Maria Callas

Maria CallasCommendatore OMRI(bornMaria Anna Cecilia Sofia Kalogeropoulos;December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greeksopranoand one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised herbel cantotechnique, wide-ranging voice and dramatic interpretations. Her repertoire ranged from classicalopera seriato thebel cantooperas ofDonizetti,Bellini, andRossini, and further to the works ofVerdiandPuccini, and in her early career to the music dramas ofWagner. Her musical and dramatic talents led to her being hailed asLa Divina("The Divine One").
Born inManhattanand raised inAstoria, Queens,New York City, to Greek immigrant parents, she was raised by an overbearing mother who had wanted a son. Maria received her musical education in Greece at age 13 and later established her career in Italy. Forced to deal with the exigencies of 1940s wartime poverty and with near-sightedness that left her nearly blind on stage, she endured struggles and scandal over the course of her career. She underwent a mid-career weight loss, which might have contributed to her vocal decline and the premature end of her career.
The press exulted in publicizing Callas's temperamental behavior, the alleged Callas-Tebaldirivalry, and her love affair with Greek shipping tycoonAristotle Onassis. Although her dramatic life and personal tragedy have often overshadowed Callas the artist in the popular press, her artistic achievements were such thatLeonard Bernsteincalled her "the Bible of opera",and her influence so enduring that, in 2006,Opera Newswrote of her: "Nearly thirty years after her death, she's still the definition of the diva as artist—and still one of classical music's best-selling vocalists."
The name on Callas's New York birth certificate is Sophie Cecilia Kalos,although she was christened Maria Anna Cecilia Sofia Kalogeropoulos (Greek:Μαρία Άννα Καικιλία Σοφία Καλογεροπούλου).She was born atFlower Fifth Avenue Hospital(now the Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center) on December 2, 1923, to Greek parents, George Kalogeropoulos (c. 1881–1972) and Elmina Evangelia "Litsa," née Demes, originally Dimitriadou (c. 1894–1982). Callas's father had shortened the surname Kalogeropoulos, first to Kalos and subsequently to Callas to make it more manageable.
George and Litsa Callas were an ill-matched couple from the beginning. George was easy-going and unambitious, with no interest in the arts, and Litsa was vivacious and socially ambitious and had dreamed of a life in the arts, which her middle-class parents had stifled in her childhood and youth.Litsa's father, Petros Dimitriadis (1852–1916), was in failing health when Litsa introduced George to her family. Petros, distrustful of George, had warned his daughter, "You will never be happy with him. If you marry that man, I will never be able to help you." Litsa had ignored his warning but soon realized that her father was right.The situation was aggravated by George's philandering and was improved neither by the birth of their daughter Yakinthi (later called "Jackie"), in 1917, nor the birth of their son Vassilis, in 1920. Vassilis's death frommeningitisin the summer of 1922 dealt another blow to the marriage.
In 1923, after realizing that Litsa was pregnant again, George moved his family to the United States, a decision that Yakinthi recalled was greeted with Litsa "shouting hysterically" followed by George "slamming doors".The family left for New York in July 1923, moving first into an apartment in the heavily immigrant neighborhood ofAstoria, Queens.
Litsa was convinced that her third child would be a boy, and her disappointment at the birth of another daughter was so great that she refused even to look at her new baby for four days.Maria was christened three years later, in 1926, at theArchdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity.When Maria was four, George Callas opened his own pharmacy, settling the family in Manhattan on 192nd Street inWashington Heights, where Callas grew up. Around the age of three, Maria's musical talent began to manifest itself, and after Litsa discovered that her younger daughter also had a voice, she began pressing "Mary" to sing. Callas later recalled, "I was made to sing when I was only five, and I hated it."George was unhappy with his wife favoring their elder daughter, as well as the pressure put upon young Mary to sing and perform,and Litsa was increasingly embittered with George and his absences and infidelity and often violently reviled him in front of their children.The marriage continued to deteriorate, and in 1937 Litsa returned to Athens with her two daughters.
Callas's relationship with her mother continued to erode during the years in Greece, and in the prime of her career it became a matter of great public interest, especially after a 1956 cover story inTimemagazine, which focused on their relationship, and later by Litsa's book,My Daughter Maria Callas(1960). In public, Callas recalls the strained relationship with Litsa on her unhappy childhood spent singing and working at her mother's insistence, saying,
In 1957 she told Chicago radio host Norman Ross Jr, "There must be a law against forcing children to perform at an early age. Children should have a wonderful childhood. They should not be given too much responsibility."
BiographerNicholas Petsalis-Diomidis[el]says that Litsa's hateful treatment of George in front of their young children led to resentment and dislike on Callas's part.According to both Callas's husband and her close friendGiulietta Simionato, Callas related to them that her mother, who did not work, pressed her to "go out with various men", mainly Italian and German soldiers, to bring home money and food during theAxis occupation of Greeceduring World War II. Simionato was convinced that Callas "managed to remain untouched" but never forgave her mother for what she perceived as a kind of prostitution forced on her.Litsa, beginning in New York and continuing in Athens, had adopted a questionable lifestyle that included not only pushing her daughters into degrading situations to support her financially but also entertaining Italian and German soldiers during the Axis occupation.
In an attempt to patch things up with her mother, Callas took Litsa along on her first visit to Mexico, in 1950, but this only reawakened the old frictions and resentments, and after leaving Mexico, they never met again. After a series of angry and accusatory letters from Litsa lambasting Callas's father and husband, Callas ceased communication with her mother altogether.
A 1955Timestorycovered Callas's response to her mother's request for $100, "for my daily bread." Callas had replied, "Don't come to us with your troubles. I had to work for my money, and you are young enough to work, too. If you can't make enough money to live on, you can jump out of the window or drown yourself." Callas justified her behavior ... "They say my family is very short of money. Before God, I say why should they blame me? I feel no guilt and I feel no gratitude. I like to show kindness, but you mustn't expect thanks, because you won't get any. That's the way life is. If some day I need help, I wouldn't expect anything from anybody. When I'm old, nobody is going to worry about me."
Callas received her musical education in Athens. Initially, her mother tried to enroll her at the prestigiousAthens Conservatoire, without success. At the audition, her voice, still untrained, failed to impress, and the conservatoire's directorFiloktitis Oikonomidis[el]refused to accept her without her satisfying the theoretic prerequisites (solfege). In the summer of 1937, her mother visited Maria Trivella at the youngerGreek National Conservatoire, asking her to take Mary, as she was then called, as a student for a modest fee. In 1957, Trivella recalled her impression of "Mary, a very plump young girl, wearing big glasses for her myopia":
Trivella agreed to tutor Callas, completely waiving her tuition fees, but no sooner had Callas started her formal lessons and vocal exercises than Trivella began to feel that Callas was not acontralto, as she had been told, but adramatic soprano. Subsequently, they began working on raising thetessituraof her voice and to lighten itstimbre.Trivella recalled Callas as
On April 11, 1938, in her public debut, Callas ended the recital of Trivella's class at the Parnassos music hall with aduetfromTosca.Callas recalled that Trivella
However, when interviewed byPierre Desgraupeson the French programL'invitée du dimanche, Callas attributed the development of her chest voice not to Trivella but to her next teacher, the Spanishcoloratura sopranoElvira de Hidalgo.
