Callas and Corelli sing the Act I duet of Puccini's Tosca in 1965 (much better sound!)

[@madamevera]

I was there. We owed her so much. Had to repay a tiny bit with that entrance ovation. Her lyricism in the duet was a surprise - a pleasant one, for those too young to have heard her live before. The greatest operatic experience of my life.

[@panoschytiris]

Lucky you

[@PinaOliva-dp1ig]

Corelli Callas. Il massimo in Tosca. Grazie Puccini per averci regalato la possibilità di ascoltare la sua grandiosa opera da questi due immensi dei. I più grandi a sentirli insieme. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@paolopecchioli9793]

Un Corelli in grande spolvero....fantastico.

[@renepaccard7914]

Bravos a nos grandes voixx de l opera qui manquent beaucoup de nos jours immortelles a jamais merci pour le partage ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@victoriagrapsidou3474]

What an amazing ovation!!!!! Callas and Corelli divine both of them!!!

[@xenialucich7608]

Really divine!....

[@jimdrake-writer]

For her two final performances at the Met, both of them as Floria Tosca, Callas had requested Tito Gobbi as Scarpia for both performances. For the role of Cavaradossi she requested Franco Corelli for the first of the two performances on March 19, 1965, and Richard Tucker for the second and final one six nights later on March 25, 1965. She and Tucker had made their Italian debuts together in Verona, when the famous amphitheater was reopened in 1947 under the direction of Tullio Serafin. Tucker had sung Enzo to Callas’s Gioconda there, and she apparently wanted him for her last Met performance.

[@sanjamarinkovic9040]

Wonderful Franco in this rendition!

[@nossenos16]

If there is one night in the whole history of music that I would have chosen to be present at, this is surely THE ONE.

[@pisciaful]

Grazie. Come erano sinceri nel cantare e mossi da grande passione e rispetto per il compositore. Grazie davvero per aver pubblicato. ❤

[@BaroneVitellioScarpia1]

The best Tosca and the best Cavaradossi. Should I say more?

[@sacre4618]

I think so :))

[@renepaccard7914]

Voix divines introuvables c'est émouvant de les écouter tellement vivants a jamais ❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@folliefollymops7676]

IT JUST DOESN"T GET BETTER THAN THIS!!!!

[@laylaibrahim1552]

Corelli & Callas ,simply Divine voices.

[@aetion]

This must be one of her farewell performances. The American audience was excited, because they saw her again after eight years, if I am not wrong. The performance was outstanding anyways. Thank you for posting the duet. The sound is quite good.

[@natalinatollari9266]

mamma mia che emozione!!!!!!!!.....e ogni volta .....

[@luisclaudio6554]

Bravo bravo bravo bravo bravo

[@zengabutler9166]

I can’t imagine how hard it would be to try sing after this welcome !

[@raffaelamontanari2373]

Sono divini! Voci e temperamenti ineguagliabili unici

[@mariaruskova6054]

It doesn't matter how she will sing, even if she will sing at all. This is a cult and the audience is here to worship, not listen. The legend about Callas is bigger than Calls herself.

[@centaurocarnero6061]

This is exactly what I was thinking as I looked for this recording. This is how the public thanks her for the years she devoted her life to her art.

[@bobchevallier8456]

@@mariaruskova6054 her earlier years before losing so much weight so fast, being unable to support her, and a disease of the ligaments and muscles in her larynx caused her voice to suffer after the mid 50s

[@Khalid7a]

@@mariaruskova6054 The Met audience was always kind to singers, they did the same to Tebaldi, Milanov, and Nilsson on their return. Unlike the Italian audience that booed even Volpi past his prime. Callas' legend is the result of her hard work and special qualities, not magic or cultism as idiots believe.

[@musikJT]

Merci pour ce remarquable travail restituant cette admirable interprétation de Maria Callas et de Franco Corelli. Merci !

[@trudischleifer7245]

Stunningly, unbelievably great.

