Maria Callas was born in New York on 2 December 1923 to Greek parents who had emigrated from the Peloponnese; the surname Kalogeropoulos had been shortened to Callas. In 1937 her mother returned to Athens with her two daughters, convinced of Maria's talent.
The Athens years
In Athens Maria studied at the Conservatory with the Spanish soprano Elvira de Hidalgo, who became her teacher and mentor. She made her debut very young at the Greek National Opera and, during the harsh years of the occupation, sang in operas such as Tosca and Fidelio. In 1945 she returned to the United States to seek her fortune.
Success in Italy
The breakthrough came in Italy: in 1947 she made her debut at the Arena di Verona in La Gioconda and met the industrialist Giovanni Battista Meneghini, whom she married and who became her manager. Guided by conductor Tullio Serafin she tackled very different roles, from bel canto to Wagner. From 1950 La Scala in Milan became her home: there, with directors such as Luchino Visconti and Franco Zeffirelli, she created legendary performances.
Voice and actress
Callas had a voice of huge range, able to move from dramatic roles to coloratura, and above all an extraordinary ability to give meaning to every word. She was among the first singers to treat opera as true theatre, acting with body and gaze. She revived forgotten bel canto operas by Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini.
| Role | Opera | Composer |
|---|---|---|
| Norma | Norma | Bellini, the role she sang most often |
| Violetta | La traviata | Verdi, in Visconti's production at La Scala (1955) |
| Tosca | Tosca | Puccini |
| Medea | Medea | Cherubini, also staged at Epidaurus in 1961 |
| Lucia | Lucia di Lammermoor | Donizetti |
| Anna Bolena | Anna Bolena | Donizetti, revived in 1957 |
Transformation and fame
In the early 1950s she lost about 30 kilos, becoming an icon of elegance. She became a world celebrity, pursued by photographers, known for her demanding temperament and clashes with opera houses. The press called her "La Divina".
Onassis
In 1959, on a cruise aboard the yacht Christina, she fell in love with the Greek shipowner Aristotle Onassis and left Meneghini. The affair lasted years, but in 1968 Onassis married Jacqueline Kennedy. By then Callas's voice was already declining, and she almost entirely retired from the stage.
Last years
She spent her last years in Paris, largely isolated. She attempted a comeback with a concert tour in 1973-1974 with tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano. She died in Paris on 16 September 1977, aged 53, of a heart attack. Her ashes were scattered in the Aegean Sea, as she had wished.
Callas and Greece
Callas sang in Greece as an international star too, at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in 1957 and at Epidaurus in Norma (1960) and Medea (1961). In Athens, on Mitropoleos Street, the Maria Callas Museum, opened in 2023 for the centenary of her birth, tells her life through objects, recordings and documents; a concert hall in the city bears her name.
See also Greek music and famous Greeks.