Callas_Catalogue - Aspirationspr.com

Consulate General of Italy, San Francisco
Consulate General of Greece, San Francisco
Regione del Veneto
Casinò di Venezia
Associazione Nazionale Cantanti - Umanità senza Confini - Onlus
Exhibition Installation by
Terje Arnesen
Antonio Pio Saracino
Catalogue copy and design
Judy Holm
Robin Treasure
Hsin-Hsien Tsai - Sussman/Prejza & Co.
Carmen Trerotola
Proceeds from this exhibition will support the Italian Cultural Institute’s
programming and its mission to promote Italian culture.
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Maria Callas
A Woman, a Voice, a Myth
on view at the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco
September 23 - November 12, 2010
In thinking about Maria Callas, I have only one regret: being
too late to have had the experience of singing with her.
Nel ricordare Maria Callas, ho un unico rimpianto: quello
di essere arrivato troppo tardi per provare l’esperienza di
cantare con lei.
–Plácido Domingo
MARIA CALLAS - A Woman, a Voice, a Myth
September 23, 2010 –November 12, 2010
In November 1958, Maria Callas first performed in San Francisco in a
concert directed by Nicola Rescigno at the Civic Auditorium; in May
1974, La Divina came back to sing with Giuseppe Di Stefano at the War
Memorial Opera House.
I am honored to present to you the third appearance of Maria Callas in
San Francisco in collaboration with the Consul General of Italy, Fabrizio
Marcelli and the Consul General of Greece, Ioannis Andreades.
With the 22 costumes, memorabilia, rare documents, jewels, books, letters
and archival photographs collected with love by Bruno Tosi and displayed
together with the photographs of the Hellenic Parliament Foundation, the
spirit of Maria Callas is with us again for the next 8 weeks.
This exhibition is an opportunity to commemorate the greatness of La
Divina by enjoying these objects and listening to her recordings.
Curated by Terje Arnesen and Antonio Pio Saracino, the exhibition is the
opening event of the new location of the Italian Cultural Institute. The
completion of work on the new premises is a miracle in itself.
Is it a coincidence that the first time the exhibition was presented in 1993
in Venice, the Olivetti showroom that hosted it was designed by Carlo
Scarpa, and the first gift for the auditorium of the Italian Cultural Institute
was a table designed by Carlo Scarpa?
I wish to thank Bruno Tosi for having made this miracle happen and
Francesca Valente for offering me this opportunity. I also wish to thank all
the supporters and sponsors who believed in this dream and supported the
new location of the Institute with this fabulous exhibition.
Amelia Carpenito Antonucci
Director, IIC San Francisco
On the day after her tragic and
premature loss in 1977 Maestro
Riccardo Muti declared that Maria
Callas was almost an immortal
incarnated through the art of opera.
“She has done for singing what
Toscanini did for conducting.”
Maria was an artist who truly made her mark in history, an artist who
created a legend that will continue to live far into the future. No other
singer has been so adored or so abhorred. Maria dominated the opera
scene for over twenty years like a nineteenth century diva, revolutionizing
the concept of opera performance and restoring the art of bel canto
to the stage. Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi would have given her a standing
ovation. She had a natural affinity, not for the great voices of her day, but
for Maria Malibran, Giuditta Pasta and Giulietta Grisi, the very first Normas,
the very first La Sonnambulas. After her debut in Venice in December 1947
with Tristan and Isolde, Maria sang regularly at the “La Fenice” theatre up
until 1954, performing some of the most demanding roles in her repertoire,
from Norma to La Traviata, and from Lucia di Lammermoor to Medea.
But her real triumph came in 1949 with the role of Elvira in I Puritani, just a
few days after singing Brünnhilde in Die Walküre. With this performance,
Maria invented the figure of the agile dramatic soprano, a novelty for the
twentieth century. This exhibition does not focus on Maria’s opera career
alone, it also features many of her photos.
Visitors can enjoy the magical thrill of her triumphant stage entrances as
well as the appeal of her feminine charm. They can also relive her sad
decline and the desperation of her last days when she retreated into
solitude to let her life slowly ebb away. The last images of Maria in fact
cannot help but fill the heart with dismay and tenderness. Everything is
here, from her stage costumes to her own elegant outfits, the jewels she
used on and off stage, letters to other celebrities such as her teacher De
Hidalgo and the much-loved Pasolini (including his portrait and poems and
her passionate letters both during rehearsals for Medea and in the years
that followed), and a number of her most precious belongings. There really
is nothing missing here. From her birth certificate to her will, this exhibition is
a complete photographic portrait of her life and career.
