La Divina Maria Callas (Best Of) (Limited Edition)

CD1 STUDIO RECORDINGS

1. BELLINI - Norma “Casta diva”
2. BIZET - Carmen Habanera. “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle”
3. ROSSINI - La cenerentola “Nacqui all’affanno, al pianto” – “Non più mesta”
4. PUCCINI - Madama Butterfly “Un bel dì vedremo”
5. PUCCINI - La Bohème “Sì. Mi chiamano Mimì”
6. PUCCINI - Gianni Schicchi “O mio babbino caro”
7. VERDI - La traviata, “Ah, fors’è lui che I’anima”
8. VERDI - La traviata, “Follie! follie! Delirio vano è questo!”
9. VERDI - La traviata, “Sempre libera”
10. VERDI - La traviata, “Addio, del passato”
11. BELLINI - La sonnambula “Ah! non credea mirarti”
12. PUCCINI - Turandot “In questa reggia”
13. VERDI - I vespri siciliani “Mercé, dilette amiche”
14. PONCHIELLI - La Gioconda “Suicidio!”
15. VERDI - La forza del destino “Pace, pace mio Dio!”
16. VERDI - Macbeth “Una macchia è qui tuttora!”
17. DONIZETTI - Lucia di Lammermoor “Quando rapito in estasi”

CD2 LIVE RECORDINGS

1. PUCCINI - Gianni Schicchi “O mio babbino caro”
2. VERDI - Il trovatore “Vanne, lasciami” – “D’amor sull’ali rosee”
3. PUCCINI - Tosca “Vissi d’arte”
4. BIZET - Carmen Séguedille “Près des remparts de Séville”
5. DELIBES - Lakmé Aria della campanelle. “Dov’è l’indiana bruna?”
6. ROSSINI - Il barbiere di Siviglia “Una voce poco fa”
7. VERDI - Un ballo in maschera “Morrò, ma prima in grazia”
8. DONIZETTI - Poliuto “Di quai soavi lagrime”
9. VERDI - Rigoletto “Gualtier Maldè!” – “Caro nome”
10. DONIZETTI - Anna Bolena “Coppia iniqua, l’estrema vendetta”
11. CHARPENTIER - Louise “Depuis le jour”
12. ROSSINI - Semiramide “Bel raggio lusinghier”
13. WAGNER - Tristano e Isotta “Dolce e calmo”
14. VERDI - I vespri siciliani “Arrigo! ah! parli a un core”
15. BELLINI - Il pirata, “Quando a un tratto il mio consorte”
16. BELLINI - Il pirata, “Sventurata, anch’io deliro”
17. MASSENET - Manon “Je ne suis que faiblesse” – “Adieu, notre petite table”

Maria Callas is credited with changing the history of opera. Known as La Divina, she continues to fascinate as a supreme artist, but also as a woman and an icon of style. Her interpretations were as compelling for their dramatic truth as for their musical integrity. Her voice, with its extraordinary range, was as distinctive as her infallible sense for a phrase. A magnetic presence, she brought operatic heroines to vivid life, magically shaping and colouring her tone, and making insightful use of the text of the libretto.

La Divina Maria Callas BEST OF 2CD is a glittering selection of opera favorites that showcases, both in the studio (CD1) and on stage (CD2), her unique voice and her heartbreaking portrayal of tragic heroines.

2023 is the centenary year of the operatic soprano Maria Callas, also known as La Divina. She was born in New York on December 2nd 1923 and died in Paris on 16th September 1977.

A century after her birth, nearly 60 years after her last performance on the opera stage, and more than 45 years after her death, Maria Callas remains a defining figure in operatic history. Indeed, in many respects she is the enduring embodiment of opera. Her recordings remain best-sellers and she is a point of reference for opera-lovers and for the great opera singers of today.

Warner Classics is the custodian of Maria Callas’s discography, which is centred on the studio recordings that she made for both EMI/Columbia and the Italian label Cetra between 1949 and 1969.

Callas is credited with changing the history of opera: by placing a perhaps unprecedented emphasis on musical integrity and dramatic truth, and by transforming perceptions of the bel canto repertoire of the early 19th century.

Maria Callas also continues to fascinate as a woman. After a difficult, often deprived childhood she transformed herself into a great artist and an icon of style, hitting the headlines and reaching the absolute peak of her profession; yet her personal life – in particular her ultimately destructive affair with the shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis – proved unfulfilling. She died alone at the age of just 53.

Callas’s life and art have inspired a number of high-profile books, films and stage dramas.