# SOPRANO TOURNAMENT (By Request): Spani vs Callas



## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

Hina Spani, Argentina, 1896-1969






Maria Callas, Greece/USA, 1923-1977






'D'amor sull'ali rosee' from Verd's _Il Trovatore_.

Who's singing did you prefer and why?


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

This will scandalize some but I think these are close. I gave the edge to Callas because she has perfect trills, which the music calls for and is one coloratura skill that eludes Spani. Callas is vocally at her peak here and is truly spectacular, but Spani impresses me more because of the supernatural beauty of her high notes. She has tremendous vocal beauty and a very sensitive interpretation of the aria. Would that both of these ladies were on the opera scene today.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

These are singers who make us listen and reward us for doing so. As in other matchups here, we have to consider the cramped sound and the limitations on interpretive freedom imposed on the earlier singer by the primitive recording medium, especially by the notorious 78 side problem. I'm sure Spani would have given a bit more in tempo - more lingering on certain notes, more space between phrases - in actual performance, as Callas does. In fact there's a bit of exaggeration toward the end of the latter's performance which strikes me as uncharacteristically vulgar and which she would probably have avoided in the recording studio, or later in her career. On the whole, given what we have here, I'll award the palm to Callas, but with the usual sneaking suspicion that Spani in performance might have been equally compelling. (Spani does seem to lack a trill - she does an odd sort of shake instead - while Callas displays one of the best trills in the business.)`


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Spani continues to impress. The voice is beautiful, she communicates the text and she creates the right nocturnal atmosphere, but (and it is rather a big but) where are the trills? They are there in the printed score, as you can see, by watching the Callas video, but Spani appears not to have a trill in her armoury. It's no suprise to find that some critics said Callas's singing of Leonora's music was like seeing an old master restored and brought lovingly back to life. Much as I love Spani's beautiful voice and stylish phrasing, I'm afraid I find the lack of a trill a serious blot on the performance.

The Callas performance was early in her traversal of the role, in fact the second time she was singing it. She had first sung it in Mexico and had asked Serafin to help her prepare, but he refused because she would be singing with a different conductor. Here at last she has Serafin conducting for her. She never could quite make up her mind about the ending and every recorded pefromance, right up to the final one in the Karajan recording of 1956, differs slightly in some way. By the time she sings it again at La Scala in 1953, she has dispensed with the top Db and finishes the aria more in the mood it started. (It was at this performance that Visconti, sitting in the same box at La Scala, overheard Schwarzkopf mutter, tears streaming down her face, "That woman is a miracle.")


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## Concertantek364 (Mar 13, 2021)

Despite all her virtues, Spani's apparent inability to produce the trills demanded by Verdi in the score rules her version out for me. Almost by default my palm goes to the 1951 pre-diet Callas, though I have to say in all honesty, musically and interpretively this isn't her best rendition of the aria even though she was in her vocal prime and vocally resplendent. Her 1956 EMI studio recording is in a totally different class altogether. She has only herself to compare.

In mid-1956, her voice was still in good shape. More importantly, she achieved a poignant sense of tragic inevitability entirely through musical illumination from within the score. There is hardly any reliance on external or superhuman effect as she tended to at times in her 1950 role debut in Mexico City, the 1951 Naples performance and even the 1953 La Scala performance. The 1956 recording gives us her most moving and musically nuanced and sophisticated rendition of the aria. Whereas all other sopranos sing Leonora (and however beautifully and ravishingly some have done so), Callas simply *is* Leonora.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Concertantek364 said:


> In mid-1956, her voice was still in good shape. More importantly, she achieved a poignant sense of tragic inevitability entirely through musical illumination from within the score. There is hardly any reliance on external or superhuman effect as she tended to at times in her 1950 role debut in Mexico City, the 1951 Naples performance and even the 1953 La Scala performance. The 1956 recording gives us her most moving and musically nuanced and sophisticated rendition of the aria. Whereas all other sopranos sing Leonora (and however beautifully and ravishingly some have done so), Callas simply *is* Leonora.


I completely agree with you re the 1956 studio recording. Throughout the score, and especially in this aria, I have always considered it a perfect example of Callas, _the musician_. She doesn't just accurately execute the trills, but somehow manages to bind them into the musical fabric of the aria without once disturbing her legato. The cadenza is not just a moment of vocal display tacked on at the end, but becomes the logical conclusion of the aria, as if her voice was flying out to Manrico in the tower. Throughout she is wonderfully supported by Karajan, who seems, as always in their encounters, to breathe with her, the rubato they adopt totally natural. Pure genius.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Although both choices of recordings are sad musically, there is no contest with this one because any singer who cannot effect a decent trill in this aria cannot possibly be thought to have a vote in the contest.
Callas by a mile.
Frankly, I think it would be more exciting to hear a Callas-Radvanovsky pairing.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Concertantek364 said:


