All my life Maria Callas tried to earn someone's love. First - her mother, who was indifferent to her from birth. Then - an influential husband who idolized the artist Callas, but not the woman. And closed this chain Aristotle Onassis, who betrayed the singer for his own selfish interests. She died at 53 empty apartment, without ever becoming truly happy. For the anniversary of the opera diva, AiF.ru talks about the main events and people in the life of Maria Callas.
Unloved daughter
No one was happy about Mary’s birth. The parents dreamed of a son and were sure that all nine months Gospels to Demetrias I was carrying a boy. But on December 2, 1923, a unpleasant surprise. For the first four days, the mother even refused to look at the newborn. It is not surprising that the girl grew up unloved and terribly complex. All the attention and care went to her older sister, against whom the future star looked like a gray mouse. When people saw the plump and shy Maria next to the spectacular Jackie, they could hardly believe in their relationship.
- © Maria Callas with her sister and mother in Greece, 1937. Photo from Wikimedia.org
© Tullio Serafin, 1941. Photo by Global Look Press
© Maria Callas at the La Scala theater during a performance of Verdi’s opera “Sicilian Vespers”, 1951. Photo from Wikimedia.org
© Maria Callas during Vincenzo Bellini's opera La Sonnambula, 1957. Photo from Wikimedia.org
© American Marshal Stanley Pringle and Maria Callas, 1956
© Maria Callas as Violetta before the opera La Traviata at the Royal Theater Covent Garden, 1958. Photo from Wikimedia.org
© Still from the film “Medea”, 1969
© Maria Callas performing in Amsterdam, 1973. Photo from Wikimedia.org
© Maria Callas, December 1973. Photo from Wikimedia.org
© Memorial plate in honor of Maria Callas at the Père Lachaise cemetery. Photo from Wikimedia.org
The singer's parents divorced when she was 13 years old. The father of the family remained to live in America, and the mother and two daughters returned to their historical homeland: Greece. They lived poorly, but it was not so much that upset little Maria as the separation from her dad, whom she missed terribly. Despite the fact that Evangelia could hardly be called a sensitive and caring mother, the opera diva owes her career to her. The woman insisted that her youngest daughter enter the conservatory. From the first days of her studies, Callas impressed her teachers; she grasped everything on the fly. She was always the first to arrive in class and the last to leave. By the end of the third trimester, she could speak Italian and French fluently. In 1941, the girl made her debut on the stage of the Athens Opera as Tosca in Puccini's opera of the same name, but the world learned about her a little later: six years later. At the age of 24, the singer performed on the stage of the Arena di Verona in the opera La Gioconda. Here in Italy she met Giovanni Battista Meneghini, a famous industrialist and a passionate opera fan. It is not surprising that from the first minutes he was fascinated by Callas and was ready to throw the whole world at her feet.
Husband and producer
Giovanni Battista Meneghini was 27 years older than Maria, but this did not stop him from marrying the young singer. The couple walked down the aisle less than a year after they met. The businessman became Callas’s husband and manager rolled into one. For the next ten years, the opera diva and the wealthy industrialist walked through life hand in hand. Of course, Meneghini provided his wife with powerful financial support, which contributed to the already brilliant career Maria. But main secret her demand lay not in her husband’s money, but in her impeccable mastery of technology. Our famous opera singer Elena Obraztsova once said about this: “Callas did not have in a beautiful voice. She had a fantastic singing technique and, most importantly, sang with her heart and soul. She was like a guide from God.” After Verona, the doors of all famous opera houses gradually began to open for the girl. In 1953, the artist signed a contract with the major record company EMI. It was this company that released recordings of operas performed by the singer.
From the very beginning of her career, Maria was quite large. Some ill-wishers and envious people called her fat. Weight problems arose due to great love to food. Artist's secretary Nadya Stanshaft told about her: “We were setting the table, she came up and innocently asked: “Nadya, what is this?” Can I try a small piece?’ This was followed by another and another. So she practically ate everything that was on the plate. And then I tried it from every plate of everyone sitting at the table. It drove me crazy." Maria's favorite treat was ice cream. It was this dessert that should have ended absolutely every meal of the singer. With such an appetite, Callas had every chance not only to become famous as an opera performer, but also to become the fattest woman in the world, but, fortunately, she stopped in time. While working on the role of Violetta in her favorite La Traviata, the girl lost a lot of weight and became a real beauty that the famous womanizer could not let pass by Aristotle Onassis.
