# Round 4: Ah Perfido. Callas, Caballe



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)




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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

With the best will in the world, and feeling like a traitor, I find that I can’t vote for Callas in this contest. Her voice is too worn and too tremulous to do the piece justice and though she hits the climaxes with energy and force, the sound is raw and fierce. It is nevertheless the most compelling performance I know of.
The contrast of Callas in decline with Caballe in great voice is cruel. Caballe, as usual, indulges in too many of her famous _pianissimi_ and, as much pleasure as they bring me, I wish she followed the composer’s markings more. Her high notes are impressive as are the declamatory passages. She takes a higher alternate in the last phrase (why?).


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

A reviewer - I think it might have been David Hamilton - back in '60s remarked that listening to Callas in her Mozart/Weber/Beethoven recital was a little like biting into a raw onion: powerful, pungent and not altogether pleasant, but quite capable of bringing a tear to the eye. The fictional lady who is the heroine of this complaint has never brought a tear to my eye in any performance, but Callas shapes the piece with such intelligence, gravity and pathos that I could almost shed a tear over the perilous vocal estate which somewhat - but only somewhat - diminishes my pleasure. It isn't always easy to listen to, but she sings fearlessly, making no concessions come what may, and I've heard no one make more musical sense of the aria, or portray its changing moods with more nuance. It's par for the Callas course.

Turning to Caballe, after an alert and promising beginning we find her lapsing into self-pleasuring, with her habitual piani, pianissimi and pianissississimi taking the place of genuine musical expressiveness. I detest the artificiality of it. Art that conceals art is to be esteemed and aspired to, but artifice that poses as art is a damned annoyance. When Caballe abuses music this way I really don't care that her voice sounds nice (though hers was never one of my favorite voices anyway).

Raw onions and all, it's Callas for me.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> A reviewer - I think it might have been David Hamilton - back in '60s remarked that listening to Callas in her Mozart/Weber/Beethoven recital was a little like biting into a raw onion: powerful, pungent and not altogether pleasant, but quite capable of bringing a tear to the eye. The fictional lady who is the heroine of this complaint has never brought a tear to my eye in any performance, but Callas shapes the piece with such intelligence, gravity and pathos that I could almost shed a tear over the perilous vocal estate which somewhat - but only somewhat - diminishes my pleasure. It isn't always easy to listen to, but she sings fearlessly, making no concessions come what may, and I've heard no one make more musical sense of the aria, or portray its changing moods with more nuance. It's par for the Callas course.
> 
> Turning to Caballe, after an alert and promising beginning we find her lapsing into self-pleasuring, with her habitual piani, pianissimi and pianissississimi taking the place of genuine musical expressiveness. I detest the artificiality of it. Art that conceals art is to be esteemed and aspired to, but artifice that poses as art is a damned annoyance. When Caballe abuses music this way I really don't care that her voice sounds nice (though hers was never one of my favorite voices anyway).
> 
> Raw onions and all, it's Callas for me.


Bite into a raw onion!!!!!!!!


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

In intention at least, Callas's performance is superb and I can only imagine what she would have done with this aria ten years earlier. As it is, I don't find her voice in quite so disastrous shape as MAS does above. To be sure, listening with only half an ear, you would be aware of a good deal of uningratiating tone in the upper register and a rather curdled middle register. However, when giving the performance full attention, it is easier to forgive the state of her voice at this time. No other performance I've heard brings the aria to life with such immediacy. This is no longer a polite, classical concert aria, but a mini-opera, filled with drama and excitement, and yet she achieves this while still following the score with her familiar musical exactitude.

Caballé is rather distantly recorded, but the performance is altogether more affected. I do like early Caballé, but it wasn't long before affectation and a lack of spontanety crept into her performances and I would suggest that's what happens here. People delight in calling Schwarzkopf "mannered" but this performance sounds a good deal more mannered than Schwarzkopf's to me. 

Callas still wins for me, despite the deterioration in her voice.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

I feel I would be doing a disservice to Caballe if I voted for Callas because they both were wonderful with a better chest sound from Maria and a better high note from Montsy, so I abstain from voting.


