Maria Callas - Casta diva Aria of Norma I Act - Norma (1831) Vincenzo Bellini (1801 - 1835). LIVE broadcasting December 31, 1957 - RAI Orchestra della RAI di Roma, M.° Gabriele Santini Conductor. After this RAI broacasting: In January 1958, Callas was to open the Rome Opera House season with Norma, with Italys president in attendance. The day before the opening night, Callas alerted the management that she was not well and that they should have a standby ready. She was told No one can double Callas. After being treated by doctors, she felt better on the day of performance and decided to go ahead with the opera. A surviving bootleg recording of the first act reveals Callas sounding ill. Feeling that her voice was slipping away, she felt that she could not complete the performance, and consequently, she cancelled after the first act. She was accused of walking out on the president of Italy in a fit of temperament, and pandemonium broke out. Doctors confirmed that Maria had bronchitis and tracheitis, and the Presidents wife called to tell her they knew she was sick. However, they made no statements to the media, and the endless stream of press coverage aggravated the situation. A newsreel included file footage of Callas from 1955 sounding well, intimating the footage was of rehearsals for the Rome Norma, with the voiceover narration, Here she is in rehearsal, sounding perfectly healthy, followed by If you want to hear Callas, dont get all dressed up. Just go to a rehearsal; she usually stays to the end of those. The scandal became notorious as the Rome Walkout. Callas brought a lawsuit against the Rome Opera House, but by the time the case was settled thirteen years later and the Rome Opera was found to be at fault for having refused to provide an understudy, Callass career was already over. https://youtube/watch?v=80tZAjew-fo
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 12:05:57 +0000
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