Callas studied her art all her life, was devoted to it and was by far the best of all in her era and ever since. No-one does the finale of this aria like Callas either. Cerquetti was primarily a musician of other instruments and only studied vocally for a year. Nevertheless, Cerquetti stood in for Callas in Norma when she was not well enough to perform; as she was already playing the role in Naples. However, the stamina required to travel between the two cities and sing proved too much for Cerquetti and she retired at the unbelievably young age for an opera singer, of 31. A very short career but what a tremendous voice Cerquetti had and we are very fortunate to have these recordings. Callas obviously is in another dimension entirely in acting and singing but Cerquetti is superb and infinitely better than any soprano we see on stage these days.
She was fabulous
Cerquetti ist einfach wunderbar
Great, but I still prefer Callas in this role.
I also love Callas but I prefer Cerquetti
Callas studied her art all her life, was devoted to it and was by far the best of all in her era and ever since. No-one does the finale of this aria like Callas either. Cerquetti was primarily a musician of other instruments and only studied vocally for a year. Nevertheless, Cerquetti stood in for Callas in Norma when she was not well enough to perform; as she was already playing the role in Naples. However, the stamina required to travel between the two cities and sing proved too much for Cerquetti and she retired at the unbelievably young age for an opera singer, of 31. A very short career but what a tremendous voice Cerquetti had and we are very fortunate to have these recordings. Callas obviously is in another dimension entirely in acting and singing but Cerquetti is superb and infinitely better than any soprano we see on stage these days.