Maria Callas, Violetta & "The soprano she was frightened of" the great Virginia Zeani
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- Опубликовано: 15 окт 2024
- "Virginia Zeani, you are one of the very few sopranos my wife is frightened of." So said Callas's husband Giovanni Battista Meneghini to Virginia Zeani, who told me herself. Why then is Callas so famous and Zeani relatively so little known?
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NB The recordings of Mme Virginia Zeani are mostly from radio broadcasts or private or in-house tapes. They were saved by her fans and later, without her permission, sometimes transferred to CDs by companies who pay her no royalties.
The answer has nothing to do with quality as they were both, in their contrasting ways, magnificent, but rather it concerns prudent career management and commercial recordings. My video is a tribute to both these great singers and a first attempt to redress the balance.
I heard both Maria Callas and Virginia Zeani in their prime, as Violetta, from the gallery of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. They were both wonderful and easily the most thrilling and memorable sopranos in the Italian repertoire. I could not bear to be deprived of either.
Maria Callas admired and even feared Zeani who, as well as being a fine singer and impressive actress was a stunning beauty. Virginia Zeani in turn greatly admired Callas as a formidable performer whom to this day she describes as "a Lion".
Callas had such precocious natural ability that aged only 18 she sang Tosca and in her twenties would alternate Wagner's Brunnhilde with Bellini's bel canto Elvira. This combination of sublime musicality with vocal recklessness meant at the age of 41 she retired from the operatic stage and in her later concerts was but a shadow of her former self.
By contrast, although only 22 when she made her debut as Violetta, Zeani had the more secure vocal technique which enabled her to sing 69 major roles in a taxing 34 year career. Despite always singing with great intensity and commitment she successfully matured from "lyric soprano with high agility" (her words) to spinto and kept her voice in great shape.
As to fame and a long lasting legacy, at the start of her Italian career Callas was fortunate to marry Meneghini who became her manager and dedicated himself to steering her to world wide recognition through live performances and studio recordings.
Meanwhile Zeani, entirely unaided, had begun to gain international recognition but lacked sound career guidance. Her personal beauty even impeded her progress as many a propositioning conductor or manager was left disappointed and disgruntled.
Zeani's marriage in 1957 to Nicola Rossi Lemeni, who had been Callas's favourite basso, brought her the security of Italian citizenship but blocked her advancement at La Scala. It also marked the end of Rossi Lemeni's Columbia recording contract and he never again made records with Callas. Soon after marriage the imminent birth of her son caused the postponement of both her Metropolitan debut and recording contracts with Decca and DG which once lost were never reinstated. The couple decided to quit Milan and make Rome their home base and as they were never short of engagements they agreed that Zeani would manage all their bookings and they would concentrate on live performances. Recordings, they thought, could wait for another day, but this was a big mistake.
Following her affair with Onassis, Callas became a world famous "celebrity" and her live singing career fell away. But the many wonderful studio recordings she had made assured her continued fame. By contrast, as soon as she left the stage, Zeani was remembered only by those who had heard her live.
However, Zeani had a core following of devotees who had collected recordings of her live performances and little by little these found their way into circulation on specialist label LPs and a cult following was born. With the coming of RUclips hundreds of clips of her singing were released and complete operas and arias are still appearing on CDs. The few studio recordings she did make are widely praised and her complete La traviata for Electrecord, made in Romania, is considered one of the most successful ever prodiced. In 2015 her other studio recordings were gathered together and remastered in a 9 CD set "The Artistry of Virginia Zeani"
Thank you for introducing me to a truly marvellous singer who deserves to be better known. Her voice and technique are incredible. You are so fortunate to have enjoyed both her and Callas. Please carry on the great work of making Mrs. Zeani's voice more widely known to the public.
It is fascinating to hear these contrasting interpretations. Callas is perhaps the more penetrating but what a joy it is to hear Zeani singing with such radiant sound yet always in character.
