Verdi: La Traviataby Anonymous

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May 04, 2004: This is the greatest performance of Traviata in the 20th century. Callas that night sang with so many vocal colors that even the slightest word is not left without color and expression as deep and moving as to break your heart forever. She could be calling her servant Amina and make you cry... Her voice was not only perfect in terms of coloratura that will make you crazy -not even Sutherland never sang Sempre libera as directly and aggressively as Callas did here, as if it were the simplest aria and not the most difficult of all- but also exhibited the highest form of drama that you could imagine. Giuseppe Di Stefano sings like there is no tommorow -none will ever surpass him in the letter scene the way he sang it that night... There are moments that the audience gets so crazy they almost start screaming. At the end of "Amami Alfredo..." never before in history a soprano managed to make an audiende wild by singing not a high note but a Dark and Desperate "Addio" with her low chest register ... This is a Traviata from Dream Land. Because of this Elisabeth Schwarzkopf had said: "I will never sing Traviata again since there is someone -Callas- who sings it in that degree of perfection" and Sutherland: "There are parts in Traviata that I tried very hard to sing like Maria did, I mean I had it in my mind to sing them they way she did but I just couldn't" and recently Renee Fleming: "Up to now -not having heard Muzio and Ponselle- I must confess that my favorite Violeta is Callas. Because if Violeta does not break your heart then it is no good..." Some will tell you about the studio recordingmade by Domingo and Cotrubas ... well compared to that night Domingo and Cotrubas seem so boring as if they were singing students... If you appreciate drama this is the opera for you.