> Despite all her virtues, Spani's apparent inability to produce the trills demanded by Verdi in the score rules her version out for me. Almost by default my palm goes to the 1951 pre-diet Callas, though I have to say in all honesty, musically and interpretively this isn't her best rendition of the aria even though she was in her vocal prime and vocally resplendent. Her 1956 EMI studio recording is in a totally different class altogether. She has only herself to compare.
> 
> In mid-1956, her voice was still in good shape. More importantly, she achieved a poignant sense of tragic inevitability entirely through musical illumination from within the score. There is hardly any reliance on external or superhuman effect as she tended to at times in her 1950 role debut in Mexico City, the 1951 Naples performance and even the 1953 La Scala performance. The 1956 recording gives us her most moving and musically nuanced and sophisticated rendition of the aria. Whereas all other sopranos sing Leonora (and however beautifully and ravishingly some have done so), Callas simply *is* Leonora.


I asked for this contest and while your video from 56 has advantages over the one I asked for, the earlier had compromised sound which put it on more equal footing with Spani. In 56 her voice was in optimal condition for this aria. I am pleased to see others blown away by Spani here and she is one of the very few who it is not laughable to compete with Maria. I think some singers just can't trill. Sills had a great trill BUT only on certain notes. The great Caballe had inferior trills. There is currently a well known bel canto singer who's trill sound like the rest of her voice. I spoke with my sister who taught singers from all over Germany for 50 years. She said trilling is something you are born with the ability to do and some just lack that ability. Maria was born with it and then some!


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## Concertantek364 (Mar 13, 2021)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I asked for this contest and while your video from 56 has advantages over the one I asked for, the earlier had compromised sound which put it on more equal footing with Spani. In 56 her voice was in optimal condition for this aria. I am pleased to see others blown away by Spani here and she is one of the very few who it is not laughable to compete with Maria. I think some singers just can't trill. Sills had a great trill BUT only on certain notes. The great Caballe had inferior trills. There is currently a well known bel canto singer who's trill sound like the rest of her voice.


It would probably have been 'fairer' to Spani to compare hers with Claudia Muzio's 1920 rendition instead of any of Callas'. Sonically their versions are not too far apart. Moreover, Muzio, for all her well-known poignancy of expression, also sadly lacks a trill.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I asked for this contest and while your video from 56 has advantages over the one I asked for, the earlier had compromised sound which put it on more equal footing with Spani. In 56 her voice was in optimal condition for this aria. I am pleased to see others blown away by Spani here and she is one of the very few who it is not laughable to compete with Maria. I think some singers just can't trill. Sills had a great trill BUT only on certain notes. The great Caballe had inferior trills. There is currently a well known bel canto singer who's trill sound like the rest of her voice.


Caballé's trills weren't great, as you say, but sometimes she could manage what at least sounds like the approximation of a trill. What surprised me about Spani was that she didn't even appear to attempt them and the line sounds bald without them. They aren't optional. Verdi wrote them and if you can't sing them, then maybe you shouldn't be singing the aria. As Callas once said,



> You see, a musician is a musician. A singer is no different from an instrumentalist except that we have words. You don't excuse things in a singer you would not dream of excusing in a violinist or pianist. There is no excuse for not having a trill, for not doing the acciaccatura, for not having good scales. Look at your scores! There are technical things written there to be performed, and they must be performed whether you like it or not. How will you get out of a trill? How will you get out of scales when they are written there, staring you in the face? It is not enough to have a beautiful voice.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

One of my favorite “Callas roles.” No one approached what she achieves in this aria, even in her early forays in the role. I will brook no others.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

The trills are certainly important in this particular aria, but if all singers who lack trills avoided all roles calling for them we'd be deprived of some fine performances. Surely there are worse faults we put up with than the lack of a trill in an otherwise great singer.

Joan Sutherland said that the ability to trill is inborn, and as a former singer of no great technical accomplishment who could trill easily I'm inclined to agree.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> The trills are certainly important in this particular aria, but if all singers who lack trills avoided all roles calling for them we'd be deprived of some fine performances. Surely there are worse faults we put up with than the lack of a trill in an otherwise great singer.


Maybe, but there are times when the trill is intrinsic to the melodic line. We may not miss them in Brünnhilde's _Ho jo to ho_ but in _D'amor sul'ali rosee_ I find the missing trills jarring. Some singers who don't have good trills will at least provide us with a bit of a shake. We didn't even get that from Spani. Maybe I missed it more in her case because everything else was so good.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

If you listen closely through the foggy acoustic of the recording you can hear Spani do a slower shake in place of a true trill. It isn't entirely convincing, but it does at least show that she knew she had to do something.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> The trills are certainly important in this particular aria, but if all singers who lack trills avoided all roles calling for them we'd be deprived of some fine performances. Surely there are worse faults we put up with than the lack of a trill in an otherwise great singer.
> 
> Joan Sutherland said that the ability to trill is inborn, and as a former singer of no great technical accomplishment who could trill easily I'm inclined to agree.