Aristotle Onassis and Maria Callas. Photo: Frame youtube.com
Traitor
Maria first met the billionaire in the late fifties in Italy, at a party after the performance of Norma. Six months later, the billionaire invited the singer and her husband to ride on his famous yacht “Christina”. By the end of this journey, Callas’s marriage with Meneghini was at an end. And this despite the fact that Onassis himself at that time was also in a relationship with Tina Levanos. It was she who caught the newly-made lovers and made their romance public. To get a divorce, the singer renounced her American citizenship and adopted Greek citizenship. “I did it for one reason: I want to be a free woman. According to Greek law, anyone who, after 1946, got married outside of a church is not considered a married person,” Maria told one of the journalists, who during that period of her life became more active than ever.
Unlike the singer's ex-husband, Onassis was indifferent to opera. He did not understand Maria’s desire to sing and more than once suggested that she stop her career. One day she actually stopped going on stage, but not for the sake of Aristotle. This is how the circumstances developed: voice problems, general fatigue, a break in relations with the Metropolitan Opera and leaving La Scala. Started new period in her life: bohemian. But he did not make the artist happy. Neither did Aristotle. The businessman needed Callas for his image. The billionaire had no intention of marrying her and even forced her to have an abortion when she became pregnant. Having taken everything he needed from the singer, Onassis successfully found himself a new object of desire: Jacqueline Kennedy. He married the widow of the 35th President of the United States in 1968. Maria learned about what happened from the newspapers. Of course, she was in despair, because she herself dreamed of being in Jacqueline’s place. By the way, after the wedding, the businessman did not stop his meetings with Maria, only now they were secret. And during his honeymoon in London, he called the singer every morning, giving hope for the continuation of the relationship.
The only medicine that could save the diva from depression was work. But by that time, the artist’s voice was no longer the same, so she began to look for new ways of self-realization. First, Maria starred in Pasolini's film Medea, although it was not a box office success. Then she directed an opera production in Turin, and also taught at the Juilliard School in New York. Unfortunately, the singer did not receive satisfaction from all this. Then Callas tried to return to the stage with the famous tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano. The public greeted the creative tandem very warmly, but during the tour Maria was dissatisfied with herself, her voice betrayed her, and critics wrote unpleasant things. As a result, the attempt to resume her career also did not make her happier and could not help her forget the betrayal of Aristotle.
At the end of her life, the legendary diva turned into a real recluse and practically never left her Parisian apartment. The circle of those with whom she communicated was sharply reduced. According to one of Callas’s close friends, at that time it was impossible to reach her by phone, as well as arrange a meeting, and this repelled even the most devoted people. On September 16, 1977, the famous opera singer died at about two o'clock in the afternoon from cardiac arrest in her apartment. According to Mary's last will, her body was cremated.
What did the unlucky pharmacist Georgiy Kalogeropoulos try to make ends meet? with ends!
And finally, he left his native Greece with his family, notifying his wife of his departure a day in advance. They settled in New York, which sheltered thousands of emigrants in the 20s of the last century. Having changed the country, he also changed his surname to the sonorous “Callas” - not least because, according to legend, with a person’s name his fate also changes... It’s only a pity that the higher powers did not know this Hellenic legend: the pharmacy opened by George brought a modest income,and the surly wife Evangelina became a real vixen. However, is it possible to demand complacency from a woman who has withdrawn into herself after the recent death of her beloved three-year-old son Basil from typhus? Even before she put off her mourning, Evangelina realized that she was pregnant. “A boy will be born,” she repeated, looking at her growing belly, confident that the child would replace her late son.
The illusion lasted until the birth: as soon as Evangelina heard the midwife’s words “You have a daughter,” not a trace remained of her attachment to the child. The congratulations sounded like a bitter smile: hopes collapsed overnight, and the mother did not approach the heart-rendingly screaming baby for four days. Household members could not even say with certainty whether the girl was born on December 2, 3 or 4, 1923.
But formalities in a purely Greek spirit were observed: the girl was christened with the magnificent name Cecilia Sophia Anna Maria, which contrasted with the appearance of its bearer - a clumsy, myopic fatty. The eldest daughter, Jackie, as beautiful and playful as an angel on a Christmas card, was easy to love. Another thing is the gloomy, not childishly quiet Maria, whose mother could not forgive the fact that she was not a boy and thereby destroyed her hopes. The youngest daughter continually fell under the hot hand, reproaches and slaps rained down on her.