[@AWS2210]

Callas, great as always!

[@natalinatollari9266]

grazie !ottimo lavoro

[@laprimmadonna2341]

Qué locura, cuando aparece la Callas, madre mía…la divina en persona…

[@robertjschroff6307]

Thank you so much for sharing this amazing record.

[@armandobona6487]

Thank you for posting this! I was there! Armando Bona

[@peterkohut9219]

Good job! Thank you. Heavenly singing!

[@angelomeda9517]

Due mostri sacri della lirica Corelli e Callas

[@GloriaJanvier]

Oh THANK YOU!!! Wonderful! I'm weeping.

[@lourivalimbuseiro5469]

Sempre eterna magnífica bravíssima Callas Amada FOREVER and EVER...

[@yaelpalombo4093]

Voci divine

[@SteveODonnell25]

You could tell by the applause on Callas' entry that they much appreciated her return to the Met after being fired by Bing in 59.

[@annewoods3575]

Thank you so much for posting this. I have some recordings of Corelli and some of Callas, but none of them together. I don't have Corelli in Tosca at all, but I do have Callas and DiStefano. I was thrilled nearly to tears to find this on the internet. I find Puccini's music to be unbelievably beautiful, even with other voices, but these voices are supreme. This is an incredible treasure.

[@david.hirsch4235]

"Touching the Gods".

[@UMVELINQANGI]

Magical!

[@grahammorgan3858]

Here is a great time machine objective.....to record it in live hd 8k for all humanity.😮😮😮😮😮

[@jacobgrigalashvili6034]

And all is gone today, disinfected, destroyed, corrupt!!!!

[@sabbath7081]

13:25 Corelli had something different about his vocal chords, almost like being double jointed to lift all that vocal weight, plow through the passagio and get louder and lighter at the same time, his voice is like a drug.

[@1UShawn]

It's called technic

[@matthiasjacquot2018]

@@1UShawn lmao

[@aflethgsb]

@@1UShawn If it were technic alone other tenors, even if a small minority of them, could have attained it. Imho we are confronted here with a vocal phenomenon without equals.

[@1UShawn]

​@@aflethgsb There is many raw talent that matchs the one that Corelli had, what is lacking is proper development and technic, in other words, vocal education. “Each time a child does not meet their full potential, It is Mozart we assassinate! For each and every child who does not become who they could have pretended to be, it is Mozart we have assassinated!” -Antoine de St-Exupery

[@aflethgsb]

@@1UShawn Do you realize that you have written a tribute to the vocal teachings of Lauri-Volpi? Fine with me!

[@euroarias1934]

Son solo Dioses....

[@maggiedeveney]

This is wonderful. Thank you so much for posting it with the applause! I love it!

[@xenialucich7608]

Me too...

[@Faust075]

Rudolf Bing said that Callas was the most difficult artist he ever worked with, “because she was so much more intelligent. Other artists, you could get around. But Callas you could not get around. » About those Tosca in 1965, he later said : « she didn’t sing very well but it didn’t matter. We had never seen a more beautiful, powerful, moving Tosca before… and we’ll never see again. After seeing Callas in a role, it became impossible for me to enjoy another singer in the same role ».

[@PedroZamagna]

Bing similarly had a time with Nilsson, another insufferable primadonna. Though, at least, and, from what I'm aware of, Nilsson did not denigrate her (capable) tenor counterparts. The same can't be said for Callas, who badmouthed Filippeschi and pretty much buried Polas's career.

[@Tsquare07s]

​@@PedroZamagnacallas badmouthed filipeschi? I've never read about that before. That's interesting. Can have the source for this?

[@PedroZamagna]

@@Tsquare07s 'Callas is forced to make her way unaided by the tenor Giorgio Kokolios- Bardi, a crude artist. She was plagued by bad luck with tenors in the early years of her career (Sinimberghi, Baum, Filippeschi, Baldelli, et al.)' And there are about 5 other remarks about denigrating Filippeschi. I'll have to look for the one where it's more objectively, and directly, from Callas.