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## Francasacchi (7 mo ago)

Woodduck said:


> A reviewer - I think it might have been David Hamilton - back in '60s remarked that listening to Callas in her Mozart/Weber/Beethoven recital was a little like biting into a raw onion: powerful, pungent and not altogether pleasant, but quite capable of bringing a tear to the eye. The fictional lady who is the heroine of this complaint has never brought a tear to my eye in any performance, but Callas shapes the piece with such intelligence, gravity and pathos that I could almost shed a tear over the perilous vocal estate which somewhat - but only somewhat - diminishes my pleasure. It isn't always easy to listen to, but she sings fearlessly, making no concessions come what may, and I've heard no one make more musical sense of the aria, or portray its changing moods with more nuance. It's par for the Callas course.
> 
> Turning to Caballe, after an alert and promising beginning we find her lapsing into self-pleasuring, with her habitual piani, pianissimi and pianissississimi taking the place of genuine musical expressiveness. I detest the artificiality of it. Art that conceals art is to be esteemed and aspired to, but artifice that poses as art is a damned annoyance. When Caballe abuses music this way I really don't care that her voice sounds nice (though hers was never one of my favorite voices anyway).
> 
> Raw onions and all, it's Callas for me.


Callas shapes the long legato phrases intelligently and movingly. As much of the aria lies in her pungent middle, the stressed top is for me not an issue. She makes the aria about something, a dying heart that will not go gently into the night.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

Abstaining from voting, too, given the superlative rendition by Studer.
Special Round: “Ah! Perfido” ON FILM: Studer, Nilsson...


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

ALT said:


> Abstaining from voting, too, given the superlative rendition by Studer.
> Special Round: “Ah! Perfido” ON FILM: Studer, Nilsson...


There was a tie, no?


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

ColdGenius said:


> There was a tie, no?


Evidently not.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Callas' Mozart/Beethoven/Weber disc is possibly her worst recital. Most of the music wasn't particularly associated with her and the only really successful arias are this one and that by Donna Elvira. Of her sixties recordings this disc and the second Paris recital find her in worst voice. That said, we do, at least, get an idea of her approach to classical rep. Callas is Callas in Ah! Perfido and others will recount what she does with this aria better than I.

I really like Caballe here and I'm torn. Callas pays attention to the score, the classical style and the expressive opportunities of the aria, but her voice is past its best. Caballe is in much fresher voice, but is somewhat overblown in the opening recit and doesn't have as much feeling in the aria.

My favourite version overall is probably Studer's as she has the best balance between expression, intelligent music making and technique. However, that doesn't help when deciding between the two here.

I'm going with Caballe. She sings it as if it were more Mozart than Beethoven, but her version is affecting in a classical way and the technical defects in Callas' voice by this time were too great for me to vote for her. I still find much to enjoy in her singing of this aria and this was really close.

N.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

nina foresti said:


> I feel I would be doing a disservice to Caballe if I voted for Callas because they both were wonderful with a better chest sound from Maria and a better high note from Montsy, so I abstain from voting.


Better that than some Re****** come in and try to steal you vote


The Conte said:


> Callas' Mozart/Beethoven/Weber disc is possibly her worst recital. Most of the music wasn't particularly associated with her and the only really successful arias are this one and that by Donna Elvira. Of her sixties recordings this disc and the second Paris recital find her in worst voice. That said, we do, at least, get an idea of her approach to classical rep. Callas is Callas in Ah! Perfido and others will recount what she does with this aria better than I.
> 
> I really like Caballe here and I'm torn. Callas pays attention to the score, the classical style and the expressive opportunities of the aria, but her voice is past its best. Caballe is in much fresher voice, but is somewhat overblown in the opening recit and doesn't have as much feeling in the aria.
> 
> ...


I'm going to confess a little ignorance here. The beginning and the end are very similar to Fidelio in style and emotions but to me the middle section I see as very similar to Mozart in style. Can you bring me up to speed a little bit on this. In fact when Flagstad comes up I was going to say it might give us an idea of how she would sound in Mozart.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Better that than some Re****** come in and try to steal you vote
> 
> I'm going to confess a little ignorance here. The beginning and the end are very similar to Fidelio in style and emotions but to me the middle section I see as very similar to Mozart in style. Can you bring me up to speed a little bit on this. In fact when Flagstad comes up I was going to say it might give us an idea of how she would sound in Mozart.


I'm reminded as much of Cherubini as of Mozart. It's a volatile, dramatic scena, and as Callas sings it I can almost imagine it in _Medea. _It's clear why Beethoven thought highly of that composer.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> I'm reminded as much of Cherubini as of Mozart. It's a volatile, dramatic scena, and as Callas sings it I can almost imagine it in _Medea. _It's clear why Beethoven thought highly of that composer.


I have just recently been listening to Medea and I can see that. I'm relieved that you can also hear a Mozart connection like I said. Whew To me Cherubini uses repetition in a way that is a way to drive in a point rather than just for symmetry. Like Crudel in Dei tuoi figli (sp?).


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Better that than some Re****** come in and try to steal you vote
> 
> I'm going to confess a little ignorance here. The beginning and the end are very similar to Fidelio in style and emotions but to me the middle section I see as very similar to Mozart in style. Can you bring me up to speed a little bit on this. In fact when Flagstad comes up I was going to say it might give us an idea of how she would sound in Mozart.


