MAGDA OLIVERO - LA TRAVIATA - A unique and unforgettable Violetta - HD

La Traviata is among Verdi’s most popular works, and probably one of the most well-known operas. Complex and particularly demanding, the role of Violetta is a daring challenge for any soprano. With all the “fireworks” it requires, it demands extreme vocal agility to do justice to “Sempre libera,” the first act’s coloratura aria, the two other acts ask for highly convincing interpretive qualities to express the intense feelings of a once famous courtesan who loves for the first time and ends up victim of her frivolous past, then becomes fatally ill and dies.

To sing Violetta at least once in their career has been a dream for most sopranos. Unfortunately, all do not succeed in this perilous endeavour. Those who take the gamble do it at a relatively early stage in their career, during a short period of 5 to 10 years at the most, while their voice is still fresh and responsive. Callas sang the role 63 times between 1951 and 1958, and Tebaldi 91 times between 1947 and 1957 (a period of 7 years, for Callas and 10 years for Tebaldi). There is also Virginia Zeani who sang the role over 600 times, between 1948 and 1973, a period of 25 years.

Now let us not overlook another phenomenal Traviata: Magda Olivero. She sang her first Violetta in 1938, at the age of 28, and then performed the role regularly until 1959, for an incredible 21-year span. In 1967, at 57, she did excerpts from the second act and the complete third act, in an exceptional concert, for a total of 103 performances over 29 years.

In 1940, at the Eiar studio in Torino, Magda Olivero recorded the famous sequence, “È strano! … Ah, fors’è lui” and “Follie! … Sempre libera”, 25 years later in 1965, for that same recording, she won the Oscar del Disco award for that recording.
In 1969, the Italian magazine Discoteca and the famous vocal art specialist Rodolfo Celetti organized a rather exciting musical contest: the idea was to gather, listen and analyse all existing recordings of Violetta’s demanding first act aria, from the very first cylinders to the latest stereo recordings, in order to choose and reward the best interpretation.
The artists included the names of all major past and present sopranos, from Tetrazzini, Capsir, Galli-Curci to Olivero, Zeani, Tebaldi, Callas, Moffo, Sutherland, Scotto, Freni, Caballe and many more. To the surprise of eagerly awaiting aficionados, Olivero’s interpretation was chosen over all the other sopranos for the prestigious award.

In 1953, she returned to the studio to record a moving “Amami Alfredo”, one of the arias she was most often solicited to repeat as a “bis.”
In 1956, at the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona, a radio broadcast was made of her performance of La Traviata. Unfortunately, the resulting recording is incomplete and the sound of the is very poor. We are hoping that a good quality recording will eventually resurface one day.

In 1967, at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Magda Olivero gave her very last interpretation of the celebrated courtesan. Luckily, the performance was recorded in glorious stereophonic sound, and all the excerpts presented in this video come directly from the master tapes.
Throughout her long career, Magda Olivero was better known for her extraordinary performances of Adriana Lecouvreur, a role she sang 113 times on stage. She sang nearly as many Traviata’s (103), but we tend to forget her immense contribution to the role of Violetta, probably due to the fact that so few recordings have survived.

I hope the present post, which offers a 27 year overview of Magda Olivero’s performances of Verdi’s La Traviata, will help address this unfortunate situation and finally establish her as a truly amazing Violetta, a long overdue recognition for the legendary artist.

00:00 – LA TRAVIATA - Introduction
01:00 – Act I - È strano! … Ah, fors’è lui
04:57 – Act I - Follie! … Sempre libera
09:29 – Act II - Madamigella Valérie
18:45 – Act II - Ah! Dite alla giovine
23:23 – Act II - Amami Alfredo
30:23 – Act III - Preludio
34:23 – Act III - Annina? - Comandate?
39:10 – Act III - Teneste la promessa
41:00 – Act III - Addio del passato
46:48 – Act III - Parigi, o cara
51:57 – Act III - Ah! Grand Dio! Morir si giovine
56:16 – Act III - Prendi, quest’è l’immagine