Oberon's Glade

Tag: Letter Scene

  • Callas @ Dallas/1957

    callas

    In 1957, Maria Callas sang a concert with the Dallas Symphony under the baton of Nicola Rescigno. Someone snuck a tape recorder into one of the rehearsals for this concert, and the resulting “Callas/Rehearsal in Dallas 1957” made the rounds of reel-to-reel tape-traders back in the 1960s.

    David Abramovitz, my very first opera-friend, gave me a copy of the rehearsal tape and I enjoyed it, despite being somewhat frustrated with the stops-and-starts as Callas and Rescigno worked out the interpretive details. I was especially impressed by the different takes on passages from the entrance scena – sometimes referred to as the Letter Scene – of Lady Macbeth from Verdi’s MACBETH.

    It occurred to me to patch these phrases together and create a complete run-thru of the recitative and aria. Years later, when I was getting rid of my reel-to-reel collection, it was one of the few things I saved. The voice of Maestro Rescigno can sometimes be heard, and there’s some static at first, and a bit of tape drag. But once she’s into the aria proper, it gets better.

    Maria Callas – MACBETH aria – rehearsal composite – Dallas 1957

  • Licia Albanese ~ Letter Scene

    Images

    Licia Albanese learned Tatyana’s Letter Scene from EUGENE ONEGIN in Russian at the request of Leopold Stokowski especially for this recording. Albanese reportedly coached the aria with baritone George Cehanovsky, a Met comprimario stalwart who was married to Elisabeth Rethberg.

    EUGEN ONEGIN – Letter Scene – Licia Albanese – Stokowski cond

  • EUGENE ONEGIN: Letter Scene ~ Elena Stikhina

    Elena_Stikhina

    Elena Stikhina (above) sings Tatyana’s Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky’s EUGENE ONEGIN from a 2019 performance at the Mariinsky Theater. Zaurbek Gugkaev conducts.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Callas @ Dallas/1957

    Snapshot

    In 1957, Maria Callas sang a concert with the Dallas Symphony under the baton of Nicola Rescigno. Someone snuck a tape recorder into one of the rehearsals for this concert, and the resulting “Callas/Rehearsal in Dallas 1957” made the rounds of reel-to-reel tape-traders back in the 1960s.

    David Abramowitz, my very first opera-friend, gave me a copy of the rehearsal tape and I enjoyed it, despite being somewhat frustrated with the stops-and-starts as Callas and Rescigno worked out the interpretive details. I was especially impressed by the different takes on passages from the entrance scena – sometimes referred to as the Letter Scene – of Lady Macbeth from Verdi’s MACBETH.

    It occurred to me to patch these phrases together and create a complete run-thru of the recitative and aria. Years later, when I was getting rid of my reel-to-reel collection, it was one of the few things I saved. The voice of Maestro Rescigno can sometimes be heard, and there’s some static at first, and a bit of tape drag. But once she’s into the aria proper, it gets better.

    Maria Callas – MACBETH aria – rehearsal composite – Dallas 1957