Bruno Tosi
President, Maria Callas Association
“La Callas - dichiarò il Maestro Riccardo Muti
all’indomani della sua prematura e tragica
scomparsa avvenuta nel 1977 - era quasi una
persona immortale incarnata nell’arte lirica.
Maria Callas - disse sempre Muti - è stata per
il canto quello che Toscanini è stato per la
direzione d’orchestra”.
Davvero quest’Artista ha segnato la nostra
epoca e senza dubbio è un Mito che
sopravviverà a lungo nel tempo. Nessuna
cantante fu più amata, nessuna più
detestata di lei. Dominò per un ventennio
le scene come una Diva dell’Ottocento,
ma rivoluzionò l’interpretazione nel nostro
tempo, riportando il belcanto antico. Bellini,
Donizetti, Verdi l’avrebbero applaudita in
modo incondizionato: le colleghe di Maria
non sono infatti le pur grandi cantanti della
sua epoca, ma Maria Malibran, Giuditta
Pasta e Giulietta Grisi, le prime Norme e
Sonnambule. Dopo il felice debutto a Venezia
nel dicembre 1947 con Tristano e Isotta di
Wagner, Maria Callas cantò ininterrottamente
alla Fenice fino al 1954 nelle opere più
impegnative del suo repertorio, da Norma
a Traviata, da Lucia di Lammermoor a
Medea. Ma va principalmente ricordato il
suo trionfo nei Puritani nel 1949, pochi giorni
dopo le recite di Walchiria: nacque con lei il
soprano drammatico d’agilità, inedito per il
Novecento.
Presenti nella mostra sono non solo il canto
della Divina, ma anche numerose sue
immagini. I visitatori troveranno con emozione
la magica atmosfera dei sui trionfali passaggi
sulle scene, il fascino del suo essere donna,
e potranno rivivere anche il melanconico
tramonto, i disperati giorni in cui scelse la
solitudine per lasciarsi lentamente morire.
Le sue ultime immagini riempiono il cuore di
sgomento e tenerezza. C’è tutto: i costumi
di scena, gli elegantissimi abiti personali, i
gioielli usati sul palcoscenico e nella vita,
i carteggi con i grandi personaggi, con la
sua maestra De Hidalgo e l’amato Pasolini (i
ritratti e le poesie di lui, le appassionate lettere
di lei, durante la lavorazione di Medea, ma
anche negli anni successivi), gli oggetti più
cari a lei appartenuti. C’è proprio tutto: l’atto
di nascita e il testamento, l’intero itinerario
fotografico della sua carriera e della sua vita.
Bruno Tosi
Presidente, Associazione Maria Callas
The Life of La Divina
E tu, atterrita dal sospetto di non essere più,
sai anche questo
e ti arrangi a farti da madre.
Concedi alla bambina di essere regina
di aprire e chiudere le finestre come in un rito
rispettato da ospiti, servitù, spettatori lontani.
Eppure lei, lei, la bambina,
basta che per un solo istante sia trascurata,
si sente perduta per sempre.
(La Presenza)
The Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini dedicated these verses to the most famous
opera diva of the twentieth century, Maria Callas, one of his closest friends. Maria
Callas worked with Pasolini in her only venture in the world of film, acting the role of
the Greek mythological character Medea. As Pasolini knows, the “tigress,” the title
everybody used to bestow Maria Callas, masked an insecure and tortured soul. What
Pasolini saw in Callas was neither the voice nor the star but the human being: divas
are fascinating creatures but there is always a woman behind the legend, a woman
carrying expectations, judgments, prejudices, comparisons.
Though Maria Callas owed her great successes in Italy, she was born in the United
States, in December 1923, and grew up in New York and later Greece. Her childhood
does not have many happy memories to recall as she wrote in her memoir “child
prodigies never have genuine childhoods.”
Maria Anna Sofia Cecilia Kalogeropoulos was the third child in the family, her parents,
Evangelia and George, had emigrated from Greece to Long Island, New York. She
had an elder sister named Jackie and a brother named Vassilis, who died of typhus a
year before her birth. When Maria’s mother knew she had given birth to a daughter,
she refused to see the baby girl for days and during her life, Maria continued to suffer
her mother’s highly aggressive attitude, and the mistreatment of her and her father.
