# Has anybody of you seen Callas performing live ?



## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Has anybody of you seen Callas performing live ? If yes, in what opera ? Or was it a recital ?


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I saw Callas in her last tour in San Francisco in May 1974, with di Stefano.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I knew someone who saw her in Tosca and said she had the biggest voice he ever heard and he had heard Nilsson. I have wanted to ask this question. I knew T-London had. I was surprised someone had heard Marion Anderson.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I know someone who saw her in Traviata and Medea at the ROH. He said he couldn't sleep after that Medea!

N.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

The Conte said:


> I know someone who saw her in Traviata and Medea at the ROH. He said he couldn't sleep after that Medea!
> 
> N.


It’s probably the same man who had to “take a turn in the garden” after he heard her recording of *Lucia di Lammermoor*!


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

I've always liked this quote from Diana Vreeland about seeing Callas live - "Yet on stage she was the most extraordinary performer I have ever seen in my life - ever. Once we went to see her in Traviata. We were in the second row. I remember the boulevards and the tablecloths and the crowds going by and the men and women having something to say to each other and the men talking to each other about business and the women talking to each other about mmm ... clothes - and however else the chorus starts. Then ... there's a break in the crowd and you see a man and a woman sitting at a table talking and she looks at the audience and a note comes out...

She just opened her throat. But I want to tell you that a tenth of a second later I was totally drenched, I mean totally - it had nothing to do with crying or weeping. It was shock. It was total electricity. I had been prepared to hear the most dramatic singer in the world, but this ... and by God, when she died, was she dead. I've never seen such a death scene.On stage she didn't have a gauche thing about her. She was unique. That's a word I use sparingly."


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I knew someone who saw her in Tosca and said she had the biggest voice he ever heard and he had heard Nilsson. I have wanted to ask this question. I knew T-London had. I was surprised someone had heard Marion Anderson.


Where did he see her? Yes, especially before the weightloss, and even when on form after, the voice was large, but unless it were the mexico performances, and even then I'm not sure, I can't imagine it bigger than Nilsson's.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

[


Op.123 said:


> Where did he see her? Yes, especially before the weightloss, and even when on form after, the voice was large, but unless it were the mexico performances, and even then I'm not sure, I can't imagine it bigger than Nilsson's.


I cannot give you anything other than a quote. He said this to me a decade ago . He was a millionaire so he was intelligent. Nilsson had a very focused voice. When Callas opened up, whether top or bottom, it seemed a big wallop of a sound. Those high notes before the weight loss were astonishing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know anyone who has heard both Nilsson and Callas and could say. Certainly Callas had one of the biggest chest registers of any singer. Dolly Parton on the other hand has the biggest chest of any singer.....


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

Op.123 said:


> I've always liked this quote from Diana Vreeland about seeing Callas live - "Yet on stage she was the most extraordinary performer I have ever seen in my life - ever. Once we went to see her in Traviata. We were in the second row. I remember the boulevards and the tablecloths and the crowds going by and the men and women having something to say to each other and the men talking to each other about business and the women talking to each other about mmm ... clothes - and however else the chorus starts. Then ... there's a break in the crowd and you see a man and a woman sitting at a table talking and she looks at the audience and a note comes out...
> 
> She just opened her throat. But I want to tell you that a tenth of a second later I was totally drenched, I mean totally - it had nothing to do with crying or weeping. It was shock. It was total electricity. I had been prepared to hear the most dramatic singer in the world, but this ... and by God, when she died, was she dead. I've never seen such a death scene.On stage she didn't have a gauche thing about her. She was unique. That's a word I use sparingly."


Me thinks Ms. Vreeland’s anecdote sounds more like an out-of-breath fangirl’s than anything. Diana being Diana, she was probably besotted by the glamour shots she saw in the magazines which she then projected onto what she thought she saw on and heard from the stage.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

MAS said:


> I saw Callas in her last tour in San Francisco in May 1974, with di Stefano.


I tell you, di Stefano’s job was to hand Callas out to the audience. They came out smiling, to endless screams of “brava” and applause; he took her hand and paraded her around the stage, her cape floating in the air behind her. No one cared what he sang or even how she sang. Everyone came to see her and show her how much she meant to us. On the front row there was a red-headed man in a full beard, wearing a crimson formal with a beaded clutch, sitting among dowagers and old men.

