Verdi: La forza del destino (1954 - Serafin) - Callas Remastered Maria Callas

• 1 Verdi: La forza del destino: Overture 07:34
• 2 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 1: Buona notte, mia figlia (Marquis, Leonora) 02:27
• 3 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 1: Temea restasse qui fino a domani (Curra, Leonora) 01:41
• 4 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 1: Me, pellegrina ed orfana (Leonora) 03:43
• 5 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 1: M'aiuti, signorina, piu presto andrem (Curra, Leonora) 00:27
• 6 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 1: Ah, per sempre, o mio bell'angiol (Don Alvaro, Leonora, Curra) 07:14
• 7 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 1: Vil seduttor! Infame figlia! (Marquis, Leonora, Don Alvaro) 02:06
• 8 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: Hola, hola, hola! Ben giungi, o mulattier (Chorus) 01:20
• 9 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: La cena e pronta! (Mayor, Chorus, Don Carlo) 00:35
• 10 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: Che vedo! Mio fratello! (Leonor, Mayor, Don Carlo, Chorus, Trabuco) 00:34
• 11 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: Viva la guerra! (Preziosilla, Don Carlo, Mayor, Chorus) 00:55
• 12 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: Al suon del tamburo (Preziosilla, Don Carlo, Mayor, Chorus) 02:45
• 13 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: Padre Eterno Signor (Chorus, Don Carlo, Mayor, Leonora) 03:48
• 14 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: Viva la buona compagnia! (Don Carlo, Preziosilla, Mayor, Chorus, Trabuco) 01:53
• 15 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: Poich'e imberbe l'incognito (Don Carlo, Chorus, Mayor) 00:40
• 16 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: Son Pereda, son ricco d'onore (Don Carlo, Chorus) 02:30
• 17 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: Sta bene (Mayor, Preziosilla, Don Carlo, Chorus) 03:05
• 18 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: Sono giunta! Grazie o Dio! (Leonora, Chorus) 01:41
• 19 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: Madre, pietosa Vergine (Leonora, Chorus) 05:12
• 20 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: Chi siete? (Melitone, Leonora) 02:11
• 21 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: Chi mi cerca? (Padre Guardiano, Leonora, Melitone) 01:10
• 22 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: Infelice, delusa, regetta (Leonora, Padre Guardiano) 11:13
• 23 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: Il santo nome di Dio Signore sia benedetto (Padre Guardiano, Chorus) 08:06
• 24 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: La Vergine degli Angeli (Melitone, Padre Guardiano, Chorus) 03:47
• 25 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: Attenti al gioco, attenti, attenti al gioco (Chorus) 04:16
• 26 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: La vita e inferno all'infelice (Don Alvaro) 03:00
• 27 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: O tu che in seno agli angeli (Don Alvaro) 03:20
• 28 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: Al tradimento! (Don Carlo, Chorus, Don Alvaro) 02:19
• 29 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: All'armi! (Chorus, Surgeon) 02:19
• 30 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: Piano...qui posi...approntisi il mio letto (Chorus, Don Alvaro, Don Carlo, Surgeon) 01:36
• 31 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: Solenne in quest'ora (Don Alvaro, Don Carlo) 04:08
• 32 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: Morir! Tremenda cosa! (Don Carlo) 02:08
• 33 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: Urna fatale del mio destino (Don Carlo) 02:38
• 34 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: E s'altra prova rinvenir potessi? (Don Carlo, Surgeon) 02:30
• 35 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: Compagni, sostiamo (Chorus) 03:08
• 36 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: Ne gustare m'e dato un'ora di quiete (Don Alvaro, Don Carlo, Chorus) 08:40
• 37 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: Lorche pifferi e tamburi par che assordino la terra (Chorus, Preziosilla) 01:50
• 38 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: Qua, vivandiere, un sorso (Chorus) 00:32
• 39 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: A buon mercato chi vuol comprare? (Trabuco, Chorus) 02:18
• 40 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: Pane, pan, per carita! (Chorus, Preziosilla) 03:01
• 41 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: Nella guerra e la follia (Chorus, Preziosilla) 02:12
• 42 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: Toh! toh! Poffare il mondo! (Melitone, Chorus, Preziosilla) 04:00
• 43 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 3: Rataplan, rataplan, della gloria (Preziosilla, Chorus) 03:22
• 44 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 4: Fate la carita, e un'ora che aspettiamo! (Chorus, Melitone, Padre Guardiano) 06:23
• 45 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 4: Giunge qualcuno, aprite (Padre Guardiano, Melitone) 01:10
• 46 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 4: Invano Alvaro ti celasti al mondo (Don Alvaro, Don Carlo) 03:25
• 47 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 4: Le minaccie, i fieri accenti (Don Alvaro, Don Carlo) 05:37
• 48 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 4: Pace, pace, mio Dio! (Leonora) 06:20
• 49 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 4: Io muoio! Confessione! (Don Carlo, Don Alvaro, Leonora) 03:08
• 50 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 4: Non imprecare, umiliati a Lui ch'e giusto e santo (Padre Guardiano, Leonora, Don Alvaro) 05:38
• Total Runtime 02:45:35

