# What is your favourite opera picture...?



## Baritenor (Dec 13, 2015)

Whether it's the cover of a recording or the poster for a show or whatever.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## Baritenor (Dec 13, 2015)

I should have specified that I had in mind pics with faces on rhem.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

This photo, taken from the wings of the Metropolitan Opera's 1965 *Tosca*, on the occasion of the return of Maria Callas to that stage, is very evocative. The fact that it shows the two singers who always _"make my day"_ enhances its value!


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I love this photo, taken at Chicago Lyric's *Semiramide* with Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne. I love it because it is slightly comical and it shows why there should never be close-ups in opera!


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

A very dramatic photo of Callas in the Dallas Opera's 1958 production of *Medea*.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I like this photo from the very very famous Zeffirelli production of Handel's Alcina in Venice that helped put Joan Sutherland on the map. The all white production, seemingly without a budget, behind a scrim must have been mind blowing with the gigantic young voice of Sutherland in that jewel box of a theater. Sutherland never looked better.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

hammeredklavier said:


>


Who are these people?


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

https://www.talkclassical.com/64947-opera-pictures.html?highlight=


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Any action shots of Callas, particularly some of those from La Scala. There is a series of photos from the Act II duet with Germont in Visconti's *La Traviata* which give you a brilliant perspective on her acting as well.

















I also love all those photos of her in the white nightdress in Karajan's production of *Lucia di Lammermoor*. Apparently Karajan lowered all the lights on stage, leaving a follow spot on Callas, allowing her to move about the stage at will and literally embody the music. Zeffirelli said it was all you had to do with a talent like Callas.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

Max Slevogt: Das Champagnerlied 
(The portuguese singer d'Andrade as Don Giovanni; "Fin ch'han dal vino" is still often called "Champagnerarie" in German.)

This was also used in several record covers.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I think this very campy photo of Nilsson as Salome with that over the top black feather wig contributed to me becoming gay. LOL It captured my twisted teenage imagination!


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> View attachment 157403
> I think this very campy photo of Nilsson as Salome with that over the top black feather wig contributed to me becoming gay. LOL It captured my twisted teenage imagination!


Hilarious! It doesn't have very much to do with the character of Salome though. :lol:


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

Too early for the opera (painting Lovis Corinth 1900 vs. R. Strauss' opera 1905), thus inspired by Wilde's play or the legend in general, but one of too many impressive Salome pictures


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## Music Snob (Nov 14, 2018)

MAS said:


> Who are these people?


Ludwig and Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld

The first Tristan und Isolde performers.

I'll take dead Wagnerian singers for $300 Alex...


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)




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## Baritenor (Dec 13, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Hilarious! It doesn't have very much to do with the character of Salome though. :lol:


It looks literally like a cheap alien costume from Star Trek...a harpyesque alien.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I shouldn't post 3 so sue me. I feel very strongly about this one. This to me is the very essence of what a prima donna is about and Sutherland looked unusually lovely here. JLo is gorgeous but she can't wear jewels the way this dame does. Sutherland had extraordinary shoulders for a dress like this.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

Favorite opera, favorite picture. It all works out.  :lol:


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> View attachment 157431
> I shouldn't post 3 so sue me. I feel very strongly about this one. This to me is the very essence of what a prima donna is about and Sutherland looked unusually lovely here. JLo is gorgeous but she can't wear jewels the way this dame does. Sutherland had extraordinary shoulders for a dress like this.


She looks queenly here, and her hair is not too bad. She is usually made awkward by whatever coiffure they pick for her. Many times they make look even bigger than she is by saddling her with absurdly large hair.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

hammeredklavier said:


>


I remember the funky covers from the Westminster label (I think).


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Some of my favorite LP and CD covers


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

This was my first *Lucia di Lammermoor*. It was a German import as the set, like most of Callas's recordings, was no longer available in the UK. Strange to think that EMI had deleted almost all her recordings when I first started collecting, especially when you consider that they have formed the backbone of EMI's (now Warner's) Italian opera catalogue for the last forty years. Apparenty EMI were mistakenly of the opinion that the introduction of stereo had made them obsolete.

