Amneris- A Callas masterclass
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- čas přidán 8. 04. 2007
- The very talented mezzo Sheila Nadler was given a masterclass at Juillard by Maria Callas in the role of Amneris in Aida.
One Callas remark might be astonishing about staying beautiful in any occasion, even in tragedy, at the end. Because Callas would not care, during her career about just sounding or looking beautiful if the dramatic necessity needed more roughness. But one must remember that Amneris is a royal princess, not Santuzza, not Medea. - Hudba
![Maria CALLAS - [RARE !] Interview avec M. RODRINI (1957) - Bel Canto, rivalités, ennemis...](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VdnpIAtKCJY/mqdefault.jpg)
Can you imagine Callas telling you, "Nothing is impossible. Not for *you*..."? It's like in the Rigoletto master class when she told the baritone, "You've got the voice and you can do it." It's the kind of thing you'd remember for the rest of your life.
.
Nothing is impossible, not for you.
To be told that by Maria Callas is the greatest compliment possible
I was there. Callas gave true master classes, not excercises in ego as some others.
Even here Callas's voice gives me chills
And If only Callas had recorded Amneris. How incredible that would have been !
She is the teacher singers need. SO many teachers are disparaging, She really imparts knowledge rather than just putting students down. Teachers (and singers) should take note.
Jeremy Silver could use some lessons with Callas.
@@EmilyGloeggler7984 Callas only worked with singers at Julliard who she chose to work with. Silver is nothing but an internet troll...I wouldn't call her a singer.
just hearing her voice say "nothing is impossible....don't give me that" makes me cry. i needed to see this
Through all the classes, when she asks for and illustrates something involving rhythm, she is still hair-raisingly perfect, and none of the students can successfully imitate her. This total mastery of rhythm was fundamental to her artistic greatness.
As well as her delivery, and that's what even many of her colleagues, as well as the students lack.
Also the specificity of her diction, if that’s the right word. It’s not just a stream of beautiful sound, but each word has the appropriate dramatic shading that a great theater actor would give it.
Callas once briefly considered performing Amneris during her active career, but as was said at the time, "What soprano on the face of this earth would DARE sing Aida to Callas' Amneris?" One truly believe it. Callas would have mopped up everyone on the stage as Amneris....for sure!
Larry Mitchell Price, perhaps?
Well, as usual, Callas queens wouldn't allow any other soprano to be acknowledged. Callas was a bully, her sycophants bought her drama, and if Callas really were only serving her material (as she claimed she always did) her Amneris would not have overshadowd a good Aida.
She was too great an artist and too good a colleague to try and steal the show from anyone. She would only have brought Amneris to life.
Shahrdad, well said ! Who is this Clare anyway, did she know Callas intimitly? Poor Maria, even after 40 years people have no idea who the real Maria was !
Clare, are you deaf ? Don''t you hear Callas is giving her all to this student ? Why do you think that is; because she believes in this student, and the student trust her, you can hear in the interaction between the two women there is mutual respect ! Anyway, unfortunately Callas never sang Amneris, so your remark is unnecessary and kind of stupid ! Next time, use your mind before you write something which makes you look like a fool !
She's a wonderful teacher. Great insights.
What a wonderful giving teacher !!!
What an Amneris Callas would have made.
These are great because they show us how masterclasses should be conducted!
MARIA CALLAS THE BEST ONE FOREVER.
AND UNICA IN THIS WORLD.
Callas knew very well that the best Amneris came from Mexico. She was immense Oralia Dominguez. Callas and Dominguez sang Aida together with Mario del Monaco and Giuseppe Taddei in Mexico during famous performance in 1951.
She also sang Aida with the incomparable Amneris of Giulitta Simionato.
Callas is magnificent, but not enough has been said here about the richness of Sheila Nadler's mezzo. Brava!
Strange vowel distortions Callas does not correct.
Can't correct much in an hour.
I personally don't understand the appeal of these "rich" voices. To me it sounds gargly and unclear. But then again I don't like that typical operatic sound. Callas is the only operatic voice that sounds human and natural to me.
you should listen to Freni (and many other singers)
Madame Nadler is rising to every challenge that Madame Callas presents. Amazing clip!
Yes! The vocal delivery has to fit the part. Amneris is royalty, daughter of a King, with innate refinement and prestige. You cannot sing this role wildly. It needs legato, rich seams of colour and control worthy of a princess.
It's the same principle that you can't sing Anna Bolena, Elisabetta in Don Carlo, or even Norma 'roughly'. But not singing them roughly does not mean singing them like a zombie. Like Callas said it has to have LIFE!