Ho avuto il piacere di ascoltare la signora Zeani in Aida alle Terme di Caracalla. Tanto tempo fa.
Maria is famous from her acting, drama and voice. In this beautifulle video/audio you hear very well much more emotion in the voice of Virginia, but the voice of Maria is much more pure. I did;t know the voice of Maria was this pure, I hear it now also in her other songs. Thank you very much for this video.
A wonderful find. Many thanks for introducing me to the voice of Virginia Zeani.
I heard the great Virginia Zeani singing La traviata and Aida, 1971, at Cairo's famed old opera house (where Aida received its world premiere in 1871), and she was stunningly beautiful in both roles.
Callas, like a Diamond, is forever!
It is highly unlikely that Meneghini made that comment. If he did, it must have been after his divorce from Callas, when he began making bitter remarks about her in the Italian press. Madame Zeani met Callas in 1947, when they both arrived in Italy. I suspect Callas admired Zeani greatly, and with good reason. Among opera lovers, Zeani is well known. She made few commercial recordings, and that may be a factor in her fame. They were different singers, but just as great (one may include Leyla Gencer in the trio of great sopranos of that era). Zeani mentions Callas in this interview from Despre Opera: "I met Maria Callas in the summer of ’47, she came to Italy in the same summer as I did. She arrived in June, on a boat from America, together with Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, whom I was to meet and marry 10 years later. They were very good friends at that moment and travelled together from America to Italy, in exactly the same year when I came to Italy, this was a curious coincidence, that I did not stress too much, because I am quite a discreet person."
See comment to Mary Lamb and only recently mentioned by Mme Zeani, who has been discreet over many years. It is not a criticism by Meneghini of his wife, but rather a compliment to Virginia Zeani who, in the early1950s, was being cast to follow Callas in i Puritani and La traviata.
CharlotteinWeimar Mille grazie!
InBoccaChiusa Grazie a Lei!
Wondernful. Thanks for the video and the interesting notes you wrote.
i really love zeani but lol these clips really show how special callas was. even though that tu che la vanita is tragic as hell
To Mary Lamb: Mme Zeani's own words, told by her to me, though I expect the original would have been in italian.
+Patricia Bogni Dear Patricia I am so glad you are pleased to have discovered Virginia Zeani. Yes, she was truly a great soprano who lived and loved simply to sing and did not realise how important it was to make lots of studio recordings. You will find over 200 postings of her on my channel, many of which are from live performances, recorded from radio transmissions and kept by her devoted fans. There are two complete Traviatas, most of Tosca with Domingo and numerous arias from her vast repertoire. There is also a Facebook page. Happily she is still with us and teaching in Florida aged 90! She will be very pleased that you have found her.
Highly doubtful that she ever said that; most likely one of the barbs Meneghini aimed at his wife after she left him for Onassis (Callas was afraid of Tebaldi, and both of them were more than a little bit nervous about Rosanna Carteri). HOWEVER, the headline (so to speak) for this youtube entry certainly does attract attention, which is a good thing. I've loved Zeani 's singing since I was a kid growing up in NY, but to most people she is regretably less known. Hopefully this will attract a lot of clicks, and get people searching the internet for other Zeani treasures. She deserves more fans.
+assindiastignani Mme Zeani, who has been a friend for many years, told me the story herself. She knew Callas and Meneghini well, not least because her husband Nicola sang frequently with Callas and she often followed Callas in the same roles. I don't read this as a criticism of his wife by Meneghini, rather that it shows how sensitive and vulnerable she was. I am glad you appreciate that Zeani truly deserves to be better known. Because she made so few major recordings she had almost resigned herself to being forgotten. However, the RUclips postings of her live performances have made a big difference. Her life was fascinating and very revealing about the operatic scene of the 1950s and 1960s. A major biography has been written and published in a limited edition, with a general release to come, it is hoped, before long.
