Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico, or tragic opera in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti.
Salvatore Cammarano wrote the Italian libretto after Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor. It is one of the leading bel canto operas.
The opera premiered on September 26, 1835 at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples. Donizetti revised the score for a French version which debuted on August 6, 1839 at the Théâtre de la Renaissance, Paris.
The French version was the first to be performed in the United States on December 28, 1841 in New Orleans (the original version came to the U.S. several months later, also to New Orleans (the original version came to the U.S. several months later, also to New Orleans
The opera premiered on September 26, 1835 at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples. Donizetti revised the score for a French version which debuted on August 6, 1839 at the Théâtre de la Renaissance, Paris.
The French version was the first to be performed in the United States on December 28, 1841 in New Orleans (the original version came to the U.S. several months later, also to New Orleans (the original version came to the U.S. several months later, also to New Orleans
In 1954 Callas voice still had the "covered" sound of her early years but had become thinner and more beautiful. The agility, the drama and fast singing, the coloratura lines and the vocal colors are amazing! There are points where she sings so fast that the human ear does not recognize the notes... The thinning process had made her voice more feminine and it was time for the perfect Lucia of the 20th century, Too bad this recording has the most awful sound of all of Callas' live recordings. The elasticity of the voice that night was something that you just couldn't believe... The legato superhuman, the line does not "fall" not even at the most difficult places... As you cannot believe the response of the audience beneath. They scream like mad men...
In "Regnava nel silencio" she is so melancholical, in "Quando rapito" she sings the Donizzetian coloratura as if it is the easiest part ever written, her high E flat at the end seems like a laser beam. Then in the beginning of the Mad Scene "il dolce suono" she sets the ultimate standard for the way the part should be sung as if she escaped into a Dream World of Infinite Melancholy... It is not strange that Toti Dal Monte Toscanini's Lucia approached Maria after the performance and told her that that night she had understood Donizzeti's Music for the first time in her life!!!
Then the coloratura part of the Mad Scene that Andelina Pati had written... Sung with such agility, such lack of effort and an overload of vocal colours - never before or since had Callas sung Lucia with so many vocal colors even in the Mad Scene... that singing would make Signora Kufari - Fellini's great Stupenda turn positively green... We are talking about a scandalous agility and vocal form in general.
Di Stefano gives as always 200% of his voice and at the ensemble after the famous sextet his dramatic declamation ( "spento" ) makes the world mad from beneath reminding us the famous letter scene from Traviata one year later!
Indeed the most amazing Lucia of the 20th century... Completely flawless, heart breaking and full of Divine Energy.
In "Regnava nel silencio" she is so melancholical, in "Quando rapito" she sings the Donizzetian coloratura as if it is the easiest part ever written, her high E flat at the end seems like a laser beam. Then in the beginning of the Mad Scene "il dolce suono" she sets the ultimate standard for the way the part should be sung as if she escaped into a Dream World of Infinite Melancholy... It is not strange that Toti Dal Monte Toscanini's Lucia approached Maria after the performance and told her that that night she had understood Donizzeti's Music for the first time in her life!!!
Then the coloratura part of the Mad Scene that Andelina Pati had written... Sung with such agility, such lack of effort and an overload of vocal colours - never before or since had Callas sung Lucia with so many vocal colors even in the Mad Scene... that singing would make Signora Kufari - Fellini's great Stupenda turn positively green... We are talking about a scandalous agility and vocal form in general.
Di Stefano gives as always 200% of his voice and at the ensemble after the famous sextet his dramatic declamation ( "spento" ) makes the world mad from beneath reminding us the famous letter scene from Traviata one year later!
Indeed the most amazing Lucia of the 20th century... Completely flawless, heart breaking and full of Divine Energy.
