Voice Teacher Reaction to Opera Singer Maria Callas - Casta Diva by Vincenzo Bellini

[@Nobilangelo]

What a woman! What an artist! She was a miracle. Rightly called La Divina.

[@Jeannine2007]

The magnificence that is Callas. A truly emotive and expressive and timeless operatic star. She always brings me to tears with her arias. I just love her.

[@WilsonWatt-q2e]

I saw Callas during her last concert tour in Chicago. Although the voice was more limited, the emotive expressiveness was intact. What was most impressive however to me was how she seemed to become physically different for each of the arias as she became the character during the introductory music. She was singing with only piano accompaniment and in a plain white gown with a long red stole but she became each aria's person with changes in her stance, her hand movements, the tilt of her head. I can only imagine how this almost magical ability was put to use when she also had costumes, makeup, stage imagery, and full orchestra. Of course, she also, even with the more limited voice made every nuance of the aria, words and music, into a seamless expression of human emotion.

[@SteveODonnell25]

No soprano will never achieve the heights of Norma that Callas achieved with this role.

[@joymonte5471]

In that period Maria was leaving slowly the Opera stage and she is able to make you dream but listen to Maria's 1952 Norma in London.Legendary!!!!Titanic voice,amazing emotion and she was just 26-27 years old.

[@ChiaraDBrown]

I am stunned at how much expression and interest she can create, just standing there with her hands crossed on her chest, or clasped together in front of her. How many of us think that we have to always be doing something with our hands and arms, not always to very good effect! And of course her incredible vocal control, and the almost broken emotion that just pours through her voice. This is one of my favorite clips ever, love hearing your take on it!

[@cstroppa20]

I learned to like opera since I was little because of my father and I've heard a lot from Maria Callas who for me will always be the best opera singer of all time.

[@randegelo3506]

I also learned to like opera because of my father. He used to put the record player next to the window and play the music out into the street. I'm sure the neighbors loved that! Lol. He's gone now, but the opera is still here.

[@danawinsor1380]

@@randegelo3506 What a wonderful memory!

[@danawinsor1380]

Thank you for sharing your memory!

[@randegelo3506]

@@danawinsor1380 Thanks! Dad used to say he was "educating the masses ". Lol. I think my mother finally talked him out of doing that.

[@invinciblecucumber]

Maria Callas is numero uno for me! I love her so much!

[@gerriwetherhold6369]

Really into this aria...she is in in the moment. So dramatic and yes, a dark resonance. Amazing control. Such a sad life and this too, comes out in her music. Beautiful!

[@HuyTran-hw5jg]

I love La Divina and I love the reaction! Please do another reaction of Callas’ performance.

[@truus5653]

Ooooooo my favorite : Maria Callas ❤❤ Norma is the greatest opera! I must see this live at least once every 5 years if possible

[@jenniferrodgers57]

I challenge anyone to find another soprano out there, yesteryear or now, who could/can execute a chromatic downscale better than Callas could. That was one of her true vocal masteries, along with the trill and the minute interval (comma). Go ahead. I'll wait.

[@konan123]

Caballè ?

[@mitka9664]

Callas was born in New York , then went to Greece with her mother . After studying singing she came back in US to make her career she then went to Italy. Onassis came to her life during this VERY concert in Paris . She was at the PeaK of her career , he was in this audience and was amazed of the power she had in human heart... He threw a party in London for her after this concert as first date !

[@bettydean846]

The pick or the peak?

[@mitka9664]

@@bettydean846 you got the point but thnks.

[@taliablackthorn4758]

The best Greek voice ever

[@dinogreece]

Onassis was the worst thing that ever happened to her.

[@mitka9664]

@@dinogreece the WORST THING EVER dear !!!

[@303ks]

I believe Maria Callas was one of the best of all times and yet I hear many who have complaints about the color of her voice. My theory on that is that her voice was developed with a language that is very different than most European languages (Greek) and that fact helped sculpture a tone and a pronunciation in her voice that sound a bit more alien to English ears but also unique

[@hugothebear]

She handled the wandering chorus with great dignity ( end of first verse ) and actually turns to give them the beat…. ( and a look that could kill ! ) I heard rumour that they might have done it deliberately to spoil her debut in Paris…. Seems unlikely but although it could have ruined the aria it is a moment of history captured…. la Divina arrives in Paris and what an entrance !

