and a good reminder that Sicilian belcanto isn't necessarily undramatic... "Norma" is a drama, not a showcase for glitzy technique:

NORMA
Oh, do not let them be victims
Of my cruel mistake ?
Oh, do not cut them down
In the innocence of childhood.
Remember that I am your blood,
Have pity on my children.
Oh father, have pity,
Have pity on my children.
Father, oh father ?

I want to stress that Bellini's music can be very dramatic but singers seldom do it justice. The other day I listened to such a nondescript Elvira... they do kinda sleepwalk when they sing Bellini. Still ill, take this over almost anyone today.

(0:01) La Piovra (Italian: The Octopus, referring to "The Mafia") is an acclaimed Italian Television drama miniseries about the Mafia. The story was by Sandro Petraglia. All 10 series have been released on DVD, with English subtitles.

La Piovra 7: Deh! non voleri vittime with Maria Callas (Rome 1955) - the song playing in the background when Saverio Bronte remembers his childhood friends.

The most prolific Norma of the postwar period was Maria Callas, with 89 stage performances (several of which exist on recording), along with two studio recordings (made in 1955 and 1960). And I don't think it's controversial to claim that her Norma is her greatest role, and she unleashes on us a monumental portrait of a warrior Priestess.

If you love to hear the 31-year-old, newly dieted Callas at her utmost peak, you must have this Norma: Maria Callas / Antonino Votto (Conductor) / Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, 1955: [ Ссылка ]

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(1:33) She didn't sleepwalk... much. A long-breath line is carried through in intention, while individual words and phrase segments are given fully expressive, even passionate, value. This is the style exhibited by all the earliest and greatest: Adelina Patti, Mattia Battistini, Francesco Marconi, Alessandro Bonci. Maria Callas imbues every syllable with meaning:

fa _ ta _ le erro _ _ re ("aspirato"!) / troncar sul fio _ _ re / in _ no _ cen ~ te età / pen _ _ sa / san _ _ _ gue / pie _ ta _ _ _ de / pa _ _ _ dre ...

Just hear at 3:01 "di lor pietà........" her expression, begging mercy for her children! And then there is the "Rubini sob", a quick aspirate added to the line, usually after a turn (gruppetto): in the high note in "di~ lor" Callas breaks the o and sings lo-hor.

"The decline in Callas' voice" was not a linear process as her later recordings of Gioconda and the 1960 Norma testify. Callas' voice had not so much deteriorated by that time, apart from a few flapping top notes, and there are huge compensations in the delicacy of her characterization, and the good studio sound.

Maria Callas / Tullio Serafin (Conductor) / Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, 1960. Serafin shapes a performance that is lyrical, yet intense and dramatic. So..... if you can forgive Callas for her declining top notes, you will find beauties here that you will find on no other recording of Norma.

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Deh! non volerli vittime - Iva Pacetti (1928): [ Ссылка ]...

A beautiful, powerful voice but I still prefer the Eugenia Burzio version which I've posted one week later. Her ability to sustain allows her to inflect the line more dramatically: [ Ссылка ]...

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