Maria Callas: A very short interview [January 31st, 1957]

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A short and forgotten interview of Maria Callas, at the Savoy Hotel in London, England (UK).
Interview shot in January 31st, 1957.
Maria is wearing a canary-yellow ensemble by her designer Madame Biki.
Enjoy!

[@stephenfletcher6801]

I believe Maria had a genuine disdain for stupidity.......and far too many interviewers were stupid. It had to be tough on her to try to communicate on their level. Love her!

[@arnoldamaral7406]

N. Lidar sad to say my friend that will never change those miserable vipers. Shades of Lady Diana etc etc etc Arnold Bourbon Amaral

[@laprimmadonna2341]

Así es…

[@maxim3830]

Maybe she was a bit introverted and not feeling that comfortable with all the attention drawn onto her as a public person…

[@ernestochamorro9465]

Jajaja, I noticed that before. You are right

[@ritapita1126]

sayeth the philistine

[@walkure48]

Every time she looks into the camera, my heart skips a beat.

[@jamesmorrison2055]

So much class, intelligence, talent, and beauty. Never another like her.

[@carloartificialintelligence]

Anna Netrebko?

[@jamesmorrison2055]

@@carloartificialintelligence that made me laugh lol

[@iKarlie2]

There is something about Maria callas words, other sopranos and tenors can never speak like the way she does. She is wonderful

[@laprimmadonna2341]

Muy cierto. Saludos cordiales

[@DCBfanboy]

Contraltos and basses casually rotting to dust in the backrooms : 🌚

[@MrQbenDanny]

One of the most cherished qualities of MARIA by me was her femininity and womanliness. A woman's femininity is not a sign of weakness, but of strength and power. I find her GORGEOUS here,with beguiling wizardry of expression. Her eyes in particular were an extension of her fierce imperious concentration in characters she to this day OWNS. Soprano newbies play Callas recordings because she's done the work already for them, as they struggle not to imitate her.

[@mosesa.3386]

Her smile is so beautiful and elegant. 🌹🌹♥️♥️

[@jorgealbertolettera4027]

Maria Callas, una belleza exótica. Qué personalidad cautivante; y qué talento!!!!. Merecido ser llamada "la Divina".

[@flannerymonaghan-morris4825]

Maria’s speaking voice is very soothing…deep & commanding, but still soft and feminine. She does speak English here with a curious mixture of accents-Greek/Italian/British with a hint of American. This isn’t surprising considering that she was born in the U.S. and lived there until she was 13 and then moved to Greece where she received her musical education and spent a good chunk of her adult life in the UK and in Italy.

[@fzpe856]

Not many people can perceive what this woman achieved! Like ... for real.Maria is impossible . ❤️❤️

[@shaundudley4576]

Thanks for using that word. Impossible. I used it and was afraid of ruining my message with its hyperbole. But she is impossible indeed. How she came to be what she did how she did it how she manifest in her manifold guises both artistic and real. The artistic more real that than the real...

[@carlosjavierguzman1509]

An intuitive prodige, a natural genius!

[@LohengrinO]

I remember her saying that when she was singing her first Medea as a fat woman in Firenze, she needed the chin for expression but she had none!!! so she decided to lose all that weight... I love Maria with all my heart.. it is not just admiration etc etc I love her and it is extremely difficult or even impossible to actually love someone like her

[@LohengrinO]

her Artistic stature is for the centuries... but few people could actually love the Char, the so called tigress, the Not-pseudo-sweet, the Not-Hypocritical personality who could name things with sincerity and intelligence and suffer the consequences... I believe only Elisabeth Schwarzkopf truly loved Callas

[@LohengrinO]

Νope Elisabeth loved her, big difference.. the Cute sweetheart is in 100% of cases a very nasty and malicious person underneath

[@LohengrinO]

Kind she was with people who deserved it... she was intelligent in Genius levels and she could very easily sense when someone was Hypocritical and ofc untalented...