Info for Verdi: La forza del destino (1954 - Serafin) - Callas Remastered

Relentlessly pursued by Fate, Leonora in La forza del destino is a haunted heroine whose passions and fears are expressed on a grand scale. Callas’s stage experience of Forza was limited to her early career in Italy – in fact, Leonora was her first Verdi role – but, as Lord Harewood, founder of Opera magazine, observed, her recorded assumption exhibited ‘an unparalleled musical sensibility and imagination and a grasp of the musico-dramatic picture which is unique’. She took her place in a powerful cast conducted by her mentor Tullio Serafin.

'The two essential reasons for owning this performance of La forza del destino – in preference to all rivals, in spite of a few small cuts – are the incomparable artistry of Maria Callas and the incisive, completely authoritative conducting of Tullio Serafin. For one small example of Serafin’s superb direction, listen to the conclusion of the Alvaro/Carlo scene in Act 3 – marked Allegro agitato e presto. Here he achieves an electric intensity where the first violins accompany with piano triplets which really bristle. Serafin is never frenetic, yet he creates maximum drama. A further example encapsulating all his finest qualities would be the very final scene of the opera. It must be emphasised that his near-ideal conducting contributes enormously to the desirability of this set.' (Philip Borg-Wheeler, MusicWeb International)

Maria Callas, soprano (Leonora)
Richard Tucker, tenor (Don Alvaro)
Carlo Tagliabue, baritone (Don Carlo)
Plinio Clabassi, bass (Il Marchese di Calatrava)
Elena Nicolai, mezzo-soprano (Preziosilla)
Renato Capecchi, baritone (Fra Melitone)
Rina Cavallari, mezzo-soprano (Curra)
Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, bass (Padre Guardiano)
Gino Del Signore, tenor (Mastro Trabuco)
Dario Caselli (Un Chirurgo/Un Alcalde)
Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala Milan
Tullio Serafin, conductor

Digitally remastered

Maria Callas
was born to a Greek family in New York in 1923. Her vocal training took place in Athens, where her teacher was the coloratura soprano Elvira de Hidalgo, who had sung with Enrico Caruso and Feodor Chaliapin. After early performances in Greece, Callas’s international career was launched in 1947 when she performed the title role in Ponchielli’s La Gioconda at the Arena di Verona in Italy.

Her voice defied simple classification and her artistic range was extraordinary. In her early twenties she sang such heavy dramatic roles as Gioconda, Turandot, Brünnhilde and Isolde, but over the course of her career her most famous roles came to be: Bellini’s Norma and Amina (La sonnambula); Verdi’s Violetta (La traviata); Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Anna Bolena, Cherubini’s Medea and Puccini’s Tosca. Though her timbre was not always conventionally beautiful, Callas’s musicianship and phrasing were in a class of their own. She brought characters to vivid life with her skill in colouring her tone and making insightful use of the text.

She is credited with changing the history of opera: by placing a perhaps unprecedented emphasis on musical integrity and dramatic truth, and by transforming perceptions – and reviving the fortunes – of the bel canto repertoire, particularly Bellini and Donizetti.

The 1950s marked the height of Callas’s career. Its base lay in the opera houses of Italy, and she became the prima donna assoluta of Milan’s legendary La Scala – notably in the productions of Luchino Visconti – but her operatic appearances also encompassed London’s Royal Opera House, the New York Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opéra, the Vienna State Opera, and the opera houses of Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Lisbon, and, in the early 1950s, Mexico City, São Paolo and Rio de Janeiro.

From 1959, when she started a life-changing love affair with the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, her performing career slowed down and her voice became more fragile. Her final stage performances came in 1965, when she was only 42.

There were many plans for a return to the stage – and for further complete recordings – but they never reached fruition, though in 1974 she gave a series of concerts in Europe, North America and Japan with the tenor Giuseppe di Stefano; he had partnered her frequently in the opera house and in the studio, not least in the 1953 La Scala Tosca under Victor de Sabata, considered a landmark in recording history. Callas died alone in her Paris apartment in September 1977.

Booklet for Verdi: La forza del destino (1954 - Serafin) - Callas Remastered