Cruel accidents haunted Maria with rare constancy. At the age of 6 she was hit by a car. The doctors shrugged:
“We are doing everything possible, but we have not been able to bring her out of the coma for 12 days.” However, the girl survived and did not become disabled. Life was given to Mary for the second time - she had to prove that she was worthy of such a generous gift.
They say that in critical situations, all hope is in the “black box”. The first “black box” in Maria’s childhood was an old gramophone - a three-year-old girl discovered that sounds of enchanting beauty were coming from it. That's how she met classical music. A close acquaintance with the second “black box” - the piano - took place at the age of five: it turned out that it was enough to touch the keys - and the sounds that existed in the imagination would flow. “Perhaps I have the ability,” Evangelina was surprised and firmly decided to raise the “ugly duckling” into a child prodigy. From the age of eight, Maria took vocal lessons. The mother’s calculation was practical to the point of cynicism - family friends remember how she said: “With an appearance like my youngest daughter, it’s hard to count on marriage - let her make a career in the musical field.” While other children were frolicking, Maria played plays. The daily routine was Spartan: her mother forbade her to spend more than ten minutes a day “uselessly.” But, falling exhausted onto the hard bed in the evenings, Maria did not regret anything. Years will pass, and she admits: “Only when I sang did I feel loved.” That was the price mother's love– even the things that went without saying did not come to Maria for free 
At the age of ten, Maria knew Carmen by heart and discovered inaccuracies in radio recordings of Metropolitan Opera performances. At eleven, after hearing the opera diva Lily Pans perform, she said: “Someday I will become a bigger star than her.” Her thirteen-year-old daughter Evangelina signed up to participate in a radio competition, and after a while Maria took second place in children's show in Chicago.
The Great Depression that gripped America in the 30s did not escape Maria’s father and his pharmacy. “I’m so tired of everything! - Evangelina wailed, transporting meager belongings from the eighth rented apartment to the ninth. “I don’t want to live.” Accustomed to her difficult character, her family did not take her complaints seriously until Evangeline was taken to the hospital after attempting to take her own life. The father had left the family by that time.
In an effort to get away from painful memories, Evangelina moved the children to Athens. Who knew that in 1940 the Nazis would enter to Greece...
Dangers and hunger caused her mother to despair; Jackie tormented those around her with outbursts of anger. And only Maria rehearsed, although machine gun fire and sharp shouts in German could be heard from outside the window. She studied singing at the Athens Conservatory, Elvira de Hidalgo taught her the basics of bel canto. Against this background, searching for scraps in trash cans was perceived as a minor household detail. She had something to live for: singing did not just brighten up gray everyday life.
At the age of sixteen, having received first prize at the graduation competition at the conservatory, Maria begins to support her family with her earnings. Evangeline, who measured success in currency units, would have been proud of her daughter. But her mother’s exorbitant financial appetites and the desire for self-realization prompted Maria to buy a ticket on a ship that was heading to the USA.
“I sailed from Athens penniless, alone, but I was not afraid of anything,” Callas would later say. And recognition in the States came: in 1949, Maria sang Elvira in Bellini’s “Puritans” and Brünnhilde in Wagner’s “Die Walküre” within one week. Opera connoisseurs stated:
“This is physically impossible - both parts are difficult, and they are too different in style to learn them at the same time.” Few people knew that Maria taught them by heart down to the smallest details - she could not read “from a sheet”, being myopic. “If you have a voice, you should perform leading parts,” the singer asserted. “If he doesn’t exist, nothing will happen.” And the most fastidious connoisseur could not argue with the fact that she had a voice - not just a three-octave range, but a certain “irregularity” that made it memorable and at the same time impeccable.
In 1951, Maria became the diva of Milan"La Scala". At the same time, an opera connoisseur appears in her circle of friends. Giovanni Batista Meneghini, an Italian industrialist, is 30 years older than her. Fascinated by Mary's voice, he proposed to her. Relatives on both sides were torn and angry: Evangelina wanted to see a Greek as a son-in-law, and the Meneghini clan completely rebelled: “The rootless young upstart American coveted Giovanni’s millions! Gray hair in his beard...” In response, Meneghini left his relatives with his27 factories: “Take everything, I’m staying with Maria!”
The Catholic wedding ceremony took place without the relatives of the bride and groom. However, Maria did not strive to maintain the illusion of a close relationship with her mother. Ten years will pass, and, having sent Evangelina a luxurious fur coat, her daughter will disappear from her life forever.