[@Shahrdad]

She was clearly very intelligent, but she was not educated above the sixth grade. She certainly was not an intellectual, which I think is a positive for an opera singer. Singers that are too cerebral (Scotto, Schwarzkopf, Norman) can come across as calculated and full of artifice, rather than art; one can always see the gears turning in their heads. Callas herself said that the mind has to work, but not TOO much. Callas's musical genius was something innate and visceral. She just felt what was right, without having to overthink it. Caballe told an acquaintance of mine that when Callas looked at a score, she would see every breath, every emphasis, every syllable, and every proper weighing of each note and phrase, and she couldn't understand why it wasn't so obvious to everyone else. She also said that Callas could look at a complicated passage, hum it, and then sing it perfectly in full voice, while Caballe herself had to work for weeks to get the passage "into the voice." Zeffirelli gave one of the best descriptions of the Callas genius: "The magic of a Callas is a quality few artists have, something special, something different. There are many very good artists, but very few who have that sixth sense, the additional, the plus quality. It is something which lifts them from the ground: they become like semi-gods. She had it. Nureyev has it, [Laurence] Olivier. But Olivier is also a case of an extremely rich knowledge of everything. He is completely coherent in his life, onstage. Whatever he does is part of a complete personality. Maria is a common girl behind the wings, but when she goes onstage, or even when she talks about her work or begins to hum a tune, she immediately assumes this additional quality. For me, Maria is always a miracle. you cannot understand or explain her. You can explain everything Olivier does because it is all part of a professional genius. But Maria can switch from nothing to everything, from earth to heaven. What is it this woman has? I don't know, but when that miracle happens, she is a new soul, a new entity."

[@LohengrinO]

I find Schwarzkopf's Liu the single most heartbreaking and full of raw emotions reading on recorded history... as for her Lieder, one listen to her Ruhe meine seele is enough to break your heart forever... I never believed and never will believe in "constructed flaws"... Norman is an Ocean of Emotions as well... (Scotto an ocean of Disaster and an Imbecile, if anyone ever called her intelligent he was retarded :D)

[@arkleston3299]

What a smart elegant lady! She had an intellect that matched her talent.

[@consciousnessrenaissance7804]

What an intelligent artist and person she was. She is super smart

[@Vorenius1]

I love her too and I totally agree with you my dear Lohengrin! I was 19 or so when she died and I wept and wept for the rest of the day and the night till I fell asleep...

[@arnoldamaral7406]

Luis Alberto Marquez To a certain extent I had a sense of relief when I first heard of her death. 😔 Like the Beautiful heart rendering spiritual "TROUBLE IN MY WORLD" No one really remembers the year of your birth But they do remember the date of your death especially if you left behind an incredible legacy as our Maya. Now she is at peace & can sleep until that great day when no one will say I am sick 😪 Physically, emotionally, mentally. With deepest sympathy & respect LA Divina para siempre. Arnold Bourbon Amaral

[@robinrubendunst869]

Lovely cultured accent and elocution. “Mid-Atlantic”, as they called it in Hollywood. Something between British upper crust and Boston Brahmin.

[@ms.chaewon9231]

Phaedra Ovid isn't it an accent of a New Yorker?

[@ciociosan]

N. Lidar This was a part of the Callas persona that Maria created. In private, she spoke English with a thick Brooklyn accent.

[@dovestone_]

Samuel Pedrosa III no

[@1953childstar]

@@ciociosan She was born in Manhattan and spoke French, Greek and Italian fluently...

[@flanplan5903]

@@ciociosan well, it was depending on who she spoke to. If speaking to friends and family, she let her accent come through more. That happens to a lot of people though.

[@philipc67]

This must be when she was rehearsing at the ROH for her 2 sensational Normas in February 1957. According to written accounts and reviews she was in superb voice, what a shame no live recording has surfaced!

[@maxcornise-qh2jk]

But the Callas widows all say her voice wasn’t as powerful after 1955, or as in 1950-53, but we know better!

[@danawinsor1380]

Nuri Lidar -- thank you for this! I love Callas' interviews.

[@NLidar]

dana winsor My pleasure - I do too

[@12341234W1]

Nuri Lidar, thank you for the interview, I never saw this before ! What a beautiful woman she was, really oozing charm ! There is still material out there that no one knows about, like the two TV concerts she did for English tv. I have found someone who owns them, but he refuses to share them with us ! Also the Japanese TV recorded two concerts she gave in Tokio, what they showed on tv is a compilation of the two concerts, so potentialy there should be more material somewhere ! Do you know something about this ? Greetings.

