MAGDA OLIVERO - "Vissi d'arte" - MET. 1975 HD

The famous and now memorable "Vissi d'arte" from Magda Olivero's debut in Tosca at the MET in 1975 at the age of 65.
That legendary Tosca took place on April 3, 1975. Schuyler Chapin, then director general of the Met, was later to write: “Having had the honour of presenting this great lady was one of the memorable pleasures of my years spent at the Metropolitan.”
The Met was packed to the rafters and all of New York seemed to be there: fans, critics, and stars like Zinka Milanov, Regina Resnik, Evelyn Lear, other celebrities that came incognito out of sheer curiosity.
In the Second Act, having been thrown on the couch by Scarpia, Tosca, reclining, begins the “Vissi d’arte.” Magda concluded the aria with a final crecendo on “così” that enflamed the house. The crowd stood up, delirious. In the face of this outburst, which seems unwilling to end, Magda, not expecting such a frenzy, remains motionless, surprised and obviously moved. This moment became a record ovation in the history of the Met for an aria, a full 22 minutes, almost as long as the 30-minute ovation at the end of the Act III.
She later told me about the unreal situation in which she had found herself. After the “Vissi d’arte,” not knowing when the applause would stop, she had to remain in the same position until the orchestra resumed. At intermission, the audience wondered whether they had really lived these intense moments, a unique evening at the opera. Walter Legge, producer of almost all of Maria Callas’s recordings and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf’s husband, said, “I have no doubt, she is the Duse 1 of the opera.”
Il famoso e ormai memorabile "Vissi d'arte" del debutto di Magda Olivero in Tosca al MET nel 1975 all'età di 65 anni.
Quella leggendaria Tosca ebbe luogo il 3 aprile 1975. Schuyler Chapin, allora direttore generale del Met, avrebbe poi scritto: "Aver avuto l'onore di presentare questa grande signora è stato uno dei piaceri memorabili dei miei anni trascorsi al Metropolitan".
Il Met era gremito all'inverosimile e tutta New York sembrava essere presente: fan, critici e star come Zinka Milanov, Regina Resnik, Evelyn Lear, altre celebrità venute in incognito per pura curiosità.
Nel secondo atto, dopo essere stata gettata sul divano da Scarpia, Tosca, reclinata, inizia il "Vissi d'arte". Magda conclude l'aria con un crecendo finale su "così" che infiamma la casa. La folla si è alzata in piedi, in delirio. Di fronte a questo sfogo, che sembra non voler finire, Magda, che non si aspettava una tale frenesia, rimane immobile, sorpresa e ovviamente commossa. Questo momento è diventato un'ovazione record nella storia del Met per un'aria, ben 22 minuti, quasi quanto i 30 minuti di ovazione alla fine del III atto.
In seguito mi raccontò della situazione irreale in cui si era trovata. Dopo il "Vissi d'arte", non sapendo quando gli applausi sarebbero cessati, dovette rimanere nella stessa posizione fino alla ripresa dell'orchestra. All'intervallo, il pubblico si è chiesto se avesse davvero vissuto questi momenti intensi, una serata unica all'opera. Walter Legge, produttore di quasi tutte le registrazioni di Maria Callas e marito di Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, ha detto: "Non ho dubbi, lei è la Duse 1 dell'opera".

[@MarioMio]

We saw her Met debut that night!! She tore the place apart❤️❤️👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@themagdaoliveroarchives9199]

It can't be said of too many artists, especially for a Met debut at 65!

[@jeffreymiller4814]

She started this flat on her back on the sofa, and pulled herself up to sitting position for “con man furtiva quante miserie.” She stayed there for the entire aria. Never stood up for a second. That was 4000 people screaming their heads off, not just her fans.I think 3500 members of the audience were regular mid-week subscribers, who had never even heard of Magda Olivero. After this aria there were hundreds of adorable blue and purple haired seniors cheering and brava-ing at the top of their voices along with the rest of us. Had the applause not interrupted her, we would have heard a ravishing diminuendo on the final E-flat of the aria (which she started to do but was cut off by the cheering),

[@denisrobert36]

Magda told me that after the Vissi d'arte she had to hold the position she was in during the usual applause, she thought for about a 3 min. but that she was surprised and not prepared for an over 20 min. ovation, the longest in the Met history!

[@andyberistain6743]

Magda was possibly the last glory of the Golden Age of authentic Italian Singing. Greetings from her biggest fan in Mexico.

[@johnschweger6610]

Hope you were able to get to Dallas, Texas to see some of her marvelous performances. Or are you to young. I was in the Chorus.

[@meisterwue]

And I am her biggest fan in Poland now

[@hansvanverseveld4346]

We Amsterdammers were lucky that Magda Olivero sang Manon Lescaut, Iris, Adriana Lecouvreur and Medea and countless other concerts in the Concertgebouw. Everything was broadcast live on the radio and everything has been preserved and recorded on CD. to me she is the most unforgettable prima donna of the last century and i'm glad i heard her sing so often in amsterdam

[@tom6693]

Saw her Tosca at San Francisco Opera in 1978--hands down one of the great opera nights of my life.