Giovanni devoted himself entirely to Maria's career, becoming her husband, manager and only close person in one person. It was rumored that Maria treated Meneghini as a beloved father. Meneghini controlled everything - from the singer’s contracts to her outfits. Thanks to him, she performed at the Colon Theater in Argentina, at London's Covent Garden and La Scala in Italy. The connoisseurs breathe in unison with Mary; less demanding audiences slander her appearance: Maria weighs 100 kg - monstrous for a lyrical heroine!
No wonder: Maria, starved during the war, indulged in gastronomic orgies for several years. The cult of food reached the point that she did not dare to throw away even a stale crust. But, having read a review in the morning newspaper by a journalist who did not mention her voice, but mentioned her “elephant-like” legs, the singer goes on a strict diet. And in 1954, Maria was unrecognizable: in a year and a half she lost almost 34 kg. Evil tongues claimed that there was a barbaric method - tapeworm infection.
Along with her appearance, Maria’s character changed: she is no longer a shy girl, but a tough, self-confident perfectionist, demanding of herself and others. They said that she was able to captivate even the most indifferent person to opera.
Callas played Norma from Bellini's opera, who voluntarily goes to her death to save her loved one from suffering.
She played the role of Lucia di Lammermoor from Donizetti's opera of the same name, who was married against her will to an unloved man. Her heroine in La Traviata suffered unfair persecution.
In "Tosca" she committed a crime for the sake of insane passion; in "Iphigenia", on the contrary, she became a victim of circumstances. Maria did not play a role - she lived the destinies of her heroines, introducing tragic and vital notes into them so that each scene captivated the audience and herself. In a few years, she will unwittingly follow in the footsteps of one of her heroines - only she will have to play the role in life.
Was the famous diva happy with her life? Behind the external well-being, alas, lay boredom, bordering on disappointment: Maria was barely over 30, while Baptiste was over 60. A pragmatist,not prone to flashy gestures, stingy in everyday life, he was not the kind of person for whom one could feel a withering passion, famous Mary according to the “experience” of her heroines, and not just affection and gratitude. As soon as she hinted at having a child, she received a rebuke: “Think about your career, family concerns are not for an artist.”
All that remained was to hide tenderness towards other people's children,with whom she had the opportunity to communicate only on stage, playing the vengeful and desperate Medea, abandoned by Jason: calm on the outside, but torn by passions from the inside, like Maria herself.
It is no coincidence that the singer called her her alter ego.
Unjustified expectations and nervous tension affected her well-being: Callas was sometimes forced to cancel performances due to illness.
In 1958, after the first act of Norma, Maria refused to go on stage again, feeling that her voice did not obey her.
According to the law of meanness, it was this speech that the Italian president came to. Taking this incident as a warning, Callas turned her attention to her health. Having found no serious illnesses, doctors advised her to relax on the seaside. It was there in 1959 that Maria met the one who played the role of Jason in her destiny.
The yacht Christina, owned by Greek billionaire Aristotle Onassis, has set sail from the shore. Some people whispered: both the ship and its owner did not enjoy a very good reputation, but how can you refuse a boat trip when the Duchess of Kent herself accepted the offer, and among the guests were Gary Cooper and Sir Winston Churchill, who lazily lit a cigar, watching her go receding shore. Climbing up the stairs hand in hand, Maria and her husband had no idea that they would have to return alone
On the very first evening, Maria seemed to have been replaced: she danced tirelessly, laughed and coquettishly looked away, meeting the gaze of the owner of the yacht.
“The sea is luxurious when it’s stormy,” she said casually over her shoulder when Batista called out to her.
He did not attach any importance to Aristo’s courtship of his wife: everyone knows that this Greek is simply a womanizer, unremarkable for anything other than billions, and if faithful Maria was not flattered even at the speech of Luchino Visconti, a talented director and a most charming person, then she is not Onassis either will be interested.
Night dancing under the piercing starry sky. The wine that Maria, hot after the dance, drank in greedy sips from Aristotle’s folded palms... “Is it bitter?” - “No more than a truly Greek wine should!” Warm hugs until the morning... “Why do we care what others think?” When in the morning Batista, who had lost his phlegm, interrogated his wife, she answered with a laugh: “You saw that my legs were giving way, why didn’t you do anything?”
