Review of Tosca (1953) by Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Tito Gobbi and Victor de Sabata

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) was one of the most important Italian composers, he composed a lot of famous operas in verismo style, like Manon Lescaut, La Bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot. Tosca was one of his most celebrated works and it’s one of the most performed operas in the 20th century, and in this article I’ll review the greatest recording of it.

Here’s the cast of this recording:

Conductor: Victor de Sabata

Orchestra/chorus: Teatro alla Scala

Floria Tosca: Maria Callas, soprano

Mario Cavaradossi: Giuseppe di Stefano, tenor

Il barone Scarpia: Tito Gobbi, baritone

Il sagrestano: Melchiorre Luise, bass

Cesare Angelotti: Franco Calabrese, bass

Spoletta: Angelo Mercuriali, tenor

Sciarrone/Un carceriere: Dario Caselli, bass

Un pastore: Alvaro Cordova, boy soprano

Victor de Sabata - the nuanced, passionate, architect-like conductor (10/10) and the colossal Teatro alla Scala orchestra & chorus (10/10)

Every time I listen to Victor de Sabata’s recordings, I feel like I’m listening to a great architect using the orchestra to build the most impressive and most sophisticated musical buildings. He was one of the few conductors who can take into account the details and the big structure, under his baton, the layers of the orchestra were always so clear and so rich, the balance between the instruments was always just right, the dynamical and articulate details in the orchestra were always so precise, not to mention the tempi and the big picture of the interpretative structure, he always made the orchestra sound dense and powerfully dramatic. The reason why this version of Tosca is the history’s greatest must also be attributed to de Sabata’s flawless conducting, if replaced by a boring, superficial conductor (like Zubin Mehta or Francesco Molinari-Pradelli), this recording wouldn’t be that captivating. Teatro alla Scala’s orchestra and chorus also had excellent presence here, among them, the fullness of the strings and the splendour of the brass were particularly outstanding.

Maria Callas - the once-in-a-century Tosca (11/10)

First of all, I’m stuck in a rating dilemma because 10/10 is not enough anymore for Maria Callas’ greatness. From the first “Mario!” you can already feel her passion, and she always tried her best to be really into the character. In the first act, she sounded so sweet, full of love and enthusiasm, and as a bel canto trained singer, her legato and diction were impeccable, and compare the duet with Cavaradossi “Perché chiuso” and the later scene with Scarpia “Ed io venivo a lui tutta dogliosa”, she interpreted Tosca’s favour of Cavaradossi over Scarpia very distinguishably; in the second act, she first showed her celestial voice in the background with the choir (“A te quest’inno di gloria voli a te”), then in the torture scene her voice became full of pain, anguish and anxious, her characterisation fully expressed what Tosca must feel when she sees her lover being tortured, and this part also showed her unequalled vocal technique, all those high notes were super effortless and lightening-like, and the low chest notes rivalled most tenors (although the studio microphones didn’t catch the thunderousness of her low register which we can hear from the live recordings); the Vissi d’arte from this recording is the finest version ever, she sang with the most immersive dedication, and I particularly like the way she pronounced each word, it’s just like Ancient Greek drama declamation, it’s so legato, so clear and pure catharsis of emotions, especially in the last phrase “perchè me ne rimuneri così”, this is exactly the way it should be sung based on the context of this aria, no other sopranos come close to her; in Scarpia’s death scene we can hear her threatening and venomous low chest notes, although she sang the last phrase “E avanti a lui tremava tutta Roma” on pitch, unlike in the 1960s she spoke those words which I prefer; in the third act duet with Cavaradossi (“Ah Franchigia a Floria Tosca”) she became even more passionate than in the first 2 acts, her voice was full of hope and radiance, the 2 octaves descending arpeggio (“Io quella lama gli pianta nel cor”) from high C to middle C was absolutely perfectly and fiercely done, and the ending scene of this recording is the maddest and scariest of all, every time after listening to this recording I always feel intimidated by the strong emotions. The more you know about Tosca, the more you will realise that Callas’ Tosca is the greatest.

