# Feedback on Callas High D in 1952 Armida



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

When listening to Rossini - Armida - D'amore Al Dolce Impero (1952 Live) on Youtube I have replayed the final climactic High D maybe 30 times. It is from the best version ever of this aria and when she recorded it a couple of years later after the weight loss she left off the interpolated High D's. On this D in question it sounds to me like she is pinging overtones an octave above the high D. It is a very complex sounding note and I am having trouble trusting my ears. I am going to do a talk on this piece in Toastmasters and would like some other opinions on it please. Thanks.


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

The dramatic power of Callas in not with the technical absolute of which high note level achieved, it is her ability to deliver amplitude and size of voice up the scale.......other singers the voice naturally becomes smaller and narrow in focus to reach the high notes

That is why the overall effect is so electrifying/dramatic even if other singers achieve even higher absolute pure notes 

That final run 6:46-50 is just devastating in its dramatic effect because of the size and amplitude of voice at that level


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caYGRDIBAa0
> When listening to Rossini - Armida - D'amore Al Dolce Impero (1952 Live) on Youtube I have replayed the final climactic High D maybe 30 times. It is from the best version ever of this aria and when she recorded it a couple of years later after the weight loss she left off the interpolated High D's. On this D in question it sounds to me like she is pinging overtones an octave above the high D. It is a very complex sounding note and I am having trouble trusting my ears. I am going to do a talk on this piece in Toastmasters and would like some other opinions on it please. Thanks.


I think Greg Mitchell's up to bat on this one.

(Don't blame me Greg, blame natural selection. . . )

I just have to say though that Callas' _Armida_ was one of the first things I heard of hers that absolutely sank it hook into me; in fact, it was the _second_--- the _first_ being the "_E che? Io son Medea_?" from the '53 Florence _Medea_.

I love that you're obsessed with the "_D'amore Al Dolce Impero_," Seattleoperafan, because boy am I as well!!

I just kept playing that cut over and over and _over_ again when I first got it. That is to say,_ that_-- and the very ending of the opera with the chorus and how Callas absolutely soars over the entire chorus and orchestra with the most beautiful and absolutely assured stentorian declamation.

Thrilling.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

DarkAngel said:


> The dramatic power of Callas in not with the technical absolute of which high note level achieved, it is her ability to deliver amplitude and size of voice up the scale.......other singers the voice naturally becomes smaller and narrow in focus to reach the high notes
> 
> That is why the overall effect is so electrifying/dramatic even if other singers achieve even higher absolute pure notes
> 
> That final run 6:46-50 is just devastating in its dramatic effect because of the size and amplitude of voice at that level


You nailed it, D.A.! _;D_

PRIMA

DONNA

_ASSOLUTA!_


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## Guest (Oct 18, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> When listening to Rossini - Armida - D'amore Al Dolce Impero (1952 Live) on Youtube I have replayed the final climactic High D maybe 30 times. It is from the best version ever of this aria and when she recorded it a couple of years later after the weight loss she left off the interpolated High D's. On this D in question it sounds to me like she is pinging overtones an octave above the high D. It is a very complex sounding note and I am having trouble trusting my ears. I am going to do a talk on this piece in Toastmasters and would like some other opinions on it please. Thanks.


Callas always sang the D. Besides the 1952 complete (best on Divina), the only other 'D'amore al dolce impero' we have is from the 12 Dec 1954 San Remo concert (thin Callas) and the D is right there. It's not as rich and amazing as it was in her 1952 pre-weight-loss voice, but it's still thrilling.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I'm not sure I can add much to what Dark Angel and Res have already said.

She does indeed sing the high D in the San Remo concert, though, as Res points out, it doesn't have the coruscating power of the Florence performance. And that is why I think you hear this overtone. Because of the sheer power and size of the note. I can't really explain it otherwise.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I'm glad others are fascinated with it as well and appreciate the feedback. Sutherland also had a huge voice up top, but they were such completely different sounds. Here Callas just never fails to stupefy! I can just listen to that last bit over and over and over and over.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

GregMitchell said:


> I'm not sure I can add much to what Dark Angel and Res have already said.
> 
> She does indeed sing the high D in the San Remo concert, though, as Res points out, it doesn't have the coruscating power of the Florence performance. And that is why I think you hear this overtone. Because of the sheer power and size of the note. I can't really explain it otherwise.


Coruscating is the word for the day!!!!!!!


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

and I thought I was the only one obsessed with that fortissimo high D! 
Actually I always bring up this very performance as the perfect example of what Callas really was all about. Every single note was gorgeous, the coloratura is dazzlingly perfect, the scales are insane. The full-bodied ravishing sound, the evenness of the voice from the bottom of her range to the top, and of course that ear drum-breaking rocket of a high D.

Callas is the kind of voice that was so dramatic and penetrating (squillante) that it could pin you in your seat. You can have a huge, heroic sound (just loud volume) without being really dramatic, like Dame Joan Sutherland who had a colossal voice yet was always rounded and on the bright side. A true dramatic voice calls for that steely, sometimes even shrill, sound. In that respect absolutely no singer has the the same dramatic effect as Maria Callas.
Nilsson had that steely voice too. But it was a brighter version.


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