The differences between a natural trill one is born with and one that is worked on and developed to a high degree like Marilyn Horne's is that most likely the person with a natural born trill can easily distinguish the difference in the two but the vast majority of audiences likely wouldn't notice the difference.
It's the same with regional accents and dialects. It's one thing to talk Brooklynese and another to copy it to a fine degree. Brooklyn babies will know the difference!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

It would be interesting to know easily the trill came to various singers. Except for the comment by Sutherland I can't recall hearing any singers describe their efforts to develop it.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

A trill is a strange phenomenon. I can trill very well. I just can! Why? Who knows? It's just there. 
I have a male friend who believe it or not also has a natural trill and a good one. 
It's like being born with perfect pitch. My mate has perfect pitch which to me is an astounding trait. Wish I had it. I only have relative pitch. I wonder if people could develop it like they can a trill.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Granted, I am not a connoisseur of singers, but I don't mind the trill, or lack thereof. I also find myself wanting to resist the Callas vortex.


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## Concertantek364 (Mar 13, 2021)

In terms of sonic and circumstantial contexts, I would find it fairer to compare Spani's rendition with those of her contemporaries. Apart from Muzio's version posted above, Arangi-Lombardi's is also a viable choice for comparison:






Arangi-Lombardi apparently also suffered from lack of a proper trill, but as can be heard in the recording, she attempted to produce something approximate to it.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

SanAntone said:


> Granted, I am not a connoisseur of singers, but I don't mind the trill, or lack thereof. I also find myself wanting to resist the Callas vortex.


Rather a shame you should feel that way.


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## Concertantek364 (Mar 13, 2021)

SanAntone said:


> Granted, I am not a connoisseur of singers, but I don't mind the trill, or lack thereof. I also find myself wanting to resist the Callas vortex.


I came across all the fuss made about Callas when I started listening to opera many years ago. At first I didn't quite comprehend what all the fuss was about and it's understandable that one can develop a resistance to it. It took quite a while before I finally managed to 'get' her through her portrayal of Violetta in La Traviata. Among her various recorded versions of the Trovatore Leonora, at first I was very enthralled by the visceral excitement, thrilling vocalisation and sheer emotionalism of her first Leonora (Mexico City in 1950) and found the 1956 EMI recording rather tame by comparison. Likewise it took me time to come to grasp and appreciate all the musical and interpretive wisdom, mastery and 'magic' that make the 1956 version great and more memorable than the others.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Rather a shame you should feel that way.


Oh, I very much enjoy Callas's talent - but in this poll I am voting for the other singer. Such a one-sided outcome bothers me, and the other singer was very good in any event.


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## Concertantek364 (Mar 13, 2021)

SanAntone said:


> Oh, I very much enjoy Callas's talent - but in this poll I am voting for the other singer. Such a one-sided outcome bothers me, and the other singer was very good in any event.


Sorry for my misunderstanding earlier where your reaction to Callas is concerned.

Spani, whom I have a role in introducing on this forum, has many qualities that are to be cherished in the aria. It's just that the trills Verdi wrote into the score and demanded from the singers are such an integral part of the aria's musical expression that lack of them can leave a huge gap of desire. Had Spani possessed a proper trill, the balance of the contest outcome could at least be even and may even tip in Spani's favour.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Concertantek364 said:


> Had Spani possessed a proper trill, the balance of the contest outcome could at least be even and may even tip in Spani's favour.


Callas is extremely well documented in more or less the full range of her repertoire, in numerous good-sounding recordings made in both the studio and the theater. It's a pity that we can hear certain singers only under the limiting conditions of acoustic and early electric studio recordings, and of those I find Spani one of the most provocative. She said that she preferred singing _Lieder_ to opera, which testifies to her care for the refinements of musicianship her recordings exhibit so clearly, but it's clear that her range within opera was great, embracing Wagner as well as Italian opera. Her vocal technique also seems exemplary, the lack of a trill notwithstanding, showing none of the problems that beset Callas as her career progressed. Callas will always be unique in the repertoire central to her career - Italian opera in the bel canto tradition, including early Verdi - but my suspicion is that if Spani were as well-represented on live and studio recordings as Callas she would be listened to eagerly today and talked about much more than she is. I know I've heard her sometime in the past, but I'm very grateful to have rediscovered her in these matchups.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

My vote goes to Spani. I find her voice more appealing than Callas’. And since she performed B.C. she is probably closer to the singing tradition that Verdi heard and wrote for. If you listen closely, Spani is not entirely devoid of a trill. Hers is a more subtle kind, if such a thing can be said.
P.S.: SanAnton expressed that he has not been drawn into the Callas vortex and I share the experience and sentiment. No one merits being harassed for it.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

ALT said:


> My vote goes to Spani. I find her voice more appealing than Callas'. And since she performed B.C. she is probably closer to the singing tradition that Verdi heard and wrote for. If you listen closely, Spani is not entirely devoid of a trill. Hers is a more subtle kind, if such a thing can be said.
> P.S.: SanAnton expressed that he has not been drawn into the Callas vortex and I share the experience and sentiment. No one merits being harassed for it.


