Maria Callas's Vocal Improvement (1973-1977) [Audio Examples}

As Maria stated It was not her voice...but her Nerves! And She used the 1973-4 Concerts in order to improve her whole status of her voice!!
You can listen to say that in 1974 her voice was in better shape than in 1965 (Compare her 1962 wobbled Tu che le vanita with her 1974 Boston!!)
You can hear the difference from 1973 to 1974 but especially b the end of 1974...you can hear the Immense Progress!! Her voice wobbled less and gained much more sound!!! In 1976 She was back in Amazing form (Singing "Ah perfido!" and finally on August of 1977, Her Voice reminds of her Great Vocal Past!!
I Made this video to prove that CALLAS did not died having lost her voice!!!! SHE WAS IN FULL COMMAND and was rehearsing for her return in 1978 in Werther!!!

[@markdarenvillanueva7740]

callas' later years was better than most of sopranos today in their prime

[@highbaritone]

Mark Daren Villanueva simply not true. She was amazing in her prime. For whatever personal reasons she ruined it. It is sad.

[@kamanaos4643]

I would say her musicianship and her interpretation always stayed with her maybe not her physical voice

[@brunobalzano7566]

È di una bellezza struggente questa pubblicazione. Ci consegna la fragilità, la dolce e sacra fragilità, di questo gigante della lirica, che affida all'arte, a se stessa e a noi, i suoi ultimi sforzi vocali, incerti, tremanti, misericordiosi, disperati e di ineguagliabile tenerezza. Consapevole che "Tutto è finito" ma solo sul piano biologico. Perché l'arte che ha saputo esprimere l'ha consegnata all'eternità. Grazie, Maria.

[@barbaramazzeo797]

Commovente...grazie Callas forever

[@jorgemunoz3545]

María Callas es el símbolo de la verdadera artista. Supo vencer las dificultades que no fueron pocas y conseguir que su voz siguiera en pleno desarrollo y madurez artística. He aquí la prueba. CALLAS ETERNA

[@Empoweredwoman1234]

My goodness, what a remarkable improvement. I didn't realise until now that she got better in her last years.

[@goldenagerecordings5295]

She improved vocally, because she didn't sang with nasal and masky sound in the 1970s what she did in the time of the 1960s. The progress is really immense and should be a lesson for all present singers, who are singing nasal and masky...

[@manolis.799]

Such a tragedy she passed before she could do Werther.... still love my Maria. Only thing that really left was the high notes... middle, pathos, chest, all still there.... but even still it was coming back

[@user-ic5xu4jh6z]

Maria sang Werther in 1959.

[@mao1878]

Andrea Taibel Callas never sung Werther, as a full opera nor on stage nor in a recording!

[@user-gt7xs1fc6g]

I saw her in the last world tour at the Lyric in Chicago. The voice sounded better than this with less screechiness and greater breath control. Of course, she is correct that no one sounds "like 20 years ago". Even Sutherland and Nilsson who both maintained their voices well did not have the full clarity and power at the end that they had "20 years ago". What was stunning about the concert was how with the more limited voice and only a piano and dressed in a plain but elegant white gown she could still give the impression of being totally different people with slight movements of her body, her eyes, her hands. This ability when it was combined with the voice of "20 years ago" must have given the audience the truly magical experience many talk about as it was still magical.

[@Francesco12345671]

It's weird because in the second part of her career her voice really fluctuated in quality. For example some early 60s recordings sound quite harsh (like the mozart/beethoven/weber album) but her Carmen and late Tosca sound pretty good. Her last Norma has many problems, but there are some gems in the 69 recordings, and then in the Juilliard master class she almost doesn't have any voice left. But throughout the 70s she did get back in shape to some degree. Still, her dramatic genius was always there.

[@ferminsalaberri]

I agree with you for the most part. She acknowledged that she acquired bad habits singing and that she was neglecting parctice. The nerves, the stress, the pressure, whatever but also singing in a way that De Hidalgo would never have approved of. And I love Callas very much I want to clarify this to see if we can learn from her experience and change the nonsense that opera and vocal studies have turned into nowadays. Thanks for sharing!

[@pedropabloalvarezmcnab]

Amazing to know, but in a way, even sadder, because one knows now that la Divina died with so much ungiven and so much unsung.

[@giudiciadanna4550]

LA CALLAS RESTA SEMPRE LA CALLAS.

[@raynardi7243]

Bellissima testimonianza che lo studio può fare miracoli!!!!

[@emmystarlight]

I realised years ago already that she improved shortly before her death.There were new technique ideas coming over from the states.And i can hear that she tried them out.Her breath and lower support improved and because of that her hight improved too.Her vibrato became less slow in highre ranges indicating that she used better downward countermovement in her breath.As we can see in countless video recordings of her concerts,her breath became higher and higher trough the years and her hight suffered because of that.I am so impressed that even she after having all of her successes,managed to embrace newer and perhaps also better ways and techniques.

[@angelonicola6081]

In un libretto recentemente reperito,realizzato dal fondatore del festival della Valle D' Itria si dichiara che la Callas aveva accettato di tornare in scena per realizzare la prima assoluta della versione dei Puritani adattati per la Malibran,versione poi portata in scena dalla Katia qualche anno dopo. Sarebbe stato un ritorno clamoroso e la Callas negli ultimi anni dichiarava che sperava di chiudere in bellezza la sua carriera. Ang

[@mancal5829]

This makes me very sad. What a loss her untimely death!