Callas studied with Trivella for two years before her mother secured another audition at the Athens Conservatoire, with de Hidalgo. Callas auditioned with "Ocean, Thou Mighty Monster" fromWeber'sOberon. De Hidalgo recalled hearing "tempestuous, extravagant cascades of sounds, as yet uncontrolled but full of drama and emotion".She agreed to take her as a pupil immediately, but Callas's mother asked de Hidalgo to wait for a year, as Callas would be graduating from the National Conservatoire and could begin working. On April 2, 1939, Callas undertook the part of Santuzza in a student production ofMascagni'sCavalleria rusticanaby theGreek National Operaat theOlympia Theatre, and that autumn she enrolled at the Athens Conservatoire in Elvira de Hidalgo's class.
In 1968 Callas toldLord Harewood,
De Hidalgo later recalled Callas as "a phenomenon ... She would listen to all my students, sopranos, mezzos, tenors ... She could do it all."Callas said that she would go to "the conservatoire at 10 in the morning and leave with the last pupil ... devouring music" for 10 hours a day. When asked by her teacher why she did this, her answer was that even "with the least talented pupil, he can teach you something that you, the most talented, might not be able to do."
After several appearances as a student, Callas began appearing in secondary roles at the Greek National Opera. De Hidalgo was instrumental in securing roles for her, allowing Callas to earn a small salary, which helped her and her family get through the difficult war years.
Callas made her professional debut in February 1941, in the small role of Beatrice inFranz von Suppé'sBoccaccio. Soprano Galatea Amaxopoulou, who sang in the chorus, later recalled, "Even in rehearsal, Maria's fantastic performing ability had been obvious, and from then on, the others started trying ways of preventing her from appearing."Fellow singer Maria Alkeou similarly recalled that the established sopranos Nafsika Galanou and Anna (Zozó) Remmoundou "used to stand in the wings while [Callas] was singing and make remarks about her, muttering, laughing, and point their fingers at her".
Despite these hostilities, Callas managed to continue and made her debut in a leading role in August 1942 as Tosca, going on to sing the role of Marta inEugen d'Albert'sTieflandat the Olympia Theatre. Callas's performance as Marta received glowing reviews. Critic Spanoudi declared Callas "an extremely dynamic artist possessing the rarest dramatic and musical gifts", and Evangelos Magkliveras evaluated Callas's performance for the weeklyTo Radiophonon:
Following these performances, even Callas's detractors began to refer to her as "The God-Given".Some time later, watching Callas rehearseBeethoven'sFidelio, rival soprano Anna Remoundou asked a colleague "Could it be that there is something divine and we haven't realized it?"FollowingTiefland, Callas sang the role of Santuzza inCavalleria rusticanaagain and followed it withO Protomastoras[el](Manolis Kalomiris) at the ancientOdeon of Herodes Atticusat the foot of theAcropolis.
During August and September 1944 Callas performed the role of Leonore in a Greek-language production ofFidelio, again at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. German criticFriedrich Herzog, who attended the performances, declared Leonore Callas's "greatest triumph":
After the liberation of Greece, de Hidalgo advised Callas to establish herself in Italy. Callas proceeded to give a series of concerts around Greece, and then, against her teacher's advice, she returned to America to see her father and to further pursue her career. When she left Greece on September 14, 1945, two months short of her 22nd birthday, Callas had given 56 performances in seven operas and had appeared in around 20 recitals.Callas considered her Greek career as the foundation of her musical and dramatic upbringing, saying "When I got to the big career, there were no surprises for me."
After returning to the United States and reuniting with her father in September 1945, Callas made the round of auditions.In December of that year, she auditioned forEdward Johnson, general manager of theMetropolitan Opera, and was favorably received: "Exceptional voice—ought to be heard very soon on stage".
Callas said that the Metropolitan Opera offered herMadama ButterflyandFidelio, to be performed in Philadelphia and sung in English, both of which she declined, saying that she felt too fat forButterflyand did not like the idea of opera in English.Although this offer is not documented in the Met's records,in a 1958 interview with theNew York Post, Johnson confirmed that a contract was offered: "... but she didn't like it—because of the contract, not because of the roles. She was right in turning it down—it was frankly a beginner's contract."
In 1946, Callas was engaged to re-open the opera house in Chicago asTurandot, but thecompanyfolded before opening. BassoNicola Rossi-Lemeni, who also was to star in this opera, was aware thatTullio Serafinwas looking for a dramatic soprano to cast asLa Giocondaat theArena di Verona. He later recalled the young Callas as being "amazing—so strong physically and spiritually; so certain of her future. I knew in a big outdoor theatre like Verona's, this girl, with her courage and huge voice, would make a tremendous impact."Subsequently he recommended Callas to retired tenor and impresarioGiovanni Zenatello. During her audition, Zenatello became so excited that he jumped up and joined Callas in the act 4 duet.
It was in this role that Callas made her Italian debut. Upon her arrival inVerona, Callas met Giovanni Battista Meneghini, an older, wealthy industrialist, who began courting her. They married in 1949, and he assumed control of her career until 1959, when the marriage dissolved. It was Meneghini's love and support that gave Callas the time needed to establish herself in Italy,and throughout the prime of her career, she went by the name of Maria Meneghini Callas.
AfterLa Gioconda, Callas had no offers, and when Serafin, looking for someone to singIsolde, called on her, she told him that she already knew the score, even though she had looked at only the first act out of curiosity while at the conservatory.She sight-read the opera's second act for Serafin, who praised her for knowing the role so well, whereupon she admitted to having bluffed and having sight-read the music. Even more impressed, Serafin immediately cast her in the role.Serafin thereafter served as Callas's mentor and supporter.
Lord Harewood stated "Very few Italian conductors have had a more distinguished career than Tullio Serafin, and perhaps none, apart fromToscanini, more influence".In 1968, Callas recalled that working with Serafin was the "really lucky" opportunity of her career because "he taught me that there must be an expression; that there must be a justification. He taught me the depth of music, the justification of music. That's where I really really drank all I could from this man".
The great turning point in Callas's career occurred inVenicein 1949.She was engaged to sing the role of Brünnhilde inDie Walküreat theTeatro la Fenice, whenMargherita Carosio, who was engaged to sing Elvira inI puritaniin the same theatre, fell ill. Unable to find a replacement for Carosio, Serafin told Callas that she would be singing Elvira in six days; when Callas protested that she not only did not know the role, but also had three more Brünnhildes to sing, he told her "I guarantee that you can".Michael Scott'swords, "the notion of any one singer embracing music as divergent in its vocal demands as Wagner's Brünnhilde and Bellini's Elvira in the same career would have been cause enough for surprise; but to attempt to essay them both in the same season seemed likefolie de grandeur".
