Something surprising, although understandable for those who once saw it on stage, surrounds The figure of singer María Callas. They have passed 47 years of his death and is still elevated to the myth category. The recent premiere of The movie “María”, starring Angelina Jolie and directed by the Chilean Pablo Larraín, The documentary “María Callas: in her own words”with Fanny Ardant narration and direction of Tom Volf, the reissue of its opeistic recordings, the growth of reproductions On music platforms like Spotify and different theatrical or performatic proposals carried out by the Italian actress Monica Bellucci and Serbian artist Marina AbramovićThey show that the soprano of Greek descent still fascinates.
The beginnings
His is a story of triumphs, excesses and tragedies in couples doses. Perhaps, like no other opera artist, he enjoyed fame honey and ended up imposing an ostracism that moved her away from friends and public. Her last days was only accompanied by her keys of keys and a faithful butler who took care of her with devotion. His death took place in 1977within his luxurious department of Georges Mandel Avenue, in Paris.
Daughter of a family of Greek immigrants, she was born in New York, in 1923, under the name of Maria Anna Cecilia Sofía Kalogeropoulos. At age 14, dissolved his parents’ marriage, he moved to Athens. Decades later, María would confess to the press that the relationship with her mother was always tense. Above all, because it was constantly compared to his sister, with more graceful figure and without overweight.
He began his training at the Greek National Conservatory, where she met the Spanish singer Elvira de Hidalgo. She would be her great teacher and teach her the difficult art of “Bel Canto.” In 1944, after the retirement of the Nazi occupation troops in Greece, he decided to return to the United States and meet his father. There he auditioned for the general director of Metropolitan Opera House that offered him the roles of “Fidelio” by Beethoven and “Madama Butterfly” of Puccini. Both rejected by Callas in a sample of their strong and decisive personality.
Success
In Italy, hired to sing “La Gioconda”, from Ponchielli, in the Arena de Verona met Giovanni Battista Meneghiniher future husband, a wealthy industrial construction thirty years older than her. Thanks to his support he continued to improve and act in different lyrical theaters, including our splendid Columbus. Here, in 1949, he sang “Turandot”, by Puccini, “Aída”, by Verdi (Only one function replacing Argentina Delia Rigal) and “Norma”, by Bellini. In the indispensable collection called Heritage, the Columbus rescued fragments of the latter thanks to the donation of a home recording, taken from the radio, which could be restored with the most advanced technology and it is possible to appreciate in Amazon Music, Spotify and I-Tunes.
They would follow the Scala de Milan, the Paris Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and many others in which he descolled and moved the public. On his unforgettable presentations, it was said that it was “like an injured animal that bleeds on stage.”
In those years he underwent a rigorous regime and fell more than 36 kilos to interpret, directed by The refined Luchino Viscontione of its great roles: the courtesan Violeta Valéry in “La Traviata”. The rumors did not wait and even said that it had been made to introduce a parasite in the stomach to descend weight.
In 1959 he left Meneghini for the shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis with whom he maintained a turbulent relationship that moved her away from the stage. When he returned, his voice evidenced the signs of twilight and his proverbial voice was no longer the same.
Last years
In 1969, he was encouraged to interpret the leading role of “Medea”a film shot in Türkiye and directed by Pier Paolo Pasoliniwhich would become his great friend and confidant. A year later he had to be urgently taken to the hospital by an overdose of barbiturates and sleepy. Retrieved, the famous master classes in the New York Juilliard School that inspired the theatrical drama “Master Class” of the playwright Terence McNallyreleased with great success on the Buenos Aires billboard by Norma Aleandro. In 1973, with barely vestiges of that bell that characterized her so much, he returned to the lyrical rooms on a nostalgic tour next to the Italian tenor Giuseppe di Stefano. The final performance would be in Sapporo, a city in Japan where it would be heard for the last time. María Callas died on September 16, 1977 for a heart failure, although it is still speculated that it could have been for a massive dose of tranquilizers.
Your legacy continues
Even after his death, he retains the privilege of attracting the public. Not only marked a milestone in the way of interpreting those tragic female roles so linked to opera. In 2023, when the centenary of his birth was fulfilled, a museum that bears his name was inaugurated in Athens and is dedicated to his career. “María”, the new production that has it as the protagonist, is focused on the final instances of his life. His role is played by Angelina Jolie and the script is by Steven Knight, author of the popular “Peaky Blinders” series.
The last days also inspiredto Serbia Marina Abramović artistwho corporate her in “The Seven Deaths of María Callas”, which premiered worldwide in Munich’s opera. The work recreates the deaths of the characters that Callas interpreted and adds one, that of the singer herself. “His personality, his life and even his death has always fascinated me. Like many of the opera heroines that embodied on stage, he died for love. With broken heart, ”Abramović declared.
As for the French filmmaker and writer Tom Volf, he became a specialist in the life of the diva. His exhaustive research found echo in the impressive photographic album “Maria By Callas” and, of course, the book “Maria Callas: Letters and Memories”. “For three years, I traveled the world following in the footsteps of María Callas. I considered that it was my mission, my duty,” he said. The letters and fragments rescued from oblivion became a fascinating and captivating theatrical monologue. To the point that the Italian actress Monica Bellucci, she accepted the proposal to interpret them on stage. Volf made the documentary “María Callas: in her own words” perhaps the most complete work in which the artist’s testimony and those who knew her can be found.
Other ways of approaching myth are the movie “Callas Forever” of his friend, The Italian filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli With Fanny Ardant, the miniseries “Maria who became Callas”, directed by the Greek Olga Malea, the cookbook “Maria Callas – the divine in cuccina”, which brings together the favorite recipes of the singer and the novel “Diva”, of the writer Daisy Goodwin, which abbreviates in the relationship that the interpreter maintained with Onassis.
All these tributes and those who will come seem few for an unrepeatable artist. In one of his last declarations he said: “The stage is my refuge, where I can be myself without fears or limitations.”
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