la divina

Sep 16, 2007 02:20


oh maria, i understand.
Maria Anna Sofia Cecilia Kalogeropoulou
(December 2, 1923 - September 16, 1977)

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flavordav September 16 2007, 07:57:28 UTC
Ultimately, though, she wasn't really that great of a singer, per se, and sshe lost what she had early. She also as often as not took a far better picture than she deserved to as well. Okay, now I lay me down to sleep. Hopefully for eternity ...

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oriflamma September 16 2007, 17:25:16 UTC
Oh I have to disagree on every point (including your eternal rest!). Her voice topples almost every opera singer I can think of. Those before her sound comical, and after, these new warbling parrots like Renee Fleming, Cecilia Bartoli...even Kiri te Kanawa sounds humid...too heavy. THey all lack passion.
The only other opera singers that matter to me are Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle and Dame Emma Kirkby (who specializes in Baroque, an area in which most opera singers fail)
Maria Callas is the greatest because her voice transcended training, she was an actress, no matter what piece you hear it's as if she's living through the opera, she loses herself. The reason Maria Callas appeals to non-opera fans is because she sounds human. And as the videos show, she was quite beautiful.
Viva La Divina.

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flavordav September 17 2007, 16:19:05 UTC
I reactivated just to respond. Obviously, I'm a bit cranky. Perhaps less obviously, I'm more a fan of yr German stuff, to the extent that I'm an opera fan at all, so ( ... )

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oriflamma September 17 2007, 17:25:41 UTC
I used to own that book, it was a gift from my mom..of course.
We saw Jessye Norman when I was too young to get the significance. I also tend to prefer German opera, in that catagory, Kathleen Battle tends to get a little sappy but Wagner was written for Jessye Norman. I'd love to see the tornado in his grave every time she performs.

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