Before the performance actually took place, one incredulous critic snorted, "We hear that Serafin has agreed to conductI puritaniwith a dramatic soprano ... When can we expect a new edition ofLa traviatawith [male baritone]Gino Bechi's Violetta?"After the performance, one critic wrote, "Even the most sceptical had to acknowledge the miracle that Maria Callas accomplished ... the flexibility of her limpid, beautifully poised voice, and her splendid high notes. Her interpretation also has a humanity, warmth and expressiveness that one would search for in vain in the fragile, pellucid coldness of other Elviras."Franco Zeffirellirecalled, "What she did in Venice was really incredible. You need to be familiar with opera to realize the size of her achievement. It was as if someone askedBirgit Nilsson, who is famous for her greatWagnerianvoice, to substitute overnight forBeverly Sills, who is one of the greatcoloratura sopranosof our time."
Scott asserts that "Of all the many roles Callas undertook, it is doubtful if any had a more far-reaching effect."This initial foray into the bel canto repertoire changed the course of Callas's career and set her on a path leading toLucia di Lammermoor,La traviata,Armida,La sonnambula,Il pirata,Il turco in Italia,Medea, andAnna Bolena, and reawakened interest in the long-neglected operas ofCherubini,Bellini,DonizettiandRossini.
In the words of sopranoMontserrat Caballé:
As withI puritani, Callas learned and performed Cherubini'sMedea,Giordano'sAndrea Chénierand Rossini'sArmidaon a few days' notice.Throughout her career, Callas displayed her vocal versatility in recitals that juxtaposed dramatic soprano arias alongside coloratura pieces, including in a 1952 RAI recital in which she opened with "Lady Macbeth's" letter scene, followed by the "Mad Scene" fromLucia di Lammermoor, then Abigaille's treacherous recitative and aria fromNabucco, finishing with the "Bell Song" fromLakmécapped by a ringing high Ein alt(E6).
Although by 1951, Callas had sung at all the major theatres in Italy, she had not yet made her official debut at Italy's most prestigious opera house,Teatro alla Scalain Milan. According to composerGian Carlo Menotti, Callas had substituted forRenata Tebaldiin the role ofAidain 1950, and La Scala's general manager, Antonio Ghiringhelli, had taken an immediate dislike to Callas.
Menotti recalls that Ghiringhelli had promised him any singer he wanted for the premiere ofThe Consul, but when he suggested Callas, Ghiringhelli said that he would never have Callas at La Scala except as a guest artist. However, as Callas's fame grew, and especially after her great success inI vespri sicilianiin Florence, Ghiringhelli had to relent: Callas made her official debut at La Scala inVerdi'sI vespri sicilianion opening night in December 1951, and this theatre became her artistic home throughout the 1950s.La Scala mounted many new productions specially for Callas by directors includingHerbert von Karajan,Margherita Wallmann,Franco Zeffirelliand, most importantly,Luchino Visconti.Visconti stated later that he began directing opera only because of Callas,and he directed her in lavish new productions ofLa vestale,La traviata,La sonnambula,Anna BolenaandIphigénie en Tauride. Callas was instrumental in arrangingFranco Corelli's debut at La Scala in 1954, where he sang Licinio inSpontini'sLa vestaleopposite Callas's Julia. The two had sung together for the first time the year previously in Rome in a production ofNorma.Anthony Tommasiniwrote that Corelli had "earned great respect from the fearsomely demanding Callas, who, in Mr Corelli, finally had someone with whom she could act."The two collaborated several more times at La Scala, singing opposite each other in productions ofFedora(1956),Il pirata(1958) andPoliuto(1960). Their partnership continued throughout the rest of Callas's career.
The night of the day she married Meneghini in Verona, she sailed for Argentina to sing at theTeatro Colónin Buenos Aires. Callas made her South American debut in Buenos Aires on May 20, 1949, during the European summer opera recess.Aida,TurandotandNormaroles were directed by Serafin, supported byMario Del Monaco,Fedora Barbieriand Nicola Rossi-Lemeni. These were her only appearances on this world-renowned stage. Her debut in the United States was five years later in Chicago in 1954, and "with the CallasNorma,Lyric Opera of Chicagowas born."
Her Metropolitan Opera debut, opening the Met's seventy-second season on October 29, 1956, was again withNorma,but was preceded by an unflattering cover story inTimemagazine, which rehashed all of the Callas clichés, including her temper, her supposed rivalry with Renata Tebaldi, and especially her difficult relationship with her mother.As she had done with Lyric Opera of Chicago, on November 21, 1957, Callas gave a concert to inaugurate what then was billed as theDallas Civic Opera, and helped establish that company with her friends from Chicago, Lawrence Kelly andNicola Rescigno.She further consolidated this company's standing when, in 1958, she gave "a towering performance as Violetta inLa traviata, and that same year, in her only American performances ofMedea, gave an interpretation of the title role worthy of Euripides."
In 1958, a feud with general managerRudolf Bingled to Callas's Metropolitan Opera contract being cancelled. ImpresarioAllen Oxenburgrealised that this situation provided him with an opportunity for his own company, theAmerican Opera Society, and he accordingly approached her with a contract to perform Imogene inIl pirata. She accepted and sang the role in a January 1959 performance that according to opera criticAllan Kozinn"quickly became legendary in operatic circles".Bing and Callas later reconciled their differences, and she returned to the Met in 1965 to sing the title role in two performances as Tosca opposite Franco Corelli as Cavaradossi for one performance (March 19, 1965) andRichard Tucker(March 25, 1965) withTito Gobbias Scarpia for her final performances at the Met.
In 1952, she made her London debut at theRoyal Opera HouseinNormawith veteranmezzo-sopranoEbe Stignanias Adalgisa, a performance which survives on record and also features the youngJoan Sutherlandin the small role of Clotilde.Callas and the London public had what she called "a love affair",and she returned to the Royal Opera House in 1953, 1957, 1958, 1959, and 1964 to 1965.It was at the Royal Opera House where, on July 5, 1965, Callas ended her stage career in the role ofTosca, in a production designed and mounted for her byFranco Zeffirelliand featuring her friend and colleague Tito Gobbi.
