Operatic Sorcery

In the review of the Teldec recording of Haydn’s “Armida” with Cecilia Bartoli in the title role (“Opera’s Supernovas Blaze Anew,” Jan. 7), Mark Swed states that Maria Callas sang the role in the early ‘50s.

Many composers in the 18th and 19th centuries composed operas using the Saracen sorceress Armida as their subject, including Lully, Traetta, Gluck, Handel, Jommelli, Salieri and Rossini; it was Rossini’s “Armida” of 1817 Callas sang, however, not Haydn’s.

Callas’ jaw-dropping vocal performance, recorded live in Florence in 1952, displays her in her astonishing vocal prime, and has long been available via pirated recordings.

RICKARD ROUDEBUSH

Sherman Oaks