Champagne and Coca-cola...
Diva Maria Callas was once the rival of soprano Renata Tebaldi. Their fans were also very loyal; the Callasites and Tebaldists made their rivalry worse, but it's a lot more fun that way. In a benefit concert in Rio de Janeiro, Callas sang Sempre Libere from Verdi's La Traviata and Tebaldi sang Ave Maria from the same composer's Otello. Callas withdrew after her curtain call, but Tebaldi gave two encores after hers; she did this despite an agreement not to do any encores. Maria took this action as an attack, and from then on, they withdrew their civility.
When Callas was started singing in La Scala in Milan, Renata's home-base, things got really interesting. Tebaldi refused to appear in the same House and was thrown out, so Callas was instilled as the Prima Donna of the House. To this, Callas remarked that Tebaldi was an artist who had to backbone - she had not even fought for her place at the House. Tebaldi, of course, replied: "The signora says that I have no backbone. I reply that I have one great thing that she has not - a heart."
La Tigre, naturally, would not keep silent long. She was quoted, "If the time comes when my dear friend Renata Tebaldi sings Norma or Lucia one night, then Violetta, La Gioconda, or Medea the next - then and only then will we be rivals. Otherwise, it is like comparing Champagne with Cognac - no with Coca-cola."
Another time, Maria attended a performance of Renata's. She was only in the audience but the applause she received was longer and louder than the ones given at the time of Tebaldi's curtain call. This, of course, enraged Tebaldi. She screamed and screamed in the wings of the theatre until she had to go out and greet the crowd - along with Maria, who had come to offer her hand in friendship. "I want to close this chapter of my life." Of course, everything was for show - to quell the Callasites and Tebaldists.
That rivalry still exists today - after both parties are dead: Callas way back in 1977, and Tebaldi only recently in 2004. The Callasites and Tebaldists still lurk in chatrooms and mailing lists. I am, of course, a devoted Callasite.
Callas' singing is passionate, enraged, expressive, and heart-wrenching. Tebaldi’s is sweet, pure, angelic, and divine. Of course, I can’t really compare them. I only have a snippet of Tebaldi’s Un bel di Vedremo (Madama Butterfly: Puccuni) and a copy of her Pace, pace (La Forza del Destino: Verdi), while I have tons of Callas records!
Tebaldi’s Pace, pace is exquisite and refined; angelic, and very well executed. Her phrasing is good, her pronunciation clear. But Callas’ version is shakey, scary, frightful and uncertain. This is how Leonora is supposed to be sung! In this scene, she pleads to God to grant her peace - after she is cursed by her father who is accidentally killed by her lover from a rival family, and now that her own brother is after her life.
The snippet of the Un bel di Vedremo (We will see a beautiful day) aria goes on only for about 30 seconds. But I know that Tebaldi delivers this aria in the same manner she delivers the Pace, pace: pure and cherubic. This works for this role because Cio-cio San is supposed to be a young geisha. For Callas, however, the little girl voice needs a lot of work. We hear with voice in two other works: first, Bellini’s La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker) where Amina is a young, unknowing sleepwalker (duh!); and second in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), where Rosina is a young, coy student, who plots to make Lindoro fall in love with her.
The rest of the aria (Callas’ version) is passionate, hopeful, and heart-wrenchingly sad – with ecstatic overtones that make it appear as if Cio-cio San is actually trying to convince herself that her American Soldier will appear in the horizon to take her and their child off to a better life. (I know… it is soooooo Ms. Saigon!!! Which part? I Still Believe!)