In the early years of her career, Callas was a heavy woman; in her own words, "Heavy—one can say—yes I was; but I'm also a tall woman, 5'8+1⁄2" (1.74 m), and I used to weigh no more than 200 pounds (90 kilograms)."Tito Gobbi relates that during a lunch break while recordingLuciain Florence, Serafin commented to Callas that she was eating too much and allowing her weight to become a problem. When she protested that she was not so heavy, Gobbi suggested she should "put the matter to test" by stepping on the weighing machine outside the restaurant. The result was "somewhat dismaying, and she became rather silent."In 1968, Callas toldEdward Downesthat during her initial performances in Cherubini'sMedeain May 1953, she realized that she needed a leaner face and figure to do dramatic justice to this as well as the other roles she was undertaking. She added,
During 1953 and early 1954, she lost almost 80 pounds (36 kg), turning herself into what Rescigno called "possibly the most beautiful lady on the stage."Various rumors spread regarding her weight loss method; one had her swallowing atapeworm, and Rome's Panatella Mills pasta company claimed she lost weight by eating their "physiologic pasta," prompting Callas to file a lawsuit.Callas stated that she lost the weight by eating a sensible low-calorie diet of mainly salads and chicken.Callas never regained the weight she lost and kept her slim figure until her death.
Some believe that the loss of body mass made it more difficult for her to support her voice, triggering the vocal strain that became apparent later in the decade, and others believed the weight loss effected a newfound softness and femininity in her voice, as well as a greater confidence as a person and performer.Tito Gobbi said,
Callas's voice elicited widely diverging reactions.Walter Leggestated that Callas possessed that most essential ingredient for a great singer: an instantly recognizable voice.
During "The Callas Debate", Italian criticRodolfo Cellettistated, "The timbre of Callas' voice, considered purely as sound, was essentially ugly: it was a thick sound, which gave the impression of dryness, of aridity. It lacked those elements which, in a singer's jargon, are described as velvet and varnish ... yet I really believe that part of her appeal was precisely due to this fact. Why? Because for all its natural lack of varnish, velvet and richness, this voice could acquire such distinctive colours and timbres as to be unforgettable."However, in his review of Callas's 1951 live recording ofI vespri siciliani, Ira Siff writes, "Accepted wisdom tells us that Callas possessed, even early on, a flawed voice, unattractive by conventional standards—an instrument that signaled from the beginning vocal problems to come. Yet listen to her entrance in this performance and one encounters a rich, spinning sound, ravishing by any standard, capable of delicate dynamic nuance. High notes are free of wobble, chest tones unforced, and the middle register displays none of the 'bottled' quality that became more and more pronounced as Callas matured."
Nicola Rossi-Lemenirelates that Callas's mentor Serafin used to refer to her asUna grande vociaccia; he continues, "Vociacciais a little bit pejorative—it means an ugly voice—butgrandemeans a big voice, a great voice. A great ugly voice, in a way."Callas did not like the sound of her own voice; in one of her last interviews, answering whether or not she was able to listen to her own voice, she replies,
Carlo Maria Giulinihas described the appeal of Callas's voice:
Callas's voice has been difficult to place in the modern vocal classification orFachsystem, especially as in her prime her repertoire contained the heaviest dramatic soprano roles as well as roles usually undertaken by the highest, lightest and most agile coloratura sopranos. Regarding this versatility, Serafin said, "This woman can sing anything written for the female voice".Michael Scott argues that Callas's voice was a natural highsoprano,and going by evidence of Callas's early recordingsRosa Ponsellelikewise felt that "At that stage of its development, her voice was a pure but sizabledramatic coloratura—that is to say, a sizable coloratura voice with dramatic capabilities, not the other way around."On the other hand, music criticJohn Ardoinhas argued that Callas was the reincarnation of the 19th-centurysoprano sfogatoor "unlimited soprano", a throwback toMaria MalibranandGiuditta Pasta, for whom many of the famous bel canto operas were written. He avers that like Pasta and Malibran, Callas was a natural mezzo-soprano whose range was extended through training and willpower, resulting in a voice which "lacked the homogeneous color and evenness of scale once so prized in singing. There were unruly sections of their voices never fully under control. Many who heard Pasta, for example, remarked that her uppermost notes seemed produced byventriloquism, a charge which would later be made against Callas".Ardoin points to the writings ofHenry Chorleyabout Pasta which bear an uncanny resemblance to descriptions of Callas:
Callas appears to have been in agreement not only with Ardoin's assertions that she started as a natural mezzo-soprano, but also saw the similarities between herself and Pasta and Malibran. In 1957, she described her early voice: "The timbre was dark, almost black—when I think of it, I think of thick molasses", and in 1968 she added, "They say I was not a true soprano, I was rather toward a mezzo".Regarding her ability to sing the heaviest as well as the lightest roles, she told James Fleetwood,
Regarding the sheer size of Callas's instrument, Rodolfo Celletti says, "Her voice was penetrating. The volume as such was average: neither small nor powerful. But the penetration, allied to this incisive quality (which bordered on the ugly because it frequently contained an element of harshness) ensured that her voice could be clearly heard anywhere in the auditorium."Celletti wrote that Callas had "a voluminous, penetrating, and dark voice" (una voce voluminosa, squillante e di timbro scuro).After her first performance of Medea in 1953, the critic forMusical Courierwrote that "she displayed a vocal generosity that was scarcely believable for its amplitude and resilience."In a 1982Opera Newsinterview with Joan Sutherland andRichard Bonynge, Bonynge stated, "But before she slimmed down, I mean this was such a colossal voice. It just poured out of her, the wayFlagstad's did .... Callas had a huge voice. When she and Stignani sang Norma, at the bottom of the range you could barely tell who was who ... Oh it was colossal. And she took the big sound right up to the top."In his book, Michael Scott makes the distinction that whereas Callas's pre-1954 voice was a "dramatic soprano with an exceptional top", after the weight loss, it became, as one Chicago critic described the voice inLucia,a "huge sopranoleggiero".
In performance, Callas'svocal rangewas just short of three octaves, from F-sharp (F♯3) below middle C (C4) heard in "Arrigo! Ah parli a un core" fromI vespri sicilianito E-natural (E6) above high C (C6), heard in the aria "Mercè, dilette amiche" in the final act of the same opera, as well as inRossini'sArmidaandLakmé's Bell Song. Whether or not Callas ever sang a high F-natural in performance has been open to debate. After her June 11, 1951, concert in Florence, Rock Ferris ofMusical Couriersaid, "Her high E's and F's are taken full voice."Although no definite recording of Callas singing high Fs has surfaced, the presumed E-natural at the end of Rossini'sArmida—a poor-quality bootleg recording of uncertain pitch—has been referred to as a high F by Italian musicologists and critics Eugenio Gara andRodolfo Celletti.Callas expert Dr. Robert Seletsky, however, stated that since the finale ofArmidais in the key of E, the final note could not have been an F, as it would have been dissonant. Author Eve Ruggieri has referred to the penultimate note in "Mercè, dilette amiche" from the 1951 Florence performances ofI vespri sicilianias a high F;however, this claim is refuted byJohn Ardoin's review of the live recording of the performance as well as by the review of the recording inOpera News, both of which refer to the note as a high E-natural.
