Maria Callas hated the televitz

[Antiochus Epiphanes]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051018/...s_dc&printer=1

Letters show Callas' pen was dipped in vitriol By Jeremy Lovell
Tue Oct 18,12:17 PM ET

Mercurial in temperament and talent, opera diva Maria Callas shows for the first time the extent to which her pen was dipped in the same vitriol that tainted her public persona.

A series of waspish letters, which go on sale at Christie's London auction house on November 30, shows how her public quarrels with rivals and the management of the Metropolitan Opera in New York were also carried on in private correspondence.

"This is her in full diva mode," Thomas Venning, Christie's manuscript expert, told Reuters on Tuesday.

In one letter dated November 2, 1958 to Rudolf Bing, manager of the Met, she asks: "do you make your judgements with the brain of some little fool or rather with your own brain?"

Prophetically, the same letter concludes: "Your important organization and I do not work on the same principles and thus it will be just as well that each should go its own way..."

Bing announced he was sacking her four days later just before she was due to go on stage in "Medea."

Fired by outraged indignation -- despite the fact that she schemed toward this very result -- Callas went on to give what was acclaimed as one of her greatest performances.

Never the retiring violet, she explained the virtuosity of that show to a reporter with the phrase: "I don't do routine. My voice is not an elevator."

In another letter, Callas, the foremost soprano of her generation who is credited with the almost single-handed revival of Italian bel canto opera, explained why she disdained the new mass medium of television.

"I hate opera on the little screen done by people with no taste at all," she wrote in May 1956.
Venning said the unique nature of the letters lay in the insight they gave into the lengths star artists will go to protect their careers.

"This shows the excess of self-belief that comes with deep insecurity," he said. "She is harsh, defensive, aggressive and passionate."

Other letters in the collection up for sale reveal the intense rivalry between Callas and Renata Tebaldi, an antipathy the pair publicly claimed to be fabricated by the press.

Notorious for her autocratic attitude, Callas, who died in 1977 aged 53, at one time traveled first class with her husband-manager in tourist class.

Asked by a reporter to explain this apparently odd arrangement she retorted: "If those stinkers (at the Met) won't pay for him to travel first class, I won't either.

"Anyway I always order a second portion of whatever I eat and drink, put it in a vomit bag and send a stewardess to take it back to him."

[Antiochus Epiphanes]

Originally Posted by Stronza

AE, I love the article on Callas. I know she was a bitch, but the voice is unmistakeable. She is the only soprano I can easily recognize if I turn on the radio during an opera recording. How about you?

Nah, actually I'm not very good at recognizing voices except ones that I have heard live a few times. Like I could probably recognize Samuel Ramey since I have probably heard him at least 4 times. Maybe a few others, but not many.

Also I'm big on Wagner. I havent really heard too much bel canto.

But I like to read about Callas and if I ever have the time to listen to her I will.

Oh yes one more thing. You know that if she was Greek, she didnt like Jews. I can't see her singing for Jew Levine any more than she wanted to for this guy in the article.

[SUNOFSPARTA]

Knowledgeable Greeks hate Jews;historically- because history clearly proves and documents that most of the invading Persians armies were purchased with loans from Jews.

Jews envied the advance intelligence that made Greece great; and it was was this long term deep seated envy that eventually caused the Jews to invent Christianity to attack and weaken the foundations of honor in the Greek culture.

[Antiochus Epiphanes]

Originally Posted by Stronza

.............

I used to know a fella who had a conductor friend who told him that he could only get part-time gigs with symphony orchestras because they are so heavily controlled by jews and if you don't play to their little tune you are up schitte creek. It makes me rub my hands with glee that while they may control the business end of classical music making, it's still them Teutonic composers that they NEED in order to pay the rent. Heh, heh.

Probably the Jews in classical music are a cut above the average Jew. Not "good Jews" by any measure just somewhat less nefarious and corrosive. Still far too ironic, cynical, and subversive to be worth whatever assets they presumably bring to the circus. Of course as performers, they're few and far between and easily replaced.

Eliz Schwartzkopf was one that definitely didnt like em.

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Sch...-Elisabeth.htm

In 1934, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf applied for entrance to the Berlin Hochschule für Musik and was accepted. Elisabeth began studying with Lula Mysz-Gmeiner, who began training Elisabeth as a mezzo-soprano. Elisabeth's mother demanded that her daughter be transferred, and Elisabeth began studying with a Dr. Egonolf, who was convinced of Elisabeth's potential as a coloratura soprano.

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf trained with Dr. Egonolf for over a year before joining Berlin's Deutsche Oper as a junior soprano on April 13, 1938. Two days later, she made her professional stage debut as the Second Flower Maiden (First Group) in Act II of Wagner's Parsifal. Elisabeth sang at the Deutsche Oper for four years, during which she became a member of the German Nazi Party, leaving Berlin only to sing in one performance as Adele in Die Fledermaus at the Paris Opera when the Deutsche Oper went on tour in September 1941. She left the Deutsche Oper in 1946 and joined the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, where she enjoyed considerable success in roles like Mimi in La Bohème and Violetta in La Traviata. She left the company in 1950 to begin her international career.

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf is probably the only singer in history to sing under two names in a single performance. In October 1941, she sang Adele for the first of a series of Die Fledermaus performances but was demoted to the role of Ida for the remainder of the performances. In retaliation, Elisabeth kicked off her shoe during a performance, damaging the huge canvas screen at the back of the set. Her punishment was that she couldn't always sing in productions using her own name. Therefore, in a performance of Parsifal, the role of the Second Flower Maiden (First Group) was sung by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and the role of the First Page is credited to Maria Helfer, Elisabeth's pseudonym for the month following the Fledermaus incident.

When the Vienna State Opera went on tour from 1947 to 1948, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf joined them and was able to travel to Europe's leading opera houses. With the Vienna State Opera, she made her debut at London's Royal Opera House on 16 September 1947 as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and her La Scala debut on December 28, 1948 as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier. Her real debut at the Royal Opera House was as Pamina in Die Zauberföte on January 16, 1948 and her real La Scala debut was in a performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis on June 29, 1950. She didn't make her Metropolitan Opera debut until October 13, 1964, as the Marschallin.

In March 1946, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf was invited to audition for Walter Legge, one of the most respected names in the classical music recording business. She sang Wolf's Lied "Wer rief dich denn?" and Legge signed her to an exclusive contract with EMI. They began a close partnership and Legge became Schwarzkopf's manager and companion. They were married on October 19, 1953, in Epsom, England. In 1953 she became a naturalized British subject.

From 1960 to 1967, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf concentrated almost exclusively on 5 operatic roles. These are: Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, the Countess in Nozze di Figaro, the Marschallin (probably her most famous role) in Der Rosenkavalier, Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, and Countess Madeleine in Capriccio. During this time, she also achieved great success as Alice Ford in Falstaff. During her career, Elisabeth performed in two world premieres. She appeared as Anne Trulove in the world premiere of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress on 11 September 1951, as well as the Second Page in the world premiere of Arthur Kusterer's Katarina on May 14, 1939.

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's last operatic performance was as the Marschallin in Act I of Der Rosenkavalier on December 31, 1971 in Brussels. For the next 6 years, she sang Lieder recitals exclusively around the world. On March 17, 1979, Walter Legge suffered a severe heart attack. He disobeyed his doctor's orders to rest and attended her final recital on the 19th in Zürich, Switzerland. Three days later, Legge died.

After retiring, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf began teaching and giving masterclasses. On New Year's day 1992, she was created Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. Today, she lives relatively quietly in her home in Zürich, visited by friends and a few pupils, but she still appears in public whenever she can.