A star is born

Publicity photo of Maria Callas

 (1923 – 1977)

 as Violetta in La Traviata at

 the Royal Opera House (1958) 

photograph by Houston Rogers

On this day, December 2, in 1923, one of the world’s most naturally talented and most famous opera singers was born. Maria Callas, born Sophia Cecelia Kalos and christened as Anna Maria Sofia Cecilia Kalogeropoulou at age three, was the daughter of two poor Greek immigrants who had moved to New York City to find better lives. Callas’ innate musicality was discovered at the tender age of three, and due to her mother’s failed dreams of her own success in the arts she pushed her youngest child to sing constantly and work tirelessly to improve.

            The strain of her intense focus on one of her daughter’s life led to the demise of her marriage, and Maria’s mother chose to take her two children back to her home in Athens, Greece in 1937. By this time the sole outlet for her mother’s intense ambition, Callas was brought to the best music schools in Greece and was initially turned away from them all. After much prodding by her mother, Maria, or Mary as she was known at this time, was reluctantly accepted into the Greek National Conservatoire under the guidance of Maria Trivella. After hearing Callas perform however, all of Trivella’s concerns vanished and she offered to train her young pupil for free in order to hone her natural talent into something much more powerful.

            Although the training that Callas received under the wing of Trivella helped develop her blossoming talent, her largest growth as a performer occurred under the leadership of Elvira de Hidalgo at the famed Athens Conservatoire. While working to support herself and her family, Maria took classes with her mentor for nearly ten hours a day, every day. This tireless work and practice led to Callas’ professional debut as Beatrice in Franz von Suppé's opera Boccaccio. From the moment she set foot on stage, she was met with rave reviews and critical acclaim. As the years went by and her many successes grew in number, even those who disliked Maria’s voice or style referred to her as a God-given talent, or even more simply, “La Divina.”

            Not all those that heard Callas sing were so smitten with her voice, however. While most acknowledged that she was indeed talented, many argued and continue to argue that her voice lacked the velvety, sweet tone of more traditional singers, and that place of those qualities was a brassy, ugly sound. While Maria herself was apt to agree with those who disliked her voice, hers is one of the most distinctive and well-known in the world of opera.

            As well-known as her voice is in the world of opera connoisseurs are her personal struggles. Along with her difficult relationship with her mother, the public watched with rapt attention as Maria began an affair with the shipping entrepreneur Aristotle Onassis. Leaving her husband and renouncing her American citizenship in order to be with him, Callas was completely devastated when he left her for the grieving widow Jacqueline Kennedy. The loss she felt from this desertion coupled with her constantly fluctuating weight damaged her health as much as it damaged her voice, and in 1977 she died in isolation with her formerly glorious voice reduced to a mere shadow of what it once was. 

            Despite the tragic end of her life at the age of fifty four, Maria Callas is still known above all else for the power her voice. Her voice could move an audience to their feet and even move them to tears, and her many accomplishments can still be seen today – she was awarded a posthumously awarded a Grammy lifetime achievement award in 2007, and in that same year was voted as the greatest soprano of all time by the BBC Music Magazine.

The good that Callas left the world with her voice should be what she is remembered for most, not any personal difficulties she may have faced in her time. After all, as Italian director and producer Franco Zeffirelli said, “The magic of a Callas is a quality few artists have, something special, something different. There are many very good artists, but very few who have that sixth sense, the additional, the plus quality. It is something which lifts them from the ground: they become like semi-gods. She had it.” And, she should be remembered for it.

Sources

"Maria Callas." - Wikiquote. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.

"D I V I N A || The Maria Callas Official Web Site || Chronology." D I V I N A || The Maria Callas Official 

          Web Site || Chronology. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.