Zeani was a great singer and had a more conventionally beautiful voice. Her husband was a colleague and close friend of Callas, and he was largely responsible for getting Callas's career in Italy going. It's stupid to think that Callas was afraid of Zeani, and in all likelihood, they were friends. Zeani could never do what Callas did, such as sing Brünnhilde on Monday and Puritani on Friday. Zeani was a wonderful but conventional singer. Callas was unique.
+Jack the Tenor This is not one of those irritating and pointless postings about "who was better than whom" it is an authentic and illuminating fragment of operatic history.
As you, Jack, or is it James Bond? or Sean Connery? clearly "know everything there is to know" I presume you were around at the time and heard them both, live in the opera house at the height of their careers? If not, you are just repeating the tired old hear-say. Both these singers were sublime and I was fortunate enough to hear them live many times.
+CharlotteinWeimar Why say Callas was afraid of Zeani if not to spark a comparison? I'm merely questioning the legitimacy of it since Callas would never admit someone was better than her...*even if they were!* Of course, Meneghini might have said it...but as Callas herself never said it, there is no substance to the idea.
Thank you , by hearing both , I think there was nothing callas should have been afraid of ... The voices are so different , Callas sound is perfectly tuned because well focused and trained ...In the aria , her absolute control is even a bit frightening especially in the diminuendi and crescendi ... She was a pure instrument , the mind VERY connected to her physical means of expression ...Thank you for this other exercise to understand the gits and Genius of Callas ...
As any professional singer will tell you, opera is gladiatorial. This brief comment shows the sensitivity of one of the very greatest sopranos. Even though she was at the top of the operatic tree and knew she could not be outclassed as a sublime singing actress, she knew there were more secure voices around. Zeani had just such a voice and being also a fine actress and admired beauty could be considered as something of a rival (which in itself is a huge compliment). Callas may have been "La Divina" but here we see she was a truly vulnerable human being and I find her all the more precious for that.
BELLEZA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Zeani sounded very much like Callas but with a voice smaller in size, more evened out in quality.
She deserves a vocal range youtube video.
I heard both these wonderful sopranos between 1958 and 1965 from the same position in the old Covent Garden Gallery. Their voices were of similar volume. On some nights, perhaps due to stress, Callas's voice was much reduced and the sound relatively small, but on others it was freer and full. By contrast Zeani was more consistent with plenty of power in reserve. Sutherland's voice was probably just a little larger than either, but all three, in their very different ways, were thrilling.
@@CharlotteinWeimar Well, but The Callas you heard in 58 was already nothing compared to the Callas from 1948-1955 in terms of vocal power, weight and volume. I dont think there is a violetta with bigger voice than Callas, specially the ones from 1952.
And you are blessed for being able to experience all 3 soprani, how amazing!!
@@Tdvc Actually Callas had a similar voice to Zeani the reason Callas voice sounds bigger is because Callas over darkened it but her natural timber and middle are very much akin to Virginia Zeani , both naturally high soprano's who could sing across the soprano fach through development and technique
Re Default Name : Maria Callas was a marvellous singing actress. Her wonderful Violetta, which I saw at Covent Garden, was unique to her particular gifts and almost medical in its physical interpretation of a fragile dying woman. Virginia Zeani, whom I heard in the same production a couple of years later, was equally wonderful, but convincing in a completely different way. Zeani did not attempt a clinical interpretation but used her beautiful tear-laden tone to portray Violetta's irrepressible spirit. Violetta after all, unlike Mimi, never gives in. She sang most movingly and with all the anguished intensity that is there, written in the score. I think Verdi himself would be grateful. He did after all write an opera not a straight play.
BELLEZA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i dont belive this is true !!!!!... BUT of course ... Callas knew Zeani was also a sfogato , beautiful and a GREAT SINGER ... BUT CALLAS WAS A DIVINE BEING ...
Lohengrin O I knew I will find you here
Not 'sfogato'. Sfogato is a natural mezzo who sings soprano...