I loved that set, and I loved the cover photo, though I now know it's actually a still from her 1958 Paris debut, at which she sang arias from *Norma*, *Il Trovatore* and *Il Barbiere di Siviglia*, plus a fully staged performance of Act II of *Tosca* with Tito Gobbi. The still is taken from her singing of the _Miserere_ from *Il Trovatore*, probably at the moment that she hears the voice of Manrico.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

MAS said:


> Who are these people?


The one on the left is Ludwig Schnorr Von Carolsfeld, the first Tristan. I'm pretty sure the lady is his wife,Malvina, the first Isolde.

Sorry Music Snob. Didn't see your reply. :tiphat:


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> Some of my favorite LP and CD covers
> 
> View attachment 157434
> View attachment 157435
> ...


I love the first one


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## skippnyc (Aug 13, 2021)

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## Music Snob (Nov 14, 2018)

Hans Hotter


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Alison Hagley as Susanna from Le Nozze di Figaro.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Don't mess with this lady!









Birgit Nilsson in *Turandot*.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

One of the most evocative photos of a moment during a rehearsal at La Scala of Spontini's *La Vestale*.









A famous confluence of talent (from left) Arturo Toscanini, Antonino Votto, Victor de Sabata, Maria Callas.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Itullian said:


>


Apparently the photoshopper was a fanatical Wagnerite, since Verdi was taller than Wagner, probably by several inches.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Woodduck said:


> Apparently the photoshopper was a fanatical Wagnerite


the photoshopper for this was also fanatical as a Wagnerite, cause Wagner probably did not have teeth this white:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

hammeredklavier said:


> the photoshopper for this was also fanatical as a Wagnerite, cause Wagner probably did not have teeth this white:


Aside from the pearly perfection, the photo is remarkably convincing. It reminds us that Wagner had a sharp sense of humor. It's easy to forget that people then were not as dour as the old photos make them look.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Maria Callas as *Turandot*, Buenos Aires 1949. These are posed photos, not from a live performance.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

MAS said:


> Maria Callas as *Turandot*, Buenos Aires 1949. These are posed photos, not from a live performance.
> 
> View attachment 158390
> 
> ...


She looks stautesque rather than fat here. Photographs show that she steadily put on weight between 1947 when she arrived in Europe until 1953. No doubt this too contributed to her decision to lose weight.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> She looks stautesque rather than fat here. Photographs show that she steadily put on weight between 1947 when she arrived in Europe until 1953. No doubt this too contributed to her decision to lose weight.


I was thinking the same thing. Makes sense. She looks wonderful here. This is my favorite weight for her. She looked great in fashion photos after the big weight loss, but I thought she looked too skinny for stage photos. TV makes you fatter and the stage makes you look thinner they say.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I love those recording session pictures.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Maria Callas, *La Traviata*, La Scala 28 May 1955


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Two of the most influential singers in the _Bel Canto_ revival after Callas.









Beverly Sills (l) as Adele and Joan Sutherland (r) as Rosalinde in *Die Fledermaus* - San Diego 1980.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Adorable. :angel::cheers:


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

If paintings count as opera pictures then this is one of my favourites:









The ballet from Meyerbeer's Robert le diable (which IMO is the best part of the opera). I think this is a great painting as it manages to sum up the atmosphere of this moment from the opera, which isn't a particular favourite work of mine.

N.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Title page from original score for Borodin's _Prince Igor_. Love the old Cyrillic script.










n.b. I did have a feeling of _déjà vu_ when posting this - was there possibly a similar thread a while ago?


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

elgars ghost said:


> Title page from original score for Borodin's _Prince Igor_. Love the old Cyrillic script.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Very sharp remark:

https://www.talkclassical.com/64947-opera-pictures.html?highlight=


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

This must have been fun.

The Beggar's Opera
Opera by Johann Christoph Pepusch and John Gay


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)




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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Rogerx said:


>


Sutherland was surely the biggest doll in the world!


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

I LOVE this picture!!! Three grown men getting ready for a picture and one life-long eighth grader looking for any chance to get a little more attention!!! The Divas may rule the land but, even in a dressing room, *NO ONE* knew how to grab the spotlight like Luciano!


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Fascinating .


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