Agreed - though the definition of "life" varies according to the person listening.
flagstad is not that good of an actress as you say in all your videos. Callas is the best actress and ever and much better actress than Ponselle too. But you will never admit this. You dislike Callas and she is not one of your favourites because she doesn't have a "beautiful voice"@@EmilyGloeggler7984
I would actually agree with Callas' remarks also by taking a good look at her prime career. She seldom applied verismo-like declamations and rough, almost parlando style of singing even in veristic or very late romantic roles like Santuzza, Gioconda or Turandot. Compared to other contemporaries and above all to the previous generation of the Golden Age of verismo singing, Callas noticeably sounds more contrived, "beautiful" and even than the verismo interpreters of similar roles. So I think she may have used rough and forceful phrases here and there, but the basis of her singing, even in dramatic non-Bel Canto roles, was always firmly set upon a Bel Canto training and relative "self-control", not letting beauty go away completely.
She sang Santuzza as if it were bel canto, never distorting the music for "effects" but completely sounding like a desperate knocked-up Sicilian peasant. Once back in the 1980's, I had Callas's Cavalleria playing in the car (starting from Voi lo sapete and on to the duet with Turiddu), and one of my friends who knew nothing about opera was riding with me. After listening for a few minutes, she said, "She sounds so common. It's like she's a peasant or something." I don't know what else one can ask of an interpreter.
I agree. I always thought Callas' verismo interpretations were "informed" by her bel canto background (and vice versa). As for sounding like a "peasant or something," well, I'm going to go back and listen to her Cavalleria to see for myself.
She is referring to her facial expression I think not the beauty of the voice..
May El Ali why would she refer to that?
Part of her genius was to create such profound distinctions between styles. Of course she was most famous for her bel canto roles, but she was a staggeringly stylish verismo singer as well! Even her portamenti were used expressively!
Callas is a Genius.
I don’t hear anything I haven’t heard at other masterclasses, so are those retired singers geniuses, too? In fact, I watched and listened as Christa Ludwig transformed a student’s voice and technique through the course of one aria....her sound was gorgeous, and unrecognizable from what she was singing when she started. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was an amazing teacher, as well!
@@voraciousreader3341 the others are ok but I sure as hell would not listen to them on CZcams you have to be more then ok and like I have said in another CZcams video Callas & Tabaldi singing Tosca “Tebaldi sings Tosca Callas becomes Tosca that my dear man is genius. In my humble opinion master classes are a total waste of time and wouldn’t care to watch. The difference is Callas tells the truth and Callas knew more about opera then any person in opera it’s more then just singing you have to know who you are where you are you have to become the role. The others just sing she becomes. You really can’t teach it you are born with it. Hopefully the next Calls is born and ready to perform before Opera is dead it’s dying and on life support. There are some good singers today but good is not good enough we need genius.
Agingbeauty,nobody's exploring here. The student is very capable of singing this role and the comment of Callas is friendly and professional,the way you speak to a colleague. She works on interpretation,not on registers. Amneris is difficult,because of the tessitura and the powerful character, where you got your conclusions is anybody's guess! You can't conclude what the student felt or what Callas was thinking. Anyway,any Amneris-singing mezzo can learn a lot from this post,so thanks Foropera!
Nice Masterclass, from a real master...
Thank you for posting this by the way. Just wonderful. Beautiful pics of Maria too.
Even in this she's amazing!!....loved hearing snippets of her singing Amneris....if only..
@agingbeauty Please tell her that her voice is extraordinary and what a WONDERFUL contribution she has made to the art of singing. I would give my left *#$% to have such a voice and to be able to use it with such grace and class. Maria must surely be proud
Simply wonderful. And Sheila still has a great career. Thank you for this exceptional posting.
This makes me dream of Callas onstage in the extraordinary part of Amneris ! All she would have brought to the character ! Sheila Nadler is so vibrant, by the way...
An incomparible singer a generous and incomparable petagogue .
Wow such a great video.thanks for uploading
Thank You for posting... So interesting, and so much to learn!
AMAZING! I like listening to Callas teaching her how to sing this piece! Everything she tells her is so very true, especially when encouraging her to pay attention to what the words mean.
Why didn't she become a Mezzo she would have done Amneris so well. IT's so interesting listening to her giving these masterclasses. Thanks muchly!