Onassis is only nine years younger than Meneghini. Charming, open and prone to the spectacular gestures that Maria liked so much on stage and in life, he organized an evening in honor of Callas at the Dorchester Hotel in London, covering the entire hotel with red roses. Meneghini was not capable of such “directing”.
After the cruise, Maria separated from her husband and settled in Paris to be closer to Ari, as she called Onassis.
He divorced his wife. At 36, she behaved like a girl in love - a sizzling passion gripped her so much that performances faded into the background.
In subsequent years, she would perform only a few times. Those who said that she was leaving the stage to pay more attention to Ari, and those who whispered that the diva had serious problems with her voice, would be right.
This little-studied instrument, like a barometer, reacts to the slightest changes in the atmosphere and is capable of cruelly taking revenge on a singer who has exposed himself to stress.
After a three-year relationship, Maria and Ari got ready to get married. On the way to church, hearing from the groom: “Well, have you achieved your goal?”, the offended Maria jumped out of the car almost at full speed. They never got married, although Maria only That's what I dreamed about.
The denouement was approaching: in the autumn of 1965, Maria, performing the Tosca aria at Covent Garden, realized that her own voice had betrayed her. A little earlier, in Dallas, her voice was already breaking, but, having pulled herself together, she finished singing the part. Now she knows: this is retribution for a destroyed family and Batista’s betrayed trust - just like in the opera based on ancient tragedy, higher powers punished her by depriving her of her most precious possessions. Moreover, the chosen one - again according to the laws of the genre - turned out to be by no means the hero she saw in him. Maria wanted operatic passions, worship of talent - Aristo, by evil irony, fell asleep from the sounds of her voice.
At 44, Maria, who had long dreamed of having a child, finally became pregnant. The answer from Onassis, who already had two children, was as short as a sentence: “abortion.” Maria obeyed, afraid of losing her beloved.
“It took me four months to come to my senses. Think how full my life would have been if I had resisted and kept the child,” she later recalled.
The relationship began to crack, although Onassis tried to make amends in the only way he knew - by giving Callas a mink stole...
He no longer insisted that she get rid of the second child, but the baby did not live even two hours.
Meanwhile, a new guest appeared on the Aristo yacht - Jacqueline Kennedy... The final blow Callas received news of the wedding of Ari and the widow American President. Then she uttered the prophetic words: “The gods will be fair. There is justice in the world." She was not mistaken: in 1973, Onassis’s beloved son Alexander died in a car accident, and after that Aristotle was never able to recover...
One of the outstanding singers of the last century, Maria Callas became a real legend during her lifetime. Whatever the artist touched, everything was illuminated with some new, unexpected light. She knew how to look at many pages of opera scores with a new, fresh look, and discover hitherto unknown beauties in them.
Maria Callas(real name Maria Anna Sophia Cecilia Kalogeropoulou) was born on December 2, 1923 in New York, in a family of Greek emigrants. Despite her small income, her parents decided to give her a singing education. Maria's extraordinary talent manifested itself in early childhood. In 1937, together with her mother, she came to her homeland and entered one of the Athens conservatories, the Ethnikon Odeon, with the famous teacher Maria Trivella.
Under her leadership, Callas prepared and performed her first opera role in a student performance - the role of Santuzza in the opera “Honor Rusticana” by P. Mascagni. So significant event happened in 1939, which became a kind of milestone in life future singer. She moved to another Athens conservatory, the Odeon Afion, in the class of the outstanding coloratura singer Elvira de Hidalgo, who completed her voice polishing and helped Callas to become an opera singer.
In 1941, Callas made her debut at the Athens Opera, performing the role of Tosca in Puccini's opera of the same name. Here she worked until 1945, gradually beginning to master leading opera roles. After all, there was a brilliant “wrongness” in Callas’s voice. In the middle register she had a special muffled, even somewhat compressed timbre. Vocal connoisseurs considered this a drawback, but listeners saw it as a special charm. It is no coincidence that they talked about the magic of her voice, that she captivates the audience with her singing. The singer herself called her voice “dramatic coloratura.”
Callas's discovery occurred on August 2, 1947, when an unknown twenty-four-year-old singer appeared on the stage of the Arena di Verona theater, the largest in the world. opera house under open air, where almost everyone performed greatest singers and conductors of the 20th century. In summer there is a grand opera festival, during which Callas performed for leading role in Ponchielli's opera La Gioconda.
