"The last great artist. When you think this woman was nearly blind, and often sang standing a good 150 feet from the podium. But her sensitivity! Even if she could not see, she sensed the music and always came in exactly with my downbeat. When we rehearsed, she was so precise, already note-perfect. ... For over thirty years, I was Arturo Toscanini's assistant, and from the very first rehearsal, he demanded every nuance from the orchestra, just as if it were a full performance. The piano, the forte, the staccato, the legato — all from the start. And Callas did this too. ... She was not just a singer, but a complete artist. It's foolish to discuss her as a voice. She must be viewed totally — as a complex of music, drama, movement. There is no one like her today. She was an esthetic phenomenon."
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Women singersWomen from the United StatesSingers from New York CityWomen born in the 1920sOpera singers
Original Language: English
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Sources
Antonino Votto, as quoted in Callas : The Art and the Life (1974) by John Ardoin
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maria_Callas
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