In the Dress Circle there was a mixed crowd, old and young and in-between, excited. I had come with my usual opera companion, a work colleague from Mishiwaka, who usually made loud embarrassing comments, but she was unusually quiet that night. Most people were appreciative without knowing much about what they were appreciating. They applauded when the others applauded and generally behaved themselves.
Either Callas or Pippo announced what they were going to sing before each sang - the program listed several arias and duets, some Neapolitan songs for di Stefano.








After the concert ended, some of us went to the stage door to see the singers. Callas came out, smiling shyly, surrounded by men who moved as one when she moved so it seemed as if they were stuck together. I exclaimed, “we love you Maria!” She turned to me and smiled radiantly but kept moving. Too bad we didn’t have iPhones then!

My mother had waited up for me to find out how it had gone, and was happy to hear how excited I still was. She had taken a photo of me and Louise in our finery. I was wearing a powder blue tuxedo jacket with a frilly shirt and black pants, rented from Roos Atkins.
Thankfully the photo is lost, but the Callas experience has not faded.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

ALT said:


> Me thinks Ms. Vreeland’s anecdote sounds more like an out-of-breath fangirl’s than anything. Diana being Diana, she was probably besotted by the glamour shots she saw in the magazines which she then projected onto what she thought she saw on and heard from the stage.


It doesn’t sound like it to me. Often, other performers and arts personnel are more receptive and get more out of an event than the general public does. Martha Graham had a similar experience, but on Callas’s stage deportment rather than sound.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

ALT said:


> Me thinks Ms. Vreeland’s anecdote sounds more like an out-of-breath fangirl’s than anything. Diana being Diana, she was probably besotted by the glamour shots she saw in the magazines which she then projected onto what she thought she saw on and heard from the stage.


I get that as well. There's also her humorous description of the opening chorus that makes this sound like a gossip column writer exuding her own style in her weekly gush. That said, Callas was, no doubt, an electric performer as we have many sensible accounts from people who saw her that state as much.

N.


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## Francasacchi (7 mo ago)

BBSVK said:


> Has anybody of you seen Callas performing live ? If yes, in what opera ? Or was it a recital ?


My Dad did at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in the 1950s. He saw her as Butterfly


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

ALT said:


> Me thinks Ms. Vreeland’s anecdote sounds more like an out-of-breath fangirl’s than anything. Diana being Diana, she was probably besotted by the glamour shots she saw in the magazines which she then projected onto what she thought she saw on and heard from the stage.


Or maybe, as many reported, she was simply an electrifying performer with an astonishing voice.


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> [
> 
> I cannot give you anything other than a quote. He said this to me a decade ago . He was a millionaire so he was intelligent. Nilsson had a very focused voice. When Callas opened up, whether top or bottom, it seemed a big wallop of a sound. Those high notes before the weight loss were astonishing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know anyone who has heard both Nilsson and Callas and could say. Certainly Callas had one of the biggest chest registers of any singer. Dolly Parton on the other hand has the biggest chest of any singer.....


Yes she could be colossal when she opened up, but she was definitely in the bel canto style and rarely sung at full volume so unlike a singer such as Flagstad who sounded consistently huge the size of her voice was not always appreciated, especially in roles which didn't require a huge amount of volume. 

Also I've never been fully on board with those who say she had one of the greatest chest registers. Yes, it was there, strong and well developed, but looking back at sopranos at the beginning of the 20th century she was far from the only one with a massive lower voice. Tebaldi, Cigna, Bruna-Rasa, Ponselle, Traubel, Raisa (early career), Caniglia and others were all well-endowed in the lower register.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

ALT said:


> Me thinks Ms. Vreeland’s anecdote sounds more like an out-of-breath fangirl’s than anything. Diana being Diana, she was probably besotted by the glamour shots she saw in the magazines which she then projected onto what she thought she saw on and heard from the stage.