The performance was conducted by Tullio Serafin, one of the best conductors of Italian opera. And again, a personal meeting determines the fate of the actress. It was on the recommendation of Serafina that Callas was invited to Venice. Here, under his leadership, she performs the title roles in the operas “Turandot” by G. Puccini and “Tristan and Isolde” by R. Wagner.
It seemed that Callas was living out pieces of his life in opera roles. At the same time, she reflected woman's destiny in general, love and suffering, joy and sadness. Callas appeared at the most famous theater in the world, Milan's La Scala, in 1951, performing the role of Helen in Verdi's Sicilian Vespers.
Famous singer Mario Del Monaco recalls: “I met Callas in Rome, shortly after her arrival from America, in the house of maestro Serafina, and I remember that she sang several excerpts from Turandot there. My impression was not the best. Of course, Callas easily coped with all vocal difficulties, but its scale did not give the impression of being homogeneous. The middle and lower parts were guttural, and the extreme upper parts vibrated.
However, over the years, Maria Callas managed to turn her shortcomings into advantages. They became integral part her artistic personality and, in a sense, increased her performing originality. Maria Callas managed to establish her own style. I first sang with her in August 1948 at the Genoese Teatro Carlo Felice, performing Turandot under Cuesta, and a year later we went to Buenos Aires with her, as well as Rossi-Lemenyi and Maestro Serafin...
...Returning to Italy, she signed a contract with La Scala for Aida, but she did not arouse much enthusiasm among the Milanese either. Such a disastrous season would have broken anyone but Maria Callas. Her will could match her talent. I remember, for example, how, being very nearsighted, she went down the stairs in Turandot, feeling the steps with her foot so naturally that no one would ever guess about her deficiency. Under any circumstances, she behaved as if she were fighting with everyone around her.
One February evening in 1951, sitting in the Biffy Scala café after the performance of Aida conducted by De Sabata and with the participation of my partner Constantina Araujo, we were talking with the director of La Scala, Ghiringelli, and the general secretary of the Oldani Theater about what opera is the best way to open the next season... Ghiringelli asked if I thought “Norma” was suitable for opening the season, and I answered in the affirmative. But De Sabata still couldn’t decide to choose the performer of the main female part... Severe in character, De Sabata, like Ghiringelli, avoided trusting relationships with singers. Still, he turned to me with a questioning expression on his face.
“Maria Callas,” I answered without hesitation. De Sabata, turning gloomy, recalled Mary's failure in Aida. However, I stood my ground, saying that in “Norma” Callas will become a real discovery. I remembered how she overcame the hostility of the audience at the Colon Theater by avenging her failure in Turandot. De Sabata agreed. Apparently, someone else had already told him the name Callas, and my opinion turned out to be decisive.
It was decided to open the season also with the “Sicilian Vespers”, where I did not participate, since it was unsuitable for my voice. That same year, the phenomenon of Maria Meneghini-Callas emerged as a new star in the world operatic firmament. Stage talent, singing ingenuity, extraordinary acting talent - all this was bestowed upon Callas by nature, and she became a brilliant figure. Maria took the path of competition with a young and equally aggressive star, Renata Tebaldi. 1953 marked the beginning of this rivalry, which lasted a whole decade and divided opera world into two camps."
The great Italian director L. Visconti heard Callas for the first time in the role of Kundry in Wagner's Parsifal. Admired by the singer’s talent, the director at the same time drew attention to the unnaturalness of her stage behavior. The artist, as he recalled, was wearing a huge hat, the brim of which swayed in different directions, preventing her from seeing and moving. Visconti said to himself: “If I ever work with her, she won’t have to suffer so much, I’ll take care of it.”
In 1954, such an opportunity presented itself: at La Scala, the director, already quite famous, staged his first opera performance– “The Vestal Virgin” by Spontini with Maria Callas in the title role. It was followed by new productions, including La Traviata on the same stage, which became the beginning of Callas’s worldwide fame. The singer herself later wrote: “Luchino Visconti means new important stage in my artistic life. I will never forget the third act of La Traviata, staged by him. I went on stage like a Christmas tree, dressed up like the heroine of Marcel Proust. Without sweetness, without vulgar sentimentality. When Alfred threw money in my face, I didn’t duck, I didn’t run away: I stayed on stage with outstretched arms, as if telling the audience: “Before you is a shameless woman.”