In a 1969 French television interview withPierre Desgraupeson the programL'invitée du dimanche,Francesco Siciliani[it]speaks of Callas's voice going to high F (he also talked about her lower register extending to C3), but within the same program, Callas's teacher, Elvira de Hidalgo, speaks of the voice soaring to a high E-natural but does not mention a high F. Callas remained silent on the subject, neither confirming nor denying either claim.
Callas's voice was noted for its three distinct registers: Her low or chest register was extremely dark and powerful, and she used this part of her voice for dramatic effect, often going into this register much higher on the scale than most sopranos.Her middle register had a peculiar and highly personal sound—"part oboe, part clarinet", asClaudia Cassidydescribed it—and was noted for its veiled or "bottled" sound, as if she were singing into a jug.Walter Legge, husband of divaElisabeth 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".
The upper register was ample and bright, with an impressive extension above high C, which—in contrast to the light flute-like sound of the typical coloratura, "she would attack these notes with more vehemence and power—quite differently therefore, from the very delicate, cautious, 'white' approach of the light sopranos."Legge adds, "Even in the most difficultfioriturethere were no musical or technical difficulties in this part of the voice which she could not execute with astonishing, unostentatious ease. Herchromaticruns, particularly downwards, were beautifully smooth andstaccatosalmost unfailingly accurate, even in the trickiest intervals. There is hardly a bar in the whole range of nineteenth-century music for high soprano that seriously tested her powers."And as she demonstrated in the finale ofLa sonnambulaon the commercial EMI set and the live recording from Cologne, she was able to execute adiminuendoon the stratospheric high E-flat, whichScottdescribes as "a feat unrivaled in the history of the gramophone."
Regarding Callas's soft singing, Celletti says, "In these soft passages, Callas seemed to use another voice altogether, because it acquired a great sweetness. Whether in her florid singing or in hercanto spianato, that is, in long held notes without ornamentation, hermezza vocecould achieve such moving sweetness that the sound seemed to come from on high ... I don't know, it seemed to come from the skylight of La Scala."
This combination of size, weight, range and agility was a source of amazement to Callas's own contemporaries. One of the choristers present at her La Scala debut inI vespri sicilianirecalled, "My God! She came on stage sounding like our deepest contralto,Cloe Elmo. And before the evening was over, she took a high E-flat. And it was twice as strong asToti Dal Monte's!"In the same vein, mezzo-soprano Giulietta Simionato said: "The first time we sang together was in Mexico in 1950, where she sang the top E-flat in the second-act finale ofAida. I can still remember the effect of that note in the opera house—it was like a star!"For Italian soprano Renata Tebaldi, "the most fantastic thing was the possibility for her to sing the soprano coloratura with this big voice! This was something really special. Fantastic absolutely!"
Callas's vocal registers, however, were not seamlessly joined; Walter Legge writes, "Unfortunately, it was only in quick music, particularly descending scales, that she completely mastered the art of joining the three almost incompatible voices into one unified whole, but until about 1960, she disguised those audible gear changes with cunning skill."Rodolfo Celletti states,
As to whether these troublesome spots were due to the nature of the voice or to technical deficiencies, Celletti says: "Even if, when passing from one register to another, Callas produced an unpleasant sound, the technique she used for these transitions was perfect."Musicologist and criticFedele D'Amico[it]adds, "Callas' 'faults' were in the voice and not in the singer; they are so to speak, faults of departure but not of arrival. This is precisely Celletti's distinction between the natural quality of the voice and the technique."In 2005,Ewa Podleśsaid of Callas, "Maybe she had three voices, maybe she had three ranges, I don't know—I am a professional singer. Nothing disturbed me, nothing! I bought everything that she offered me. Why? Because all of her voices, her registers, she used how they should be used—just to tell us something!"
Eugenio Gara states, "Much has been said about her voice, and no doubt the discussion will continue. Certainly no one could in honesty deny the harsh or "squashed" sounds, nor the wobble on the very high notes. These and others were precisely the accusations made at the time against Pasta and Malibran, two geniuses of song (as they were then called), sublime, yet imperfect. Both were brought to trial in their day. ... Yet few singers have made history in the annals of opera as these two did."
Callas's own thoughts regarding music and singing can be foundat Wikiquote.
Adored by many opera enthusiasts, Callas was a controversial artist. Although Callas was the great singer often dismissed simply as an actress,Callas considered herself foremost a musician, that is, the first instrument of the orchestra."Grace Bumbryhas stated, "If I followed the musical score when [Callas] was singing, I would see every tempo marking, every dynamic marking, everything being adhered to, and at the same time, it was not antiseptic; it was something that was very beautiful and moving."Victor de Sabataconfided to Walter Legge, "If the public could understand, as we do, how deeply and utterly musical Callas is, they would be stunned",and Serafin assessed Callas's musicality as "extraordinary, almost frightening."Callas possessed an innate architectural sense of line-proportionand an uncanny feel for timing and for what one of Callas’s colleagues described as "a sense of the rhythm within the rhythm".
Regarding Callas's technical prowess, Celletti says, "We must not forget that she could tackle the whole gamut of ornamentation: staccato, trills, half-trills,gruppetti,scales, etc."D'Amico adds, "The essential virtue of Callas' technique consists of supreme mastery of an extraordinarily rich range of tone colour (that is, the fusion of dynamic range and timbre). And such mastery means total freedom of choice in its use: not being a slave to one's abilities, but rather, being able to use them at will as a means to an end."While reviewing the many recorded versions of "perhaps Verdi's ultimate challenge", the aria "D'amor sull'ali rosee" fromIl trovatore, Richard Dyer writes,
In addition to her musical skills, Callas had a particular gift for language and the use of language in music.In recitatives, she always knew which word to emphasize and which syllable in that word to bring out.Michael Scott notes, "If we listen attentively, we note how her perfectlegatoenables her to suggest by musical means even the exclamation marks and commas of the text."Technically, not only did she have the capacity to perform the most difficult florid music effortlessly, but also she had the ability to use each ornament as an expressive device rather than for mere fireworks.SopranoMartina Arroyostates, "What interested me most was how she gave the runs and the cadenzas words. That always floored me. I always felt I heard her saying something—it was never just singing notes. That alone is an art."Walter Legge states that,
Regarding Callas's acting ability, vocal coach and music critic Ira Siff remarked, "When I saw the final twoToscas she did in the old [Met], I felt like I was watching the actual story on which the opera had later been based."Callas was not, however, a realistic orverismostyle actress:her physical acting was merely "subsidiary to the heavyKunstof developing the psychology of the roles under the supervision of the music, of singing the acting ... Suffering, delight, humility, hubris, despair, rhapsody—all this was musically appointed, through her use of the voice flying the text upon the notes."Seconding this opinion, verismo specialist soprano Augusta Oltrabella said, "Despite what everyone says, [Callas] was an actress in the expression of the music, and not vice versa."
