Willowy, Ash-blonde—and Wild

New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 914, 15 February 1957, Page 7

Willowy, Ash-blonde—and Wild

JF you haven’t heard of Maria Callas " the first thing to say is that she is one of the great dramatic sopranos of the world with a gift for taking a swing at people who get in her way. One of her most celebrated victims-who soon _ picked herself up-was the equally famous soprano Renata Tebaldi, Their quarrel became public through the pages of Time when Maria said of Tebaldi "T sing and act like someone possessed . . . She’s got no backbone. She’s not like Callas." The two prima donnas had been making alternate appearances at La Scala, Milan. Year by year Tebaldi was reported to have reduced her appearances until in 1955 she didn’t appear at all. Tebaldi refuted this charge of being driven away: "I am truly astonished by the statements made by my colleague Signora Maria Callas regarding me. The signora admits to being a woman of character and says that I have no backbone. I reply: I have one great thing that she has not-a-~ heart. That I actually trembled when I knew she was present at a performance of mine is utterly ridiculous. It was not Signora Callas who caused me to stay away from La Scala; I sang there before she did, and consider myself a creatura della Scala. I stayed away of my own free will .because an . atmosphere not at all pleasant had been _ created there." After the Callas write-up letters for and against poured in. "Here is a terrible-tempered conceited character. . .

Who does she think she is? The Elvis Presley of the longhairs?" And from another detractor, "Callas has better acting ability, stage presence and general allround zonk than Tebaldi. All that Tebaldi can do is sing better than Callas." Reminded of all this fierce division of opinion by the news that 2YC was putting on a Callas recorded programme at the end of next week, The Listener heard some of the material assembled for the broadcast and listened to Callas in situations of violence, affection, ruthless and stark tragedy, and afterwards by way of contrast heard some discs of her rival Tebaldi. (Tebaldi on LPs usually has a better orchestra . than Callas-who probably hires the cheapest available and relies on her own cover photo to sell the discs.) Finally we played some of Victoria de los Angeles. There were, indeed, three different styles of grand opera singing. We will not reveal our favourite, but no harsh words need be said about Maria Callas this time. She had a power and a quality that are probably increased a thousandfold if one is within range of her. Let the critics point out her innumerable faults and theirs be the trial of deciding whether in certain roles she is the greatest soprano there has ever been-all we know is that a powerful personality has been let loose. Is she an artist? Yes indeed, but at the moment, still a very wild one. (2YC, 7.0 Saturday, February 23)