Maria was myopic and had to wear thick glasses. She was considered by many to
be “plump and unattractive” but she was also gifted with undeniable singing talent.
From the time Maria was young, she began a complete dedication to music. When
her parents separated and she returned with her mother to Athens in 1937, she got
core musical education from two important musical instructors, Maria Trivella of the
Greek National Conservatoire and the well-known soprano Elvira De Hidalgo of
Athens Conservatoire. Her beautiful captivating voice quickly led her to dramatic
roles and after a few appearances as a student and in secondary roles she made her
true debut at the Athens Opera on 4 July 1941 as “Tosca.”
After enduring very difficult times during World War II, where she (and so many other
Europeans) suffered impoverished conditions, Maria decided to return to New York
in 1945 to find her father. Around that time she was engaged for La Gioconda in the
Arena at Verona. This successful appearance in Italy was the start of her international
career. Maria Callas arrived in Verona at the age of twenty-four, with few belongings
and reportedly fifty dollars in her pocket. At this juncture, she developed into “La
Divina.” Gradually, under the guidance of the Italian music director, Tullio Serafin,
who became her Italian mentor, she was soon in demand for important roles as Aida,
Turandot, Isolde, Kundry and Brunnhilde. She performed for Italian audiences with
much success- reaching the height of her career in 1949. That year, in Venice Maria
performed both the roles of “Brünnhilde” in Die Walküre and “Elvira” in I puritani with
such a magnificent presence on stage and intense emotional notes that musicians
around the world recognized her as a superstar operatic diva.
The “Maria Callas phenomenon” became part of the musical history of the Opera.
During these years, Callas’ transformed figure added another notable impact to her
performances: she lost over sixty pounds, becoming a more graceful and confident
performer. With her new glamour, mystery and the warm roundness of her voice, Maria
Callas became one of the most renowned opera singers in history. Not only her musical genius revived the bel canto form of singing with a personal musical style, Maria’s
performances had an exceptional dramatic power: her voice was an impressive instrument as well as her eyes, her personal extra weapon, as William Weaver said: “They,
too, were Junoesque, ox-like in their breadth and their liquid softness. Even when she
was stock-still, her eyes would do her acting for her: warm for one instant, icy with scorn
the next”.
Maria Callas made one hundred fifty-seven performances in seven seasons, and only
two evenings cancelled at La Scala theatre in Milan. Apart from being a great singer
Callas was also an accomplished pianist, she spoke and sang in numerous languages,
although with a noticeable American accent, she was fluent in English, Greek, Italian
and French. In 1954, her presence in the United States was marked by some of her best
performances in Chicago’s Lyric Opera and two years later in New York City’s Metropolitan Opera. Reportedly due to continual treatment for her vocal chords during
the 1960s, she withdrew from the operatic stage and gave her final performance as
“Tosca” again at Covent Garden in 1965.
Maria’s career hid the emotional turmoil of her own private life. Some of the most
important relationships of her life were broadly viewed as scandals by the press. She
got married in 1949 to Giovanni Battista Meneghini, a wealthy Italian businessman,
twenty-eight years her senior. This marriage was often covered by the media, particularly as Meneghini had originally been her manager, and due to the wide gap in ages.
Throughout the first years of her career, Maria used the name Maria Meneghini Callas
and she refused to part from a little portrait in oil of the Holy Family; a gift from her husband on the eve of her debut performance in Verona. Their marriage was essentially
over in the late 1950s when Maria met the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.
Their passionate relationship was widely publicized; Maria divorced Meneghini in 1966
to be with Onassis. One of her biographers even stated that in 1960 Callas gave birth
to the son of Onassis in Paris but the child died after a few hours. In the 1960s, Callas
stopped her career on stage in order to “fulfill her life as a woman”, as she explained.
Their public relationship ended nine years later when Onassis married Jacqueline
Kennedy, the widow of the former U.S. President John Kennedy. This decision
devastated La Divina emotionally. Reportedly, Onassis continued to see Maria in Paris,
even during his marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy.