Matthew Gurewitsch adds,
Ewa Podleś likewise stated that "It's enough to hear her, I'm positive! Because she could say everything only with her voice! I can imagine everything, I can see everything in front of my eye."Opera director Sandro Sequi, who witnessed many Callas performances close-up, states, "For me, she was extremely stylized and classic, yet at the same time, human—but humanity on a higher plane of existence, almost sublime. Realism was foreign to her, and that is why she was the greatest of opera singers. After all, opera is the least realistic of theater forms ... She was wasted in verismo roles, evenTosca, no matter how brilliantly she could act such roles."Scott adds, "Early nineteenth-century opera ... is not merely the antithesis of reality, it also requires highly stylized acting. Callas had the perfect face for it. Her big features matched its grandiloquence and spoke volumes from a distance."
In regard to Callas's physical acting style,Nicola Rescignostates, "Maria had a way of even transforming her body for the exigencies of a role, which is a great triumph. InLa traviata, everything would slope down; everything indicated sickness, fatigue, softness. Her arms would move as if they had no bones, like the great ballerinas. InMedea, everything was angular. She'd never make a soft gesture; even the walk she used was like a tiger's walk."Sandro Sequi recalls, "She was never in a hurry. Everything was very paced, proportioned, classical, precise ... She was extremely powerful but extremely stylized. Her gestures were not many ... I don't think she did more than 20 gestures in a performance. But she was capable of standing 10 minutes without moving a hand or finger, compelling everyone to look at her."Edward Downes recalled Callas watching and observing her colleagues with such intensity and concentration as to make it seem that the drama was all unfolding in her head.Sir Rudolf Bing similarly recalled that inIl trovatorein Chicago, "it was Callas' quiet listening, rather thanBjörling's singing that made the dramatic impact ... He didn't know what he was singing, but she knew."
Callas stated that, in opera, acting must be based on the music, quoting Serafin's advice to her:
Callas's most distinguishing quality was her ability to breathe life into the characters she portrayed,or in the words of Matthew Gurewitsch, "Most mysterious among her many gifts, Callas had the genius to translate the minute particulars of a life into tone of voice."Italian critic Eugenio Gara adds:
Ethan Morddenwrites, "It was a flawed voice. But then Callas sought to capture in her singing not just beauty but a whole humanity, and within her system, the flaws feed the feeling, the sour plangency and the strident defiance becoming aspects of the canto. They were literally defects of her voice; she bent them into advantages of her singing."Giulini believes, "If melodrama is the ideal unity of the trilogy of words, music, and action, it is impossible to imagine an artist in whom these three elements were more together than Callas."He recalls that during Callas's performances ofLa traviata, "reality was onstage. What stood behind me, the audience, auditorium,La Scalaitself, seemed artifice. Only that which transpired on stage was truth, life itself."SirRudolf Bingexpressed similar sentiments:
ToAntonino Votto, Callas was:
During the early 1950s, an alleged rivalry arose between Callas and Renata Tebaldi, an Italian lyricospintosoprano.The contrast between Callas's often unconventional vocal qualities and Tebaldi's classically beautiful sound resurrected a debate, namely, beauty of sound versus the expressive use of sound.
In 1951, Tebaldi and Maria Callas were jointly booked for a vocal recital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Although the singers agreed that neither would perform encores, Tebaldi took two, and Callas was reportedly incensed.This incident began the rivalry, which reached a fever pitch in the mid-1950s, at times even engulfing the two women themselves, who were said by their more fanatical followers to have engaged in verbal barbs in each other's direction.
Tebaldi was quoted as saying, "I have one thing that Callas doesn't have: a heart",and Callas was quoted inTimemagazine as saying that comparing her with Tebaldi was like "comparing Champagne withCognac... No ... with Coca Cola".However, witnesses to the interview stated that Callas had said only "champagne with cognac", and that it was a bystander who had quipped: "... No ... with Coca-Cola." Nevertheless, theTimereporter attributed the latter comment to Callas.
According toJohn Ardoin, these two singers never should have been compared.Tebaldi was trained byCarmen Melis, a notedverismospecialist, and she was rooted in the early 20th century Italian school of singing just as firmly as Callas was rooted in 19th centurybel canto.Callas was a dramatic soprano, whereas Tebaldi was considered essentially a lyric soprano. Callas and Tebaldi generally sang a different repertoire: In the early years of her career, Callas concentrated on the heavy dramatic soprano roles and later in her career on the bel canto repertoire, whereas Tebaldi concentrated on lateVerdiand verismo roles, where her limited upper extensionand her lack of a florid technique were not issues.They shared a few roles, includingToscain Puccini's opera andLa Gioconda, which Tebaldi performed only late in her career.
The alleged rivalry aside, Callas made remarks appreciative of Tebaldi, and vice versa. During an interview with Norman Ross Jr. in Chicago, Callas said, "I admire Tebaldi's tone; it's beautiful—also some beautiful phrasing. Sometimes, I actually wish I had her voice." Francis Robinson of the Met wrote of an incident in which Tebaldi asked him to recommend a recording ofLa Giocondain order to help her learn the role. Being fully aware of the alleged rivalry, he recommendedZinka Milanov's version. A few days later, he went to visit Tebaldi, only to find her sitting by the speakers, listening intently to Callas's recording. She then looked up at him and asked, "Why didn't you tell me Maria's was the best?"
Callas visited Tebaldi after a performance ofAdriana Lecouvreurat the Met in 1968, and the two were reunited. In 1978, Tebaldi spoke warmly of her late colleague and summarized this rivalry:
In the opinion of several singers, the heavy roles undertaken in her early years damaged Callas's voice.The mezzo-soprano Giulietta Simionato, Callas's close friend and frequent colleague, stated that she told Callas that she felt that the early heavy roles led to a weakness in the diaphragm and subsequent difficulty in controlling the upper register.
Louise Caselotti, who worked with Callas in 1946 and 1947, prior to her Italian debut, felt that it was not the heavy roles that hurt Callas's voice, but the lighter ones.Several singers have suggested that Callas's heavy use of the chest voice led to stridency and unsteadiness with the high notes.In his book, Callas's husband Meneghini wrote that Callas suffered an unusually early onset ofmenopause, which could have affected her voice. SopranoCarol Neblettonce said, "A woman sings with herovaries—you're only as good as your hormones."
CriticHenry Pleasantshas stated that it was a loss of physical strength and breath-support that led to Callas's vocal problems, saying,
In the same vein,Joan Sutherland, who heard Callas throughout the 1950s, said in a BBC interview,
Michael Scott has proposed that Callas's loss of strength and breath support was directly caused by her rapid and progressive weight loss,something that was noted even in her prime. Of her 1958 recital in Chicago, Robert Detmer wrote, "There were sounds fearfully uncontrolled, forced beyond the too-slim singer's present capacity to support or sustain."