Giuseppe di Stefano - the best tenor of his time as the warmest Cavaradossi (10/10)

In his early years, he always drove the entire house crazy and the audiences often asked him to sing the arias again during the performances, and that included Cavaradossi’s “E lucevan le stelle”. Many tenors have sung Cavaradossi, but Giuseppe di Stefano stood out among them, I always feel like I'm in the bright, warm Italian sun when I listen to him. He had everything you expect from a tenor - diction, technique, style and most importantly, passion/excitement. In the first act he showed his enthusiasm for art (in “Recondita armonia”), his love for Tosca (duet “Perché chiuso”) and his concern about his friend Angelotti, one can hear that his Cavaradossi is not only an artist but also a revolutionary; in the second act his voice became even more fierce and confrontational, although he didn’t sustain the second “Vittoria!” as long as his contemporary Franco Corelli, but he was like a hot-blooded revolutionary at this climax, and completely dominated the scene; in the third act he became a melancholic poet at first, and delivered a hopeless, tragic, heartbreaking “E lucevan le stelle”, that diminuendo on the A natural in the middle of this aria (“le belle forme disciogliea dai veli”) wasn’t as long as in the live recording in Mexico City one year before (also with Callas), but still very impressive, it’s one of the most di Stefano things di Stefano ever recorded, and the final duet with Tosca fully reflected his strong lyricism and bel canto skills. Overall speaking, di Stefano’s Cavaradossi is something really impressive that only Callas could be his Tosca.

Tito Gobbi - the famous operatic villain as the most merciless Scarpia (10/10)

Tito Gobbi was a baritone with one of, if not the largest repertoire among all baritones, and Scarpia was arguably his biggest achievement, it doesn’t have high notes (like in Verdi), or coloratura passages (like in Rossini), he even died in the end of the second act, but interpretively it’s one of the most challenging roles for the baritone voice. I really like the way Gobbi used his exaggerated diction to portray the evilness of Scarpia, when he sang it he became the merciless yet aristocratic baron. From his entrance to the end of Te Deum, he always maintained an intimidating force and never relaxed the tension, and his diction was so clear that every word hit me like a bullet; in the second act he demonstrated this psychopath’s desire for control and beast-like violence, yet never lacked the nobleness of his character, besides that, he also showed the lecherous side of the character in the scene with Tosca (“Se la giurata fede”), and most importantly, his vocal characterisation in the death scene was very realistic. Gobbi didn’t have the best high notes, but technically he was very solid and he was certainly the baritone that brought out the villainy of this character to the extreme.

Smaller roles - Melchiorre Luise’s Il sagrestano (7/10), Franco Calabrese’s Angelotti (8/10), Angelo Mercuriali’s Spoletta (8/10), Dario Caselli’s Sciarrone and Un carceriere (7/10), Alvaro Cordova’s Un pastore (6/10)

Besides the 3 main characters, the most attractive minor character would be Spoletta, in this recording it’s sung by tenor Angelo Mercuriali who had excellent diction, but I feel like he could sing with more excitement and wickedness; the sarcastic sacristan in this recording was sung by Melchiorre Luise, even though he was listed as a bass on the CD, but I don’t feel like he was really a bass, the colour of his voice was almost as bright as the tenor di Stefano, and his characterisation was certainly not as clear as Giorgio Tadeo (in the Georges Prêtre recording with Callas); Franco Calabrese’s trembling bass voice fully demonstrated Angelotti's trepidation, he certainly was better suited to roles in this temperament than comic roles like Don Geronio in Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia (also with Callas); another bass Dario Caselli sang 2 roles here, no big highlights and no big problems; the boy soprano Alvaro Cordova’s “Io de sospiri” had some intonation issues (particularly on E4, G#4 and A#4) and the voice was rather weak, although it’s the smallest role so it didn’t affect the overall.

In general, I would definitely give this recording a 10/10 and I strongly recommend anyone who has never heard opera to listen to this recording, with Callas, di Stefano and Gobbi in the lead roles and de Sabata conducting, this Tosca recording has become an immortal masterpiece in history and the pinnacle of all Tosca recordings, even the slightest blemishes on the minor characters don't stop me from appreciating this masterpiece, which is brilliant from start to finish.