Joeleole it was a diversion for poor Maria my friend. Sincerly Arnold Bourbon Amaral
Elle avait une tessiture de soprano dramatique , le coté " mezzo" est apparu lorsque sa voix avait perdu ses possibilités ,mais ne correspondait pas à sa véritable nature ( Sa Carmen) , elle a même donné une Masterclasse excellente pour baryton (Corteggiani....) verdien
@@1955etienne Callas had full mezzo without any problem from the beginning of her carrier.
Wlodek Zdyb at thé beginning of héros carrier shérif
She on l’y sings heavy soprano rules , the deal Voice only appears after 1958 -59 in the same Time her high notes gotmore vibrato à droite less stability but which importance ! She really was the first forever
Joeleole... her middle was her weakest register . She was a high coloratura soprano. She had low notes but that isn't where her freedom came from.
How impresing OH maria you were great even teaching what a wonderful job she did lovely....
Fantastica Callas....quanta verità e passione nella sua ARTE
Such greatness! Callas hollering in Italian making it sound like the truest thing in the world.
I would have actually preferred Callas to sing Amneris. over Aida after listening to this clip.
It is wonderful to hear Callas - the intelligence above all, but her total understanding of each word. The moments when Callas bursts into song are splendid, and perfect. She says, 'You should look beautiful always...' a great piece of advice!
more please, more of maria`s masterclasses on the net :)
That was incredible! She was taken from us much too soon.
¡Qué mujer fascinante!
E VERO ! Grazie !!!
@raigekimaru Not really - Callas reveled as a woman scorned - look at Medea. Whatever the case, had she sung Amneris, she STILL would have had the last word in the opera ===== "Pace" . She'd have had the opportunity to finish the opera with one of those fabulous Callas low chest notes! I wish she'd have at least recorded some of Amneris' music, possibly the Aida/Amneris interview scene, the Rhadames confrontation Scene, and of course the Judgement Scene.
With Corelli!!!!!! DYNAMITE!!!!!!
"you've got to breathe life into these things"
WHAT A VOICE!!!!!!
@raigekimaru I consider Callas to be THE vocal artist of the Twentieth Century, which doesn't mean that I don't admire others like Milanov, Caballe, Price, Tebaldi, Sutherland, and of course, Nilsson. However ---- Callas possessed something that no one else did -- magic, excitement, phrasing, conviction, musicianship, and to my ears, an outstanding vocal endowment, especially between 1953-1960. Even after that, she recorded some amazing stuff! La Divina forever!
Well said. Bravo!
"something no one else did" became rather a long list... You mean everything....
Thanks, thanks, thanks!!!!
Inspiring!
Wish I could see the faces as they sing but hearing will have to do
A Godness of voice and interpretation!! Callas had not a liked timbro ( it was mettalic and strenge) But her technique was perfect on her. Her interpretations was drammatic and realistic. A idol of music
@raigekimaru - I doubt whether Callas ever knew real happiness or satisfaction as a human being. Her work was her life and her life was her work. She's left a legacy that will forever be the bar by which others will be judged. In a way, she's done us no favor because she has no successors. There was no one like her before and none like her after. I mean...... her Norma, Medea, Lucia, Traviata, Anna Bolena, Pirata, Lady Macbeth, Sonnambula, Rosina, Armida......can opera go any further???
Larry Mitchell Don't waste your time my friend. Stay in the circle. Sincerely Arnold Bourbon Amaral
He is saying Callas should have become a mezzo.
That's quite a voice Nadler's got there. This is how I aspire to sing (well I can dream can't I :-)
Well, she is right about emoting vocally. One can just stand there and sing healthily technically well and be camp or not emote, but that ruins the character. In opera, although voices and music are the center, it means nothing when there is no believable emotion no heart no acting. Otherwise, its just technical - like an automaton.
Text based. Yes. She was the best.
I pray God the musical teachers of the Opera nowadays listen and follow these Calas's Master classes
For the opera's ever living!
Amneris and Radames duet from G.VERDI's AIDA Act IV Scene I.
She sings Amneris part.
Sheila is marvellous here. She also worked on Amneris with Callas's "idol and despair", the great Rosa Ponselle and sang the whole role on stage, though she is known more in roles with a lower tessitura. Was Callas testing out a possible new role? Alas she never did sing Amneris herself. Sheila has had a long and highly distinguished career at the Met and all over the US as well as ROH Covent Garden etc and starred in the premiere of "The Death of Klinghoffer"
CharlotteinWeimar She sang Klinghoffer in the world Premiere,not in the movie
That is a well deserved foothold in operatic history, brava!
Maria and Sheila should have done this together on the stage!
마리아 칼라스 사랑해요~!!
Yes, she was a princess, I wouldn't call her barbarian though, I wouldn't call Aida barbarian either (she was a princess too, no?).