Did you know "Diana"? On a first - or any - name basis? Do you have any reason to doubt that she was capable of understanding that what she saw was exceptional? _"*Yet on stage* she was the most extraordinary performer I have *ever* seen *in my life* -* ever*"_ suggests that Ms. Vreeland (born 1903) had seen a great many performers onstage (and probably met quite a few as well), in opera and elsewhere. The _"yet on stage"_ implies that Vreeland had some acquaintance with Callas offstage, and that Callas's "glamor shots" and presence in the tabloids were precisely the things that made her theatrical artistry surprising. Vreeland, far from being influenced by the public image of a diva, clearly had her expectations shattered.

It isn't as if Vreeland's stunned reaction was unique or odd. How about "Judi being Judi":






But why go on? You can find such tributes everywhere, if you look. Of course, you can also watch Callas and Gobbi in Tosca at Covent Garden and compare it to any other performance on film. It's my favorite opera video by far, and I don't even care for _Tosca. _Amazingly, Callas didn't either.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Op.123 said:


> Or maybe, as many reported, she was simply an electrifying performer with an astonishing voice.


Gosh... Y' think? I guess her Tosca wasn't half bad.


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## OffPitchNeb (Jun 6, 2016)

Francasacchi said:


> My Dad did at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in the 1950s. He saw her as Butterfly


Interesting! What was his impression?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I was16 years old, a junior in high school, and living in southern NJ, 125 miles south of New York, the year of Callas's last Tosca at the Met (1965). I knew and loved several of her recordings. I didn't know she was going to be performing so close by, or that she was on the verge of retirement. I would gladly have worked two summer jobs to buy a ticket.


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## Francasacchi (7 mo ago)

OffPitchNeb said:


> Interesting! What was his impression?


To be honest, I do not remember what he told me. He talked more about having seen Tebaldi, Nilsson, Moffo, Bjoerling, Gorr. I think he did say her acting was moving. He did tell me he could hear Inge Borkh blocks away when she was making the Elektra and Salome highlights recording with Reiner and the CSO.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Francasacchi said:


> To be honest, I do not remember what he told me. He talked more about having seen Tebaldi, Nilsson, Moffo, Bjoerling, Gorr. I think he did say her acting was moving. He did tell me he could hear Inge Borkh blocks away when she was making the Elektra and Salomr highlights recording with Reiner and the CSO.


Lucky man! And lucky you to have had a parent who could talk about such things. I hope you and he got along well.


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## Francasacchi (7 mo ago)

Woodduck said:


> Lucky man! Andd lucky you to have had a parent who could talk about such things. I hope you and he got along well.


He is the one who got me into classical music. I grew up hearing WFMT on the radio and listening to my Dad's records. Regarding opera, he owned several of those Met Opera Guild recordings and I became fascinated with them. And they had such detailed libretti. He was more interested in instrumental music especially the cello but he knew much about opera. After he passed in 2017, I inherited his massive CD collection. His favorite conductor was Kubelik..


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Op.123 said:


> Or maybe, as many reported, she was simply an electrifying performer with an astonishing voice.


Diana's writing isn't that good!

N.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

MAS said:


> I tell you, di Stefano’s job was to hand Callas out to the audience. They came out smiling, to endless screams of “brava” and applause; he took her hand and paraded her around the stage, her cape floating in the air behind her. No one cared what he sang or even how she sang. Everyone came to see her and show her how much she meant to us. On the front row there was a red-headed man in a full beard, wearing a crimson formal with a beaded clutch, sitting among dowagers and old men.
> 
> In the Dress Circle there was a mixed crowd, old and young and in-between, excited. I had come with my usual opera companion, a work colleague from Mishiwaka, who usually made loud embarrassing comments, but she was unusually quiet that night. Most people were appreciative without knowing much about what they were appreciating. They applauded when the others applauded and generally behaved themselves.
> Either Callas or Pippo announced what they were going to sing before each sang - the program listed several arias and duets, some Neapolitan songs for di Stefano.
> ...


What a wonderful memory, and thank you for sharing it with us.

I was not so fortunate. I do remember the BBC airing one of the London concerts (Frank Hamilton says both were recorded by the BBC, but they could only have relayed one of them because she wore a different dress for the two concerts). I still lived up in the north of England back then and I doubt I could have even have afforded the train ticket, let alone tickets for the concert and somewhere to stay, so television was my only option. Colour TV was in its infancy so I only saw it in black and white too. I was unbelievably excited and made sure I was going to be home. A friend of mine came round to watch it with me.

