# Final with Callas: Pace Pace Mio Dio: Callas, Giannini, Ponselle, Muzio, Steber



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Huge finale. I wish any of these ladies were singing today.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

If Maria Callas didn’t exist, maybe one of these other sopranos might’ve been my choice. Callas is my benchmark for this aria. She had the uncanny ability to make me believe everything she sang. Here she’s in the first year of her newfound slimness and her voice was affected, but she’s Leonora to the life.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> If Maria Callas didn’t exist, maybe one of these other sopranos might’ve been my choice. Callas is my benchmark for this aria. She had the uncanny ability to make me believe everything she sang. Here she’s in the first year of her newfound slimness and her voice was affected, but she’s Leonora to the life.


You have microscopically listened to her for decades. In the first few years after the slimming down the only noticeable difference I hear is her notes above the staff have much less "umpf" than before but the rest of the voice seems pretty much the same. Maybe somewhat less power perhaps. Her recital version of Armida's big aria from after the weight loss is much less showy and dramatic than the live opera version before she lost weight. She sang the D but got off it quickly unlike before. Otherwise she seems up to all that the music requires from what I hear. What say you?


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Muzio was a disappointment to me in this one for all the reasons you already can guess.
I thought Eleanor Steber was simply marvelous and I actually feel guilty because it was so well defined in so many ways but then so was Ponselle. But the stand-out without any question was Callas. Hers just soared above the rest and ran away with the gold. (and I am not a Callas groupie -- hooded sweat shirt or not!)


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> You have microscopically listened to her for decades. In the first few years after the slimming down the only noticeable difference I hear is her notes above the staff have much less "umpf" than before but the rest of the voice seems pretty much the same. Maybe somewhat less power perhaps. Her recital version of Armida's big aria from after the weight loss is much less showy and dramatic than the live opera version before she lost weight. She sang the D but got off it quickly unlike before. Otherwise she seems up to all that the music requires from what I hear. What say you?


The sustained notes have a beat to them that is more noticeable in 1954 and the highs have less power. But she has all that the music requires, but gives more than any other singer - her sense of the architecture of the piece, the rythmic precision; the color she was able to apply to almost every tone she emitted, at will; the ability to sculpt the phrases; the give and take (_rubato) _on them; the molten legato, as Ardoin wrote. This all together are unique to this singer - the so-called “acting” is all done via the voice, the music. She was slavishly devoted to the composer’s markings: Grace Bumbry said that listening to her recordings was like “taking dictation.”
I’m sure I’m forgetting something!


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

nina foresti said:


> (and I am not a Callas groupie -- hooded sweat shirt or not!)


Ha! Most people would’ve just gotten the tee-shirt! 😂
This is the one I have:


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Callas! Let's get the faults out of the way first. The piano top Bb on _invan la pace _is not ideally steady and, though she observes the _messa di voce _she is again slightly unsteady on the diminuendo. Everything else is pure gold and it's instructive to follow along with the score. Unusually for her, she slightly changes the end by singing the _ma-le-diz _on the F before the final, blazing top Bb _on _- and I thik she's right. It's much more effective. Other than that, she meticulously observes Verdi's markings. I particularly like the change of colour when she sings _Alvaro, io t'amo_, marked _con passione _by Verdi. As MAS points out, she knows how to sing _rubato _without destroying the pulse of the music and, though the temp is slow, we still feel its basic compound rhythm. Serafin helps immeasurably of course. This is a superb performance and I doubt I will hear it bettered. I'm not even going to discuss the others.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

MAS said:


> Ha! Most people would’ve just gotten the tee-shirt! 😂
> This is the one I have:
> 
> View attachment 167742


Here's mine








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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Callas!
> …Unusually for her, she slightly changes the end by singing the _ma-le-diz _on the F before the final, blazing top Bb _on _-


I noticed that not many follow the score in singing the high note on the last _“maledizione” _as Verdi asks (Maledizio-NEEE) in one breath: it has become tradition to sing a fifth _“maledizion” _after taking breath, instead of emphasizing the last syllable of the fourth, as Steber does above - the only other one I heard do this was Freni.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