Also I meant that musically she is more noble than Santuzza. Let's not forget that Cherubini's Medea belongs to Classisism and is closer to Norma, Armida, La Vestale etc, rather than the Verismo roles of Santuzza, Nedda, Iris, Suor Angelica, Minnie.... (I don't know where exactly to place Amneris in all this).
Dim Lian wow a comment from ten years ago!
Amneris is a somewhat tragic but must always sing with authority. She’s not used to not getting her way and her world is being destroyed in the judgement scene. While she is suffering she is still royalty and must reflect this. Especially when she curses the priests at the end
What's the name of this aria?
@raigekimaru You ware so right. Callas' Amneris would have have been a lawnmower and ANY soprano's ass would have been the grass. No soprano in her right mind would have sung Aida to Callas' Amneris. But what a thrill it would have been to have heard the great Divina sing this wonderful role. Callas' Amneris would have walked off with the whole show - no matter WHO else was singing.
I guess Callas didn´t like to become a rival for other soprano fellows on stage, like Cossotto made her be felt along one time when she sang Adalgisa along Callas as Norma, and she pushed the singing too much on what Maria was able to sing then, so Fiorenza will shine more. However that was kinda a common stuff she always did in her prime, being a rival for sopranos on her mezzo register - she somewhat didn´t like the supportive status that other mezzos as Simionato or Stigniani did before actually helping along Callas in a good way. Callas would have better followed her co-workers that aided her in a good sportish way, but as she was very pridefull on her soprano diva status then, she felt could have become into something as Cossotto instead that Simionato or Stigniani, so she rather choose to retire and depress herself to an early death later on.
@@lhadzyan7300 At the time Cossotto did this thing to Callas, it was 1965 and Callas was severely vocally compromised. You can be sure that during the period of Callas vocal prime, NO ONE would have been able to do this to her.
@@Zva26 well she was compromised as soprano, but maybe as mezzo wasn't so much.
@@lhadzyan7300 While writing the opera Verdi considered calling it 'Amneris'! The great mezzo-turned-soprano Rose Bampton once sang both roles within the space of a week at the Met.
@@vanmusician wow that´s amazing and makes perfect sense. Yeah I kinda knew about it on Verdi but he later choosed on Aida because maybe it was a more easy appealing theme than pushing into a highly complex role which maybe a lot of audiences will be to hard to grasp her relevance, and also that way smartly created some dramatic effect throught the story-flowing to make furtherly thinking on some people if Aida was really worthy of being the title-role of the opera or was actually Amneris all along aside her, but that became a surprise for the audience eventually.
Kinda would be legendary and hard for the singer Bampton at the Met do both roles in a week alternating them, not meaning she couldn´t do it, but the main issue if mostly the tessitura differences regardless of vocal ranges themselves. She was maybe an assoluta-type of voice as Maria Callas, henceforth being able to sing both soprano and mezzo as needed (Callas only didn´t made mezzos aside of Carmen once time, because she wasn´t fond of the roles done by them and well she loved more the soprano ones.=
@Zva26
How true.
The more I listen to the Callas masterclasses, the more I think THAT play is a vulgar, gross characterization. Callas desperately wanted to pass down this encyclopedic knowledge of this art. She's a task master to be sure, but she's incredibly encouraging to these students. She addresses them by their first names in an effort to reach them. She was taught by the greatest conductors and teachers of all time. Her interpretations are still unmatched. She wanted the art of opera to continue to thrive. Unfortunately, no one respects it nowadays because all they need is a thin body and a pretty face and a passable voice. Opera is dying, folks. Callas could see it happening, in her own way. Just because it's considered "old fashioned" doesn't mean that it isn't right.
I pity young singers nowadays, and glad I quit while I was ahead. Basta. Rant ended.
She also knew that true opera is not just being camp or overdramatic and it doesn’t need it. She raised the bar to be more realistic than her colleagues with equally healthy technique and arguably more beautiful voices like Tebaldi but yet could not convey the character well. Maria was able to try to vocally and physically act without coming across mostly as archaic or static.
@@EmilyGloeggler7984 yes exactly! she actually loved it enough to make it real and believable! But I'd argue that she had to develop an even greater technique than any other singer (the beauty of her voice not withstanding) in order to be able to do that. It's much more difficult and tiring to convey the intensity that she did while staying vocally fresh than it is to convey false emotions like most other singers do IMO
Hypocritical.
@@EmilyGloeggler7984 I don't think you know the meaning of the word "hypocritical", especially when your last comment from a year ago agreed with me. Like I said to you before in your last rude comment on my own channel's video: you come when I send for you.
