# 5 Best and 5 Worst Callas Roles



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

the goal of this thread is an exercise in balance. 

you can post more or less than 5, but the only rule is that you have to have the same number of good and bad.

oh, and it doesn't have to be a role she sung live (so you can use Carmen, for example).


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Oh dear..............


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

I'll start things off

best (roughly in order, but they're all very close!)
1) Norma
2) Lady Macbeth
3) Carmen
4) Armida
5) Abigaille

worst (no particular order)
1) Lucia
2) Elvira (Puritani)
3) Gilda
4) Turandot (mostly because she sang it so young. I would have had less objections had she sung it ~10 years later) 
5) Brunnhide (she never sounded Wagnerian to me. the singing style was too Italian, "blood and guts". it never had that heroic fantasy quality necessary for Wagner).

imo, Callas's had no business singing rep that light. it's interesting though because normally it's the lighter voices who are wannabe dramatic singers rather than dramatic singers who wish they were lighter.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Since Callas was more interesting in her "worst" - I'll change that to "least appropriate" - roles than most singers are in their best, it seems almost petty to participate here. She certainly wasn't a "natural" for Mimi or Gilda, but what stunning interpretations!

I'd have to agree that Wagner doesn't suit her timbre well (though her Kundry is very good, if odd in Italian), but I must emphatically disagree about Lucia, in which part, I'd say, no one compares with her: her dark timbre and slightly neurotic melancholy make the opera even better than it is. About Norma and Lady Macbeth few would argue, and her Carmen, like her Butterfly, is a work of genius. And - as many have said - Callas IS Tosca.


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

Woodduck pretty much said it all. I would add that her Puritani is unmatched (vocally) and I wouldn't consider it among her "worst roles" (actually there is no such thing) even if the voice was a bit too dark and heavy for "son vergin vezzosa". And I can't think of anyone who sings Caro Nome better except maybe Luisa Tetrazzini. The only role I would put under the "least appropriate" category is Rosina. It's a boring role anyway.


Medea is the best Callas role in my opinion. She IS Medea and not only on stage. She is the best Anna Bolena, Violetta, Imogene (Il Pirata), Giulia (La Vestale), Amina, Aida (live in Mexico), Leonora (Trovatore) and Gioconda. Elena (Vespri Siciliani) is a very underrated role of hers in which she did stunning feats. And of course there are the 5 other ladies Balalaika already mentioned.


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