Oberon's Glade

Tag: Nicola Rescigno

  • 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

  • LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO ~ 25th ANNIVERSARY

    Loc

    A gala concert celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Lyric Opera of Chicago was given on October 14th, 1979.

    The participating conductors were George Prêtre, Nicola Rescigno, Riccardo Chailly, Bruno Bartoletti, Sir John Pritchard, and Krzysztof Penderecki, and the line-up of singers was impressive indeed.

    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

  • Crespin & Meliciani ~ AIDA Scene

    Meliciani

    Soprano Régine Crespin and baritone Carlo Meliciani (above) sing the father/daughter duet from Act III of Verdi’s AIDA; the performance is from Mexico City, 1962, with Nicola Rescigno conducting. Jon Vickers is heard as Radames.

    Listen here.

    Mr. Meliciani recently passed away at the age of 92. He was a popular star at La Scala, debuting there In 1959 as Ping in TURANDOT and continuing to sing there thru the 1970s, taking on the Verdi baritone roles. He performed at the major opera houses of Italy, where such roles as Scarpia, Tonio in PAGLIACCI, and Carlo Gerard in ANDREA CHENIER supplemented his Verdi list. Mr. Meliciani also appeared at Wiesbaden, Lausanne, in Greece, Mexico, and in the USA (Philadelphia and Hartford).