look back at the notable moments of his career

On December 2, 1923, Maria Kalogeropoulos, known as Callas, was born in New York. Eighteen years later, the young soprano began a career in Athens that took her to the top. A look back at some notable moments – of joy and sometimes of pain – of the “prima donna assoluta” who died in 1977.

On the occasion of the centenary of her birth, a look back at the major dates which marked the life of the Greek artist commonly known as “Callas”. Diva still remains in the 20th centurycentury one of the most famous lyrical artists.

France Télévisions is celebrating this centenary with a tribute evening on France 5, on Friday December 8. Orchestra chairs is dedicated to the star from the Palais Garnier with Sondra Radvanovsky, Fanny Ardant, Marie-Agnès Gillot, then a gala with Sondra Radvanovsky, Eve-Maud Hubeaux, Pretty Yende, Kate Lindsey and the pianist Florence Boissolle, and to end the evening a documentary on the Greek years of the diva: “Mairi, Marianna, Maria: the unknown Greek years of Callas”.

1947: Maria Kalogeropoulos becomes Callas

While the young American soprano of Greek origin made her professional debut in 1941 at the National Opera of Athens, on August 2, 1947, in Italy, in the imposing arena of Verona, the curtain fell on the last act of La Gioconda by Ponchielli led by chef Tullio Serafin, true mentor of Maria Callas: the ovation that rises salutes the birth of a star. The phenomenon was immediately reproduced in a number of Italian opera stages, such as at the Fenice in Venice (for Tristan and Isolde by Wagner) and especially at the Teatro in Florence where she performed for the first time her flagship role of the Norma by Bellini. It was also in this year 1947 that she met Gian-Battista Meneghini, an industrialist passionate about bel canto 28 years her senior, who became her impresario and married her in 1949.

1951: at La Scala in Milan, temple of lyricism

Although she had already sung at La Scala in Milan in 1950, replacing Renata Tebaldi in Aida by Verdi (the famous rivalry – encouraged by the press – with this other opera star would come from this moment), Callas made its real debut in the Italian temple of operatic art on December 7, 1951 in The Sicilian Vespers by Verdi. La Scala will become his lair, a setting for illustrious productions (from Luchino Visconti to Franco Zeffirelli), and directed by stars such as Herbert von Karajan, Carlo Maria Giulini and Victor Sabata who notably recorded a memorable Tosca, an absolute reference in the Callas discography. Prima donna assoluta, this one will open the season at La Scala six times and will perform there for the last time in 1962.

1954: Callas turns into an absolute diva

In 1954, a new Maria Callas sang The Vestal Virgin from Spontini to La Scala. At the end of a drastic diet started a year earlier, she lost 30 kg and transformed into an absolute diva, performing in the greatest operas, without sparing her voice. His weight loss will have an impact on his voice, but will contribute to his presence on stage and will spread. “Since it forced the opera to remember that it was also a theatrical event, the parades of pot-bellied singers and chubby singers coming to push their tune to the front of the stage are no longer acceptable.“, wrote AFP at the time of his death.

1958: the Rome scandal

On January 2, 1958, Maria Callas opened the Rome opera season, in the presence of the President of the Italian Republic. At the end of the first act of Norma, she claims to have lost her voice and refuses to continue. The management denounces a whim of the touchy diva, while a few whistles come from the “chicken coop” during one of her tunes. A few moments later, she explains:with volubility“in front of the press:”At the end of the first act, I became voiceless. As you can see, I can’t speak anymore“January 16 in Paris, she’s a diva.”exhausted and exhausted“that an AFP journalist questions in the gloomy atmosphere of a private salon at Maxim’s: “I suffered a lot the evening in Rome“, she confides to him.

1959: Onassis, his great love

In 1959, after ten years of marriage to Meneghini, Maria Callas met the Greek shipowner Aristotle Onassis and separated from her husband. Nine years of passionate love follow. “Late at night he could be seen, with Callas, in an Athenian tavern where, having taken off his jacket and untied his tie, he covered the orchestra with gold and broke, following Greek custom, piles of plate“, AFP would later tell. The idyll ended in 1968, when the shipowner married Jackie Kennedy.

1965: farewell to the opera

In 1965, the diva said goodbye to opera. On February 20, she triumphed in Paris in Tosca by Puccini. The AFP journalist testifies to the public’s fervor for the singer “more sensitive than ever, even if it sometimes lacks depth“.”As soon as she appeared in the church in the first act, in a pink dress, covered in a vast tango scarf, her arms loaded with flowers, the applause was such that it drowned out the music and the first lines were inaudible.“, he wrote. On May 29, she felt unwell at the end of the third act. On July 5, “despite the advice of his doctor“, she goes on stage one last time in London in front of Elizabeth II.

1973: the final comeback

In 1973, she began a final international recital tour. In Paris, “the bouquets rain on the stage, accompanying the ovations and the Viva Maria“, but the criticisms are “less enthusiastic“.”If the technique, the musicality of the voice are not in question, the high notes are considered particularly painful“, reports AFP.

1977: his last breath

On September 16, 1977, Maria Callas died at her Paris home of a heart attack, at the age of 53. “I just saw her on her bed. It was the very image of La Traviata as she performed in 1956 at La Scala in Milan. His face doesn’t have a wrinkle. She seems to be resting“, testifies Michel Glotz, its former artistic director.