VOICE 1:
I’m Shirley Griffith.
VOICE 2:
And I’m Ray Freeman with the VOA Special English program Peoplein America. Today, we tell about one of the most famous operasingers of this century, Maria Callas.
((MUSIC: March From “Norma”instead of theme))
VOICE 1:
Opera is a play that tells a story in music. The people in theopera sing, instead of speak, the play’s words. Opera is one of themost complex of all art forms. It combines acting, singing, music,costumes, scenery and, sometimes, dance. Often there are manycolorful crowd scenes.
Opera uses the huge power of music to communicate feelings and toexpress emotions. Music can express emotions very forcefully. Somost opera composers base their works on very tragic stories of loveand death. An opera often shows anger, cruelty, violence, fear orinsanity. Opera has been very popular in Europe since it spreadthrough it during the seventeenth century. It also has becomepopular in the United States.
VOICE 2:
Maria Callas was one of thebest-known opera singers in the world. During the nineteen-fifties,she became famous internationally for her beautiful voice andintense personality. The recordings of her singing the well-knownoperas remain very popular today.
Maria Callas was born in New York City in nineteen-twenty-three.Her real name was Maria Kalogeropoulous [ka-lo-yer-OH-pu-los]. Herparents were Greek. When she was fourteen, she and her motherreturned to Greece. Maria studied singing at the nationalconservatory in Athens. The well-known opera singer Elvira deHidalgo chose Maria as her student.
VOICE 1:
In nineteen-forty-one, when she was seventeen, Maria Callas waspaid to sing in a major opera for the first time. She sang theleading roles in several operas in Athens during the next threeyears.
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. Innineteen-forty-nine, she married an Italian industrialist, GiovanniBattista Meneghini. He was twenty years older. He became her adviserand manager.
VOICE 2:
In nineteen-fifty, Maria Callas performed for the first time atthe famous La Scala Opera House in Milan, Italy. She sang in thefamous opera “Aida” [eye-EE-da] by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi.She sang the part of Aida, an Ethiopian slave in ancient Egypt.
((MUSIC: “Ritorna Vincitor” from “Aida”))
VOICE 1:
During the nineteen-fifties and nineteen-sixties, Maria Callassang in about forty major operas in the most famous opera houses inthe world.
In nineteen-fifty-six, sheappeared for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.She sang the lead in the opera “Norma” by Italian composer VincenzoBellini. She was a great success. Norma, a religious leader in theancient city of gaul, became one of her most famous parts.
((MUSIC: “Casta Diva” from “Norma”))
VOICE 2:
During the years, Maria Callas often had problems with her voice.Critics said some of her performances were not her best. Sometimesshe had to cancel performances. Her relations with the officials ofmajor opera companies often were tense.
Many harmful stories were written about Callas. The storiessuggested 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 1:
In nineteen-fifty-nine, her marriage to Mr. Meneghini ended.Maria Callas became the lover of a rich Greek businessman, AristotleOnassis. Callas suffered more problems with her voice. So she sangless.
In nineteen-sixty-five, she sang in the opera “Tosca” by Italiancomposer Giacomo Puccini. She was Floria, an Italian singer. It wasa part she had sung many times. It was the last time she appeared inan opera.
((MUSIC: “Vissi d’Arte” from “Tosca”))
VOICE 2:
Now that she was no longer singing, Callas wanted to marryAristotle Onassis and have a child. However, innineteen-sixty-eight, Onassis suddenly said that he was leaving her.He had decided to marry Jacqueline Kennedy, the widow of themurdered American president, John Kennedy.
Three years later, Callas decided to teach young opera singers.In the early nineteen-seventies, she taught twelve classes at theJuilliard school in New York. Parts of these classes were releasedas records. Terrence McNally wrote a play about Maria Callas and heropera students called “master class.”
VOICE 1:
Maria Callas sang in many cities in Europe, the United States andeast Asia in nineteen seventy-three and seventy-four. She performedwith opera singer Giuseppe di Stefano.
Critics said she was not able to sing as well as she had when shewas younger. It is not known if Callas’s troubles were caused by aphysical problem or because she had not spent enough time trainingher voice.
Maria Callas died of a heart attack in her home in Paris innineteen-seventy-seven. She was fifty-three.
VOICE 2:
Many experts say Maria Callas influenced opera more than anyother singer of the twentieth century. They say she had the deepestunderstanding of the traditional Italian opera. Her beautiful voiceand intense feeling increased the effect of an opera.
One expert said: “Callas sees and hears in the great operas thepoetry of music. Others sing notes. She sings meaning.”
People who heard Maria Callas sing say they will not forget theexperience. Her voice lives on in the many recordings she made. Someexperts say Maria Callas is as popular now as she was when she wasperforming around the world.
((MUSIC: March from “Norma”))
VOICE 1:
This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust andproduced by Lawan Davis. I’m Shirley Griffith.
VOICE 2:
And I’m Ray Freeman. Join us again next week for another Peoplein America program on the Voice of America.