[@MarioMio]

To me the most remarkable things that she does in this performance is every single instance of “messa di voce” when she begins a note very quietly (piano) and them gets louder (forte) and returns to piano again. The only other soprano that could do the same was Tebaldi. Brava Magda👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻Brava Renata 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@dannytownsend3710]

As stunning as one expects from this singer. The ovation was very much deserved

[@donjeanis8286]

Instagram brought me here and I’m crying walking in the rain 😢😢😢sooooo beautiful so dramatic. I’m blessed to be so appreciative of this art work.

[@willrobinson1229]

Constant messa di voce with great vulnerability and strength in the sound. Even with such a poor recording you hear it all. Amazing.

[@kid926]

Magda una nostra icona fantastica artista, cosa c´e´meglio di questa interpretazione .

[@stevendaniel8126]

She leaves me weak and breathless. Total magnificence.........

[@nicla6410]

Fenomenale per la sua eta'. Forse uno dei motivi grazie ai quali ha mantenuto la voce e' l'aver cantato relativamente poco da giovane. Questa diatriba con Tebaldi e' fuori luogo. Non e' che se ad uno piace la Olivero non debba piacere anche la Tebaldi o viceversa. Erano diversamente uniche, vivaddio, un piacere per chi ha avuto la fortuna di ascoltarle dal vero, entrambe.

[@andrealupini6769]

Erano anche amiche sincere e si stimavano molto reciprocamente come artiste , quindi si ! Sono polemiche inutili.

[@gabrieleruffini4884]

Completamente d'aacordo! Certi nostri connazionali sono rimasti al tempo delle contese tra Guelfi e Ghibellini😂😂😂

[@qosine]

Otherworldly - my forever favorite singer of opera

[@nicolopolo7561]

Una forza,della,natura,stupenda,,incantevole ,per me supera anche la callas ,che forza,che voce con una,misura,che incanta !!!

[@user-jo6sm9mf4m]

Meravigliosa! Bravissima! Primadonna assoluta!

[@dzzedge]

❤ Brividi. Meravigliosa.❤ Lo sento profondamente nella mia anima.

[@mariateresarossi4890]

Grandissima artista lirica soprano MAGDA OLIVERO MIA CARISSIMA AMICA grande interprete e grande donna. Un abbraccio Nadia Rossi quadrivio Rovigo Adria

[@luisrossetto5247]

The last crescendos are absolutely stunning!!!Bravissima!!

[@davidelucia8727]

Grande Magda

[@gregoriocastro1288]

Crefo la miglior interpretazione per delicatezza e intensità emotiva

[@angelicabattaglia8512]

Meravigliosa. Il più bel SI bemolle e la migliore interpretazione che io abbia mai sentito.

[@renatofiorentini7250]

Sublime, UNICA !!!

[@stefanodallasen796]

Versione meravigliosa. Qui è completamente nel suo repertorio

[@antoonmeert1942]

La piu grande di tutte !

[@luisrossetto5247]

Gloriosa

[@meisterwue]

Magda is one of my favourite Toscas, if not my favourite ......on CD I have Scala 1957 joined with Fernsdi and Scipio Colombo, her telecast 1960 with Fioravanti and Misciano and Verona 1962 Labò and Gobbi....1975 Met joined with King and Wixell

[@denisrobert36]

The 1960 Tosca with Fioravanti and Misciano is on video, the audio recording was used to sync the visual portion. That is the way it was done in those days. kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3TTiJWDqdpjfbM

[@renaissanceinblack]

Based upon what I've seen of Mme. Olivero's performances on video, an athletic appearance and the fact that she lived to over 100, I would live to know her fitness routine.

[@operabilia]

Well actually, I knew her personally and during the intermission of one of the Francisco Vinas Competitions at Barcelona, we were chatting and discussing voice production. Signora Olivero said: "my voice is not huge, but it is a voice that runs ("voce che corre"), i.e. which can easily fill the largest auditoriums. And "the secret lies here", and she took my hand, and put it flat on her diaphragm: it was rock-hard solid! She must have been by then past 90!

[@operabilia]

I was fortunate enough to have dinner with her at Barcelona when she was a member of the Francisco Vinas Singing Competition ... And while discussing singing and vocal projection, she said: "How do you explain that my voice, which is rather diminutive in size, can be well heard in large auditoriums?" And to illustrate her point, she took my hand and put it flat on her .... stomach and diaphragm ... Yes! It was rock-hard! No wonder she lived so long!

[@seduardorosales81]

Yoga

[@armandonazarenocerutti9860]

Maravillosa artista, extraordinaria soprano. Un mes luego de este suceso en el Metropolitan de Nueva York , a los alumnos que interveníamos en el "Workshop" que dictaba el barítono maestro Tito Gobbi en la Villa Scchifanoia de Florencia , la señora Magda Olivero nos visitó varios días y aportó sus opiniones sobre nuestro trabajo. Armando Cerutti - barítono

[@bauchmann9971]

Der faszinierenste Sopran, den ich je gehört habe!!!❤❤❤

[@denisrobert36]

Setzen Sie Ihre Entdeckungen fort, sie ist eine Klasse für sich.