We've had some great ones in this contest. I listened to Ponselle on my lp in this aria which is a REVELATION today and she is glorious. I agree that Callas has something extra here. Did she record this aria at all before the weight loss? I got guidance on which Callas to use as usual from her fan club. I love Alessandra Marc's live performance but she would not fare well against Ponselle and Callas so I held off.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> We've had some great ones in this contest. I listened to Ponselle on my lp in this aria which is a REVELATION today and she is glorious. I agree that Callas has something extra here. Did she record this aria at all before the weight loss? I got guidance on which Callas to use as usual from her fan club. I love Alessandra Marc's live performance but she would not fare well against Ponselle and Callas so I held off.


No, Callas never recorded the role, or the aria before the studio one in August 1954. She had sung the role twice in Italy, earlier in 1954, but it was never recorded (or broadcast). She later sang it in concert, in Athens in 1957, but the sustained notes are more problematic.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I found another youtube clip of the same Callas version, but with the score, as in the Ponselle version, so you can follow along. It's amazing how she is able to execute so exactly what is on the printed page and still sound spontaneous. Truly this is the art that hides art.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> You have microscopically listened to her for decades. In the first few years after the slimming down the only noticeable difference I hear is her notes above the staff have much less "umpf" than before but the rest of the voice seems pretty much the same. Maybe somewhat less power perhaps. Her recital version of Armida's big aria from after the weight loss is much less showy and dramatic than the live opera version before she lost weight. She sang the D but got off it quickly unlike before. Otherwise she seems up to all that the music requires from what I hear. What say you?


You have probably heard this story before, but I'll repeat it now for those who haven't.

As MAS has already stated, she was emerging from her famous weight loss when the recording was made. *La Forza del Destino *was the last opera to be recorded after a very intensive recording shcedule, which had included *I Pagliacci*, *Norma *and *Il Turco in Italia*. During the sessions for *Forza*, Walter Legge warned her that the wobble was becoming a problem. One day they were meeting Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (Legge's wife) at Biffi Scala for lunch and as Callas met Schwarzkopf in the lobby, she said to her, "Elisabeth, sing me a couple of top As and Bs and do a diminuendo on them. Walter says mine make him seasick." Schwarzkopf at first demurred then sang the notes as requested, whilst Callas felt her diaphragm and ribs then tried them out herself, stopping all the waiters and other diners in their tracks. After a while, Callas said, "Thank you, I think I've got it. I'll let you know tomorrow," and with that they all swept to their table.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I found another youtube clip of the same Callas version, but with the score, as in the Ponselle version, so you can follow along. It's amazing how she is able to execute so exactly what is on the printed page and still sound spontaneous. Truly this is the art that hides art.


It is interesting that the role was not central to her career, but as usual, she sings it better than anyone else, including Tebaldi, who is the Leonora in the best live version of *La Forza Del Destino *I’ve ever heard - the 1958 performance with Corelli, Dominguez, Bastianini and Christoff.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

MAS said:


> It is interesting that the role was not central to her career, but as usual, she sings it better than anyone else, including Tebaldi, who is the Leonora in the best live version of *La Forza Del Destino *I’ve ever heard - the 1958 performance with Corelli, Dominguez, Bastianini and Christoff.


It was actually the first complete Verdi role she ever sang, in Trieste in 1948, and I've often wondered why it didn't figure more in her repertoire. She sang one more performance in Ravenna, a few months before making the recording and then never again. 

Incidentally I misremembered some of the recordings dates. *Norma *came first in April/May 1954, *Pagliacci *followed in May/June, with *Forza *in August, shortly after singing Margherita in *Mefistofele *in Verona. *Turco *followed in August/September, then she flew to London to record her first two recital discs.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> It was actually the first complete Verdi role she ever sang, in Trieste in 1948, and I've often wondered why it didn't figure more in her repertoire. She sang one more performance in Ravenna, a few months before making the recording and then never again.


