Maria Callas

[sospiro]

The Anne Edwards is pretty much tabloid trash. The best biography is probably Michael Scott's Maria Meneghini Callas. Scott, a musician as well as a writer, tries to explain what it was that made Callas great, rather than concentrating on the scandals that dogged her life. For most other biographers, the fact that Callas was a singer and a musician is almost incidental. Their interest is in the post Onassis period, which, musically at least, was the least interesting part of Callas's life.

Another good read is Stelios Galatapolous's Sacred Monster, written by someone who knew her and saw her perform on many occasions.

John Ardoin's The Callas Legacy discusses every one of Callas's recorded performances, and is an absolute must.

Thank you Tsaraslondon for a detailed & informative response.

[Tsaraslondon]

Thank you Tsaraslondon for a detailed & informative response.

You're more than welcome.

[Bulldog]

Already done. Maybe that makes me a wimp, but I really can't be bothered with WIMs (wind up merchants).

Nobody takes my advice, not even family members. 

[sospiro]

You're more than welcome.

Have just ordered Michael Scott's Maria Meneghini Callas from Amazon ('used like new' - £0.01 + P&P!). I'll let you know what I think after I've read it. If I don't enjoy it, I haven't exactly broken the bank.

[Scarpia]

Nobody takes my advice, not even family members. 

Well, Bulldog, it is for the best.  Our Tsaralondon is too emotionally fragile to even imagine seeing a non-lauditory reference to Callas appear on his screen.   

[knight66]

Not true, it merely has to be well informed.

Mike

[Tsaraslondon]

Nobody takes my advice, not even family members. 

Actually, I suppose my acronym should really have been WUMs but WIMs worked (and sounds) better 

[DarkAngel]

The Anne Edwards is pretty much tabloid trash. The best biography is probably Michael Scott's Maria Meneghini Callas. Scott, a musician as well as a writer, tries to explain what it was that made Callas great, rather than concentrating on the scandals that dogged her life. For most other biographers, the fact that Callas was a singer and a musician is almost incidental. Their interest is in the post Onassis period, which, musically at least, was the least interesting part of Callas's life.

Another good read is Stelios Galatapolous's Sacred Monster, written by someone who knew her and saw her perform on many occasions.

John Ardoin's The Callas Legacy discusses every one of Callas's recorded performances, and is an absolute must.

This 540 page hardbound book mentioned above has a ton of great pictures, $3 used Amazon USA

[zamyrabyrd]

Thanks to the happy recommendation by Tsaras several pages ago, I finally bought and read Michael Scott's "Maria Meneghini Callas". For biography, I relied probably too much on Arianna Stassinopoulos'  "Maria Callas", that in comparison to the former appears quite gossipy and some of the assertions in the book unfounded. Maybe hers is a more "womanly" bio, concerned more with relationships rather than the cold facts of a career.    

Sniffing out hearsay and not being satisfied with it, Scott must have gone to much trouble in searching out the facts. (His scholarship is reminiscent of the epic three volume biography of Franz Liszt by Alan Walker.) As a living witness, he was present at some of her concerts.

I had some lingering questions from Anianna's book like Callas saying she turned down the title role in Madame Butterfly at the Met soon after she returned from Greece, attributing this stubborness to her "voices" like those of Joan of Arc. While Arianna admits spin and confabulation not only from Maria but from her husband as well. Scott points out that the audition records for Metropolitan Opera at that time say nothing of the sort. Instead, on one of the cards is that she "needs to work on her voice".

Another persistent question I had in my mind was the agreement with Bargarozy who somehow convinced her to sign a contract giving him 10% of her future earnings. According to Scott there was more than a hint of emotional involvement. Callas intensely worked on her voice with his wife, Louise Caselotti, and travelled with her to Italy.

There just may be a Muzio connection here in that Ottavio Scotto, the husband of Claudia Muzio (who sang in Chicago) was entrusted with the business end of Bagarozy's failed Turandot scheme in Chicago.

His compilation of operas and concerts with interesting commentary is more than encyclopedic. It would help to have some recordings close by while reading. He has a keen ear and in the introduction says that ultimately her musical gifts set her apart. As her vocal abilities declined she put more stock in visuals and diction.

As Arianna pointed out, Callas had a way of saying things or repeating slogans that put people off the track. Quite a few had to do about her repeated lip service to Meneghini and how women should be subservient to their spouses. When asked about the importance of the words in singing, Scott included a quote by Callas saying that she derived the expression ONLY through the music.

This is here nor there, but one of my teachers said that Callas was brutal in her relationships. That fateful first trip on Onassis' yacht had her husband in another room. Writing her mother that "she could throw herself out the window" may have been over the top. Of course, it is horrible to be the ugly duckling in the family when a mother is stuffing her daughter with food and tellling her that she has her voice, and doesn't need looks. (I didn't so much before, but now have been convinced that her slimming down was a vocal liablity in the sense that she was used to certain physical feedback. A different setup, probably with stronger muscles, is needed when thinner.)   

