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An excellent companion to Tony Palmer's 1987 documentary La Divina, Maria Callas: Life and Art provides a well-rounded picture of an extraordinary talent who defended her art with the courage of a tigress, but whose turbulent private life gave her little except restless grief. It is crammed with concert footage and archive interviews. She was, as contributor Franco Zeffirelli says, a genius of hair-raising stature and one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. But she was also a rather fragile human being. The tension between the two makes the telling of her story utterly compelling. The DVD includes chronologies of Callas's life and the many roles she played during her career. --Piers Ford
| CATEGORY: | DVD |
| DIRECTOR: | Alan Lewens |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | 01 January, 1987 |
| MANUFACTURER: | Emd/Emi Classics |
| MPAA RATING: | NR (Not Rated) |
| FEATURES: | Color |
| MEDIA: | DVD |
| # OF MEDIA: | 1 |
| UPC: | 724349224797 |
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Customer Reviews of Maria Callas - Life and Art
The Songs of Her Own Fate If you are mad about Callas, this is something you don't want to miss. Like Busoni or else Heifetz, Callas is too much a legend to compare with: even someone with the stature of Schwarzkopf was obliged to give way.
For those who are not so mad about opera, they may also find this DVD interesting. As suggested by it's title, it's more concerned with her life than her art: things like where she came from, where she was brought up, who her parents were, what sort of musical education she had, and lastly but not the least, her love with the shipping millionaire...
Her life was told by those who had first hand knowledge of her, like her long time partner Stefeno (Italian tenor), her piano accompanist, conductor (Giulini), her director, an EMI producer, a critic plus, 2 or 3 clips of herself, one in an interview and the others when she talked to the press. We also have a lot of her photos too when we hear her sing.
Not much was offered in terms of her art by these contributors. Perhaps for a legend like Callas, it's not really necessary especially when there are clips (not in full, of course) of her acting/singing. Tosca came up twice, they are just marvelous, so did Norma, something that we can't afford to miss. The voice with it's force and drama are just amazing. All the more so for Rossini's "Una voce poco fa" which is virtually unsurpassable. The duets with Stefeno are perhaps filmed when she had past her very prime, which are nonetheless very appealing.
Callas once said she was sick of New York since her parts in the great operas are all so sad, either dying of consumption or else with a broken heart, something she sang so beautifully and acted so well as though she was really one of those characters herself: this ironically turned out exactly to be her own portrait. Such being her fate of, the fate of a great artist who probably is the greatest opera singer of all times. So, this is life...
4 stars mainly because of the short running time: only 76 minutes. Recommended.
1 hour 16 minutes
The programme includes interviews with famous people who knew Maria Callas - such as Franco Zeffirelli and Carlo Maria Giulini - and is interspersed with extracts from famous concerts and recordings, including two duets with Giuseppe di Stefano.
Featuring extracts from the following performances:
"Vissi d'arte" - from Tosca by Puccini
"Casta Diva" - from Norma by Bellini
"Una voce poco fa" - from Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini
"Habanera" - from Carmen by Bizet: Concert at Covent Garden
Cavalleria Rusticana - by Mascagni: Duet with Giuseppe di Stefano
L'elisir d'amore - by Donizetti: Duet with Giuseppe di Stefano
FEATURES OF THE DVD:
- easy access to selected parts of the programme by means of a navigational timeline
- optional on-screen subtitles in English, French or German (but not Italian)
- on-screen information about Callas's life and stage roles
- linear PCM (uncompressed) sound
Touching life - highly recommended!
Well-balanced presentation of Maria Callas' art and life with numerous first-rate interviews with her long-term stage partner Di Stefano, conductor Guilini, producer Franco Zeffereli, EMI recording executives, and trusted friends. Opera and recital extracts include her famous Tosca role with Tito Gobbi, and recordings of Bellini, Bizet, Donizetti, and others. I'm not a Callas fan, but I thoroughly enjoyed this touching glimpse of her life, and I'll surely watch it again. Bravo to the producers of this touching DVD/video!