Gluck: Ifigenia in Tauride
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Milano
Nino Sanzogno
The music of the 18th century did not figure strongly in Callas’s repertoire. The only Mozart role she sang was Konstanze, in an Italian version of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, an opera that contrasts strongly with the roughly contemporary Iphigénie en Tauride (here, at La Scala in 1957, Ifigenia in Tauride). In this taut drama of a priestess called upon to sacrifice her own brother, Gluck favours unadorned vocal lines and discreet intensity of expression. As ever, Callas judges the style with apparently instinctive precision, interpreting with the utmost eloquence. At the last minute, the happy outcome of the opera is determined by Diana, the dea ex machina, sung here by a young mezzo-soprano on her way to a major career, Fiorenza Cossotto.
| Ifigenia: Maria Callas |
| Oreste: Dino Dondi |
| Pilade: Francesco Albanese |
| Toante: Anselmo Colzani |
| Diana: Fiorenza Cossotto |
| Ministro del tempio - A Minister: Costantino Ego |
| Una donna greca - A Greek Woman: Edith Martelli |
| Uno scita - A Scythian: Franco Piva |
| Prima sacerdotessa - First Priestess: Stefania Malagù |
| Seconda sacerdotessa - Second Priestess: Eva Perotti |