Nickname: La Divina
Genre: Opera
Most Memorable Recording: "Norma"
Genre: Opera
Most Memorable Recording: "Norma"
Maria Callas was one of the greatest operatic voices of the 20th century. She revitalized opera and increased its appeal because of her dramatic skill. The extensive range of her singing voice (nearly three octaves) and her ability to emote enabled her to sing many operas that were rarely performed otherwise. Callas biographer Ariana Stassinopoulos said of the singer's dramatic flair, "She brought 'finish' back to the music: each phrase, each word was meticulously weighed … she never allowed it to become meaningless embroidery." And Michael Mark of American Record Guide noted of the American soprano, "Her strange, haunting, beautiful … voice was complemented by an unerring dramatic sense."
She was opera's glory and its bane, an unruly genius who could electrify every follicle in the house and virtually at the same time unravel into self-caricature. In her lifetime she acquired the intercontinental fame generally reserved for wayward royalty. Even thirty years after her death, the name Maria Callas represents for opera what Picasso does for painting and Sarah Bernhardt does for the stage: the epitome of an art. If she suddenly rematerialized in her prime today, even Callas might not live up to the standards she set.
Justin Davidson
Callas, of course, is the great example of the diva phenomenon in modern times. It is not a matter of fond recollection; she is adored, studied, venerated, imitated, sold, demythified, posthumously exploited - and seriously discussed by observers who seek to understand the nature of her contribution. Twenty years after her last appearance on the operatic stage and a decade after her death, every commercial record she ever made remains readily available in the stores; large portions of her output are already being transferred to compact disk, a commercial acknowledgment conferred on no other retired or deceased singer.
Will Crutchfield
She was opera's glory and its bane, an unruly genius who could electrify every follicle in the house and virtually at the same time unravel into self-caricature. In her lifetime she acquired the intercontinental fame generally reserved for wayward royalty. Even thirty years after her death, the name Maria Callas represents for opera what Picasso does for painting and Sarah Bernhardt does for the stage: the epitome of an art. If she suddenly rematerialized in her prime today, even Callas might not live up to the standards she set.
Justin Davidson
Callas, of course, is the great example of the diva phenomenon in modern times. It is not a matter of fond recollection; she is adored, studied, venerated, imitated, sold, demythified, posthumously exploited - and seriously discussed by observers who seek to understand the nature of her contribution. Twenty years after her last appearance on the operatic stage and a decade after her death, every commercial record she ever made remains readily available in the stores; large portions of her output are already being transferred to compact disk, a commercial acknowledgment conferred on no other retired or deceased singer.
Will Crutchfield
It's understandable that Callas's singing still polarizes listeners. Her voice can sound strident, dangerously out of control, even ugly. There is a leap you have to make to get to where she is as an artist; and once you cross over, it's hard to look back. To a listener in the throes of a Callas recording, all other sopranos can seem like pale substitutes. She exploded the concept of what beautiful singing means: Is it pretty sounds and pure tones? Or should beauty evolve from text, musical shape, dramatic intent and, especially, emotional truth?
