For many people, she was the greatest singer of whom we have record or records. For some others she is overrated, had an ugly voice, went into decline very shortly after her brief period of glory, and as an actress (as preserved on video) was mannered, even grotesque. Everything about her is controversial, and to try to produce a balanced account of her, as an artist or woman, is to misunderstand what kind of phenomenon she was, and remains today.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n At that stage she was considered a heavy-voiced artist, and went on to perform Isolde, Br\u00fcnnhilde in Die Walk\u00fcre<\/i><\/a><\/strong>, and Kundry in Parsifal<\/i><\/a><\/strong>, all in Italian, though often with partners singing in other languages: \u2018Geliebte!\u2019 \u2018Carissimo!\u2019 is the kind of exchange you\u2019d hear between lovers. <\/span><\/p>\n But the elderly conductor Tullio Serafin, that great nurturer of talent, persuaded her to learn and perform the role of Elvira in Bellini<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s I puritani<\/i> when the original soprano fell ill and, protesting it was impossible, Callas did it, alternating one of the great bel canto<\/i> roles with Br\u00fcnnhilde, an unheard-of feat.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> \u00a0<\/p>\n Soon Callas\u2019s extraordinary timbre, the flexibility of her voice and the fanatical dedication of her performances were creating a sensation, one which happily coincided with the arrival of long-playing records, which made the recording of operas under ideal studio conditions possible.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The number of complete operas that Callas recorded for EMI in the 1950s and early 1960s is prodigious, and until the last ones they were under the omnipotent control of the great producer Walter Legge, who incidentally described Callas as having \u2018a superhuman inferiority complex.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n Her energy during the next few years was prodigious. 1955, for example, her annus mirabilis<\/i>, began with six performances of Giordano\u2019s Andrea Ch\u00e9nier<\/i> at La Scala Milan<\/a><\/strong>, interspersed with four of Cherubini\u2019s Medea<\/i> in Rome; she then went on to ten La Sonnambula<\/i>s (Bernstein<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s debut as operatic conductor) and five performances of Rossini\u2019s Il turco<\/i> in Italia<\/i> \u2013 all were new roles for her. <\/span><\/p>\n Then at the end of May she gave some of her most stupendous performances in La traviata<\/i>, conducted by Giulini and directed by Visconti, a landmark in operatic production. During the summer she made a recital record and classic studio recordings of Madama Butterfly<\/i><\/a><\/strong>, Aida<\/i><\/a><\/strong> and Rigoletto<\/i><\/a><\/strong>, with a radio broadcast of Bellini\u2019s Norma<\/i>, her favourite and most performed opera. And the summer closed with two sensational performances in Berlin of Lucia di Lammermoor<\/i>, with Karajan conducting \u2013 fortunately preserved as perhaps the absolute pinnacle of Callas\u2019s art. <\/span><\/p>\n She popped across to Chicago for two each of I puritani<\/i> and Il trovatore<\/i>, and three of Madama Butterfly<\/i>; and brought the year to a close with six performances of Norma<\/i> at La Scala. In 1956 she was even busier. \u2018Driven\u2019 hardly seems to be the word. Since we have almost all the productions on record, first on \u2018pirate\u2019 recordings, then assimilated into the EMI catalogue, we can judge that her voice was in magnificent shape throughout this marathon. Probably no singer has ever sung so many vastly varying roles in so short a space, and certainly not with such intensity and disciplined abandon.<\/span><\/p>\n There were already mutterings, even from some of her dedicated fans, who by this time were legion, that her voice was showing signs of wear. But the Chinese proverb \u2018He who rides a tiger can never get off\u2019 applied with horrible force: always conscious of being surrounded by people who wished her ill, Callas had the choice of showing them that she was invincible or admitting that she had reached her peak. <\/span><\/p>\n She naturally chose the former, and had two more brilliant years. All this time she was being supported by her rich husband, Giovanni Meneghini \u2013 dull, much older than she was, but a fighter for high fees and a buffer against the world. <\/span><\/p>\n Unfortunately, after the sensational loss of weight which Callas achieved in 1954, by what means is still hotly debated \u2013 down 30 kilos to a slim Audrey-Hepburn figure \u2013 she decided she wanted to take her place in international high society, and was shallow enough, once she made the entr\u00e9e, to enjoy it, posing with princes and other celebrities of the time.<\/span><\/p>\n Worst of all, she met the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, and he decided, despite being married, to get Callas at all costs. He even endured two and a half operatic performances by her, then asked her why on earth she bothered. <\/span><\/p>\n She and her husband went on a Mediterranean cruise on Onassis\u2019s luxury yacht, and by the time it ended, Meneghini was a cuckold. There were lengthy divorce proceedings; there is no doubt that Callas was passionately in love, possibly for the first time, with Onassis. But in 1963, after they had been lovers for four years, John F Kennedy was assassinated, and Onassis was now free to pursue Jackie, who had become the world\u2019s most famous woman. She married him for his money, and Callas was left lonely and distraught.<\/span><\/p>\n With no one person to back her, as there had always been, and with failing confidence and appalling nerves, she almost gave up performing complete operas, and took to glamorous recitals, of which many survive, both in audio sound and on DVD. They are marvellous occasions, and give us a powerful insight into her genius.<\/span><\/p>\n For instance, during the Prelude to Act V of Verdi\u2019s Don Carlo<\/i>,<\/a><\/strong> with restrained gestures and amazing use of her huge eyes, she creates the whole tragic atmosphere of that great opera, and then sings Verdi<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s finest aria, \u2018Tu che le vanit\u00e0\u2019 to eviscerating effect. And she does the same in each item in a long programme.<\/span><\/p>\nCallas through the 1950s and early 1960s<\/span><\/h2>\n
What happened between Maria Callas and Onassis?<\/h2>\n
Did Maria Callas ever consider retiring?<\/h2>\n
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