So anyway, as long as there are records to buy and fans to bitch, and mailing lists that serve as venues for bitching, the Callas-Tebaldi rivalry will never end. There will always be unyielding Tebaldi fans who insist that beauty of voice, clarity of tone, and sweet, angelic natures are what make the world of opera go round. And there will always be diva-loving, expression expressing, technique-over-beauty Callasites who insist that operas revolve around one person – the soprano. Then there are those who take the middle ground, like me. After all, you can’t really compare the two divas. They sang mostly different roles, and the ones they did share, they interpreted differently. But, as Maria said, Champagne vs. Coca-cola… your choice…/gg
^_^
When Callas was started singing in La Scala in Milan, Renata's home-base, things got really interesting. Tebaldi refused to appear in the same House and was thrown out, so Callas was instilled as the Prima Donna of the House. To this, Callas remarked that Tebaldi was an artist who had to backbone - she had not even fought for her place at the House. Tebaldi, of course, replied: "The signora says that I have no backbone. I reply that I have one great thing that she has not - a heart."
La Tigre, naturally, would not keep silent long. She was quoted, "If the time comes when my dear friend Renata Tebaldi sings Norma or Lucia one night, then Violetta, La Gioconda, or Medea the next - then and only then will we be rivals. Otherwise, it is like comparing Champagne with Cognac - no with Coca-cola."
Another time, Maria attended a performance of Renata's. She was only in the audience but the applause she received was longer and louder than the ones given at the time of Tebaldi's curtain call. This, of course, enraged Tebaldi. She screamed and screamed in the wings of the theatre until she had to go out and greet the crowd - along with Maria, who had come to offer her hand in friendship. "I want to close this chapter of my life." Of course, everything was for show - to quell the Callasites and Tebaldists.
That rivalry still exists today - after both parties are dead: Callas way back in 1977, and Tebaldi only recently in 2004. The Callasites and Tebaldists still lurk in chatrooms and mailing lists. I am, of course, a devoted Callasite.
Callas' singing is passionate, enraged, expressive, and heart-wrenching. Tebaldi’s is sweet, pure, angelic, and divine. Of course, I can’t really compare them. I only have a snippet of Tebaldi’s Un bel di Vedremo (Madama Butterfly: Puccuni) and a copy of her Pace, pace (La Forza del Destino: Verdi), while I have tons of Callas records!
Tebaldi’s Pace, pace is exquisite and refined; angelic, and very well executed. Her phrasing is good, her pronunciation clear. But Callas’ version is shakey, scary, frightful and uncertain. This is how Leonora is supposed to be sung! In this scene, she pleads to God to grant her peace - after she is cursed by her father who is accidentally killed by her lover from a rival family, and now that her own brother is after her life.
The snippet of the Un bel di Vedremo (We will see a beautiful day) aria goes on only for about 30 seconds. But I know that Tebaldi delivers this aria in the same manner she delivers the Pace, pace: pure and cherubic. This works for this role because Cio-cio San is supposed to be a young geisha. For Callas, however, the little girl voice needs a lot of work. We hear with voice in two other works: first, Bellini’s La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker) where Amina is a young, unknowing sleepwalker (duh!); and second in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), where Rosina is a young, coy student, who plots to make Lindoro fall in love with her.
The rest of the aria (Callas’ version) is passionate, hopeful, and heart-wrenchingly sad – with ecstatic overtones that make it appear as if Cio-cio San is actually trying to convince herself that her American Soldier will appear in the horizon to take her and their child off to a better life. (I know… it is soooooo Ms. Saigon!!! Which part? I Still Believe!)
So anyway, as long as there are records to buy and fans to bitch, and mailing lists that serve as venues for bitching, the Callas-Tebaldi rivalry will never end. There will always be unyielding Tebaldi fans who insist that beauty of voice, clarity of tone, and sweet, angelic natures are what make the world of opera go round. And there will always be diva-loving, expression expressing, technique-over-beauty Callasites who insist that operas revolve around one person – the soprano. Then there are those who take the middle ground, like me. After all, you can’t really compare the two divas. They sang mostly different roles, and the ones they did share, they interpreted differently. But, as Maria said, Champagne vs. Coca-cola… your choice…/gg
^_^
posted by Mikee @ 11:37 PM
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