Maria Callas: Toujours - Paris 1958

Maria Callas: Toujours - Paris 1958

  • Overview
  • Cast
  • Crew
  • Recommendations

Status

Released

Release Date

Oct 5, 2015

Runtime

1h 31m

Genres

Music, Documentary

User Score

85%

Original Title

Maria Callas: Toujours - Paris 1958

Production Companies

Warner Classics, Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française

Director

Roger Benamou

Description

The career of Maria Callas was just a bit too early and too brief to receive full and satisfying video documentation like that now being accorded to such singers as Renée Fleming and Luciano Pavarotti. This black-and-white televised recital (Callas's Paris debut) took place at the Paris Opera on December 19, 1958 when television was still in its infancy. We might wish that it had happened earlier, when her voice was in better condition, or later, when video recording technology was more advanced--so that, for example, we would not have to take the narrator's word that Callas is wearing a red dress. But this is probably the best available Callas video recording, and her fans will welcome it warmly. Visual elements were as important as the vocal dimensions in her art.