Photos and videos of Callas during her heavy era show a very upright posture with the shoulders relaxed and held back. Of a television broadcast from May 1960 of a recital in Hamburg,The Opera Quarterlynoted, "[W]e [can] watch ... the constantly sinking, depressed chest and hear the resulting deterioration".This continual change in posture has been cited as visual proof of a progressive loss of breath support.
Commercial andbootlegrecordings of Callas from the late 1940s to 1953—the period during which she sang the heaviest dramatic soprano roles—show no decline in the fabric of the voice, no loss in volume and no unsteadiness or shrinkage in the upper register.Of her December 1952 Lady Macbeth—coming after five years of singing the most strenuous dramatic soprano repertoire—Peter Dragadze wrote forOpera, "Callas' voice since last season has improved a great deal, the second passagio on the high B-natural and C has now completely cleared, giving her an equally colored scale from top to bottom."And of her performance of Medea a year later, John Ardoin writes, "The performance displays Callas in as secure and free a voice as she will be found at any point in her career. The many top B's have a brilliant ring, and she handles the treacheroustessituralike an eager thoroughbred."
In recordings from 1954 (immediately after her 80-pound or 36-kilogram weight loss) and thereafter, "not only would the instrument lose its warmth and become thin and acidulous, but the altitudinous passages would to her no longer come easily."It was at this time that unsteady top notes first begin to appear.Walter Legge, who produced nearly all of Callas's EMI/Angel recordings, states that Callas "ran into a patch of vocal difficulties as early as 1954": during the recording ofLa forza del destino, done immediately after the weight loss, the "wobble had become so pronounced" that he told Callas they "would have to give away seasickness pills with every side".
There were others, however, who felt that the voice had benefitted from the weight loss. Of her performance ofNormain Chicago in 1954, Claudia Cassidy wrote that "there is a slight unsteadiness in some of the sustained upper notes, but to me her voice is more beautiful in color, more even through the range, than it used to be".And at her performance of the same opera in London in 1957 (her first performance at Covent Garden after the weight loss), critics again felt her voice had changed for the better, that it had now supposedly become a more precise instrument, with a new focus.Many of her most critically acclaimed appearances are from 1954–1958 (Norma,La traviata,SonnambulaandLuciaof 1955,Anna Bolenaof 1957,Medeaof 1958, among others).
Callas's close friend and colleague Tito Gobbi thought that her vocal problems all stemmed from her state of mind:
In support of Gobbi's assertion, a bootleg recording of Callas rehearsing Beethoven's aria "Ah! perfido" and parts of Verdi'sLa forza del destinoshortly before her death shows her voice to be in much better shape than much of her 1960s recordings and far healthier than the 1970s concerts withGiuseppe Di Stefano.
SopranoRenée Flemingposited that videos of Callas in the late 1950s and early 1960s reveal a posture that betrays breath-support problems:
However, writing aboutdramatic sopranoDeborah Voigt in 2006 shortly after her 135-pound (60 kg) weight loss aftergastric bypass surgery, music criticPeter G. Davisbrings up comparisons with Callas and notes an increasing acidity and thinning in Voigt's voice that recall the changes in Callas's voice after her weight loss:
Voigt explained how her dramatic weight loss affected her breathing and breath support:
Callas attributed her problems to a loss of confidence brought about by a loss of breath support, even though she does not make the connection between her weight and her breath support. In an April 1977 interview with journalistPhilippe Caloni[fr], she stated,
And shortly before her death, Callas confided her own thoughts on her vocal problems to Peter Dragadze:
Whether Callas's vocal decline was due to ill health, early menopause, over-use and abuse of her voice, loss of breath-support, loss of confidence, or weight loss will continue to be debated. Whatever the cause may have been, her singing career was effectively over by age 40, and even at the time of her death at age 53, according to Walter Legge, "she ought still to have been singing magnificently".
A 2010 study by Italian vocal researchers Franco Fussi and Nico Paolillo revealed Callas was very ill at the time of her death and her illness was related to her vocal deterioration. According to their findings, presented at theUniversity of Bolognain 2010, Callas haddermatomyositis, a rare, connective tissue disease that causes a failure of the muscles and ligaments, including the larynx. They believe she was showing signs of this disease as early as the 1960s. Fussi and Paolillo cite an initial report by physician Mario Giacovazzo, who in 2002 revealed he had diagnosed Callas with dermatomyositis in 1975. Treatment included corticosteroids and immunosuppressive agents, which affect heart function.
At an event hosted by the journalIl Saggiatore Musicale, Fussi and Paolillo presented documentation showing when and how her voice changed over time. Using modern audio technology, they analyzed live Callas studio recordings from the 1950s through the 1970s, looking for signs of deterioration. Spectrographic analysis showed that she was losing the top half of her range. Fussi observed video recordings in which Callas's posture seemed strained and weakened. He felt that her drastic weight loss in 1954 further contributed to reduced physical support of her voice.
Fussi and Paolillo also examined restored footage of the infamous 1958Norma"walkout" in Rome, which led to harsh criticism of Callas as a temperamental superstar. By applying spectrographic analysis to that footage, the researchers observed her voice was tired and she lacked control and that she had bronchitis and tracheitis as she claimed, and that the dermatomyositis was already causing her muscles to deteriorate.
The latter half of Callas's career was marked by a number of scandals. Following a performance ofMadama Butterflyin Chicago in 1955, Callas was confronted by a process server who handed her papers about a lawsuit brought by Eddy Bagarozy, who claimed he was her agent. Callas was photographed with her mouth turned in a furious snarl.The photo was sent around the world and gave rise to the myth of Callas as a temperamentalprima donnaand a "Tigress".
In 1956, just before her debut at the Metropolitan Opera,Timeran a damaging cover story about Callas, with special attention paid to her difficult relationship with her mother and some unpleasant exchanges between the two.
In 1957, Callas was starring as Amina inLa sonnambulaat theEdinburgh International Festivalwith the forces ofLa Scala. Her contract was for four performances, but due to the great success of the series, La Scala decided to put on a fifth performance. Callas told the La Scala officials that she was physically exhausted and that she had already committed to a previous engagement, a party thrown for her by her friendElsa Maxwellin Venice. Despite this, La Scala announced a fifth performance, with Callas billed as Amina. Callas refused to stay and went on to Venice. Despite the fact that she had fulfilled her contract, she was accused of walking out on La Scala and the festival. La Scala officials did not defend Callas or inform the press that the additional performance was not approved by Callas.Renata Scottotook over the part, which was the start of her international career.
