Maria Callas: La Divina (1960-1977)

Adriaan Fuchs

“Probably millions of words have been written about La Callas, and quite a few about the vulnerable, lonely, elusive creature who was Maria. There is little I can add. She shone for all too brief a while in the world of opera, like a vivid flame attracting the attention of the whole world, and she had a strange magic which was all her own. I always thought she was immortal – and she is.”

– Tito Gobbi

 

Programme 4: La Divina (1960-1977)

Broadcast “live” on Fine Music Radio on 28 September 2012.

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The final programme in my series on Maria Callas focuses on her final years and takes a closer look at the woman behind the legend, her relationship with Aristotle Onassis, her artistic legacy and posthumous influence on opera. As the critic Michael Roubinet once noted: “Maria Callas suffered a fate as flamboyant as it was tragic, like her favourite characters, those women who came into their own fully as they submitted to the playing out of their destiny: Norma, Violetta, Tosca, Medea… Happily the recordings are there to pay homage to the artist to whom we owe an eternal debt, and to bear witness to an art which will live forever.”

Podcast Track List

1) “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” (Habanera) from Act I of Carmen (Bizet)
Conductor: Georges Prêtre
Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris
Recorded: 1964, for EMI.

2) “Ecco, il velen di Laura” from Act IV of La Gioconda (Ponchielli)
Conductor: Antonino Votto
Orchestra of La Scala, Milan
Recorded: 1959, for EMI.

3) “Werther! Qui m’aurait dit la place… Des cris joyeux” (Letter Aria) from Act III of Werther (Massenet)
Conductor: Georges Prêtre
Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire
Recorded: 1963, for EMI.

4) “E qual via scegliete” from Act II of Tosca (Puccini)
Conductor: Georges Prêtre
Monte Carlo Conservatory Concert Society Orchestra
Recorded: 1964, for EMI.

5) Extract from “Sediziose voci” from Act I of Norma (Bellini)
Conductor: Georges Prêtre
Recorded during a dress rehearsal in May 1964 at the Théâtre Nationale de l’Opéra, Paris.

6) “Mario! Mario! Mario!” from Act I of Tosca (Puccini)
with Franco Corelli (Mario Cavaradossi) & Clifford Harvuot (Angelotti)
Conductor: Fausto Cleva
Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York
Recorded “live” on 19 March 1965 at the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

7) “Presto, su! Mario!” from Act III of Tosca (Puccini)
Conductor: Carlo Felice Cillario
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Recorded “live” on 24 January 1964 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

8) “Miserere” from Act IV of Il trovatore (Verdi)
with Giuseppe di Stefano (Manrico)
Conductor: Herbert von Karajan
Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala, Milan
Recorded: 1956, for EMI.

9) “Vissi d’arte” from Act II of Tosca (Puccini)
Conductor: Georges Prêtre
Monte Carlo Conservatory Concert Society Orchestra
Recorded: 1964, for EMI.

10) “Cortigiani, vil razza dannata” from Act II of Rigoletto (Verdi)
with Sung Kil Kim (baritone)
Piano: Eugene Kohn
Recorded: 1972, New York.

11) “O mio babbino caro” from Gianni Schicchi (Puccini)
Piano: Ivor Newton
Recorded: 26 November 1973 at the Royal Festival Hall, London.

12) “Ah! non credea mirarti” from Act II of La sonnambula (Bellini)
Conductor: Tullio Serafin
Orchestra of La Scala, Milan
Recorded: 1955, for EMI.

13) “Ebben? ne andrò lontana” from Act I of La Wally (Catalani)
Conductor: Tullio Serafin
Philharmonia Orchestra
Recorded: 1954, for EMI.