Verdi: La Traviata (complete opera live 1955) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Carlo Maria Giulini, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan

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Music reviews of Verdi: La Traviata (complete opera live 1955) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Carlo Maria Giulini, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan

Music Review: The Sarah Bernhardt Of Opera Brings Down The House
Rating: 5 Stars

Her marriage to Aristotle Onaissis stirred up a cascade of publicity. Onaissis was a Greek multimillionaire who would later divorce Callas and marry the widowed wife of President J.F.K....Jackie Kennedy. It is said that Maria Callas became very depressed about the whole thing and from that moment on her life went downward until her death. Maria Callas never admitted to this, and I believe her, for she was an impressively strong woman. When she died in 1977, it was due to health problems that had been plaguing her for many years.

The result of a great singer and actress is what you hear in this recording. The 1955 live recording of La Traviata is a monument to Maria Callas and a time capsule. The audiences present at the opera recall how moving the performance was, how dramatic, how touching Maria Callas was in the role of Violetta. Verdi's tragic drama was based on "Camille" the story by Alexander Dumas. A Paris courtesan falls for a bourgeois country boy Alfredo and is seperated of him due to the fact Alfredo's family disapproves of the relationship. She becomes consumptive and dies in his arms at the end of the opera. The music, the arias, the famous Brindisi drinking song and poignant story have made the opera a household name. Maria Callas seems genuinely at ease in the arias "A fors E Lui" and in the coloratura aria "Sempre Libera." Personally, my favorite soprano in the role of Violetta is Beverly Sills, who was a lot like Maria Callas in dramatic license but a lot better as a singer. Maria Callas' voice can be either as beautiful as whispering wind (listen to her "A Ditte A La Giovinne " and her Death Scene" but also very harsh and gritty, as in "Amami Alfredo" and "Grand Dio Morir Si Giovine!". She is full of light an dark, which makes her well rounded but a lot of her darker moments can become very disappointing. Although this recording is good to have to hear Maria Callas in a great performance, or for the historic value of the recording, I personally recommend Beverly Sills singing opposite Nicolai Gedda in EMI label recordings.

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