[@artdanks4846]

Gregory Gillenship....I'm so glad you saw this and pointed it out! I noticed the same thing myself a number of years ago, and was amazed how gracefully she corrected the problem, and used the gesture in a way that still was appropriate within the context of the drama! What an artist she was!!

[@MAXPAUERv]

As Italian i was always impressed how she spoke Italian... The grammar, the word choice, and really one of few foreigners that was difficult to spot..

[@danawinsor1380]

Thank you for your comments! Yes, regarding the "darkness" of tone. I believe she mentioned at one point that her sound tended towards "scuro" (as opposed to "chiaro"). As for the point during the intro. where it seems she is getting into the feeling or mood of the aria, I believe you can see this in all of her televised appearances. For instance, during the 1959 recital in Hamburg: in Una voce poco fa, you can see her becoming the coquettish shy ingenue. In the excerpt from Verdi's MacBeth, you can see her assume the persona of a crafty, cold, cruel character. Finally, in Tu che le vanita from Verdi's Don Carlo, she takes on a look of hopelessness.

[@rubytuesday4564]

Hooray for you. Sharing your keen observations helped me see her as more exceptional than I previously did.

[@danawinsor1380]

What a nice thing to say! I have to admit, I'm one of those people who are obsessed by Callas and probably always will be. The wonderful thing about the videos is watching her acting. If you haven't yet seen her "Tosca," Act 2, from 1964, it's available here on YT and I highly recommend it. @@rubytuesday4564

[@paratrooper7340]

She takes your breath away!

[@maximemaxime3564]

I've been listening to opera for 50 years and I still can't explain what's going on with Callas. She didn't have the most beautiful voice, she wasn't the greatest technician, she wasn't the most spectacular and yet she moves us like no other singer does. It's inexplicable..... It's a miracle that happens every time. His voice is so human and so touching that it touches our hearts every time.

[@jenylogan1]

You might not find it the most the most beautiful voice, but it is an extraordinary technique, and her musicality and musicianship is incomparable, and, to me, it is easily explicable, it is the work of genius and dedication, I don’t personally believe in miracles !

[@JanisWakeley]

On the contrary - her incomparable technique, born of fiendishly hard work, endless studying, practice and appreciation for the wonderful teachers she had in DiHidalgo, Italian vocal coach Feruccio Cusinati and Maestro Tulio Serafin. Without her unrivaled technique, she would never had been able to sing both Die Walkure and I Puritani alternately at La Fenice in 1948, or Bellini's Norma, Verdi's Traviata, Macbeth, Trovatore, and Vespri Sicialiani, the way the composers meant for them to be sung, ANY TIME!! She served music; there will never be another Divinia!

[@EliAngelova-s5x]

Невярно! Калас имаше феноменален глас и перфектна певческа техника!

[@allanmoore4353]

Callas did not lack technique, not at all, but what she did was EXPRESS what the music she was singing meant. She became the music.

[@kotoal]

Maria Callas, the best opera female singer of all time ❤️ I advice you her version of "la mama morta"

[@69brancaleone]

If we talk about female opera voices we can’t forget the great Renata Tebaldi or before WW2 Rosa Ponselle. Generally people just remember few names like Pavarotti or Callas, but opera voices is much much more.

[@stefanodepeppo]

We are talking about Maria Callas here...Tebaldi and Ponselle (AND many others!) had fantastic voices, but definitely not the ultimate Artistry of Callas. There must be a reason why she is without any doubt the most celebrated and unique female opera singer of the history of opera!

[@perrehn7192]

Tebaldi who?

[@bojanalukic8515]

Beautiful reaction and the best definition od diva. 😍

[@avntori]

Callas truly had an expressive voice and impressive technique, she could sing Wagner and Rossini with the same confidence and mastery. She was always at the service of the music and the character. There have been other great singers, but no new Callas. She remains an inimitable and miraculous vocal and theatrical phenomeno

[@computersurgeon_]

That's a legendary singer

[@kraftwerk974]

When beauty was still valued.

