MY VOICE…
I have always been controversial,my voice,my acting,my life.Whatever I do I get criticized…my voice is ugly,well…some people have beauty,others have talent,genius.
They hated me, so they hated my voice… I was fat ,very fat, dead broke when I first started in Verona. I was non-italian singing in Italy, and afterI met Titta became uncompromising so they hated me even more.Others said that I was the voice of the century,incomparable ,a voice that thrilled and inspired them.
When I was at the top of my career,some critics wrote that the timbre of my voice,its sound,was ugly… I honestly believe that part of its uniqueness was due to that ugliness.It may lack velvet and beauty of tone, but I could acquire different colours and timbres ,I could change its timbre ,the vocal colour at will and according to the role, give each heroine her own personality.Queen Anne Boleyn does not have the same voice as Violetta,the courtesane or Norma the High Priestess …And Violetta should not have have the same voice in the first act and in the final act when she is dying.That would be ridiculous.
To all of you who hate my voice , I want you to read this…
Walter Legge ,Elizabeth Schwarzkopf ’s husband , possibly the greatest interpreter of Schubert’s leider of our time, wrote that I had ” that most essential ingredient for a great singer: an instantly recognizable voice”.I loved him for that and loved it even better when his wife said she will never sing La Traviata again after one of my performances….”What is the point of singing it when another artist has done it to perfection “Thank you,darling…
Maestro Carlo Maria Giulini ,who conducted many of my operas,thus described my voice:
It is very difficult to describe Callas’s voice. It is a very special instrument.The same thing happens with string instruments—violin, viola, cello—the first moment you listen,you have to get used to it and when you are used to its sound,it acquired a magical quality.
He was so right,I have always thought of myself as the first instrument of the orchestra
April 4th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I noticed an inconsitancy with “colour” in line 9 and “color” in line 10. It is interesting to hear that her voice was so controversial.
April 6th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Thank you Andrew,I think colour is better.I made the correction.