Talk:Maria Callas

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[edit] Voice Type

The term 'coloratura' soprano is popular, however it is not a legitimate voice type classification. Every voice type can do coloratura. Though lyric and dramatic sopranos often get the roles where it is used, lyric especially, to actually refer to the voice type as coloratura is incorrect. Perhaps it should be noted that the popular phrase is incorrect?

I'm afraid your assertion is completely false. The term "coloratura soprano" is a real voice type and has been in use since the early 19th century. The word was first coined during the rise of the bel canto method of singing. The term is also used in the German fach system which many opera houses use to classify singers. You are correct that the term coloratura refers to a particular kind of vocal agility and that all voices to some degree are capable of coloratura (although dramatic voices tend to be limmited in coloratura facility). However, a "coloratura soprano" is distinguished not just by the ability to sing difficult coloratura passages but also an unusually high range and vocal tessitura that other kinds of sopranos do not possess.Nrswanson (talk) 11:31, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Gay Icon Project

In my effort to merge the now-deleted list from the article Gay icon to the Gay icons category, I have added this page to the category. I engaged in this effort as a "human script", adding everyone from the list to the category, bypassing the fact-checking stage. That is what I am relying on you to do. Please check the article Gay icon and make a judgment as to whether this person or group fits the category. By distributing this task from the regular editors of one article to the regular editors of several articles, I believe that the task of fact-checking this information can be expedited. Thank you very much. Philwelch 20:14, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Just because there was a scene with a recording of hers in Philadelphia doesn't mean she's a "gay icon." I disagree with you greatly and am sure she would as well. I feel so bad for these great people who are degraded because a few people call them "gay icons."
NewYork1956 (talk) 09:10, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
Being a student of Opera in San Francisco, I would argue that her status as a gay icon goes far beyond a scene in Philadelphia. Can anyone think of a credible source for this information? Captbaritone (talk) 18:48, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Callas vs. Tebaldi?

Yes, I know, it's overworked, but there must be at least a paragraph on the famous rivalry between Callas and Tebaldi.... Doublea 00:08, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

Callas and Tebaldi actually became very close friends during the seventies.TheGeniusPrince (talk) 19:47, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

I don't know what the status of the article was back in November 2006 when this message was posted, but since there has been a reply today, I'll just note that the article currently has an extensive section covering this matter, Maria_Callas#Callas-Tebaldi_controversy. Robert K S (talk) 20:54, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] External Links

Nearly all of the external links were removed from the article by Legionarius, citing WP:EL. Some of these deletions were legitimate, such as those to a Greek language page. Other links, such as links to important scholarly articles about Callas's recordings were also deleted, even though they meet the requirements for an external link which should be included. If you feel this page does NOT meet these criteria, please state your argument on this page before removing the link. Thank you. Shahrdad (talk) 14:18, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] The thing on the left is missing?

Is there usually not a section on the top left giving some basic information about the artist? This appears to be missing? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.83.121.172 (talk • contribs) 2008-04-20T11:24:27

In this case I don't think an info box (which is actually on the upper right not left) would be counterproductive for this article. The first sentence of this article already tells you that Callas is an opera singer and when and where she was born and died. Other information that is typically found in an info box in regaurds to a musician does not apply well in this case. For one, her voice type is a highly controvercial subject so placing a voice type in the info box would be misleading. Second, a "years active" section would also be inconclusive as you could count from several different dates such as from the years she was on the opera stage, the years she still performed in concert/ recitals, or her teaching career which would all be different and therefore hard to fit into an info box without distorting facts. Third, Callas recorded with many different labels so that wouldn't apply either. In conclusion, the only obvious information possible to place in an info box is stated in the first sentence of this article and therefore an info box would be redundant.Nrswanson (talk) 15:54, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Shake: Vibrato or Trill?

In the article, the link for "Shake" was changed from "Trill" to "Vibrato." However, in the 1800's, "Shake" was the common English term for "Trill." In Bel Canto: A Theoretical & Practical Vocal Method (Part One: Elementary and Progressive Exercixes for the Development of the Voice, Mathilde Marchesi has a chapter called "The Shake (Trill)." Clearly, this is not the same as Vibrato. The "Shake" is a term that has practically vanished from musical terminology in modern times, but it should not be confused Vibrato. http://www.vocalwebsites.com/neilhowlett/articles/thetrill.php gives a good history of the trill, and also states that "The English word for the trill in the 17th and 18th century was the very descriptive - ‘shake’."Shahrdad (talk) 15:06, 29 May 2008 (UTC)


I wrote to Dr. Robert Selestky regarding whether "Shake" meant Trill or Vibrato in Chorley's era, and this was his reponse:

Shake is ALWAYS "trill." That usage goes back to the 16th century and continues through the 19th. The word "vibrato" is modern and was not used at all; the effect was sometimes called "tremolo" when referring to that stop on the organ, but "tremolo" for voice in 17th century Italy meant what we call "trill"--2 notes, while their "trillo" meant trill on a single note--an effect that died out in the late 17th century. In English, trill is always called "shake." Geminiani (1751), in his violin treatise, is the only one who also refers to a "close shake" which described a two-finger micro-tonal trills (which no one does any more), while using "shake" to mean trill--like all others in English, obviously including Chorley. As to vibrato as such, instrumental treatises tend not to have a word for it other than tremolo; Geminiani actually describes and says "this cannot possibly be described in words." Most string treatises discourage its use except Geminiani. Wind instruments never used it so it's a moot point. I can't even think of any period vocal treatises that even discuss it except Tosi where, in the English translation, he pejoratively refers to it as "fluttering in the manner of those who sing in a very bad taste."

If you listen to old (pre-1910) instrumental recordings, there is NO organic vibrato; with winds, even the Scala recordings of the 1950s, lack it; and just listen to the oboe in the Mexico AIDAs! Completely straight tone. Strings started to use it organically after gut strings were abandoned as a result of the unavailability (they were made in Germany and Italy) during the first world war, and it stuck, unfortunately; but even great 20th century violin pedagogues like Leopold Auer discouraged its use. My feeling is that the voice starts to vibrate naturally as it hits a certain volume level, but it was never deliberate. The fast "fluttering" was considered anathema, and I doubt anyone with a wobbly, wide tremolo that he or she couldn't control would have considered a vocal career at all.

Also in an article called "The Trill is Gone", which was published in Opera News in January 1999, Will Crutchfield writes:

Debate has swirled over the question of whether the trill can be taught to singers who cannot do it spontaneously -- or, as an English translator of Gianbattista Mancini put it in the eighteenth century, "whether it is possible to give the shake where nature has witheld it." ("Shake" is the old British term for the trill; historically, it doesn't mean anything different from "trill," though some voice teachers today use it colloquially to mean one or another of the defective ways the trill can be approximated.)

I went ahead and restored the link between Shake and Trill in the Callas Article. Shahrdad (talk) 21:41, 29 May 2008 (UTC)