[@patriciapalmer1377]

MOM I was fortunate to see her in 1965 in Tosca at the Met. My elegant Mother softly whispered, " Close your mouth, Dear, methinks thou might drool on thy frock" I remember dazedly closing it. I won the parent lottery, Nurayev, Margot Fontyn, Lenny Bernstein...

[@r1p2m32]

Haha. she was smart... Because this makes me drool -- still...

[@beckyelrod9409]

I love the expressions on your face!! I’m sure mine look the same when listening to La Divina. Thank you for your analysis.

[@andrewviscountdeloire6756]

Beautiful reaction! Thanks 😊 I love Cecilia Bartoli, I saw her performance as Norma, in the opera Norma at the Champs Elyses opera house. She was amazing and the production too.

[@rickardhjalmarsson6145]

Beautiful…!!!! Valerie!!!

[@hectorg3983]

Please try with Montserrat Caballe's Casta Diva in 1974 0range France!

[@jenylogan1]

Caballe was wonderful, beautiful voice, wonderful breath control and pianissimo, but Callas paints a picture, just in a phrase she inhabits the character, and, even here, not her best night, she leaves the others in the dust.

[@natlisan]

You should check out Montserrat Caballé al dolce guidami performance from 1966. It really is a stunning piece!!!

[@randegelo3506]

Wonderful reaction and analysis, Valerie. I've been collecting records for over 50 years and have many opera records. Rosa Ponselle also did a great rendition of Casta Diva. If you're doing opera, would love to have you react to my two favorite tenors, Enrico Caruso and Joseph Schmidt. Regards from Long Island, NY!

[@paulcurran9534]

apart from the extraordinary technique and artistry it is particularly impressive how she deals with the disastrous first chorus entry (they're all over the place and not together). How she keeps her concentration is amazing

[@jazzychazzy007]

Yes, I'm so glad to hear someone else has noticed that. They are a mess, and this woman, making her debut in Paris in front of a celebrity crowd is cool as a cucumber singing one of the most difficult arias in the repertoire. Notice at 4:50? she puts her hand up as if to say - listen folks this is my entrance, this is where you are suppose to be - and then when the chorus repeats the phrase she actually turns her head and gives them 'the look.' She is absolutely unphased, she never looses the character, and the dreaminess of the mood. And yet, she is totally present and aware of what's going on. It is unbelievable!!!!!!

[@marciobispoo]

Please more Maria Callas reaction :)

[@PK--ITA]

Thx Valerie.

[@BaroneVitellioScarpia1]

The one and only Norma.

[@rickardhjalmarsson6145]

Callas can sing…almost like Jussi BJörling!! and you look wonderful too…. Valerie! Thank you from Richard in Sweden

[@asmakabbous7019]

Fascinating

[@waynemeredith4287]

Bravo! A classic. People have compared Amira to Maria Callas. Maybe because she listened to Maria’s recorded performances. Amira has opened this world to me and shows how beautiful and fun opera can be. Then cross over into more contemporary music.

[@seantodd8875]

That's one million dollars worth of jewelry that Callas is wearing. In 1958 money.

[@laurastuart3814]

Maria Callas never married Onassis, she would remain his mistress when he was married to Jackie Kennedy.

[@rickardhjalmarsson6145]

Wonderful !!!!!

[@Shahrdad]

Too bad there are no videos from Callas's vocal prime. Even though she still did some magnificent singing between 1954 and 1959, she was at her vocal peak before she became so skinny. Before that, the voice was bigger, fuller, darker, with much easier high notes and incredible coloratura and upper extension. It was a voice that could sail through the heaviest dramatic soprano roles and then sing the lightest coloratura roles with the same ease. If you want to hear the TRUE Callas voice, listen to "The Impossible concert by Maria Callas (1952)", where she begins with the two heaviest Italian dramatic soprano roles (Lady Macbeth and Abigaile from Nabucco), then sings the Lucia Mad Scene (her first time) and concludes with Lakme's Bell Song, including a ringing, gigantic high E-natural. She literally does the impossible. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qWSamqenip5_Y7c

