratchiness when they get loud. It’s like hearing a radio broadcast with telephone poles nearby.
Well, well. which soprano could fill her shoes??? None...
voce tecnica temperamento passione tragedia ...tutto c'è in questa performance
With la vestale romantic music was established in european musical history .spontini influenced both berlioz and wagner
Ce soir la Toscanini était présent dans la loge de direction......
Pasión.
If they decided to stage this great score which current soprano can step into Maria's shoes.
No one, but The MET somehow will cast NetrXbko to do this role, and dumbass buy all the ticket, somehow.............I don't know why.
@@morganchan2465 I think Sondra Radvanovsky or Angela Meade could do it. They're not Callas but they're great singers in their own right with superb senses of drama.
@@mgconlan meade isn't a great singer. She's awful.
Sondra Radvonovsky!
@@lukasmiller486ahahahaha
¡¡¡¡¡¡¡❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤!!!!!!!
Wagner must have adored la vestale
Interesting comment.
Why do you say that?
Listen to aria o re dei cieli sung by anita cerquetti from agnes von hohenstaufen
@@davidattardmontalto6260 You are right to note Cerquetti's recording of O Re, from the same classical era as Vestale. It is perhaps one of the greatest single opera recordings of all time. It is unfortunate that she could not handle the pressures of being compared repeatedly to Callas and left the stage after only about 8 years of singing.
Io me la sono “goduta” con la Scotto.....
bjorling fanfan....la Scotto in Vestale...insomma...
Ahah