Habanera bizet maria callas biography
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As Gramophone said when the set was first released: ‘Hers is a Carmen to haunt you.’
| Carmen: Maria Callas |
| Don José: Nicolai Gedda |
| Micaëla: Andréa Guiot |
| Escamillo: Robert Massard |
| Frasquita: Nadine Sautereau |
| Mercédès: Jane Berbié |
| Le Dancaïre: Jean-Paul Vauquelin |
| Le Remendado: Jacques Pruvost |
| Le Remendado (CD2, tracks 5&7): Maurice Maievski |
| Moralès: Claude Cales |
| Zuniga: Jacques Mars |
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Her vocal training took place in Athens, where her teacher was the coloratura soprano Elvira de Hidalgo, who had sung with Enrico Caruso and Feodor Chaliapin.Quand je vous aimerai?
Ma foi, je ne sais pas,
Peut-être jamais,
Peut-être demain.
Mais pas aujourd'hui, c'est certain.
L'amour est un oiseau rebelle
Que nul ne peut apprivoiser,
Et c'est bien en vain qu'on l'appelle,
S'il lui convient de refuser.
Rien n'y fait, menace ou prière,
L'un parle bien, l'autre se tait;
Et c'est l'autre que je préfère
Il n'a rien dit; mais il me plaît.
L'amour!
L'amour! Its base lay in the opera houses of Italy, and she became the prima donna assoluta of Milan’s legendary La Scala – notably in the productions of Luchino Visconti – but her operatic appearances also encompassed London’s Royal Opera House, the New York Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opéra, the Vienna State Opera, and the opera houses of Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Lisbon, and, in the early 1950s, Mexico City, São Paolo and Rio de Janeiro. Continue reading from Warner Classics
Bizet: Carmen
Salle Wagram, Paris 20 Jul 1964
Studio Remastered 2014
2 CD 0825646341108 - 3 LP VINYL 0825646242948 - DIGITAL
Listen - Buy
Orchestre du Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris - Chœurs René Duclos - Chœurs d’enfants Jean Pesneaud
Georges Prêtre
Towards the end of Callas’s career, there were many rumours that she was planning to perform Carmen on stage.
L'amour! Though her timbre was not always conventionally beautiful, Callas’s musicianship and phrasing were in a class of their own. She brought characters to vivid life with her skill in colouring her tone and making insightful use of the text.
She is credited with changing the history of opera: by placing a perhaps unprecedented emphasis on musical integrity and dramatic truth, and by transforming perceptions – and reviving the fortunes – of the bel canto repertoire, particularly Bellini and Donizetti.
The 1950s marked the height of Callas’s career.
After early performances in Greece, Callas’s international career was launched in 1947 when she performed the title role in Ponchielli’s La Gioconda at the Arena di Verona in Italy.
Her voice defied simple classification and her artistic range was extraordinary. With Georges Prêtre, one of her favoured conductors, and the ever-stylish Nicolai Gedda as her Don José, she captured every facet of the role.
L'amour!
L'amour est enfant de Bohême,
Il n'a jamais, jamais connu de loi,
Si tu ne m'aime pas, je t'aime,
Si je t'aime, prend garde à toi!
Si tu ne m'aime pas,
Si tu ne m'aime pas, je t'aime!
Mais, si je t'aime,
Si je t'aime, prend garde à toi!
Si tu ne m'aime pas,
Si tu ne m'aime pas, je t'aime!
Mais, si je t'aime,
Si je t'aime, prend garde à toi!
L'oiseau que tu croyais surprendre
Battit de l'aile et s'envola;
L'amour est loin, tu peux l'attendre;
Tu ne l'attend plus, il est là!
Tout autour de toi vite, vite,
Il vient, s'en va, puis il revient!
Tu crois le tenir, il t'évite;
Tu crois l'éviter, il te tient!
L'amour, l'amour, l'amour, l'amour!
L'amour est enfant de Bohême...
Who is Maria Callas?
Maria Callas was born to a Greek family in New York in 1923.
This was never to be, but Carmen became her penultimate complete recording of an opera – and her only complete recording of a French opera.
In her early twenties she sang such heavy dramatic roles as Gioconda, Turandot, Brünnhilde and Isolde, but over the course of her career her most famous roles came to be: Bellini’s Norma and Amina (La sonnambula); Verdi’s Violetta (La traviata); Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Anna Bolena, Cherubini’s Medea and Puccini’s Tosca.