[@stefanodepeppo]

Definitely so, her weight loss was also a gradual loss of her vocal greatness. I think she kept quite an impressive coloratura even until the final coloratura piece she tried to record, which is the cabaletta from Il Corsaro in 1969. Even if her upper register keeps failing, her accuracy for coloratura is still there, obviously not as phenomenal as in her palm days, but it is striking that she kept it even after she had ended her stage career. Her vocal prime until 1953/1954 was incredible. She eventually acquired much more refined skills as an interpreter (and as an actress, of course), but vocally from 1956 on (apart from some miraculous achievements in 1957 like Bolena, Ifigenia, Sonnambula) she started rolling down the hill of vocal decline.

[@Shahrdad]

@@stefanodepeppo I think her weight was an integral part of how she supported that big voice, and once a third of her body mass was gone, she never regained the ability to support the voice as she used to. Sutherland said that the body seemed too frail to support the big sound that she had been used to making. Others also commented that what she was trying to do vocally was “beyond the too-slim singer’s ability to support or sustain.”

[@stefanodepeppo]

@@Shahrdad Definitely. The sad thing is that Mexico’s State TV had broadcasted her 1952 appearances at Bellas Artes. Alas, no trace remaining of the reels…☹️

[@stefanodepeppo]

@@Shahrdad also La Scala Sonnambula was broadcast on 1955. The reel was erased…😒

[@simonac.926]

The thing is she had a halo of some sort

[@MelanieAF]

I very very much love that velvety warm darkness in her voice. It’s velvety darkness, not raspy darkness, which is fitting for an opera voice. Casta Diva is my favorite aria of all time. I love Maria Callas’ version best. After her, Montserrat Caballe. I’m not a singer, so question-I’ve read that Casta Diva is one of the most difficult arias to sing-is this true, and if so, what are the reasons? Thank you.

[@natlisan]

Callas's voice is not a "sweet" voice, but it certainly was a unique one!!! Especially in her early recordings from the 40's and early 50's prior to her huge weight loss, which did affect her voice drastically. With this aria particularly I'm a bit biased because my favorite performance is by Montserrat Caballé.

[@jenylogan1]

And wonderful she was, but she never inhabited a role like Callas, even in concert ,she conjures Norma in a way no other soprano could.

[@gabriellopes1564]

Excelente!

[@misatankosic1001]

Dio - the last in line..( live in spectrum 1984) reaction.. thank you very much.

[@WilsonWatt-q2e]

You are wrong about her personal life. She was born in America and taken back to Greece by her mother. She did not ever marry Onassis. He saw her as power possession but once she was out of the spotlight, Onassis need something more and married Jackie Kennedy, a greater jewel.

[@taliablackthorn4758]

She’s Greek tho..

[@artdanks4846]

Maria Callas is my all time favorite opera singer, and has been for 50 years. The fascinating thing to me is she did not at all have a "perfect" voice, or even a particularly "beautiful" voice. In fact, she herself didn't like her own voice, because she knew it was not beautiful. (Even Tullio Serafin, who was her mentor, referred to it as the "great ugly voice"!) However, unlike any other singer, her sense of drama and musicality were of such an impeccability, that she successfully knew how to use everything to make the most exquisite and dramatic sounds!

[@gaylarned9818]

Lovely video. Thank you. Onassis married Jacqueline Kennedy, not Callas.

[@samar1489]

Request next rection Isyana Sarasvati, artist Opera from Indonesia 🙏

[@gabrielleo6884]

Listen "una voce poco fa"

[@lutandomhlalase4416]

Plz react to Montserrat caballé singing D'amor sull'ali rosee from Il Trovatore, you will love it

[@jenylogan1]

Wonderful,but hear Callas live in her glory days, she was Leonora.

[@randegelo3506]

Just thought of another singer for you to react to. Don't hate me for this one, but how about Florence Foster Jenkins? I'm sure lots of people would be interested...

