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Maria Callas, 1923-1977: A Beautiful Voice and Intense Personality |
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She influenced opera more than any other singer of the twentieth
century. Transcript of radio broadcast: |
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ANNOUNCER:
Welcome
to People in America in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus. Today, Shirley
Griffith and Ray Freeman tell about one of the most famous opera singers of the
twentieth century, Maria Callas.
(MUSIC:
March From "Norma")
VOICE
ONE:
Opera
is a play that tells a story in music. The people in the opera sing, instead of
speak, the play's words. Opera is one of the most complex of all art forms. It
combines acting, singing, music, costumes, scenery and, sometimes, dance. Often
there are many colorful crowd scenes.
Opera
uses the huge power of music to communicate feelings and to express emotions.
Music can express emotions very forcefully. So most opera composers base their
works on very tragic stories of love and death. An opera often shows anger,
cruelty, violence, fear or insanity. Opera has been very popular in Europe since
it spread through it during the seventeenth century. It also has become popular
in the United States.
VOICE
TWO:
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Maria Callas |
Maria
Callas was one of the best-known opera singers in the world. During the
nineteen fifties, she became famous internationally for her beautiful voice and
intense personality. The recordings of her singing the well-known operas remain
very popular today.
Maria
Callas was born in New York City in nineteen twenty-three. Her real name was
Maria Kalogeropoulous. Her parents were Greek. When she was fourteen, she and
her mother returned to Greece. Maria studied singing at the national
conservatory in Athens. The well-known opera singer Elvira de Hidalgo chose
Maria as her student.
VOICE
ONE:
In
nineteen forty-one, when she was seventeen, Maria Callas was paid to sing in a
major opera for the first time. She sang the leading roles in several operas in
Athens during the next three years.
In
nineteen forty-five, Callas was invited to perform in Italy. This was the real
beginning of her profession as an opera singer. She performed major parts
in several of the most famous operas. In nineteen forty-nine, she married an
Italian industrialist, Giovanni Battista Meneghini. He was twenty years older.
He became her adviser and manager.
VOICE TWO:
In
nineteen fifty, Maria Callas performed for the first time at the famous La
Scala opera house in Milan, Italy. She sang in the famous opera
"Eida" by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. She sang the part of Aida,
an Ethiopian slave in ancient Egypt.
(MUSIC:
"Ritorna Vincitor" from "Aida"))
VOICE
ONE:
During
the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties, Maria Callas sang in about forty
major operas in the most famous opera houses in the world.
In
nineteen fifty-six, she appeared for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera
in New York. She sang the lead in the opera "Norma" by Italian
composer Vincenzo Bellini. She was a great success. Norma, a religious leader
in the ancient city of Gaul, became one of her most famous parts.
(MUSIC:
"Casta Diva" from "Norma"))
VOICE
TWO:
During
the years, Maria Callas often had problems with her voice. Critics said some of
her performances were not her best. Sometimes she had to cancel
performances. Her relations with the officials of major opera companies often
were tense. Many harmful stories were written about Callas. The stories
suggested that people she worked with thought she was difficult. However,
many people who worked most closely with her denied this.
When
she was not singing in operas, Callas was making recordings. She made more
recordings than any other singer of her time.
VOICE
ONE:
In
nineteen fifty-nine, her marriage to Mister Meneghini ended. Maria Callas
became the lover of a rich Greek businessman, Aristotle Onassis. Callas
suffered more problems with her voice. So she sang less. In nineteen
sixty-five, she sang in the opera "Tosca" by Italian composer Giacomo
Puccini. She was Floria, an Italian singer. It was a part she had sung many
times. It was the last time she appeared in an opera.
(MUSIC:
"Vissi D'arte" from "Tosca"))
VOICE
TWO:
Now
that she was no longer singing, Callas wanted to marry Aristotle Onassis and
have a child. However, in nineteen sixty-eight, Onassis suddenly said that
he was leaving her. He had decided to marry Jacqueline Kennedy, the widow of
the murdered American president, John Kennedy.
Three
years later, Callas decided to teach young opera singers. In the early nineteen
seventies, she taught twelve classes at the Juilliard School in New York. Parts
of these classes were released as records. Terrence McNally wrote a play about
Maria Callas and her opera students called "Master Class."
VOICE
ONE:
Maria
Callas sang in many cities in Europe, the United States and East Asia in
nineteen seventy-three and seventy-four. She performed with opera singer
Giuseppe di Stefano. Critics said she was not able to sing as well as she had
when she was younger. It is not known if Callas's troubles were caused by a
physical problem or because she had not spent enough time training her voice.
Maria
Callas died of a heart attack in her home in Paris in nineteen seventy-seven.
She was fifty-three.
VOICE
TWO:
Many
experts say Maria Callas influenced opera more than any other singer of the
twentieth century. They say she had the deepest understanding of the traditional
Italian opera. Her beautiful voice and intense feeling increased the effect of
an opera. One expert said: "Callas sees and hears in the great
operas the poetry of music. Others sing notes. She sings meaning. "
People
who heard Maria Callas sing say they will not forget the experience. Her voice
lives on in the many recordings she made. Some experts say Maria Callas is as
popular now as she was when she was performing around the world.
(MUSIC:
March From "Norma")
VOICE
ONE:
This
Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust and produced by Lawan
Davis. I'm Shirley Griffith.
VOICE
TWO:
And I'm
Ray Freeman. Join us again next week for another People in America program on
the Voice of America.