Callas Maria, born M. Kalogeropoulos, *4 December 1923 New York, †16 September 1977 Paris, American soprano singer of Greek descent. The daughter of a Greek pharmacist who had settled in America, she spent her childhood in New York, where she took her first music lessons. In 1937, she traveled to Greece with her mother and began taking singing lessons with M. Trivelli, followed by studies at the Athens Conservatory under Elvira de Hidalgo. She made her debut in April 1939, at the age of just 15, in a student production of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, and subsequently sang at the Athens Opera in Suppè’s operetta Boccaccio (1940), Puccini’s Tosca (1942), d’Albert’s Tiefland, and in Beethoven’s Fidelio (1944). In 1945, she returned to New York, where the distinguished tenor G. Zenatello heard her and engaged her for the Verona Festival. Her debut in Ponchielli’s La Gioconda on 3 August 1947, under the baton of T. Serafin, brought Callas great success, leading T. Serafin to engage the young singer for the roles of Isolde and Turandot at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice, as well as an invitation to perform the role of Turandot at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome in the summer of 1948. The following season, she sang Brünnhilde in Wagner’s Die Walküre at the Teatro la Fenice, but the turning point in her career came when she stepped in to replace an ill colleague in the role of Elvira in Bellini’s I Puritani. It turned out then that her dramatic soprano was equally well suited to light coloratura roles, which would eventually become her main domain; she continued to perform the Wagnerian repertoire for only a short time, singing, among other roles, Kundry in Wagner’s Parsifal at the Rome Opera. In the spring of 1949, she married the industrialist G. Meneghini (from whom she divorced 10 years later), taking Italian citizenship. In the summer of 1949, she sang in Buenos Aires (Teatro Colón), and in 1950 she made her debut at La Scala as Aida. In October 1950, at Rome’s Teatro Eliseo, she caused a sensation with her role as Fiorilla in the revival of Rossini’s long-forgotten Il Turco in Italia, and from that moment on she began to shift toward coloratura soprano repertoire. During the 1951–52 season, she made her true, triumphant debut at La Scala (Verdi’s Sicilian Vespers conducted by V. de Sabata, followed by Bellini’s Norma and Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio). Her performances at La Scala and her portrayal of I puritani at the Rome Opera established Callas’s position as one of the greatest singers of the century; this position was further cemented by her performances in Rossini’s Armida (rescued from oblivion at the Maggio Fiorentino festival in 1952) and Cherubini’s Medea (ibid. in 1953), as well as in Norma at London’s Covent Garden (1952). She performed at La Scala every season from 1953 to 1958; particularly memorable were her performances in Spontini’s La Vestale, Bellini’s La Sonnambula, and Verdi’s La Traviata, directed by L. Visconti, Lucia di Lammermoor conducted by H. Karajan, and revivals (staged especially for her) of forgotten operas: Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, Gluck’s Iphigenia in Tauris, and Bellini’s Il pirata. In 1954 and 1955, she sang in Chicago in, among others, Bellini’s Norma and I Puritani, Verdi’s Il Trovatore, and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. On 29 October 1956, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in the role of Norma and performed there until 1958.
Vocal problems and heart disease that began in 1959 forced her to significantly limit her stage appearances. As late as 1960, she triumphed at La Scala in the revival of Donizetti’s Poliuto; during the 1961–62 season, she appeared on that stage for the last time as Medea, and then performed almost not at all for two years. During the 1964–65 season, she sang Norma and Tosca at the Opéra de Paris. She also performed Tosca in 1965 in New York and for the last time on 5 July 1965, at Covent Garden. Later, she taught master classes at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, recorded albums, and made unsuccessful attempts at directing; in 1974, she gave a series of recitals in London and Paris alongside G. di Stefano, and also played the title role in Pasolini’s film Medea. In 1957, she was awarded the Order of the Italian Republic. She collaborated with Cetra, Columbia, and Angel record labels.
Although Maria Callas’s truly great career lasted very briefly (less than 15 years), she went down in history as one of the most outstanding and exceptional figures in the history of opera. Callas’s voice was distinguished by a characteristic, fascinating timbre; she commanded it with immense technical mastery, always subordinated to dramatic expression. She also possessed a unique gift for expression and an extraordinary command of language; she was an actress of the highest caliber – her talent in this field was supported by her extraordinary beauty. It was therefore not without reason that she was called the “prima donna of the century” (a title that harmonized somewhat with the artist’s lifestyle). It was largely thanks to her that many long-forgotten works from the old opera repertoire were revived.
Literature: E. Gara Die grossen Interpreten Maria Callas, Frankfurt 1959; G. Jellinek Callas. Portrait of a Prima Donna, New York 1960; L. Riemens Maria Callas, Utrecht 1960; F. Herzfeld La Callas, Berlin 1962; S. Galatopoulos Callas. La Divina, London 1963, 3rd ed. 1976; C. Cederna Chi è Maria Callas?, Milan 1968; M. Picchetti, M. Teglia El arte de Maria Callas como metalenguaje, Buenos Aires 1969; J. Ardon, C. Fitzgerald Callas, New York 1974; H. Wisneski Maria Callas. The Art behind the Music, New York 1975; J. Ardoin The Callas. Legacy, London 1977; P. J. Rémy Callas. Une vie, Paris 1978.
