Great Performers: Maria Callas
Maria Callas is one of those rare singers: one you can identify in a single note. For many she was the greatest opera singer of the last century, possibly even the greatest of all time. Her artistry was transformative and she exercised as much fascination off-stage as she did on, thanks to a very public affair with one of the wealthiest men on the planet, Aristotle Onassis. But Callas's renown as an artist has guaranteed her immortality, and she occupies a unique role in the operatic firmament.
Read more…Born in New York on 2 December 1923 to Greek parents, Callas had an unhappy childhood, torn between her ill-suited mother and father until, in 1937, she moved with her elder sister and mother to Greece. There she would study privately at first with Maria Trivella who soon discerned that her young pupil was not a contralto as suggested but in fact a dramatic soprano, and later at the Athens Conservatoire with Elvira de Hidalgo (a former coloratura soprano who had enjoyed a successful career before taking up teaching in 1933). She instilled in Callas a work ethic that would stay with her throughout her career and a technique that underpinned her music-making to lasting effect.
Despite making her debut as (the mezzo) Santuzza in Mascagni's 'Cavalleria Rusticana', many of Callas's earliest successes were in dramatic soprano roles – during the 1948-9 seasons she would sing, astoundingly, Isolde, Turandot, Leonora ('La forza del destino'), Aida, Norma, Brünnhilde ('Die Walküre') and Elvira ('I Puritani'), the last two roles consecutively over two weeks. Once the 1950s dawned Callas would concentrate exclusively on the Italian repertoire, with a single excursion into French for Carmen. And perhaps her greatest service to music would be to spearhead a renaissance of interest in the bel canto repertoire – primarily Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti – elevating the operas way above fare for 'canary fanciers' they'd become, and restoring them as examples of dramatic art at its most searing, 'Lucia di Lammermoor' perhaps the purest of all, especially as sung by Callas.
Callas's voice remains controversial; not in essence a beautiful sound, it had an expressiveness and ability to convey a vast range of emotion granted to few. Because of her early experience as a mezzo, the voice had a huge range, making it difficult to classify – Callas declined to pigeon-hole herself, preferring to let the roles she took on define her. People speak of the three distinct registers in Callas’s voice and there is definitely a change in tone in different parts, something she exploited to powerful dramatic effect.
Music lovers are lucky that so many stars seemed to align themselves in Callas's career: one was the early encounter with the great Italian conductor Tullio Serafin, who became a mentor and trusted guide, often working with her both in the theatre and on record. Another figure was the EMI producer Walter Legge, a man of remarkable taste and judgement. Thanks to him we have 23 complete operatic recordings (in addition to the four she recorded earlier for the Cetra label, and a lone 'Medea' for Ricordi) as well as numerous recital albums, and it was Legge who brought Callas together in the studio with conductors like Victor de Sabata, Herbert von Karajan, Carlo Maria Giulini and Antonino Votto as well as such singers as Giuseppe di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Christa Ludwig and Legge's wife, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.
Callas's legacy is timeless and she remains a towering figure in the world of opera.
[Due to geo-blocking restrictions, some tracks might be unavailable in certain territories.]