You most certainly should not be harassed for not preferring the voice of Callas. Each pair of ears has the right to hear a voice the way they perceive it and enjoy it as such. 
By the same token to say Spani is not devoid of a trill frankly doesn't seem quite right to me. As appealing and charming as her voice may be, there's not really anything there but a weak attempt. You either have a trill or you don't. You can't fake it.


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## Concertantek364 (Mar 13, 2021)

Woodduck said:


> Callas is extremely well documented in more or less the full range of her repertoire, in numerous good-sounding recordings made in both the studio and the theater. It's a pity that we can hear certain singers only under the limiting conditions of acoustic and early electric studio recordings, and of those I find Spani one of the most provocative. She said that she preferred singing _Lieder_ to opera, which testifies to her care for the refinements of musicianship her recordings exhibit so clearly, but it's clear that her range within opera was great, embracing Wagner as well as Italian opera. Her vocal technique also seems exemplary, the lack of a trill notwithstanding, showing none of the problems that beset Callas as her career progressed. Callas will always be unique in the repertoire central to her career - Italian opera in the bel canto tradition, including early Verdi - but my suspicion is that if Spani were as well-represented on live and studio recordings as Callas she would be listened to eagerly today and talked about much more than she is. I know I've heard her sometime in the past, but I'm very grateful to have rediscovered her in these matchups.


Critic and writer Tully Porter produced an excellent feature article on Spani for the Autumn 2008 issue of _Classic Record Collector _(now out of print). Based on the recording logs he found at the EMI/HMV archives it appears that the HMV engineers went through a lot of troubles to capture her voice satisfyingly on 78 rpm records. It was more often than not in her case that for a particular aria several attempts were made and many takes had to be abandoned before a successful take was finally achieved. Several recording takes, including "Ave Maria" from Otello, "Addio del passato" from La Traviata, Micaëla's aria from Carmen, the Jewel Song from Faust, some Tosti songs, had to be thrown away and regrettably no more attempts were made after the unsuccessful takes for these pieces. She was the original choice for Desdemona for the 1931-32 HMV complete recording of Otello but for unknown reasons the role went to Maria Carbone instead - talking about a missed opportunity to hear her in a complete role.

She had attempted to find her way to perform at Covent Garden through the HMV executives but unfortunately all efforts came to nothing. Had she been given a chance to sing at Covent Garden, she would have been able to attain greater international prominence beyond Italy, Spain and South America (and a tour to Australia).

Before signing to HMV, she made some acoustic recordings for Columbia that include "O patria mia" from Aida and "Un bel di" from Madama Butterfly. Her Columbia acoustics are extremely rare and it's extremely difficult to locate a good copy. According to a friend who had contacts with Ward Marston, Marston had considered working on a complete Spani edition but had to abandon the idea because of the extreme difficulties in finding good copies of her Columbia acoustics.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

nina foresti said:


> You most certainly should not be harassed for not preferring the voice of Callas. Each pair of ears has the right to hear a voice the way they perceive it and enjoy it as such.
> By the same token to say Spani is not devoid of a trill frankly doesn't seem quite right to me. As appealing and charming as her voice may be, there's not really anything there but a weak attempt. You either have a trill or you don't. You can't fake it.


You're talking about a few seconds in a nearly 5 minute performance. I mean, give it a rest with the trill complaint. Her performance of this aria is really, really, good.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

SanAntone said:


> You're talking about a few seconds in a nearly 5 minute performance. I mean, give it a rest with the trill complaint. Her performance of this aria is really, really, good.


I don't think you should single out Nina as quite a number of people who posted on this thread think Spani is great but Callas' trill alone gives her the garland as it is written in music.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I don't think you should single out Nina as quite a number of people who posted on this thread think Spani is great but Callas' trill alone gives her the garland as it is written in music.


Yeah, I know, and I did not intend to single out Nina (hers was just the latest post), but I was making a comment to all those who have focussed on the trill instead of the entire performance. I actually thought she handled the entire aria as good, if not a bit better, than Callas - especially the high notes.


