Maria Callas may have died almost 45 years ago, but he
fabulous voice lives on with her legend.
It is no mystery that Greeks, Italians, and Americans all claim her for
theirs.
She was born Sophia, Cecelia, Anna, Maria Kalogeropoulou in
December 1923 in New York. Her family
name was later changed to Callas.
Educated in Greece, she started performing at the age of eight.
She lived in New York for the first thirteen years. Though she mostly lived in Europe, she also
sang in the US from 1954-1974, and English was her native language.
In Verona, she meets Giovanni Battista Meneghini, a wealthy
industrialist who had a passion for opera, 28 years her senior who became first her
impresario and later her husband, in 1949.
In 1954, she loses around 30 kilos and turns into the utmost
diva taking top parts in the most famous operas. She is no longer is a plump opera singer but
a slim woman with a beautiful voice.
Callas did not only perform her arias beautifully, but she
was also a talented actress, so she was very popular with her audiences. Many
renowned actors admired her acting abilities.
On 2nd January 1958, she opens the Rome season
with “Norma” in the presence of the president of Italy, Giovanni Gronchi but at
the end of the first act says she has lost her voice and refuses to
continue. The temperamental diva is
accused of being capricious and there are whistles during one of her performances. But she insists to the media: “I could not even speak.”
In 1959, leaves Meneghini to embark on a passionate nine-year
affair with shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis.
Their idyl ends in 1968 when Onassis leaves her to get married to
widowed Jackie Kennedy, but she took their marriage “in her stride”.
A new book reveals shocking details about the tragic private
life of one of the greatest opera singers of the 20th century. “Casta A Diva, The Unknown Life of Maria Callas”
by L Spencer recounts her affair with Onassis with details about their legendary
love. It also includes disturbing anecdotes
about her early life with her verbally abusive mother who forced her to leave Greece
to have an international singing career.
Callas turns her back on opera in 1965. On the 20th of February, she triumphs
in “Tosca” in Paris. During a performance
on the 29th of May, she falls ill. On July 5th despite the
advice of her doctor, she goes on the stage for the last time in London with
Queen Elizabeth II in attendance.
In 1973, Callas undertakes an international tour of recitals. In Paris, bouquets rained on the stage, accompanied
by standing ovations and cries of “Viva Maria”, even if the critics were less enthusiastic.
Callas dies at her Paris home on September 16th
1979, aged 53, after a heart attack. To
create a characterization Callas said: “Listen to the music, you will find every
gesture there.” She had a particular genius in studying music and discovering
the character in the scribe.
Renowned Italian actress, Monica Bellucci, is to portray her
icon at Herodes Atticus Odeon on September 21st, 22nd and
23rd 2021. Bellucci is coming
to Greece to perform a monologue of unpublished letters of Maria Callas intitled
“Maria Callas: Letters and Memories”, which is directed by Tom Volf based on
his book and film “Maria by Callas”.
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