I read somewhere that the weight loss did her voice no favours
It's funny how the myths somehow survive. There is no doubt the weight loss affected her voice, but it also changed her as an artist to quite an extent. There are all sorts of other theories of why her voice started to let her down so early, some physiological, some psychological, but many of her greatest performances were post weight loss. Her
anus mirabilis was no doubt 1955 (she started dieting in 1953 and by the opening of the La Scala season of 1954 she was the svelte figure everyone recognises). 1955 is the year of the fabulous Visconti/Bernstein
La Sonnambula, the Visconti/Giulini
La Traviata, the Zeffirelli
Il Turco in Italia, the Karajan/Berlin
Lucia di Lammermoor, her arguably greatest ever performance of
Norma at La Scala, with Del Monaco and Simionato, all of which are preserved in sound. She also made seminal studio recordings of
Madama Butterfly with Karajan, and
Rigoletto and
Aida with Serafin and sang in Chicago for a fabulously successful second season. Her roles were Butterfly, Elvira in
I Puritani and Leonora in
Il Trovatore with Jussi Bjoerling, whch unfortunately was not recorded.
From 1955 onwards there is a slight tailing off, but there are still some magnificent performances ahead of her. The live
Anna Bolena and
Un Ballo in Maschera of 1957, the Dallas
Medea and the Covent Garden
La Traviata of 1958 (arguably her greatest performance in the role), studio recordings of
Il Trovatore,
La Boheme,
La Gioconda, her second
Norma,
Carmen and recital records, such as
Mad Scenes,
Verdi Heroines and the first French recital.
The first studio recording of
Lucia di Lammermoor was actually her first studio recording for EMI, recorded in 1953 and thus not ony before the weight loss, but also when she was at her heaviest. She is in fabulous voice, but so she is in Berlin in 1955, when Karajan includes a bit more of the score, though it is still cut. That said, this is one of those performances that has rightly earned the epithet legendary. Happily it is also sonically one of her best live recordings (the Warner transfer might not be the last word, but it is easily good enough) and anyone who loves, or wants to hear this opera, should hear it.
There is a detailed review of it on my blog
http://tsaraslondon.com/2018/01/13/lucia-di-lammermoor-berlin-1955/.
In any case, anyone who wants to hear this opera, should make sure they listen to the twin peaks of Callas and Sutherland. My preference for Sutherland is her debut in the role at Covent Garden in 1959 under Serafin, but others would no doubt disagree and pick one of her two studio recordings.
Elsewhere on my blog I have also reviewed both Callas's studio recordings. The later one, from 1959, though it enjoys the best sound (recorded in stereo in Kingsway Hall with the Philharmonia), is perhaps only for those who have already capitulated to Callas. It cannot be denied that the top of the voice is seriously compromised here, but the filigree of the role is still exquisite.