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## Kumachan (Mar 13, 2021)

Spani captures the nocturnal mood of the aria perfectly and communicates Leonora's inner anguish and private musing superbly. The pre-weight loss Callas was at the peak of her vocal powers in 1951, yet I find her in this Naples performance (as well as the 1950 Mexico City role debut and even the 1953 Scala performance) rather too heroic in voice for the aria and there isn't a lot of frailty and sense of tragedy. The live occasion gave rise to an element of playing to the gallery in her singing. So, Spani it is for me in this contest.

If Callas' 1956 EMI studio recording has been chosen instead of the 1951 live Naples performance, my voting will be the other way round. In 1956, Callas' post-weight loss voice hasn't yet developed the problems that marked her premature vocal decline and it actually worked to her advantage in imparting a sense of deeply moving frailty and poignancy to her portrayal.

Coming to the trill question, Spani actually COULD trill and she produced excellent fast trills in the aria Fanciullina by Italian Baroque composer Vincenzo L. Ciampi:






Contrary to many who post here, I think she intentionally favoured slow trills in the Trovatore aria to bind them more closely to the melodic lines.


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## Tietjens Stolz (Jun 2, 2015)

Initially I was undecided. By now I'm inclined to agree with Kumachan (and Concertante regarding the musical superiority of Callas' 1956 EMI recording over her other recorded Leonoras). My vote goes to Spani.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Kumachan said:


> Spani captures the nocturnal mood of the aria perfectly and communicates Leonora's inner anguish and private musing superbly. The pre-weight loss Callas was at the peak of her vocal powers in 1951, yet I find her in this Naples performance (as well as the 1950 Mexico City role debut and even the 1953 Scala performance) rather too heroic in voice for the aria and there isn't a lot of frailty and sense of tragedy. The live occasion gave rise to an element of playing to the gallery in her singing. So, Spani it is for me in this contest.
> 
> If Callas' 1956 EMI studio recording has been chosen instead of the 1951 live Naples performance, my voting will be the other way round. In 1956, Callas' post-weight loss voice hasn't yet developed the problems that marked her premature vocal decline and it actually worked to her advantage in imparting a sense of deeply moving frailty and poignancy to her portrayal.
> 
> ...


Unfortunately that video says it isn't available, and I can't find the performance on YouTube. I'd like to have heard it.

I don't understand what it means to say that a slow alternation of notes is "bound more closely to the melodic line" than a trill. In any case the idea seems not to have occurred to Verdi. Shorter trills might reasonably be done in a modified way - sometimes a turn can be effective - but the long one really can't be replaced by a different embellishment.


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## Tietjens Stolz (Jun 2, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> Unfortunately that video says it isn't available, and I can't find the performance on YouTube. I'd like to have heard it.


The video is available. At least I can access it.

Try to open up this link instead:





If it still cannot be opened, try doing so in a different browser.


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## Tietjens Stolz (Jun 2, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> Unfortunately that video says it isn't available, and I can't find the performance on YouTube. I'd like to have heard it.


Alternatively, try open up this video and then jump to 06:19:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Tietjens Stolz said:


> Alternatively, try open up this video and then jump to 06:19:


Thanks. This one worked. I've noticed that some YouTube videos are unavailable in some places, but I don't know the reason for it.

Having listened, I have to say that the supposed trills in the aria at 6:19 don't sound like true trills to me but rather slight intensifications of vibrato. Ideally a trill is a rapid alternation of two distinct notes. Many singers' trills only approximate this, and many fail to do even that. Spani, on the evidence presented so far, didn't have a real trill. Her performance of this little aria is very nice though.

I'm finding it hard to tear myself away from this Spani collection. She does an exquisite "In quelle trine morbide" that's interesting to hear right after yesterday's competition between Scotto and Te Kanawa.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

SanAntone said:


> You're talking about a few seconds in a nearly 5 minute performance. I mean, give it a rest with the trill complaint. Her performance of this aria is really, really, good.


Indeed it is. It's just not AS good as the Callas performance, because she doesn't perform the music as it is written, and the trills really are quite important in this aria. Verdi presumably thought so or he'd have left them out. They are not there just for vocal display, but to express Leonora's anxiety. Callas not only sings them but binds them into the musical line. They amount to more than just a few seconds too. They occur on ro*see*, do*len*te, spe*ran*za, la *stan*za, and a long one on the word le *pen*e, where Spani does at least do a minor shake, but it isn't really a trill.

