18 suitcases, 6 rooms in the Atlantic Hotel, 2 poodles and a personal chef: there is great excitement when »La Divina« arrives for her first Hamburg concert in May 1959. To celebrate its 75th anniversary, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra has dug up some of its most legendary concert recordings from the archives. One of those is the recording of the extraordinary concert by Maria Callas, surely the 20th century’s greatest opera diva.
In a celebrated gala concert at the Laeiszhalle, she sang arias by Rossini, Bellini and Verdi. At the end of the impressive event, which had been sold out weeks in advance, there’s just no stopping the audience: the »primadonna assoluta« almost disappears behind the standing ovations, deafening applause and four enormous bouquets of flowers.
Maria Callas writing an entry in the guest book
Performers :For the concert on 15 May 1959
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
Maria Meneghini-Callas soprano
conductor Nicola Rescigno
Programme
Gaspare Spontini
Tu che invoco con orrore / from the opera »La vestale«
Giuseppe Verdi
Ambizioso spirto tu sei / from the opera »Macbeth«
Gioachino Rossini
Overture to the opera »L’italiana in Algeri«
Una voce poco fa / from the opera »Il barbiere di Siviglia«
Giuseppe Verdi
Tu che le vanità / from the opera »Don Carlo«
Overture to the opera »I vespri siciliani«
Vincenzo Bellini
Oh! s’io potessi - Col sorriso d’innocenza / from the opera »Il pirata«