Che dire tutte e due bravissime, ma quando Callas apre bocca mi vengono i brividi, capisco Zeani in che situazione si trovava insieme alla Gencer ed anche Sutherland..., in quegli anni c’era il meglio del meglio del melodramma, un’epoca finita, chissà in un futuro tutto dipenderà da una “ nuova Callas “se ci sarà e se il dio denaro e più intelligenti impresari si faranno avanti a sostenere L ‘ARTE....
Carlo.. eppure una c'e'...sta studiando...se avro' la tua mail....avrai delle sorprese inaspettate. "Non tutto e' finito" e chissa', si potrebbero ancora versare fiumi d'inchiostro...
This is most interesting, thank you very much. It highlights the issues that crept in so very early in Callas's singing.
Two great singers and actresses who interpreted very well Violeta.Zeani had a better voice but Callas lived the tragic Violeta final days with a for me better acting .
Zeani
Great voice but I never heard of her
Part of the reason for this video is that, unlike very famous Maria Callas ,Virginia Zeani is far too little known, so and I am glad it enabled you to find her. It also indicates that Callas considered Zeani to be a colleague of considerable merit. During the time of their on stage careers Zeani was far more active. Never short of opera house work, she unfortunately failed to grasp that recordings were essential for long term recognition, and for the sake of maintaining a happy marriage she even turned down offers from Decca and Deutsche Grammophon
JAJAJAJAJAJAJA!!!!!!!!!😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀
The reason is simple. Zeani - yes, a great singer and happily still with us at 95 as I write - never had that special, indefinable spark of characterisation and individuality of utterance that was Callas'. Nor is her lower register as developed, so those plunges downwards are less arresting. Comparisons are odious and it is a pity that Zeani wasn't picked up by the big recording companies but I don't think that objectively she was as interesting. Even Callas' vocal flaws are that!
Much is explained in the text I wrote to accompany this video
To "Jack" . How clever of you to know precisely what Callas never said.
You must be a very big Zeani fan :)
Virginia Zeani was a big star and a great talent, but NO ONE in opera history could compete for fame with the public relations juggernaut known as Maria Callas.
No one had her artistry, not even Virginia.
I find it interesting that Callas, Tebaldi, and Moffo were signed to recording contracts by major labels in the 1950's and 1960's while Zeani was not signed to any label during her entire career. Could it be because she was a performer in the second rank? Very likely. I'm not greatly impressed with her voice. Callas will always be the greater performer in any contest of sopranos.
Believe me Virginia Zeani is absolutely First Rank. I heard her several times in the same years as her more famous contemporaries and can say without reservation that hers was one of the fullest, most beautiful and expressive of voices and that she was a truly magical performer. Her voice was extremely vibrant and recordings do it far less than justice. In 1957 Zeani had secured a major recording contract with Decca and was on the brink of far wider celebrity when she met and married Nicola Rossi Lemeni. He had just lost his Columbia contract having recently been discarded by Callas ..... Dismayed, Zeani approached Decca on his behalf but they had no room for yet another Italian basso. Zeani decided that at that moment her marriage was more important than her career and, so as to give her new husband her complete support. she gave up her contract. There is far more to it than can be expressed here, but believe me she was and is a wonderful singer.
Quite separately from this, Richard Bonynge wrote that apart from his wife Joan Sutherland, he had heard three outstanding voices. They were Kirsten Flagstad, Virginia Zeani and Renata Tebaldi, and in that order.
@@CharlotteinWeimar Why did Callas discard Rossi Lemeni? They were so close in the beginning. What happened?
@@seancoxen3329 It happened immediately after he married Zeani, so make of it what you will.
Your reasoning is ridiculous and biased.
Yikes this comment section 😬 I for one prefer Zeani in this role
Callas pales in comparison. Usually, Callas has the clear upper hand in terms of dramatic intensity and nuances but compared to Zeani, she doesn't. Zeani, on the other hand has the better voice.
Callas pales in comparison to no one. Zeani could be an amalgamation of Ponselle, Muzio, and Flagstad, and she would still not outshine Callas.