Review of Nabucco (Naples 1949) with Maria Callas, Gino Bechi and Vittorio Gui

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) was a leading figure among Italian opera composers, as the king of melodies, you can remember many of the arias in his operas easily once you hear them. Nabucco was his 3rd opera and his first major success, he recovered from the failure of the premiere of his second opera Un giorno di regno and the grief of losing his wife and children, but his strong willpower allowed him to fly to a bright future on golden wings. The best recording of Nabucco is also full of willpower, it was a performance in Naples on December 20, 1949, 4 years after the end of fascism, during the famous third act chorus “Va pensiero” (which is regarded as the non-official anthem of Italy), the audience shouted "Viva Italia!" and asked for a bis of this inspiring chorus. Besides that historical moment, this performance also featured the best Abigaille and Nabucco on record - Maria Callas and Gino Bechi.

Here’s the cast of this recording:

Conductor: Vittorio Gui

Orchestra/chorus: Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli

Nabucco: Gino Bechi, baritone

Abigaille: Maria Callas, soprano

Ismaele: Gino Sinimberghi, tenor

Zaccaria: Luciano Neroni, bass

Fenena: Amalia Pini, mezzo-soprano

Gran Sacerdote: Iginio Riccò, bass

Abdallo: Luciano della Pergola, tenor

Anna: Silvana Tenti, soprano

Vittorio Gui’s slow, heavy and unmotivated opera conducting of the Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli orchestra (6/10) and the passionate chorus (10/10)

Unlike most of his Italian contemporaries, Vittorio Gui’s conducting style was very steady but lacked drama, nuances and passion. His style wasn’t as refined and detailed as Victor de Sabata or Tullio Serafin but rather rigid (especially in the finales of the first 2 acts), his tempi choices were typically very slow and that caused the lack of rhythmical pulses, especially in Verdi's hot-blooded cabalettas, his conducting always gave people a sense of drag and heaviness; his dynamic range was very narrow, the orchestra didn’t sound very colourful under his baton, and there’s not much difference in his characteristics between different sections. But I still give him a 6/10 because his interpretation wasn’t abrupt, it's just that he conducted in a manner that is too academic, cautious and timid (somehow similar to Riccardo Muti, except he allowed singers to interpolate high notes, in this aspect he was better than Muti). The chorus, however, was remarkable, it’s unbelievable that they have great diction and a decent amount of nuances, especially in “Va pensiero” you can hear the passion of the chorus members and their love of Italy. Also it’s worth mentioning that this performance ended with a chorus of all people (except Abigaille) praising Jehovah (“Immenso Jeovha”), which is different from the more common order with the death of Abigaille.

Gino Bechi’s dramatic interpretation of the Babylonian king (10/10)

Most people think of Tito Gobbi or Ettore Bastianini when they talk about Italian baritones in the 1940s and 1950s, but they often forget Gino Bechi who was even more outstanding. As a Verdi baritone, he had very easy high register with a powerful bel canto voice. In this performance he was fully integrated into the drama, when he entered the scene (“Tremin gl’insani”), he had the demeanour of a king, and he used a more declamatory way to sing it which resembled his great predecessor Titta Ruffo; in the second act he became even more aggressive, perfectly showed Nabucco’s pride, later after being stroke down by a thunderbolt (“Chi mi toglie il Regio scettro”), he brought out the neurotic side of Nabucco, the tone of every phrase is extremely panicked; in the duet with Abigaille in the third act (“Oh di qual’onta aggravasi”), he also performed Nabucco's pleading very wonderfully, fully contrasted with Abigaille's cold-blooded and ruthless, I particularly love how he shouted the second “prigionier” right before the cabaletta; but what truly made Bechi the best recorded Nabucco is his big aria “Dio di Giuda” in the last act, he sang with absolute lyricism here, showing his strong bel canto skills and interpretative sensitivity, then followed by a glorious cabaletta with a high A flat in the end. Bechi's Nabucco is the benchmark, as an opera singer with flawless technique, his vocal acting was also very top-notch, he flawlessly interpreted Nabucco’s emotional changes in every scene. After listening to this recording, I immediately became Bechi’s fan and now he is my favourite baritone of the last 80 years.