Firstly, I never stated that I completely agreed with you. Only in part, hence my comment. Secondly, as your own recent commentary on this comment section as well as others, and according to the definition as documented in the Merriam-Webster dictionary - hypocrite (example 2) : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings - Yes, I'm familiar with the actual definitions of the word. So my statement of calling you hypocritical remains, as demonstrated by your own rudeness. Hopefully, I hope you will improve in your behavior.
@Zva26
they'd pretty much have to change the plot so that Amneris got Radames instead of Aida =P
@Zva26
mmhmm, Corelli + Callas = GOLD!!! and actually I was just kidding, we both know that would be totally ridiculous if they changed the opera that much =P
excellent post! I agree with everything, just one correction on the video description please: Medea IS a royal princess, she is no Santuzza or Manon Lescaut!
And a sorceress, that is, a wise woman
Dear Charlotte, learn some French. My name suggests I'm not a soprano. There are other voicetypes too. Also you can conclude I am an Amneris singing mezzo if you take time to read before you comment. Mine was a reaction on Agingbeauty's comment. In my reaction I am saying the same you are saying. You probably haven't seen Agingbeauty's reaction because he or she removed it. If you had, you would have agreed with me.
you are absolutely right Giuditta,I couldn´t agree more.
By the way, that sheila nadler did not seem very clever.....
utube come rain or come shine by John bavas
See now you hear Callas and you hear a real mezzo - the difference is obvious.
LISTEN TO EBE STIGNANI AS AMNERIS
@Zva26
Callas was a trully dramatic individual. if you look at her as a person, many of the roles she played were almost exactly like her in real life =P
What aria is this?
lalia2001 L’abborita rivale
OF COURSE NOOOT!!! They are differents, and as that , they have their owns points of view OK?
no... usually the accompanist sings missing roles...
Sheila Nadler…
……who?
Aida would be a very good role choice. Mezzo quality here still seems questionable. Amneris is kind of weak for such a voice that would probably be better off doing soprano roles. There are mezzo sopranos who changed to sopranos and were better off later, just as well as some sopranos who had changed to mezzo and also the tessitura was much better the same. Moreover, the Italian diction needs work!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kassova, I think it is more correct to say the last in the past sense, don't you agree ? This wonderful student was just on the brink of starting a career, now I believe you claim to be a voiceteacher yourself, I wonder, are you able to give yourself so completely teaching this wonderful girl like Callas did ? Also, do you claim both Callas and Rosa Ponselle where wrong declaring Sheila a mezzo ?
The best Amneris of all times were Ebe Stignani and Fiorenza Cossoto.
The best Amneris was Oralia Dominguez. Try Aida (1951) recording with Callas, Mario del Monaco and Giuseppe Taddei made at Pallacio de Bellas Artes. This recording also can be considered as the duel between those fantastic singers.
and Giulietta Simionato.
I like Grace Bumbry.
Arrassip31 They were all great & you can not compare greatness my friends. Sincerely Arnold Bourbon Amaral 🌏🌍🌎🌿👱👴
And Obraztsova !
“There’s nothing is impsosible”… well not for you Madame Callas😅
La cantante non pronuncia bene....
"That's what happens when one starts placing tone"
"No, you've gotta get rid of that habit"
^THIS! "Placing tone" is a nonsense component of modern vocal technique that does nothing but cause constriction and artificial sound.
Amneirs is too big a role for this Mezzo
I love La Divina if only she had followed her own advice and tips. Still, nobody beats her Tosca, Butterfly and Maddalena. There were better Lucias, Violettas and Normas of course.
Keep dreaming...if anything there hasn't been anybody in recorded history better than Callas in all those Bel Canto Operas you mentioned.
They has not been a better lucia than Maria Callas. Please keep dreaming with your idiotic comments
+tklogan t better Violettas??? gurl, just no.. no
RicharddtheStar My dear, you yourself is the ignorant or idiotic one. After a Joan Sutherland performance of Lucia, Callas was so impressed, that she went to Joan's dressing room to congratulate her and told her: "I could never sing it like you.
Therefore I will never sing this role again." And Callas never sang Lucia again. Sutherland is indeed known as the best Lucia ever.
klinki springer you mean in 1959 the year callas lost her high notes. Yes, makes perfect sense why she never sang it again ...dumbass
I will never understand the cult of personality surrounding Maria Callas....never!
I don't understand the pride people who don't get Callas feels for there lack of understanding. How is a cognitive failure a source of pride? Ignorance is indeed arrogance.