I’d forgotten the Trieste performances - I had a nagging feeling the May 1954 Ravenna performances were not the only ones.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

Ranked in order, on one listen only to each video:
1. Muzio/Steber tie. Muzio and Steber were the only two who fully convinced me that "Pace" was something they were asking for, not something they were currently enjoying. Muzio often crossed out many of Verdi's markings and substituted her own, but she's an intelligent singer and so it worked pretty well. Both sing this with the text front and center, and in a piece with such minimal accompaniment I think that's a good approach. Steber followed the score more closely, but her voice sometimes sounds in near danger of becoming squally, while Muzio's never does, so I think a tie is appropriate.
2. Giannini/Callas tie. An interesting contrast. Callas followed the score perfectly, but I found her rendition sedate and lacking in any sense of urgency or pain whatsoever until "Misero pane" section. The tempo is extremely slow, too slow for me, and I was thinking much more about her meticulous attention to musical detail than about the text or character. Giannini, on the other hand, took Muzio's occasional freedom with dynamics to an extreme. She was less successful with it than Muzio. Her involvement seemed to increase as the piece progressed. But her vocal production is outstanding. Her instrument is clean, clear, and perfectly balanced. The top notes are phenomenal, the "invan la pace" high note as starkly contrasting Callas's wobbly, uncomfortable one as Callas's coherent, precise reading of the score contrasts Giannini's odd, sometimes disjointed interpretation.
3. Ponselle. Ponselle has a magnificent voice and does some marvelous things with it but I just didn't sense any drama in her rendition. It felt flat and lacking in drive. Again, a little too much "pace" from the beginning.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

When I come late to these I find that others have ably said what I might wish to say. I must be careful lest I forget how to write... 

I have to agree with the general analysis of Callas, whose ability to to encompass imaginative detail in a convincing overall shape while fully inhabiting a character puts her in a class of her own. I don't give a flying fig about a few less than sterling high notes. This is great art.

Descending from this brilliant interpretation to the plain, even insensitive if energetic and vocally secure, one of Giannini was a genuine shock. I was glad to get on to the others, and of them I think Steber impressed me the most. That opening messa di voce is just stunning, and her impeccable technique never fails her and lets her put as much emotive pressure on the voice as she wants to. It isn't, perhaps, a very emotive sound as such. Muzio's unique timbre and expressive temperament pay great dividends too, while Ponselle, vocal glory notwithstanding, does everything right but isn't very communicative in this instance.

As I often point out, it's important to keep the restrictive conditions of recording acoustic discs in mind when judging older singers. I generally suspect that these artists were better in live performance, in both vocal sound and interpretive freedom, than they are on records. But of course we have to judge what we have.


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

If I heard something like that in the theater, I would cry with apple-sized tears. In fact La Forza is not even my favorite opera. It's impossible to choose. It's like a sacrilege to vote against Callas. It's wonderful that all the voices are different, like flowers in botanic garden.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

ColdGenius said:


> If I heard something like that in the theater, I would cry with apple-sized tears. In fact La Forza is not even my favorite opera. It's impossible to choose. It's like a sacrilege to vote against Callas. It's wonderful that all the voices are different, like flowers in botanic garden.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Welcome to the board. You should check out the glorious glorious finale to La Forza with Ponselle and Martinelli and Pinza. It was recorded later in her career when she was more expressive and more experienced as an artist. It gives a more accurate picture of what she must have been like in the role she began her career with at just 22! I dare you to listen to it just once.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Welcome to the board. You should check out the glorious glorious finale to La Forza with Ponselle and Martinelli and Pinza. It was recorded later in her career when she was more expressive and more experienced as an artist. It gives a more accurate picture of what she must have been like in the role she began her career with at just 22! I dare you to listen to it just once.


Marvelous. All three of them caught in their primes. When Pinza entered I thought, "Will we ever hear such a bass again?"


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> Marvelous. All three of them caught in their primes. When Pinza entered I thought, "Will we ever hear such a bass again?"


He was the full meal deal.


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