Maria Callas - the soprano assoluta’s perfect Abigaille (11/10)

The main reason why Nabucco isn’t as widely performed as some other Verdi operas is the role of Abigaille which is one of the most difficult soprano roles ever written (as Callas said it’s a voice wrecker and even Strepponi retired voiceless after singing this role for a couple of years). Abigaille as the antagonist in Nabucco requires a big dramatic soprano voice, but like other early Verdi soprano roles, it’s technically very challenging, there are plenty of coloratura passages and the range spans more than 2 octaves (in Callas’ case it’s 2 octaves and a fourth as she interpolated a high E flat in the end of the duet with Nabucco), only a dramatic soprano with exceptionally great agility and bel canto technique could sing it well, and among all sopranos that recorded Abigaille, only Maria Callas could manage this demanding role well. As a soprano who sang the heaviest roles like Wagner’s Isolde and Brünnhilde, Ponchielli’s La Gioconda, Puccini’s Turandot and classic bel canto stuff like Bellini’s Norma and Elvira in I Puritani, Callas was able to combine the power and lyricism together and sang with the greatest expressivity and the most terrifying effect. Just when this character came on the scene (“Prode guerrier”), she showed her astonishing tenor-like low register and incredible flexibility of the voice, notice that in the final coloratura run (“sospeso è già”) she switched to pure chest voice in the lower notes; in the following trio (“Io t’amava”) she sang with her representative legato, and later outshined everyone else in the finale of the first act, you can always hear her voice above the orchestra, chorus and other soloists; at the beginning of the second act came the most exciting moment of the performance - Abigaille’s big aria, the more I listen to it I become more obsessed with Callas, here she interpreted Abigaille’s ambition and merciless in the best way, the articulation of each word is so clear, hitting the hearts of the audience, and technically the 2 octaves leap (before the aria), the legato, nuances, expressivity and rubato in the aria, and the flamboyant coloratura runs in the cabaletta were all perfectly done, she successfully put the whole opera house into an intimidating atmosphere in these golden 10 minutes; in the following scenes, she became more and more powerful and fiery and completely overwhelmed other characters, her cruelness was off the charts when she finally picked up Nabucco's crown and pronounced herself the queen of Babylon; in the third act during the duet with Nabucco she became more declamatory and maintained an aggressive aura, the low register became even more threatening and thunderous, and I love how she pronounced every word exceptionally clearly to express the villainy of the character; even though her arrogance was so high in the first three acts, the final death scene (“Su me morente”) was so touching, one fascinating thing about Callas is that even if she was the antagonist, she could make us sympathise with her, the last “non maledire a me” was so heartbreaking. This performance was one of Callas’ early achievements, every part of her appearance was extraordinary, and she also showed her unique ability to bring emotions and intensity to the extreme under boring conducting.

Other characters - Gino Sinimberghi’s Ismaele (9/10), Amalia Pini’s Fenena (9/10), Luciano Neroni’s Zaccaria (5/10), Iginio Riccò’s Gran Sacerdote (7/10), Luciano della Pergola’s Abdallo (7/10) and Silvana Tenti’s Anna (7/10)

Besides Callas and Bechi, the other star in this performance was Gino Sinimberghi. He was an actor and an opera singer, and he appeared in a lot of old Italian opera films (particularly Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and Puccini’s La rondine). He was an excellent lyric tenor with ringing voice, clear diction, very solid technique and passionate style (reminds me of Gianni Raimondi), even though he didn’t have the biggest voice and in the second act (“Che si vuol”) his voice was covered by the orchestra and the chorus, but he could be heard very clearly in other places especially in the ensembles (the first act trio with Abigaille and Fenena and “S’appressan gl’istanti” in the second act) which he shone, it's a pity that there aren't many scenes for this role; mezzo-soprano Amalia Pini did a good job as Fenena, she had some troubles with her upper range which was rather strenuous, but overall speaking her singing was quite expressive, with great legato and sensitivity, the last act aria ("Oh dischiuso è il firmamento") was elegantly done; a bigger problem of this performance would be the bass Luciano Neroni’s Zaccaria, he probably had an off-day, unlike his other recordings he sounded very dull here, with very mediocre, monotonous and tiresome interpretation and unclear diction, all legato lines were broken and every note he sang had the same characteristics without any nuances/expressions, and he seemed very indifferent to the emotions of the music, especially in the last aria he sounded like a robot; the other 3 supporting roles (Gran Sacerdote, Abdallo, Anna) are fine, no big issues but nothing amazing either.

Despite Neroni and Gui’s shortcomings, I’d still give this recording a 10/10 and it’s undoubtedly the reference recording of Verdi’s first giant masterpiece. Every time I listen to it, I feel like I’m in the opera house, and I can feel the excitement of the audience (especially the audience’s reaction when they heard the chorus in the third act). Besides that, it’s always a pleasure to hear Callas’ live recordings, the richness and fullness of her voice was much better presented in live recordings as big voices always have disadvantages in studio, plus it’s also her only complete opera recording in the 1940s, I can’t recommend this recording more strongly. Some people might complain about the sound quality but for me it doesn’t matter at all and it's the least important thing ever. Would you like to hear a high quality recording with an awful Abigaille or a mid quality recording of this historical performance?