1923–77 American soprano Callas left the US for Greece in 1937, and made her debut as Tosca in Athens in 1942. Her early post-war repertory included Wagner’s Brünnhilde and Isolde, but under the guidance of Serafin she concentrated on the Italian repertory. She was a singing actress of great power who made an indelible impression as Bellini’s Norma, ...
1923–77, American-Greek Known as ‘La Divina’ (The Divine One), soprano Callas was regarded as the greatest singing actress of the twentieth century. She revitalized forgotten operas and her delivery combined technical precision with dramatic intensity. Born in New York City, Callas’s family returned to Greece when she was 13. She made her debut in Athens at the age of ...
an antagonistic relationship with his brother-in-law, Tito Gobbi, and during a production of Don Carlos this reached its breaking point. Further disputes embittered his working relationship with Maria Callas – during a rehearsal of Medea in Rome, Christoff accused her husband, Meneghini, of reducing his role by two-thirds. Meneghini hired a claque to disrupt Christoff’s scenes ...
the American Consul in Madama Butterfly, at La Scala and the title role of Gianni Schicchi at the Metropolitan Opera. Tito Gobbi sang Scarpia to the Tosca of Maria Callas (1923–77), and was also an excellent Michele in Il tabarro and a superb Gianni Schicchi. The English soprano Dame Eva Turner (1892–1990), magnificent in the title role of Turandot, ...
1921–2008, Italian Possessing a beautiful voice that was recorded to great effect, di Stefano was renowned for performances of the bel canto repertoire. His speciality roles included Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Nadir in Les pêcheurs de perles and Fritz in L’amico Fritz. However, by the mid-1950s he began to sing heavier roles that robbed his voice ...
, but he specialized in Verdi and Puccini. One of his finest memorials is the recording of La bohème under Beecham. Introduction | Modern Era | Classical Personalities | Maria Callas | Modern Era | Classical ...
but her performances of bel canto rarities are exemplary. She has also brought zarzuela and Spanish songs to an international audience. Introduction | Modern Era | Opera Personalities | Maria Callas | Modern Era | Opera Techniques | Bel Canto | Early & Middle Baroque | Opera ...
to the main stage, he made his professional debut in 1957 as Tonio in Pagliacci. In 1960, Walter Legge offered him a contract to sing Enrico opposite Maria Callas in Lucia di Lammermoor, and he made his Met debut the same year. His Enrico at La Scala secured his position as an international star, while working with ...
, Toscanini offered Tebaldi a concert engagement at La Scala, where she remained on the roster for the next five years. By the mid-1950s, both Tebaldi and Maria Callas were performing regularly at the Met and, despite their different repertoires, a famous feud developed. Loud slanging matches would occur between rival fans, but it all came ...
1913–84, Italian Gobbi’s baritone voice, although accomplished, was overshadowed by his magnificent stage presence. After studying in Rome and making his debut in 1935, he enjoyed his first success as Wozzeck in the 1942 Italian premiere of Berg’s opera. Gobbi’s La Scala debut also took place that year, and he became popular in London for his ...
often being intensified throughout individual arias, and encompasses a broad range, from rich elegiac lyricism to more forceful and imposing drama. Recommended Recording: Norma, soloists incl. Maria Callas, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, Milan (cond) Tullio Serafin (EMI/Warner) Introduction | Early Romantic | Classical Personalities | Louis-Hector Berlioz | Early Romantic | Classical ...
to the extra-musical dramatics of verismo, it is by no means without drama or emotion and was used to great effect by its most illustrious twentieth-century practitioners, Maria Callas (1923–77) and Tito Schipa (1888–1965). Long identified as the traditional Italian art of singing, the term bel canto was first used some time before 1840 by Italian composer and ...
achieved fame thanks to their exposure in the popular arena, other opera luminaries were the subject of newsreels and popularized on the radio. Meanwhile, artists such as Maria Callas (1923–77), Herbert von Karajan and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (1915–2006) also owe their fame in part to exposure through recordings – not of stage performances, but those conceived to encapsulate a ...
1963), José Cura (b. 1963) or Ramon Vargas (b. 1960). Sopranos If Birgit Nilsson dominated Wagnerian singing in the post-war era, their success in the bel canto repertory made Callas and Sutherland the first soprano superstars on a global scale. As commanding in Austro-German repertory as they were in Italian, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf excelled in Mozart and Richard Strauss. Renata ...
aesthetic problems; indeed, it is usually the prominence of such a singer that has fostered the kind of archeology that uncovers neglected works. So it was with the soprano Callas, whose extraordinary vocal and dramatic intensity encouraged the revival of many operas previously deemed unworkable. They included eighteenth-century works, notably Haydn’s L’anima del filosofo (‘The Spirit of the ...
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