[@xkhmrboi14]

Please react to Grace Bumbry Carmen

[@LILAC93052]

We look forward to your reactions to this singer. He was the famous opera singer Erik Kurmangaliyev. kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKSvlmh7q5eGi9E kzbin.info/www/bejne/rqCllah_j92leq8

[@milanvelickovic6666]

Renata Tebaldi ? Pls

[@davidmolina7543]

Try Montserrat Caballe.

[@lr8845]

You look like Von Stade

[@draculasjester4951]

During the "opera golden age" were only two absolute female voices, Maria Callas and Virginia Zeani ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJWyp3SjmJVnarM ). Virginia Zeani refused to make records and that's why very few know about her. Both were phenomenal, divas, only a different vocal timbre ... Comparing either of them with present opera singers is a sacrilege. Also, who compares Amira with Maria Callas or any diva from the golden age of opera is a dilettante who knows nothing about opera and has never stepped into an opera house, and should realize that Amira will never be able to perform true opera because she lacks necessary vocal power and stamina. Amira will remain at best an operetta singer. The only young talent pretender to the title of opera singer is Laura Bretan whose voice is gifted from birth with everything that is necessary to become a young diva, maybe even more ... but her parents couldn't afford a singing teacher. Even so, Laura started by herself to discover her voice and at 15 years old she already performed difficult arias, like Vissi D'Arte ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/gquXY4NjoNqdras ). Her natural voice looks a lot like Maria Callas's voice, what differs is her experience and proper vocal training ...

[@69brancaleone]

I disagree, “opera golden age” is before WW2, in the first half of last century there were the most amazing male and fermale voices. I remember Claudia Muzio, Amelita Galli Curci, Luisa Tetrazzini, Lina Bruna Rasa and many others. After WW2 Callas and Tebaldi, but others too.

[@draculasjester4951]

@@69brancaleone Correct, my bad, but I included Callas and Zeani because their debut aprox in 50's, and they are among the best female opera singers. You forgot to mention Hariclea Darclee. Puccini composed aria Vissi D'Arte for her ... Let's say that considering an opera "platinum" age should be necessary, because Zeani and Callas are definitely more than legends. Tebaldi was artificially overrated. In reality Callas never feared Tebaldi, her only true nightmare was Virginia Zeani !

[@stefanodepeppo]

@@draculasjester4951Callas feared Zeani?… In which alternate reality?…🤔

[@draculasjester4951]

@@stefanodepeppo Maria's ex husband declared that, a lot of people knew that ... for example ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/aqHCpoibbNxgY6c ).

[@Empoweredwoman1234]

We don’t have celebrity opera singers today because they’re taught badly and have to sound childish with little or no chest voice. They are are also too compliant with conservative opera rules and can’t relate to ordinary people. Finally, there’s too much formality and they constantly criticise other types of singers. Nobody wants to admire someone with a superior Buckingham Palace attitude who is too proper and uses fake accents every time they talk about an opera or aria. As far as helping young singers goes, they only teach masterclasses that are scripted and all the kiddies attend academic institutions. There’s no Got Talent or any wildcard competitions , as they all want predictable conservative outcomes every time, just like big corporations. Oh, and did I mention the upper age limits and excessive academic focus? Case closed.

[@familypondman]

Who the hell is she???????????

[@stefanodepeppo]

Valerie or Callas?....:))

[@familypondman]

@@stefanodepeppo Valerie

[@natureboyo853]

Your pointless interruption is annoying,her voice doesn't need your inane drivel, it tells its own story,I think you have a nerve

[@bilrobilbo]

NO NO NO. THIS IS NOT 1958 IMAGES, OR MAYBE EVEN SOUND. YOU AREA WHAT? TEACHER???!!! CHANNEL CANCELLED.

[@stefanodepeppo]

What are you talking about?...OF COURSE it is the Paris Concert at the Palais Garnier in December 1958!

[@chadhansen9504]

Thank you so much for doing opera. Have you ever reacted to Natalie to Desay?

[@deborahwhitney9427]

Do a reaction on Rosa Ponselle o nume tuteller.

[@pedrogutierrez-rr2ro]

JUST REACTION ......NO CORRECTION ......OK ....????? ....NO LE LLEGAS NI A LOS TALONES ....TRANSLATE , PLEASE ....