You will note that most of us here have commented on the beauty of Spani's voice, her phrasing, her musicality, communication of the text and creation of the right atmosphere. If she did have a proper trill, she might well have won the round. As it is, Callas takes the palm for more fully fulfilling the composer's intentions.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

Woodduck said:


> Thanks. This one worked. I've noticed that some YouTube videos are unavailable in some places, but I don't know the reason for it.
> 
> Having listened, I have to say that the supposed trills in the aria at 6:19 don't sound like true trills to me but rather slight intensifications of vibrato. Ideally a trill is a rapid alternation of two distinct notes. Many singers' trills only approximate this, and many fail to do even that. Spani, on the evidence presented so far, didn't have a real trill. Her performance of this little aria is very nice though.
> 
> I'm finding it hard to tear myself away from this Spani collection. She does an exquisite "In quelle trine morbide" that's interesting to hear right after yesterday's competition between Scotto and Te Kanawa.


I hear a trill in that selection starting at 06:19. Lovely singing, too.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

ALT said:


> I hear a trill in that selection starting at 06:19. Lovely singing, too.


Delightful singing, yes, but If you are hearing trills, you have a very loose definition of what a trill is. I hear what Woodduck hears, a slight intensification of vibrato.


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## Viardots (Oct 4, 2014)

Concertantek364 said:


> Critic and writer Tully Porter produced an excellent feature article on Spani for the Autumn 2008 issue of _Classic Record Collector _(now out of print). Based on the recording logs he found at the EMI/HMV archives it appears that the HMV engineers went through a lot of troubles to capture her voice satisfyingly on 78 rpm records. It was more often than not in her case that for a particular aria several attempts were made and many takes had to be abandoned before a successful take was finally achieved.


Spani apparently has a wide dynamic range, with ample reserves of power. It was very difficult for the acoustic recording horn and the early electrical recording microphone to capture such voice satisfyingly. One can imagine how viscerally thrilling it could be to hear her in an opera house.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Indeed it is. It's just not AS good as the Callas performance, because she doesn't perform the music as it is written, and the trills really are quite important in this aria. Verdi presumably thought so or he'd have left them out. They are not there just for vocal display, but to express Leonora's anxiety. Callas not only sings them but binds them into the musical line. They amount to more than just a few seconds too. They occur on ro*see*, do*len*te, spe*ran*za, la *stan*za, and a long one on the word le *pen*e, where Spani does at least do a minor shake, but it isn't really a trill.
> 
> You will note that most of us here have commented on the beauty of Spani's voice, her phrasing, her musicality, communication of the text and creation of the right atmosphere. If she did have a proper trill, she might well have won the round. As it is, Callas takes the palm for more fully fulfilling the composer's intentions.


I appreciate you argument and take your points. Still, these are singers from different generations, and there may have been a difference in singing styles regarding trills. Then again, Spani may have been unable to execute a convincing trill at this stage in her career (or ever for that matter), or to have her trill captured with the existing recording technology.

But I feel that you and others are making a bit much of Verdi's intentions concerning the trill (but I could be all wrong thinking that, Verdi was an exacting craftsman and knew what he wanted). However, for me, the aria stands on its own with or without making much of the trill. To be honest I didn't even notice it when I first listened to it and had to go back and listen again, only after seeing the comments.

What I take away from this exercise is that I am more of a big picture listener, and I loved her singing.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

SanAntone said:


> But I feel that you and others are making a bit much of Verdi's intentions concerning the trill (but I could be all wrong thinking that, Verdi was an exacting craftsman and knew what he wanted). However, for me, the aria stands on its own with or without making much of the trill. To be honest I didn't even notice it when I first listened to it and had to go back and listen again, only after seeing the comments.
> 
> What I take away from this exercise is that I am more of a big picture listener, and I loved her singing.


Well we do know that Verdi was quite an exacting craftsman, and his scores are littered with quite detailed expression marks, though they are not always observed. Indeed, except for the lack of a trill, Spani is keenly responsive to his instructions. I'm repeating myself here I know, but I find those opening measures rather plain and bald without the trill Verdi wrote. I started listening to the Spani version prepared to find it exemplary, as I have been so impressed by her singing in other pieces, and was rather surprised to find it was not quite in this case.

You say you are a big picture listener. Does this also apply to instrumental works? Were a pianist or violinist to omit or gloss over the parts in a virtuoso piece that they hadn't mastered, would you be happy with their playing if the general impression was pleasing?

Like the majority of us here, John Steane, in his wonderful book _The Grand Tradition_ is very appreciative of Spani, but he has this specifically to say about _D'amor su'ali rosee_.



> Her peformance is an exciting one, certainly. She brings to the opening bars a subdued lilt and buyoancy answering to the motion of wings in the night air, which Leonora has just invoked, and the new hopefulness which overcomes the fear she has also expressed in the recitative. But this aria does need a good trill, and her substitute offering is not satisfactory. Nor does she observe Verdi's markings of dolce over the first high B flat, or, in the great phrases of the climax, the fact that it is the note before the highest in the curve that is marked for accentuation.


