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ANNCR:
Welcome to People in America in VOA Special English. I’m FaithLapidus. Today, Shirley Griffith and Ray Freeman tell about one ofthe most famous opera singers of the twentieth century, MariaCallas.
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VOICE ONE:
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 TWO:
Maria Callas was one of the best-known opera singers in theworld. During the nineteen-fifties, she became famousinternationally for her beautiful voice and intense personality. Therecordings of her singing the well known operas remain very populartoday.
Maria Callas was born in New YorkCity in nineteen-twenty-three. Her real name was Mariakalogeropoulous [ka-lo-yer-OH-pu-los. Her parents were Greek. Whenshe was fourteen, she and her mother returned to Greece. Mariastudied singing at the national conservatory in Athens. Thewell-known opera singer Elvira de Hidalgo chose Maria as herstudent.
VOICE ONE:
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 TWO:
In nineteen-fifty, Maria Callas performed for the first time atthe famous La Scala opera house in Milan, Italy. She sang in thefamous opera “Eida” [eye-EE-da] by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi.She sang the part of Aida, an Ethiopian slave in ancient Egypt.
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VOICE ONE:
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, she appeared for the first time at theMetropolitan Opera in New York. She sang the lead in the opera”Norma” by Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini. She was a greatsuccess. Norma, a religious leader in the ancient city of Gaul,became one of her most famous parts.
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VOICE TWO:
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 werewritten about Callas. The stories suggested that people she workedwith thought she was difficult. However, many people who worked mostclosely 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, AristotleOnassis. Callas suffered more problems with her voice. So she sangless. In nineteen-sixty-five, she sang in the opera “Tosca” byItalian composer Giacomo Puccini. She was Floria, an Italian singer.It was a part she had sung many times. It was the last time sheappeared in an opera.
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VOICE TWO:
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 ONE:
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 ableto sing as well as she had when she was younger. It is not known ifCallas’s troubles were caused by a physical problem or because shehad not spent enough time training her voice.
Maria Callas died of a heart attack in her home in Paris innineteen-seventy-seven. She was fifty-three.
VOICE TWO:
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 expertsaid: “Callas sees and hears in the great operas the poetry ofmusic. 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.
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VOICE ONE:
This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust andproduced by Lawan Davis. I’m Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Ray Freeman. Join us again next week for another Peoplein America program on the Voice of America.