[@meisterwue]

​​@@denisrobert36ja, Denis, genau so ist es .......ich bin ja seit meinen ersten Opernstunden Tebaldi-Fan, aber auch Olivero-Freak......und dieser einzig einmalig einzigartige(...) Met Auftritt hat ja seine Geschichte.....I see that we could talk in German each other....

[@doodoobearlove]

thank you for sharing so me too late to know her name now can still experience a little bit of this legendary.

[@romearomeo]

Magnifica

[@BrianJosephMorgan]

Brava!

[@wotan10950]

Wow! At age 65! Great singing at any age. Callas who??

Shut up.

[@ransomcoates546]

I heard her as Tosca twice around this time, once with a young Pavarotti, and she was indeed completely riveting. In Rasponi’s book Tebaldi agrees she was a great ‘verista’, but says, “The voice is what it is.” This is of course true. It was not the kind of great natural sound that Tebaldi had, but listening to this she wins the prize for technique. To the end Olivero never sang out of tune.

[@themagdaoliveroarchives9199]

It is one thing to have a beautiful instrument, a other if you don't keep it in shape with a flawless technique. If you rely only on the beauty of you voice, you can have a nasty surprise when the voice start having problem with high notes, with Tebaldi the problems where apparent early on, her high C where always extremely tense, to the point that in her forties even B flats where often off pitch, but she cleverly used her middle voice to produce lovely luscious angelic tones. Olivero started with a difficult instrument to tame, she says it herself, and it took her years of perfecting a technique that in the end permitted her never to worry about high notes as they where effortless all the way up to a fortissimo E flat 6 at the end of the "Sempre libera". Once the vocal problems are no more a worry, one can truly concentrate on the role that one has to incarnate, and that is how Olivero became a totally riveting and mesmerizing singing-actress, and why she has become a legend. "La Verissima".

[@ransomcoates546]

@@themagdaoliveroarchives9199 Very well said.

[@denisrobert5887]

@opera revenger Keep your illusions, dear revenge, because that's the only true revenge you'll ever be able to sure of. Sorry but it takes more that the empty words an opera revenger to impress real opera lovers. Just to nourish your illusions: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYXYaaamrb-WrKs

[@ransomcoates546]

@opera revengerAre you by chance Walter from Opera-L? If so, your obsession has gotten a lot worse.

[@aaron.anchored.in.christ]

@@themagdaoliveroarchives9199And many people don’t understand this, but the reason why Tebaldi lost her top notes was because she brought her chest voice up too high; when you widen your chest voice, you shorten your top simultaneously.

[@petergiljum]

❤

[@judyjones2475]

Absolutely beautiful, the only rival to Montserrat Caballes version ❤️😍

[@nicolettafaraldi6007]

IERI è ANDATA IN ONDA SU RAI5 LA TOSCA CANTATA DALLA NEBRNKO ,da >MELI e SALSI, ma sentendo quest'aria cantata dalla Grandissima OLIVERO la cui tonalità rende la preghiera un fatto interiore come deve essere tutte le successive interpretazioni sembrano poca cosa

[@Pachinanonim]

Leontyne Price supuestamente recibio una ovación de 42 minutos en el MET.

[@denisrobert36]

"supuestamente" ??? En cuanto a Olivero, no hay supuestamente, yo estaba allí.

[@Pachinanonim]

​@@denisrobert36¿y como estaba el publico ante la ovación? parado, locos gritando "Brava" o "Bis"¿como?

[@denisrobert36]

La legendaria Tosca tuvo lugar el 3 de abril de 1975. Schuyler Chapin, entonces director general del Met, escribiría más tarde: "Haber tenido el honor de presentar a esta gran dama fue uno de los placeres memorables de mis años en el Metropolitan". El Met estaba lleno hasta la bandera y todo Nueva York parecía estar allí: admiradores, críticos y estrellas como Zinka Milanov, Regina Resnik, Evelyn Lear y otras celebridades que acudieron de incógnito por pura curiosidad. En el segundo acto, tras haber sido arrojada al diván por Scarpia, Tosca, reclinada, comienza los "Vissi d'arte". Magda concluyó el aria con un crecendo final en "così" que enardeció la casa. El público se puso en pie, delirante. Ante este arrebato, que parece no querer terminar, Magda, que no esperaba tal frenesí, permanece inmóvil, sorprendida y evidentemente emocionada. Este momento se convirtió en una ovación récord en la historia del Met para un aria, nada menos que 22 minutos, casi tanto como los 30 minutos de ovación al final del Acto III. Más tarde me contó la situación irreal en la que se había encontrado. Después del "Vissi d'arte", sin saber cuándo cesarían los aplausos, tuvo que permanecer en la misma posición hasta que la orquesta reanudó. En el intermedio, el público se preguntaba si realmente había vivido estos intensos momentos, una velada única en la ópera. Walter Legge, productor de casi todas las grabaciones de Maria Callas y marido de Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, dijo: "No tengo ninguna duda, es la Duse1 de la ópera".@@Pachinanonim

[@Бриндулэн]

Богиня!!!!!!! ❤❤❤

[@gregoriocastro1288]

❤