Callas doesn't observe the dolce mark on the Bb either for that matter but she does soften her tone for the following Ab, which makes a lovely contrast with the previous Bb. As Kumahcan has pointed out, this may have had something to do with her playing to the gallery in Naples (the performance had been a somewhat tempestuous occasion with some of the audience protesting the ageing Lauri-Vopli).


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Tsaraslondon said:


> You say you are a big picture listener. Does this also apply to instrumental works? Were a pianist or violinist to omit or gloss over the parts in a virtuoso piece that they hadn't mastered, would you be happy with their playing if the general impression was pleasing?


I would say so. I hardly ever listen with a score anymore, so unless I know the work well I won't catch mistakes unless they are glaring. But, for me it is the totality of a performance which I listen to, and won't pick it apart measure by measure (I am a trained musician so I have the skills to do that but prefer to turn off my analytical brain when listening for pleasure).

If the artist puts the work across so that it moves me, that's all I ask for. I've heard note-perfect performances which fell short of that standard, so for me it is not about accuracy with the written score as much as more intangible aspects.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I am exited with the heated debate this pairing fostered. Spani even had a number in her camp. For me she is one of the greatest singers of the golden age these contests made me aware of. The fact that ANYONE can get 5 people liking her over the great Callas is validation of my estimation of her sound. I listen to others from this era so the poor sound doesn't keep me from hearing what a great artist she must have been. If I were her manager I would have changed her name like Sills did, though;-)


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

SanAntone said:


> I would say so. I hardly ever listen with a score anymore, so unless I know the work well I won't catch mistakes unless they are glaring. But, for me it is the totality of a performance which I listen to, and won't pick it apart measure by measure (I am a trained musician so I have the skills to do that but prefer to turn off my analytical brain when listening for pleasure).
> 
> If the artist puts the work across so that it moves me, that's all I ask for. I've heard note-perfect performances which fell short of that standard, so for me it is not about accuracy with the written score as much as more intangible aspects.


Now you make it sound as if Callas were just a technical singing machine, which couldn't be further from the truth. The fact is that she had this uncanny ability to execute accurately all the markings and technical demands of the score, whilst making us feel her peformances were totally spontaneous. Especially in bel canto works it can almost sound as if she is extemporising on the spot, but close examination of the score shows that she is just carrying out the composer's instructions. Grace Bumbry once said of her that if you wrote down in musical notation what Callas was singing you would exactly reproduce what was written in the score.

Oddly enough I feel that Spani has this quality too. She just doesn't have a trill, necessary _in this aria_, in her armoury.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I am exited with the heated debate this pairing fostered. Spani even had a number in her camp. For me she is one of the greatest singers of the golden age these contests made me aware of. The fact that ANYONE can get 5 people liking her over the great Callas is validation of my estimation of her sound. I listen to others from this era so the poor sound doesn't keep me from hearing what a great artist she must have been. If I were her manager I would have changed her name like Sills did, though;-)


Has anyone ever doubted Spani's place in the pantheon of great singers? I seem to remember some years ago a reissue of her old 78 recordings (I can't remember now whether this was on LP or CD) being rapturously received in Gramophone magazine. It certianly sparked my interest.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I find myself pleasantly embracing both sides of the "fidelity to the score" argument. I agree that the trills in this particular aria are important enough that if all else is roughly equal between two singers the ability to execute them gives that singer the edge. Callas had a rather strict philosophy about adhering to a composer's instructions as indicated in the score, and as Tsaraslondon points out she had both the technique and the musical intelligence to be extremely precise about this while giving the impression of spontaneity. We shouldn't forget, though, the long tradition of improvisation in opera (and in other music as well) which applied particularly to embellishments but sometimes extended to more substantial alterations of the melodic line. That tradition largely died out by the mid-20th century; it was revived in the performance of Baroque music as part of the HIP phenomenon, but has never really caught on in music of the Romantic era despite the fact that we have many examples of performance practice by singers trained in the 19th century that show the sometimes surprising - and, to our ears, not always pleasing - freedom with which singers of that era approached the written notes. To an appreciable extent, performers in earlier eras seem to have been regarded as co-creators along with the composers; score markings were taken more as strong suggestions for expressive effect than as absolute constraints on the expressive impulses of singers, who were expected to respond to the written music in a personal way and put a unique stamp on their performances. Absolute fidelity to the text, with nothing added, subtracted or altered, isn't something which 19th-century composers expected or insisted upon so long as a performer's improvisations seemed plausible in style and expression, and the appropriateness of their choices would have been governed mainly by the style of the music. 

For me, Callas is a magnificent example of what a supremely musical singer can achieve operating on the premises of a modern aesthetic of performance practice. But there are delights to be had in the work of earlier singers working on different assumptions, bringing us things the composers never thought of but would probably have been happy to hear from human beings responding to their music in personal ways.