In January 1958, Callas was to open the Rome Opera House season withNorma, with Italy's president,Giovanni Gronchi, in attendance. The day before the opening night, Callas alerted the management that she was not well and that they should have a standby ready. She was told "No one can double Callas".After being treated by doctors, she felt better on the day of performance and decided to go ahead with the opera.A surviving bootleg recording of the first act reveals Callas sounding ill.Feeling that her voice was slipping away, she felt that she could not complete the performance, and consequently, she cancelled after the first act. She was accused of walking out on the president of Italy in a fit of temperament, and pandemonium broke out. Doctors confirmed that Callas hadbronchitisandtracheitis, and the President's wife called to tell her they knew she was sick. However, they made no statements to the media, and the endless stream of press coverage aggravated the situation.
Anewsreelincluded file footage of Callas from 1955 sounding well, intimating the footage was of rehearsals for the RomeNorma, with the voiceover narration, "Here she is in rehearsal, sounding perfectly healthy", followed by "If you want to hear Callas, don't get all dressed up. Just go to a rehearsal; she usually stays to the end of those."
Callas's relationship with La Scala had also started to become strained after the Edinburgh incident, and this effectively severed her major ties with her artistic home. Later in 1958, Callas and Rudolf Bing were in discussion about her season at the Met. She was scheduled to perform in Verdi'sLa traviataand inMacbeth, two very different operas which almost require totally different singers. Callas and the Met could not reach an agreement, and before the opening ofMedeain Dallas, Bing sent a telegram to Callas terminating her contract. Headlines of "Bing Fires Callas" appeared in newspapers around the world.Nicola Rescigno later recalled, "That night, she came to the theater, looking like an empress: she wore an ermine thing that draped to the floor, and she had every piece of jewellery she ever owned. And she said, 'You all know what's happened. Tonight, for me, is a very difficult night, and I will need the help of every one of you.' Well, she proceeded to give a performance [ofMedea] that was historical."
Bing later said that Callas was the most difficult artist he ever worked with, "because she was so much more intelligent. Other artists, you could get around. But Callas you could not get around. She knew exactly what she wanted, and why she wanted it."Despite this, Bing's admiration for Callas never wavered, and in September 1959, he sneaked into La Scala in order to listen to Callas recordLa GiocondaforEMI.Callas and Bing reconciled in the mid 1960s, and Callas returned to the Met for two performances ofToscawith her friend Tito Gobbi.
In her final years as a singer, she sang inMedeaandNorma, andToscain Paris, New York, and London from January–February 1964. Her last stage performance was July 5, 1965, at Covent Garden. A live television transmission of act 2 of the Covent GardenToscaof 1964 was broadcast in Britain on February 9, 1964, giving a rare view of Callas in performance and of her on-stage collaboration with Tito Gobbi, directed byCarlo Felice Cillario.
In 1969, the Italian filmmakerPier Paolo Pasolinicast Callas in her only non-operatic acting role, as the Greek mythological character of Medea, in hisfilm by that name. The production was grueling, and according to the account in Ardoin'sCallas, the Art and the Life, Callas is said to have fainted after a day of strenuous running back and forth on a mudflat in the sun. The film was not a commercial success, but as Callas's only film appearance, it documents something of her stage presence.
From October 1971 to March 1972, Callas gave a series of master classes at theJuilliard Schoolin New York. These classes later formed the basis ofTerrence McNally's 1995 playMaster Class. Callas staged a series of joint recitals in Europe in 1973 and in the U.S., South Korea, and Japan in 1974 with the tenorGiuseppe Di Stefano. Critically, this was a musical disaster owing to both performers' worn-out voices.However, the tour was an enormous popular success. Audiences thronged to hear the two performers, who had so often appeared together in their prime. Her final public performance was on November 11, 1974, inSapporo, Japan. Callas and Di Stafano were to have appeared together in four staged performances ofToscain Japan in late 1975 but Callas cancelled.
In 1957, while still married to husband Giovanni Battista Meneghini, Callas was introduced to Greek shipping magnateAristotle Onassisat a party given in her honor byElsa Maxwellafter a performance in Donizetti'sAnna Bolena.The affair that followed received much publicity in the popular press, and in November 1959, Callas left her husband. Michael Scott asserts that Onassis was not sure why Callas largely abandoned her career, but that he offered her a way out of a career that was made increasingly difficult by scandals and by vocal resources that were diminishing at an alarming rate.Franco Zeffirelli, on the other hand, recalls asking Callas in 1963 why she had not practiced her singing, and Callas responding that "I have been trying to fulfill my life as a woman."
According to one of her biographers,Nicholas Gage, Callas and Onassis had a child, a boy, who died hours after he was born on March 30, 1960.In his book about his wife, Meneghini states categorically that Maria Callas was unable to bear children.Various sources also dismiss Gage's claim, as they note that the birth certificates Gage used to prove this "secret child" were issued in 1998, twenty-one years after Callas's death.Still other sources claim that Callas had at least one abortion while involved with Onassis.
In 1966, Callasrenounced her U.S. citizenshipat theAmerican Embassy in Paris, to facilitate the end of her marriage to Meneghini.This was because after her renunciation, she was only a Greek citizen, and under Greek law of that time, a Greek could legally marry only in aGreek Orthodox church. As she had married in a Roman Catholic church, this divorced her in Greece. The renunciation also helped her finances, as she no longer had to pay U.S. taxes on her income. Her relationship with Onassis ended two years later in 1968, when he left Callas forJacqueline Kennedy. However, the Onassis family's private secretary Kiki writes in her memoir that even while Aristotle was with Jackie, he frequently met with Maria in Paris, where they resumed what had now become a clandestine affair.
Callas spent her last years living largely in isolation in Paris and died of a heart attack at age 53 on September 16, 1977.
A funerary liturgy was held atSt Stephen's Greek Orthodox Cathedralon rue Georges-Bizet, Paris on September 20, 1977. She was later cremated at thePère Lachaise Cemeteryand her ashes were placed in thecolumbariumthere. After being stolen and later recovered, they were scattered over the Aegean Sea, off the coast of Greece, according to her wish, in the spring of 1979.
During a 1978 interview, upon being asked "Was it worth it to Maria Callas? She was a lonely, unhappy, often difficult woman", music critic and Callas's friend John Ardoin replied:
According to several Callas biographers, Vasso Devetzi, a Greek pianist near the same age as Callas, insinuated herself into Callas's trust during her last years and acted virtually as her agent.This claim is corroborated by Iakintha (Jackie) Callas in her 1990 bookSisters,wherein she asserts that Devetzi conned Maria out of control of half of her estate while promising to establish the Maria Callas Foundation to provide scholarships for young singers; after hundreds of thousands of dollars had allegedly vanished, Devetzi finally did establish the foundation.
Callas's stage repertoire included the following roles:
All recordings are in mono unless otherwise indicated. Live performances are typically available on multiple labels. In 2014,Warner Classics(formerlyEMI Classics) released theMaria Callas Remastered Edition, consisting of her complete studio recordings totaling 39 albums in a boxed set remastered atAbbey Road Studiosin 24-bit/96 kHz digital sound from original master tapes.
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