Maria Callas sings, "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" (“Well? I will go far away”) from Aflredo Catalani's opera
La Wally
La Wally is set in a picturesque village in Tyrol. When celebrating his birthday, Stromminger, father of the heroine, insults Hagenbach, the hero, and the two men start a fight. Dashing to her father's aid, Wally recognizes Hagenbach as a secret love of her youth. Hagenbach is stunned by the girl's beauty.
When her father dies, Wally inherits his fortune, and by this time Hagenbach is engaged to Afra. For a bet he kisses Wally and immediately realizes that it is she whom he really loves. In an angry response Wally demands that Gellner punish Hagenbach for his impertinence. She repents her hasty action after finding that Gellner has done her bidding and in the darkness has pushed Hagenbach into a snowy abyss. She sets out to find her lover, descending on a rope to rescue the unconscious youth. She asks the devoted Afra to take care of the injured Hagenbach and, acknowledging her responsibility for what happened, decides to stay in the mountains for ever. Hagenbach suddenly appears and declares his love for her. But an avalanche sweeps him away and Wally throws herself after him without hesitation.
A note about Maria Callas' voice:
Maria Callas' voice was always controversial, even before it began to prematurely deteriorate. It is simply not a sweet, beautiful voice. Nevertheless, as I made my selections for this blog I often kept coming back to Callas performances -- and wondered why. Here are two comments by opera critics that begin to explain it:
"The timbre of Callas' voice, considered purely as sound, was essentially ugly... yet I really believe that part of her appeal was precisely due to this fact. Why? because for all its natural lack of varnish, velvet and richness, this voice could acquire such distinctive colours and timbres as to be unforgettable."
"I've seen over 1000 operas, and the 9 times I saw Maria Callas are etched in my memory. She was the most exciting and thrilling performer I ever saw on an opera stage and, curiously enough, even when she was not in top vocal form!"
No comments:
Post a Comment