I realize these musings go beyond what the mere presence or absence of a few trills requires. I'm pretty sure that if Spani could have trilled as precisely as Callas, she would have done so, and that Verdi would have applauded her for it.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> I find myself pleasantly embracing both sides of the "fidelity to the score" argument. I agree that the trills in this particular aria are important enough that if all else is roughly equal between two singers the ability to execute them gives that singer the edge. Callas had a rather strict philosophy about adhering to a composer's instructions as indicated in the score, and as Tsaraslondon points out she had both the technique and the musical intelligence to be extremely precise about this while giving the impression of spontaneity. We shouldn't forget, though, the long tradition of improvisation in opera (and in other music as well) which applied particularly to embellishments but sometimes extended to more substantial alterations of the melodic line. That tradition largely died out by the mid-20th century; it was revived in the performance of Baroque music as part of the HIP phenomenon, but has never really caught on in music of the Romantic era despite the fact that we have many examples of performance practice by singers trained in the 19th century that show the sometimes surprising - and, to our ears, not always pleasing - freedom with which singers of that era approached the written notes. To an appreciable extent, performers in earlier eras seem to have been regarded as co-creators along with the composers; score markings were taken more as strong suggestions for expressive effect than as absolute constraints on the expressive impulses of singers, who were expected to respond to the written music in a personal way and put a unique stamp on their performances. Absolute fidelity to the text, with nothing added, subtracted or altered, isn't something which 19th-century composers expected or insisted upon so long as a performer's improvisations seemed plausible in style and expression, and the appropriateness of their choices would have been governed mainly by the style of the music.
> 
> For me, Callas is a magnificent example of what a supremely musical singer can achieve operating on the premises of a modern aesthetic of performance practice. But there are delights to be had in the work of earlier singers working on different assumptions, bringing us things the composers never thought of but would probably have been happy to hear from human beings responding to their music in personal ways.
> 
> I realize these musings go beyond what the mere presence or absence of a few trills requires. I'm pretty sure that if Spani could have trilled as precisely as Callas, she would have done so, and that Verdi would have applauded her for it.


Following on from this, it's interesting to note that in the _Si pel ciel_ duet from *Otello*, Verdi marks it to be sung _senza appogiature_, which perhaps suggests singers normally used them. His instructions in his later scores became ever more detailed.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Following on from this, it's interesting to note that in the _Si pel ciel_ duet from *Otello*, Verdi marks it to be sung _senza appogiature_, which perhaps suggests singers normally used them. His instructions in his later scores became ever more detailed.


There was clearly a trend toward greater specificity and strictness. I think this follows logically from the change in the musical style of opera, in which the singer's line became less self-sufficient and more a part of the larger musical texture. It's hard to think of many places in the operas of Wagner, Puccini, Mussorgsky, Debussy, late Verdi or Massenet where the singer could reasonably alter or embellish the score to any positive effect. An instance that occurs to me is in Act 3 of _Die Walkure,_ where Birgit Nilsson used to hold a long note over a couple of measures beyond the written cutoff, and it made such a nice effect that I was surprised and disappointed to learn that it wasn't written that way. (And then there are the tenors who hold "Walse! Walse!" until they're blue in the face or somebody shoots them...)


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> There was clearly a trend toward greater specificity and strictness. I think this follows logically from the change in the musical style of opera, in which the singer's line became less self-sufficient and more a part of the larger musical texture. It's hard to think of many places in the operas of Wagner, Puccini, Mussorgsky, Debussy, late Verdi or Massenet where the singer could reasonably alter or embellish the score to any positive effect. An instance that occurs to me is in Act 3 of _Die Walkure,_ where Birgit Nilsson used to hold a long note over a couple of measures beyond the written cutoff, and it made such a nice effect that I was surprised and disappointed to learn that it wasn't written that way. (And then there are the tenors who hold "Walse! Walse!" until they're blue in the face or somebody shoots them...)


Hahaha! In her masterclass on the duet between Radames and Amneris, Callas advises the Amneris to make sure she has plenty of breath for the final measures, "as the tenor will probably bawl his head off. This is not very nicely put, but it is unfortunately true." She must have been remembering all those Aidas with Kurt Baum and Del Monaco.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

oof, tough call. 

I'm going to give it to Hina Spani by a slight margin. Her voice is just more even: exactly the right balance from top to bottom. In another contest, Callas's superior phrasing and portamento may have pushed her over the edge. This match up is close enough to where it would largely depend on the specific aria.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

I thought it would be a closer call, but it was surprisingly easy to cast my vote for Callas, even though earlier I voted for Spani consistently.
In my opinion, Callas was able to fulfill all the technical demands of the aria while not sacrificing any of the emotional aspects of the music and text - the reason she rules supreme in my opera world.


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