A report on Joan Sutherland, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Metropolitan Opera

Schwarzkopf as Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni

Schwarzkopf as the Marschallin in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier

Gatti-Casazza's last week at the Met (March 22–29, 1935)

Artur Bodanzky at the Metropolitan Opera in 1915

Sutherland sang Lucia to great acclaim in Paris in 1960 and, in 1961, at La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera.

- Joan Sutherland

Schwarzkopf made her American concert debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on October 28 and 29, 1954, in Strauss's Four Last Songs and the closing scene from Capriccio with Fritz Reiner conducting; her Carnegie Hall debut was a Lieder recital on 25 November 1956; her American opera debut was with the San Francisco Opera on 20 September 1955 as the Marschallin, and her debut at the Metropolitan Opera on 13 October 1964, also as the Marschallin.

- Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

Don Giovanni (Carlo Maria Giulini, Philharmonia Orchestra) (Warner Classics 1959) with Joan Sutherland as Donna Anna.

- Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

Other celebrated singers who debuted at the Met during Bing's tenure include: Roberta Peters, Victoria de los Ángeles, Renata Tebaldi, Maria Callas, who had a bitter falling out with Bing over repertoire,, Birgit Nilsson, Joan Sutherland, Régine Crespin, Mirella Freni, Renata Scotto, Montserrat Caballé, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Anna Moffo, James McCracken, Carlo Bergonzi, Franco Corelli, Alfredo Kraus, Plácido Domingo, Nicolai Gedda, Luciano Pavarotti, Jon Vickers, Tito Gobbi, Sherrill Milnes, and Cesare Siepi.

- Metropolitan Opera

Don Giovanni—Gottlob Frick (Commendatore), Luigi Alva (Don Ottavio), Graziella Sciutti (Zerlina), Joan Sutherland (Donna Anna), Piero Cappuccilli (Masetto), Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (Donna Elvira), Eberhard Wächter (Don Giovanni), Heinrich Schmidt, Giuseppe Taddei (Leporello), London Philharmonia Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini. Recorded 1959—EMI 0724356787353

- Joan Sutherland

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Maria Callas

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American-born Greek soprano who was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century.

The apartment house in Athens where Callas lived from 1937 to 1945

The Villa in Sirmione where Callas lived with Giovanni Battista Meneghini between 1950 and 1959

Callas's range in performance (highest and lowest notes both shown in red): from F-sharp below the Middle C (green) to E-natural above the High C (blue)

Callas acknowledges applause in 1959 at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam

Callas during her final tour in Amsterdam in 1973

Aristotle Onassis, who had an affair with Callas before he married Jackie Kennedy

The last residence of Maria Callas, in Paris

Portrait of Callas (2004), by Oleg Karuvits

Maria Callas with her husband Giovanni Battista Meneghini in 1957

Callas getting ready with the help of Luchino Visconti in Milan, 1957

Maria Callas as Giulia in the Opera "La Vestale", by Gaspare Spontini, 1954

Churchill with Maria Callas on Onassis' yacht in the late 50s

In December of that year, she auditioned for Edward Johnson, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, and was favorably received: "Exceptional voice—ought to be heard very soon on stage".

In 1952, she made her London debut at the Royal Opera House in Norma with veteran mezzo-soprano Ebe Stignani as Adalgisa, a performance which survives on record and also features the young Joan Sutherland in the small role of Clotilde.

Walter Legge, husband of diva Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, attributed this sound to the "extraordinary formation of her upper palate, shaped like a Gothic arch, not the Romanesque arch of the normal mouth".