Bellini: Norma - Callas, Corelli, Ludwig, Zaccaria, de Palma, Vicenci, Serafin (1960) [Subtitles]

This 1960 Norma represents Maria Callas’s final complete documented version of her signature role. Seven recordings of the opera exist with Callas (1950-60), plus numerous snippets and scenes captured between 1949 and 1965. With 89 performances, Norma is Callas’s most performed part; certainly no other 20th-century diva is more closely associated with the role, and no one since has even remotely eclipsed Callas in the perception of opera lovers.

Countless moments, too numerous to catalogue here, raise this Callas Norma to the level of genius. From a haunting ‘Casta Diva’ to a final scene of incomparable grandeur and sweep, in every startlingly brilliant detail, Callas is Norma.

Vincenzo Bellini 1801-1835

Norma
Opera in two acts · Libretto: Felice Romani

Norma...............................................MARIA CALLAS
Pollione.............................................FRANCO CORELLI
Adalgisa............................................CHRISTA LUDWIG
Oroveso.............................................NICOLA ZACCARIA
Flavio................................................ PIERO DE PALMA
Clotilde..............................................EDDA VINCENZI

Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano
Chorus master: Norberto Mola
Tullio Serafin

Recorded: 5–12.IX.1960, Teatro alla Scala, Milan (STEREO) · Recorded in cooperation with E.A. Teatro alla Scala, Milan
Producers: Walter Legge & Walter Jellinek · Balance engineer: Robert Gooch
Remastered in 2014 from the original tapes at Abbey Road