When Onassis died in 1975, she went into total depression. After that, Maria led a very
reclusive life away from society, becoming a recluse. She passed away at the age of
53 on September 16, 1977. It is largely believed that her death was a result of a heart
attack due to an overdose of sleeping pills.
Although it has been more than three decades since her death, Maria Callas still holds
a place of extreme importance in the world of music and culture. Her talents, style
and image have not been eclipsed by other Divas. Ostensibly the original diva, “La
Divina” remains an icon of beauty and talent for all opera-lovers and music aficionados
throughout the world.
Diadem–Norma, V. Bellini
Stage costume (Rosina)
–Il Barbiere di Siviglia,
G. Rossini
La Scala, Milan, 1956
Crown–Film Medea,
directed by
Pier Paolo Pasolini.
Diadem–Tosca, G. Puccini
Metropolitan Opera House,
New York, 1956
Stage costume–Tosca, G. Puccini
Covent Garden, London,1964;
Opéra national de Paris, 1965;
Metropolitan Opera House, New York, 1965
MARIA CALLAS - BIOGRAPHY
1923
December 2: Maria Anna Sophie Cecilia Kalogeropoulos is born
in New York. Her parents, George and Evangelia Kalogeropoulos had
emigrated from Greece to Long Island, New York in August 1923.
1929
George Kalogeropoulos sets up a pharmacy in a Greek quarter of
Manhattan and changes the family name to Callas.
1932
Maria is given her first piano lessons. Later in life she is able to study
all her roles at the piano without the help of a “repetiteur”.
1937
The Callas parents separate. Evangelia returns to Greece with her
two daughters and changes the family name back to Kalogeropoulos.
1938
Maria Kalogeropoulos is admitted to the National Conservatoire in
Athens despite being younger than the minimun age requirement of 16, and
begins her studies under Maria Trivella. April 11: Appears with fellow students
in first public recital.
1939
April 2: Maria makes her stage debut as Santuzza in a student
production of “Cavalleria Rusticana” and wins the Conservatoire’s prize.
Elvira de Hidalgo becomes Maria’s teacher at the Conservatoire and
concentrates on coloratura training.
1940
October 21: First engagement with the Lyric Theatre company,
singing songs in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice at the Royal Theatre in
Athens.
1941
January 21: Makes her professional operatic debut as Beatrice in
“Boccaccio” at the Palas Cinema with the Lyric Theatre company with
whom she will sing in “Tosca”, “Tiefland”, “Cavalleria Rusticana”, “Fidelio”,
and “Der Bettelstudent” during the next four years.
1944
The occupying forces lose control over Greece and the British fleet
arrives in Piraeus. Maria Kalogeropoulos decides to return to the USA and
find her father.
1945
August 3: Gives a “farewell” concert in Athens, her first solo recital,
to raise money for her journey to the USA. September: Returns to New York
and takes up the name of Callas again. December : Auditions for the
Metropolitan Opera, but fails to secure an engagement.
1946
Tries unsuccessfully to find work, but continues strenuous vocal
practice to perfect her technique. Meets agent Eddie Bagarozy. Accepts
engagement to sing in Turandot in Chicago in January 1947 with a cast of
celebrated European singers in a new company to be founded by Bagarozy
and Ottavio Scotto, an Italian impresario.
1947
January: The Chicago company goes bankrupt a few days before
its scheduled opening performance. Nicola Rossi Lemeni, the Italian bass,
is also a member of the company and introduces Callas to Giovanni
Zanatello, who is in the U.S. to find singers for the 1947 Verona Opera
Festival of which he is the Artistic Director. He engages Callas to sing in “La
Gioconda”. June 27: Callas arrives in Naples and goes the next day to
Verona to begin rehearsals for “La Gioconda”. A few days later she meets
Giovanni Battista Meneghini, a wealthy Italian industrialist and opera lover.
August 2: Makes her Italian debut in the Arena at Verona as La Gioconda
conducted by Tullio Serafin. The performances are successful enough, but
Callas makes no special impression and the expected offers of further work
do not materialize. December 30: Sings Isolde in Italian under Serafin at La
Fenice in Venice and this leads to further engagements in Italy, mainly in
Turandot.
1948
November 30: In Florence, Callas sings “Norma” for the first time- an
opera she will eventually perform more than any other during her career.