[@davideferrari5702]

Meravigliosa...

[@Donalob]

What a beauty.

[@ОльгаЧубарова-э2к]

Какая скромная подача себя. Не напоказ. Ее разговор захватывает и возвышает тебя. Ты стараешься уловить каждое слово, каждую улыбку.

[@paulchomnycky1712]

very elegant voice and manner

[@francoferrari1737]

Grandissima CALLAS!! Nel 1957 era nel massimo splendore!! Poi conobbe Onassis, nel 1959 lasciò Meneghini e andò con Onassis, e fu l'inizio del suo tramonto! Morì a Parigi nel 1977!!

[@kbhprinsesse]

No, l'inizio del suo tramonto era prima quando iniziavano i problemi della voce. Già in 1954 nel disco di arie di Puccini si sente problemi che diventavano più e più gravi.

[@markdarenvillanueva7740]

DIVINAAAAA

[@markdarenvillanueva7740]

my baby gurl

[@edarproduction]

Nel 1957 avevo un anno e non sapevo di Callas. Nel 1960, cominciavo a guardare i rotocalchi, leggere le fotografie. Nel 1962/1863 cominciavo a leggere e scrivere.

[@fiorellazoratti7729]

LEI? L' UNICA PERLA DEL MONDO LIRICO

[@scottgarbo1288]

What an amazing woman and artist. Simply a powerhouse on all fronts. ❤

[@evgeny9965]

Go Maria!!!!

[@kbhprinsesse]

A wonderful interview. Did you all hear/read that Angelina Jolie is going to play Maria Callas in a new film? I predict its going to be dreadful.

[@zehnthaussteinbach5377]

Why should Jolie play Callas, while there are ladies like Cate Blanchett or Annett Renneberg, who are naturally much more alike? A complete miscast!

[@kbhprinsesse]

@@zehnthaussteinbach5377 I agree. My toes will probably fall off from cringing so hard, if I ever watch it.

[@pierreperalta2500]

Esta mujer con Caruso ,me atrevo a decir lo mas grande de la Ópera que ha habido.

[@Луна-т8т]

Тот год, в который она познакомилась с Онанасисом. Красивая, талантливая, так жаль

[@christopherstilley7756]

"Opera can be a very silly thing"... true...

[@veramayer9571]

And as for opera having the potential to be a great and wonderful thing, every time she opened her mouth to sing she became living proof of that possibility...

[@BaroneVitellioScarpia1]

Do you have more?

[@BrianJosephMorgan]

Brava!

[@evgeny9965]

Maria Callas had medical problems all her life and it is now believed to have been a specific chronic condition. Of all the post war singers of note she sang only a little more than 500 performances ( opera and concert) In comparison Caballe sang over 10 times that amount 5 to 6 thousand preformances.

[@kbhprinsesse]

600 performances of opera alone + all the concerts.

[@kayla_laexfemmedenh]

She have different voices in every language she spoke, greek, english, italian, french

[@CharlotteinWeimar]

So sad she burned out far too young.

[@blktenor]

I wonder what the “cause” was

[@Tkimba2]

Deliziosa

[@saverioorlando]

Meno bella della Carteri o della Zeani,aveva un sorriso fascinoso,sottolineato dalle fossette,ed era felice di essere adorata a Milano,in via MonteNapoleone,dove appariva all'ora del thè.Non sembrava affatto tigre capricciosa,era lusingata dal dover firmare autografi anche a noi ragazzi.Spesso veniva con la Simionato.Meneghini non c'era mai.

[@MaximTendu]

@@saverioorlando ma come, la Callas era più bella della Carteri o della Zeani.

[@saverioorlando]

@@MaximTendu come lineamenti del volto,no,ma sembrava una dea

[@MaximTendu]

@@saverioorlando e tu l'hai vista dal vivo: che fortuna, Saverio. Io al massimo ho incontrato Justin Bieber anni fa, un ricordo che purtroppo, nonostante i miei sforzi, non sembro capace di estirpare dalla memoria.

[@ΙωαννηςΜπαβας-κ9θ]

La belle voix de la musique d'opera* utube JOHN BAVAS BLACK COFFEE

[@didierduplenne2325]

She looks Indian, doesn't she ?

[@BellaFirenze]

Her English changes from interview to interview.