It's not ignorance at all since you make a very valid point. Also the Mozart of Nozze is somewhat different to the Mozart of Don Giovanni and the similarity between Ah! Perfido and Mi tradi! have been mentioned by others. Mozart, Beethoven and Cherubini were all composers of what we now call the classical period, but there are slight differences of style between them. (Your perceptive observation of Cherubini's repeating phrases for dramatic effect is one of them.) For some time I've thought Beethoven's style anticipates the romantic style whilst still retaining the hallmarks of the classical and the same could be said of Medea. (It's somewhat akin to the Sturm und Drang proto-romantic movement in German literature and music as opposed to Mozart's more classical style.) That said, Don Giovanni has many elements of Sturm und Drang and that's no doubt one of the reasons why it was admired so much by romantics such as Tchaikovsky, so it's not a clear cut thing.

Getting back to Caballe and Callas, Caballe sings the aria as if she were the Countess in Figaro, wistful and melancholy, whereas Callas gives us the passion and torment of a Donna Elvira. Ah! Perfido could sit within Don Giovanni or Leonore without seeming out of place, but it would seem odd in Nozze or Cosi.

N.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

I voted for Callas.
But really, the first positive shock from this aria was delivered the other day by Varnay, and I don´t forget such things.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

MAS said:


> With the best will in the world, and feeling like a traitor, I find that I can’t vote for Callas in this contest. Her voice is too worn and too tremulous to do the piece justice and though she hits the climaxes with energy and force, the sound is raw and fierce. It is nevertheless the most compelling performance I know of.
> The contrast of Callas in decline with Caballe in great voice is cruel. Caballe, as usual, indulges in too many of her famous _pianissimi_ and, as much pleasure as they brings me, I wish she followed the composer’s markings more. Her high notes are impressive as are the declamatory passages. She takes a higher alternate in the last phrase (why?).


You make feel justified now ! I want neither the discomfort of being past the prime, nor the famous pianissimi, not here.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Woodduck said:


> The fictional lady who is the heroine of this complaint


After some detective work, I´ve found it is Deidamia, the lover of Achilles. The "perfido" is leaving for the Trojan war, and she is right in not wanting him to do so.


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

Well, Montserrat holds on with dignity, 5:12.
I don't know for others, but I vote here for what I like, not for presumably the best. All written above was, as always, interesting and inspiring, especially the style (what was more in a performance, Mozart, Beethoven or belcanto), the role (Anna or Elvira) and raw onions! But even now, after BBSVK revealed who's the character, I think there may be a certain dichotomy of its treatment (classical or romantic). 
Nobody in this world loves Maria Callas as I do. Including her voice loosing period. (I never watch her videos in white and blue dress, when I'm not alone). But classical music is wonderful due to a possibility of different performances. And here I prefer Montserrat.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

ColdGenius said:


> But even now, after BBSVK revealed who's the character, I think there may be a certain dichotomy of its treatment (classical or romantic).


Certainly. Also psychologically. If it is Deidamia, she is not necessarily a scary woman like Norma or Medea, who would threaten to kill somebody. But she might be optionally scary  .

To clarify, the recitative was taken from the libretto by Matastasio, which was about Achilles. Another unknown poet added the text of the song-like part. That was the final product Beethoven used. I can't be 100 percent sure, if Beethoven still had Deidamia in mind, or if he wanted a generic abandoned woman, but I needed the backstory. 

Btw, Deidamia had two children with Achilles, without people noticing - does it remind you of something ?


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

BBSVK said:


> Certainly. Also psychologically. If it is Deidamia, she is not necessarily a scary woman like Norma or Medea, who would threaten to kill somebody. But she might be optionally scary  .
> 
> To clarify, the recitative was taken from the libretto by Matastasio, which was about Achilles. Another unknown poet added the text of the song-like part. That was the final product Beethoven used. I can't be 100 percent sure, if Beethoven still had Deidamia in mind, or if he wanted a generic abandoned woman, but I needed the backstory.
> 
> Btw, Deidamia had two children with Achilles, without people noticing - does it remind you of something ?


Certainly. 😄
But we know little about her from myths. At least her partner is a war maniac, and one of her children is even more butcherly. And she probably just would like them to assemble and drink uso in a patio.


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## Francasacchi (7 mo ago)

ColdGenius said:


> Certainly. 😄
> But we know little about her from myths. At least her partner is a war maniac, and one of her children is even more butcherly. And she probably just would like them to assemble and drink uso in a patio.


The character is also the eponymous heroine of a Handel opera.


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