1949
January 19: Having just sung her first Brunhilde in “Die Walkure”
eleven days earlier, Callas, at the insistance of Serafin, replaces the
indisposed Margherita Carosio as Elvira in “I Puritani” at La Fenice. This
is the turning point in Callas’s career and the start of her involvement in
rehabilition of the Italian bel canto repertoire.
April 21: Marries Meneghini in Verona and sails that night for Argentina to
sing at the “Teatro Colon” in Buenos Aires. Helped by Meneghini as both
husband and manager, Callas develops her career in Italy and abroad
during the next two years.
1951
December 7: Callas opens the seasons at La Scala, Milan in “I Vespri
Siciliani” to great acclaim. During the next seven years La Scala will be the
scene of her greatest triumphs in a wide range of roles.
1952
July 29: Callas signs a recording contract with EMI and in August
makes a test recording of “Non mi dir” from “Don Giovanni”.
1953
February : First commercial recording for EMI as Lucia di
Lammermoor recorded in Florence. Later in the year Callas begins a series
of complete opera recordings at La Scala starting with “I Puritani” and
“Cavalleria Rusticana” with Serafin, and famous “Tosca” conducted by
Victor de Sabata.
1954
In a short space of time Callas loses 30 kilos and her figure changes
dramatically. She records a further four complete operas at La Scala and
her first two recital discs in London. November : She returns to the USA to
sing “”Norma””, “La Traviata” and “Lucia di Lammermoor” in Chicago.
December : She opens the season at La Scala in “La Vestale”, working for
the first time with theatre and film director Luchino Visconti.
1956
October 29: She sings for the first time at the Metropolitan in New York in
“Norma”, followed by “Tosca” and “Lucia”.
1957
Elsa Maxwell, the American society hostess, introduces the Meneghinis to
the Greek shipping magnate Aristotile Onassis at a party in Venice.
1958
December 19: She makes a sensational debut in Paris in a gala concert
at the Paris Opera. Celebrities in the audience include Onassis who begins to take
interest in Callas.
1959
By this time Callas has fewer professional engagements. She and
Meneghini are invited for a cruise in July on the Christina, Onassis’s yacht, with
several other guests including Churchill. By the end of the cruise Callas and
Onassis are lovers.
1960/61Callas gives up the stage altogether and devotes herself to the
international high life with Onassis. By 1962 she is performing at only a few
concerts.
1964
January: Zeffirelli persuades Callas to return to opera at Covent Garden in
a memorable new production of “Tosca” that is highly praised on all counts.
May: Callas appears in Paris in “Norma”, directed by Zeffirelli, in a spectacular
staging that is to be her last new production.
Maria Callas with Grace Kelly in Monaco, 1964
1965
February: She sings nine performances of “Tosca” in Paris.
March: She makes a triumphant return to the Metropolitan in New York in two
performances of “Tosca”.
May: She undertakes a series of five performances of “Norma” in Paris. She
feels tired but does not want to cancel. On May 29 she finishes Act 2 Scene
I practically in a coma. The final scene is cancelled. July: She is scheduled
to sing four performances of “Tosca” at Covent Garden. She is advised on
medical grounds to withdraw but she decides to sing just one, choosing the
Royal Gala on July 5. This is the final operatic performance of her career.
1966
Callas relinquishes her American citizenship and takes Greek
nationality. Thereby technically annulling her marriage to Meneghini. She
expects Onassis to marry her but he does not.
1968
October 20: Onassis marries Jacqueline Kennedy, widow of
assassinated US president John F. Kennedy, after having cooled his
relationship with Callas.
1969
June-July: Callas plays “Medea” in non-operatic film of the play by
Euripides directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. It is not a commercial success.
1971/72Callas gives a series of Master Classes at the Juilliard School of Music
in New York.
1974
November 11: The final concert of the tour with Di Stefano takes
place in Sapporo, Japan. This is Callas’ last public performance. The liaison
with Di Stefano finishes.
1975
Onassis dies, following a gall bladder operation. Callas is by now a
virtual recluse in Paris.
1977
September 16 Callas, dies in Paris - the cause of her death still
remains unclear.
Maria Callas in Vincenzo Bellini’s “Norma” in Paris (1965)
Listening to Maria Callas was like stumbling by accident
into the Sistine Chapel.
Ascoltare Maria Callas è stato come trovarmi per caso
nella Cappella Sistina.
– William Weaver