It was Visconti who taught me how to play on stage, and I keep it to him deep love and gratitude. On my piano there are only two photographs - Luchino and soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, who taught us all out of love for art. We worked with Visconti in an atmosphere of true creative community. But, as I have said many times, the most important thing is that he was the first to give me proof that my previous quests were correct. Scolding me for various gestures that seemed beautiful to the public, but were contrary to my nature, he made me change my mind a lot, affirm the basic principle: maximum performing and vocal expressiveness with minimal use of movements.”
Enthusiastic spectators awarded Callas the title La Divina - Divine, which she retained even after her death. Quickly mastering new parts, she performs in Europe, South America, and Mexico. The list of her roles is truly incredible: from Isolde in the operas of Wagner and Brunnhilde in the operas of Gluck and Haydn to the common roles of her range - Gilda, Lucia in the operas of Verdi and Rossini. Callas was called the revivalist of the lyrical bel canto style.
Her interpretation of the role of Norma in Bellini's opera of the same name is noteworthy. Callas is considered one of best performers this role. Probably aware of her spiritual kinship with this heroine and the capabilities of her voice, Callas sang this role at many of her debuts - at Covent Garden in London in 1952, then on the stage of the Lyric Opera in Chicago in 1954.
In 1956, a triumph awaited her in the city where she was born - the Metropolitan Opera specially prepared Callas for her debut new production"Norms" by Bellini. This role, along with Lucia di Lammermoor in Donizetti's opera of the same name, is considered by critics of those years to be highest achievements artists. However, it is not so easy to single out best works in her repertoire. The fact is that Callas approached each of her new roles with extreme and even somewhat unusual responsibility for opera prima donnas. The spontaneous method was alien to her. She worked persistently, methodically, with full exertion of spiritual and intellectual strength. She was driven by the desire for perfection, and hence the uncompromising nature of her views, beliefs, and actions. All this led to endless clashes between Callas and theater administrations, entrepreneurs, and sometimes even stage partners.
For seventeen years, Callas sang almost without sparing herself. She performed about forty parts, performing on stage more than 600 times. In addition, she continuously recorded on records, made special concert recordings, and sang on radio and television. Callas regularly performed at Milan's La Scala (1950–1958, 1960–1962), London's Covent Garden Theater (since 1962), Chicago Opera (since 1954), New York's Metropolitan Opera (1956–1958 ). Spectators went to her performances not only to hear a magnificent soprano, but also to see a real tragic actress. Performing such popular roles as Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata, Tosca in Puccini's opera or Carmen brought her triumphant success. However, it was not in her character to be creatively limited. Thanks to her artistic inquisitiveness, many forgotten examples of music of the 18th–19th centuries came to life on stage - Spontini’s “Vestal Virgin”, Bellini’s “Pirate”, Haydn’s “Orpheus and Eurydice”, “Iphigenia in Aulis”, and Gluck’s “Alceste”, “The Turk in Italy” and “Armida” by Rossini, “Medea” by Cherubini...
“Callas’s singing was truly revolutionary,” writes L.O. Hakobyan, she managed to revive the phenomenon of the “limitless” or “free” soprano (Italian soprano sfogato), almost forgotten since the times of the great singers of the 19th century - G. Pasta, M. Malibran, Giulia Grisi ( such as a range of two and a half octaves, richly nuanced sound and virtuoso coloratura technique in all registers), as well as peculiar “disadvantages” (excessive vibration at the most high notes, not always the natural sound of transition notes). In addition to her voice with a unique, instantly recognizable timbre, Callas had enormous talent as a tragic actress. Due to excessive exertion, risky experiments with her own health (in 1953, she lost 30 kg in 3 months), as well as due to the circumstances of her personal life, the singer’s career was short-lived. Callas left the stage in 1965 after an unsuccessful performance as Tosca at Covent Garden.
“I had developed some standards, and I decided that it was time to part with the public. If I come back, I’ll start all over again,” she said at that time.
The name of Maria Callas nevertheless appeared again and again on the pages of newspapers and magazines. Everyone, in particular, is interested in the ups and downs of her personal life - her marriage to the Greek multimillionaire Onassis. Previously, from 1949 to 1959, Maria was married to Italian lawyer J.‑B. Meneghini and for some time performed under the double surname - Meneghini-Callas. Callas had an uneven relationship with Onassis. They converged and diverged, Maria was even going to give birth to a child, but could not save it. However, their relationship did not end in marriage: Onassis married the widow of US President John Kennedy, Jacqueline.