[@PedroZamagna]

@@Tsquare07s "Maria had never stopped blaming di Stefano for the Mexican Rigoletto fiasco, and she was terrified of spending too much time with the almost ethereally handsome Corelli because she was falling in love with him, and did not know how she would handle cheating on her husband, if the crunch came. She, therefore, ‘compromised’ by deciding upon ‘Mario Filippeschi, a tenor she positively loathed, and when Antonino Votto expressed his disapproval, Maria told him that he would not be conducting in any case - but Tullio Serafin! This resulted in an out-and-out row with Ghiringhelli, who would not allow the sessions to take place at La Scala. The opera was therefore taped at the Cinema Metropol ... with very few tantrums. Here she was briefly interviewed by Martin Meyer of the American High Fidelity magazine, telling him minutes after a violent, expletive quarrel with Filippeschi."

[@amandajean7738]

​@@PedroZamagnaPoor Maria.

[@shayanmardanbeigi2697]

Its unbelievable how much they clap after callas’s entrance

[@bobchevallier8456]

New Yorkers are considered the best audience by most performers.

[@baoanhnguyen9186]

Callas might have got the most attention, but it was Corelli (who was at the top of his game) who was the star.

[@maxcornise7204]

Who got the 15 minute welcome. She is thecstar, wobble and all.

[@ER1CwC]

Historic. But it is true that they were applauding for what was. I find her actually pleasant in some of the more lyric passages, and there are a lot of lovely interpretive details. But clearly the voice is no longer phonating. I’ve read that people who also heard her at the Met in 1958 found that her voice had effectively shrunk by half, and you can hear it somewhat here. From a purely vocal standpoint, the juxtaposition with Corelli in his prime isn’t kind, and I do think he is holding back a bit whenever they are singing together. Still, of course I would have loved to have been here.

[@Orfeus80]

A thunderous welcome, she deserved it for her dedication to the art. She sounds vocally very weak compared to the virile Corelli next to her but this was her gala.

[@anafranciscaaldunate8866]

Corelli merecía ese aplauso!!!!

[@mvcpastkambcstccr8563]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@eddieandrews3854]

Only one God...He gave them these magnificent talents.

[@TheYopogo]

7:36 3:24 10:00

[@fabriziogarzi9892]

Callas: se Dio scendesse dal cielo desterebbe meno entusiasmo.

[@TheYopogo]

3:24

[@petergraham8681]

Sorry, but in Callas’ vocal condition by 1965 does IMPROVED SOUND really matter? Leave this example alone & focus on her amazing work from some 12 years before.

[@bobchevallier8456]

But Corelli is beautiful

[@mareedeeley7713]

Sadly the great Callas voice of thd early 1950s is a memory here ..harsh unsteady forced upper notes and the whole voice much reduced in size ..you long to hear Tebaldi soar easily in full voice .

[@marilynmichaels8358]

Tebaldi... so COLD... dispassionate... and stiff!

[@marilynmichaels8358]

Tebaldi... so COLD... dispassionate... and stiff!

[@maxcornise7204]

I don’t long for Tebaldi in 65 either. Her Toscas were worse because she couldn’t color the words like Callas and she was consistently under pitch.

[@wjanevansandbergen3463]

Yes tebaldi which voice scream en Flat Flat End More Flat End acting like an amateur

[@rb020969]

I really don’t understand almost every comment in this post. Callas was finished at the time of this performance. I only hear a singer in full decline. You should check your criteria.

[@alanhowe1455]

Quite right!

[@annam3533]

She was already a living legend, no opera singer with the best of the best voice becomes such an ovation today. And she in full decline got it. That really means something.

[@alanhowe1455]

@@annam3533 I think you mean 'receives' such an ovation.

[@KingTutChannel]

Ja! More than one would like to be in "full decline" and recive that kind of ovation...

[@laprimmadonna2341]

@@annam3533 bien dicho.