Ironically, her weight may have been the main factor for the ease and floating quality she had in the early 50's, not to mention the hated piano lessons that her mother forced her through as a child. Her mother also transferred to Greece that permitted the fateful encounter with De Hidalgo. So when Callas said that everything her mother did for her was bad, there is more than a smidgen of exaggeration here.

Poverina, she had a lot of unprocessed resentment. Her emotional life was bound up with her operatic characters that left little to nothing for herself to feed on.

After her split from Meneghini, Maria tried to erase her middle name from existing and past recordings. It's interesting how Scott includes it in the title.

ZB

[Guido]

Tsaraslondon - this version appears to be the original.


Neither of my CDs came with libretti - is there anywhere on the web that gives an English translation? I'd like one for Norma too...

[Tsaraslondon]

Tsaraslondon - this version appears to be the original.


Neither of my CDs came with libretti - is there anywhere on the web that gives an English translation? I'd like one for Norma too...

However, any excitement at the prospect of finally hearing the original version is tempered by its reception on Amazon (2 star review on amazon.co.uk and 1 star on amazon.com). The snippets I listened to are not tempting.

There are 2 separate PDF dowloads for the Italian libretto and English translation of Norma here http://www.operatoday.com/content/2006/04/bellini_norma.php for one. Possibly also on EMI's site, as the first Callas recording is available in EMI's bargain opera range.

Medea is harder to come by. The EMI issue of Callas's recording (if it is still available) did come with complete libretto and translation.

[Wendell_E]

However, any excitement at the prospect of finally hearing the original version is tempered by its reception on Amazon (2 star review on amazon.co.uk and 1 star on amazon.com). The snippets I listened to are not tempting.

There's another, better version of Médée on Nuova Era (my copy has a different cover), with Jano Tamar and Patrizia Ciofi, Patrick Fournillier conducting.  I see one 3 (out of five) star review at the U.S. Amazon site, which I guess is about what I'd rate it.  I got them both at a good price from Berkshire Record Outlet, but that was years ago.  Both have the French libretto, but the Nuova Era doesn't have an English translation.  But the Callas (studio version, the only one I've heard) remains my favorite. 

[Guido]

Thanks for the Norma libretto - don't knwo why I didn't think of looking there before! 

Shame about the Medea - having the libretto in hand is always so vital in appreciating Callas art I find, at least initially when one does not know what she is singing.

[Tsaraslondon]

Thanks for the Norma libretto - don't knwo why I didn't think of looking there before! 

Shame about the Medea - having the libretto in hand is always so vital in appreciating Callas art I find, at least initially when one does not know what she is singing.

Get yourself the EMI studio recording. I'm sure you should be able to pick it up fairly cheaply somewhere, and it makes an excellent supplement for the live performances. Incidentally, the EMI issue of the Bernstein also has a full libretto in Italian with English translation.

[Tsaraslondon]

There's another, better version of Médée on Nuova Era (my copy has a different cover), with Jano Tamar and Patrizia Ciofi, Patrick Fournillier conducting.  I see one 3 (out of five) star review at the U.S. Amazon site, which I guess is about what I'd rate it.  I got them both at a good price from Berkshire Record Outlet, but that was years ago.  Both have the French libretto, but the Nuova Era doesn't have an English translation.  But the Callas (studio version, the only one I've heard) remains my favorite.

It is a role Callas made peculiarly her own. I have excerpts from live performances featuring the likes of Gencer, Olivero, and Caballe, but not even any of those ladies quite challenges Callas's hegemony in the part.

[Guido]

It is a role Callas made peculiarly her own. I have excerpts from live performances featuring the likes of Gencer, Olivero, and Caballe, but not even any of those ladies quite challenges Callas's hegemony in the part.

Would you say that it is a rare case where the singer is greater than the music?

[Tsaraslondon]

Not necessarily. Many great composers of the past, Beethoven amongst them, held Cherubini , and Medee in particular, in very high esteem. I'd say a great interpreter is able to bring out the greatness in the music.

[Guido]

Of course - I had forgotten that. And then there's that old story about Brahms having three pictures on his wall - Bach, Beethoven and Cherubini.

[zamyrabyrd]

It is a role Callas made peculiarly her own. I have excerpts from live performances featuring the likes of Gencer, Olivero, and Caballe, but not even any of those ladies quite challenges Callas's hegemony in the part.

Among the other three ladies, sight unseen, I would probably choose Gencer.
She does not disappoint here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bC4QUN6Hco

ZB

[Tsaraslondon]

Among the other three ladies, sight unseen, I would probably choose Gencer.
She does not disappoint here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bC4QUN6Hco

ZB

I have to say that, for my taste, a little too much verismo creeps into Gencer's delivery of this bel canto role. She doesn't bind the fioriture into her phrasing the way that Callas does, nor is her legato as good and there is often the suspicion of an aspirate.  Compare it to this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwvAvaAx7nk&p=D82DEF0CA37F7559&playnext=1&index=12