Callas As Violetta

Verdi successfully created a classic opera role-Violetta in his La Traviata. Among all the performers, Maria Callas is recognized as the most outstanding representative, regarded as a milestone. Although Callas and her Violetta aroused various praise, her brilliant interpretation has never seemed to be carefully explored. On the other hand, Callas performed La Traviata sixty three times during the golden age of her opera career and left six complete live recordings, one studio recording, several short video clips and photos. In recent years, some of these forgotten valuable audiovisual materials have gradually been excavated for our in-depth study of the opera and Callas’ Violetta. Thus, this paper is mainly based on currently existing audiovisual materials, with the latest empirical methods such as the online visual analysis on tempo, dynamic, rhythm and the comprehensive analysis on multiple dimensions of timbre, vibrato and the stage performances of Callas’ Violetta.This paper is divided into six chapters, the first chapter is an introduction to the research object, purpose and meaning, summarizing the relevant research results, and the methods and procedures used in the paper. The second chapter reviews the background about Callas and Violetta. The third, fourth and fifth chapters are divided according to the three acts of the opera providing a detailed analysis on all the important arias. In addition to all the audio-visual materials by Callas, this paper also involves comparison among the interpretations by the different earlier, contemporary and contemporary sopranos. Special attention is paid to the deep integration between the structural analysis of on the music score and the visual analysis on musical sound as well as the related paper-based documents. The results of these analyzes can not only provide the opera performers and music lovers some direct references for understand the La Traviata and Callas but also provide some conclusions of universal significance:First, because of her special personal experience, impulsive and aggressive character, as an all-round soprano with technical characteristics of coloratura, lyrical, dramatic singing, her association with the role of Violetta is deeply rooted with irreplaceable insurmountable inevitability; Second, Callas played the opera for about eight years span and her understanding and interpretation of the role and treatment had been relatively stable but also gradually become even more mature by the influence of her worshiped predecessors and peers such as the soprano Rosa Ponselle, the conductor Tullio Serafin and the director Luchino Visconti di Modrone; Third, The substantial loss of weight in 1953 had a significant influence on her singing style, but not as serious and negative as stated in some literature; Fourth, Different than her contemporaries such as Renata Tebaldi or those contemporary sopranos, Callas thought the authenticity of operatic performance and dramatic conflict was the most important and for acheiving this she widely explored the possibility of sound sometimes even at the expense of aesthetic expression.All these conclusions are based on the most practical and reliable computer visualization and quantitative analysis. These graphics and data sometimes make us lament the almost magical performance of Callas’ Violetta with extraordinary ability in technical and artistic insight. Although this is unlikely to match and even surpass, at least it could inform us by rediscovering the great music and the opera "La Divina".