Maria Callas, 2023

This Week in Classical Music: November 27, 2023.  Maria Callas.  We’re a bit early, however subsequent Sunday is the 100^th anniversary of Maria Callas, La Divina, as she was recognized worldwide: she was born on December 2^nd of 1923.  It feels very unusual that’s already been a century since her start, as her presence is felt as strongly right this moment as on the day she died in 1977: her immediately recognizable voice could possibly be heard on classical music radio stations, on streaming companies, on YouTube and (nonetheless) on CDs.  The means have modified – again then it was LPs that folks have been shopping for and listening to – however she’s as adored as ever.  Her Casta Diva alone has been heard on YouTube about 35 million occasions.  Callas was so intently related to Italian opera – Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini – that she appeared Italian, however in actual fact was American, of Greek descent.  She married an Italian, Giovanni Battista Meneghini, and, whereas they have been married used his title together with her personal as Maria Meneghini Callas.  She moved to Greece in 1940 and studied voice on the Athen Conservatory.  There, she sang within the opera for the primary time, showing as Tosca in 1942.  She returned to the US in 1945 however quickly left for Italy.  Tulio Serafin, the well-known conductor who coached generations of singers, grew to become her mentor.  In 1947, on the Enviornment of Verona, he performed Callas in her first Italian position, as La Gioconda in Ponchielli’s eponymous opera.  Her look was tremendously profitable and introduced her profession to a distinct stage.  Throughout that point she usually sang within the not often produced bel canto operas, largely as a result of she was the one one who may sing these very troublesome roles.  She was distinctive as Donizetti’s Anna Boleyn, as Imogene and Norma in Bellini’s Il Pirata and Norma, Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Girl Macbeth and Violetta in Verdi’s Macbeth and Traviata, and, in fact, as Tosca.  For 3 years she sang in smaller theaters, then, in 1950, she appeared, as Aida in La Scala.  Although her relationship with the administration was troubled, within the Fifties La Scala grew to become Callas’s residence.  Neither did Callas have a rapport with Rudolph Bing, the supervisor of the Met, the place she premiered solely in 1956.  She had a popularity as a temperamental diva, however a lot of her colleagues thought that it was her exactness that made her troublesome to work with.  Later within the Fifties, she began experiencing issues together with her voice, which can have contributed to her sometimes-erratic conduct.  Some assume that it was the lack of weight that affected her voice; within the early Fifties Callas was relatively heavy, however then went on a weight loss program and misplaced about 80 kilos.  By the late Fifties, her vibrato was too heavy, generally the voice was compelled and one may hear pronounced harshness, regardless that different performances have been nonetheless wonderful.  Total, Callas sang on the high of her type for simply 10 years however what wonderful years they have been!  Even her detractors, and there are some, acknowledge that the interpretations of the roles she sang have been incomparable, it’s her voice that some folks have issues with.  We expect that at its peak her voice was uniquely stunning, and she or he created distinctive operatic characters that in different interpretations appear boring.  Even the usually mediocre music (and Italian operas are filled with it) sounded thrilling when she sang.  There are none even near La Divina on the opera stage right this moment, and we don’t anticipate to listen to anyone of that rank anytime quickly.