[@BillyBoy442]

She had been out of opera commission for quite a few years before she returned. Her voice had rusted a bit though there were several good notes still left in her voice. As she progressed on her tour, she became more self-assured and then had the voice under control. It finally responded to her wishes. I think the best of her concerts were in the more dramatic arias and duets. I think that 'O Mio Babbino Caro' was no longer for her. Her voice had become even more dramatic and vital while the Puccini aria did not show her to advantage. I disagree with the rather vicious critics who claimed she was no longer any good, quite the contrary. She was slowly climbing back up to the mountain, so she was feeling her way and getting back to her dynamic voice - she eventually got there. The stuff she recorded before her passing, found that she definitely still had a voice but her will to continue was iffy at best. Too much low self-esteem! Can cause plenty of havoc in many areas, including the voice

[@paulobarcelos2308]

Thanks for this very serious research.

[@accensus]

It would be helpful if you pointed out which era each clip is from.

[@user-gt7xs1fc6g]

It should be obvious that all of these are from the post-69 period as they are clearly all either preparation for those last concerts or from the concerts themselves.

[@correoprivado9953]

I never knew Callas would return on Werther in 1978! Anyone knows more details about it?

[@TheWolfD]

The project of the recording was confirmed by Jannine Reiss in this interview: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZCrhJt7iKyJg9U

[@vanmusician]

I have an LP of her very last concert - in Sapporo, Japan. She sounds much better then early in the tours. She'd had almost two years of regular performing to get things somewhat back in order. I attended the concert here in Vancouver. She was in poor shape - probably because of nerves. Di Stefano had disappeared (I heard because he didn't like the hotel) and then showed up half way through the concert! I wish she had sung the Ottavia in 'Coronation of Poppea' that she was offered. It could have been wonderful!

[@OperaMyWorld]

Could you please share the Sapporo Concert?? Please!!! I’m searching it for long time!!! 🙏

[@vanmusician]

I've just ordered a turntable that converts to Mp3 audio files. I'll post the concert when it arrives. I have other Callas rarities like the full Dallas concert rehearsal.

[@tonioruben]

Can anyone tell me what kind of accent have Maria Callas ? American , o British ? tkank you from France !

[@jmiller05]

martine beaumarchais Greek-American

[@manolis.799]

Most old school movie stars and high profile people kind of spoke in an affected “upper crust” accent mixture of British and NY... some refer to it as “mid-Atlantic”

[@hotradiogaga]

@@manolis.799 I think Maria was one of the few people who really spoke genuinely mid-atlantic accent, since she was born in USA and then moved back to Europe in a really tender age

[@PhantomsoftheOpera]

Can you give some information on this interview, please? When it was, who was the interviewer? Thank you.

[@OperaMyWorld]

November 1973 during her London Comeback

[@josemilitano]

Hi! Do you hace the complete Forza Aria from 1977?

[@OperaMyWorld]

José Militano Unfortunately only this fragment has been published! Sure there must be more! Vasso Devetzi practiced various arias with Callas at piano in 1977 and recorded many of them! But we don’t know if there has been survived!

[@NemesisTheInevitable]

This theory of yours is all based in the Boston concert... You can't prove a point out of it. She sound better in Boston then in later moments also. So... It's is like if you compare all her concerts with the Los Angeles one, in 1958... There are better nights then others and there are different recording qualities. But it is a very interesting video nonetheless.

[@OperaMyWorld]

Bruno Rodrigues The better in vocal terms recordings comes from the Boston,Washington D.C., Fukuoka(24/10) and her last Tokyo (27/10)!!! So it’s not my theory!!! I prove it through recordings! The Ah perfido from 1976 and the Firza excepts from August 1977 proves that Callas’s voice was Improving Immensely!!!! I know exactly what I’m saying!

[@OperaMyWorld]

Bruno Rodrigues If you can’t hear vocally the difference and you think that it’s the different recording quality that makes her to sound better..you are not probably trained on listening to Callas especially!

[@NemesisTheInevitable]

@@OperaMyWorld, dear friend. I understand that. I have no doubts that her voice got better and better with the training. But she never returned to the previous standards. In true, Callas voice changed very often as you know. It was a very difficult vehicle to control, that's why she was so amazing.

[@OperaMyWorld]

Bruno Rodrigues She was in her early 50s! She had dermatomiopathia and took many quantities of cortisone! Eminopause also played role! She could never be the Callas of 1950s!!! But that’s impossible for any singer!!!!

[@NemesisTheInevitable]

@@OperaMyWorld, I agree that the early menopause had a great deal to her vocal problems and the abrupt weight loss also. Callas had a very early menopause, that's why the Onassis pregnancy is such a fabulous topic. In the end of the 50s she was already in menopause process. I think that is why her voice changed so much from 59-60 to 61-62...

[@giuseppecriscione3778]

Where is the 1977 audio from?

[@OperaMyWorld]

Maria Callas singing fragments from the aria "Deh, non m’abbandonar" from La Forza del Destino with Vasso Devetzi at piano, at her Paris Appartment on 36 Av. G. Mandel, on August of 1977, about a month before her death!!

[@accensus]

If only we had recordings of her with Zanine Reiss.

[@zehnthaussteinbach5377]

"The unknown recordings" by DIVINA, DVN-4

[@angelheart4366]

@@OperaMyWorld those are amazing. Sounds like she had found a new self. A real “ Chant du Cygne”