I can imagine that being there in the hall, where you could soak up the atmosphere would have been extraordinarily exciting, but I do remember a slight feeling of disappointment when I realised the voice was not what it had once been and I've never felt inclined to watch or listen to any of those late recitals again. I've just found the London concert on youtube and have started watching it now. It's somewhat better than I remembered. Maybe I'm more forgiving than I used to be. Still, it's not how I'd choose to remember one of the greatest singers of the twentieth century.






My mother had a friend who lived in London and was a huge opera fan. He was a regular at Covent Garden and saw every one of Callas's performances there between her debut as Norma in 1952 and her final Tosca in 1964. He was really a Wagner nut, so he'd heard some pretty big voices over the years (including Nilsson later on) but he said the voice was enormous in 1952 and when she hit that top D in the Act I Norma finale it flew out like a laser beam. He also said she was the most thrilling performer of his entire opera going life.

I also once met the conductor Iris Lemare who saw her Tosca in 1964. She said it was everything opera should be and rarely was. She also said it was so good she never wanted to see the opera again as any performance would inevitably be disappointing.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

The Conte said:


> Diana's writing isn't that good!
> 
> N.


I like it.


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

MAS said:


> *I was wearing a powder blue tuxedo jacket with a frilly shirt and black pants*, rented from Roos Atkins.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> What a wonderful memory, and thank you for sharing it with us.
> 
> I was not so fortunate. I do remember the BBC airing one of the London concerts (Frank Hamilton says both were recorded by the BBC, but they could only have relayed one of them because she wore a different dress for the two concerts). I still lived up in the north of England back then and I doubt I could have even have afforded the train ticket, let alone tickets for the concert and somewhere to stay, so television was my only option. Colour TV was in its infancy so I only saw it in black and white too. I was unbelievably excited and made sure I was going to be home. A friend of mine came round to watch it with me.
> 
> ...


She was sooooo gorgeous in that dark blue gown and with her hair done that way. I liked Suicidio from that contest.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> She was sooooo gorgeous in that dark blue gown and with her hair done that way. I liked Suicidio from that contest.


It wasn't a dark blue gown. The gown was white, but she covered it with a dark blue chiffon scarf arranged as a sort of wrap around cape. The scarf was actually fixed on by glueing it to one of the shoulders (It wasn't as bright as it appears in that video and is darker and more dusky than seen there. The album cover for the Divina release of the concert is the closest to the actual colour). IIRC both were designed by Biki and the scarf was in the Sotheby's auction in Milan in 2007, the dress was sold to a collector by Vasso Devetzi many years before.










N.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

The Conte said:


> It wasn't a dark blue gown. The gown was white, but she covered it with a dark blue chiffon scarf arranged as a sort of wrap around cape. The scarf was actually fixed on by glueing it to one of the shoulders (It wasn't as bright as it appears in that video and is darker and more dusky than seen there. The album cover for the Divina release of the concert is the closest to the actual colour). IIRC both were designed by Biki and the scarf was in the Sotheby's auction in Milan in 2007, the dress was sold to a collector by Vasso Devetzi many years before.
> 
> View attachment 175740
> 
> ...


I'm going to be kicked out of the Callas Fan Club. I was relying on memory and ....well.. I say nothing more LOL. You guys really know your **** LOL LOL


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I'm going to be kicked out of the Callas Fan Club. I was relying on memory and ....well.. I say nothing more LOL. You guys really know your **** LOL LOL


Don't worry about it, I forget so many of the details (and find there's lots of new stuff that I didn't know). The Callas geekdom on this forum is sky high!

N.


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## damianjb1 (Jan 1, 2016)

Seattleoperafan said:


> [
> 
> I cannot give you anything other than a quote. He said this to me a decade ago . He was a millionaire so he was intelligent. Nilsson had a very focused voice. When Callas opened up, whether top or bottom, it seemed a big wallop of a sound. Those high notes before the weight loss were astonishing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know anyone who has heard both Nilsson and Callas and could say. Certainly Callas had one of the biggest chest registers of any singer. Dolly Parton on the other hand has the biggest chest of any singer.....


Yet when Dolly sings I'm always left wanting more chest.


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## damianjb1 (Jan 1, 2016)

Callas wore gorgeous clothes and she wore them extremely well.


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