Maria Callas citations

Sophia Cecelia Kalos dite Maria Callas est une cantatrice grecque née le 2 décembre 1923 à New York et morte le 16 septembre 1977 à Paris.

Surnommée « la Bible de l'opéra » par Leonard Bernstein, « la Callas », telle qu'elle est couramment appelée, a bouleversé l'art lyrique du XXe siècle en valorisant l'approche du jeu d'acteur, jusqu'alors relégué au second plan. Entourée des meilleurs artistes de son époque et s'étant produite sur les principales scènes d'opéra du monde , Callas demeure encore au XXIe siècle l'une des cantatrices les plus célèbres, à la fois par le timbre très particulier de sa voix, son registre étendu de près de trois octaves, sa grande virtuosité alliée à un phrasé unique et, enfin, son talent de tragédienne lui permettant d'incarner ses personnages avec une grande intensité dramatique .

Suscitant les passions — ce qui lui valut d'être autant adulée que décriée — Maria Callas reste, tant par la réussite exceptionnelle de sa vie professionnelle que par sa vie privée mouvementée, l'icône même de la « diva ». Wikipedia  

✵ 2. décembre 1923 – 16. septembre 1977
Maria Callas photo
Maria Callas: 15   citations 0   J'aime

Maria Callas citations célèbres

“Quelle belle voix, mais qui y prête attention?”

Paroles prononcées par la Callas, lorsqu'elle écoute un enregistrement de la Tebaldi

“Ne me parlez pas de règles, très cher. Où que je sois, j'édicte ces foutues règles.”

Au sujet de sa personnalité et de ses interprétations

Maria Callas: Citations en anglais

“Don't talk to me about rules, dear. Wherever I stay I make the goddamn rules.”

On her controversial personality and performance, quoted in Wild Women Talk Back : Audacious Advice for the Bedroom, Boardroom, and Beyond (2004) by Autumn Stephens, p. 142

“I admire Tebaldi's tone; it's beautiful — also some beautiful phrasing. Sometimes, I actually wish I had her voice.”

Discussing rival soprano Renata Tebaldi, in a television interview with Norman Ross, Chicago (17 November 1957)

“[Serafin was] an extraordinary coach, sharp as a vecchio lupo [old wolfe]. He opened a world to me, showed me there was a reason for everything, that even fiorature and trills… have a reason in the composer's mind, that they are the expression of the stato d'animo [state of mind] of the character — that is, the way he feels at the moment, the passing emotions that take hold of him. He would coach us for every little detail, every movement, every word, every breath. One of the things he told me — and this is the basis of bel canto — is never to attack a note from underneath or from above, but always to prepare it in the face. He taught me that pauses are often more important than the music. He explained that there was a rhythm — these are the things you get only from that man! — a measure for the human ear, and that if a note was too long, it was no good after a while. A fermata always must be measured, and if there are two fermate close to one another in the score, you ignore one of them. He taught me the proportions of recitative — how it is elastic, the proportions altering so slightly that only you can understand it…. But in performance he left you on your own. "When I am in the pit, I am there to serve you, because I have to save my performance." he would say. We would look down and feel we had a friend there. He was helping you all the way. He would mouth all the words. If you were not well, he would speed up the tempo, and if you were in top form, he would slow it down to let you breathe, to give you room. He was breathing with you, living the music with you, loving it with you. It was elastic, growing, living.”

Callas : The Art and the Life (1974)

“What a lovely voice, but who cares?”

On hearing a recording by Renata Tebaldi, as quoted in The Last Prima Donnas (1982) by Lanfranco Rasponi; also in The Book of Musical Anecdotes (1985) by Norman Lebrecht ISBN 0-02-918710-9

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