How Did Opera's Greatest Soprano Lose Her Voice?
Maria Callas is regarded as the world's greatest coloratura soprano—if not the greatest opera singer of all time.
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Transcript
Legendary opera singer Maria Callas, called La Divina, (“The Divine”), is still regarded as the world’s greatest coloratura soprano, if not the world’s greatest opera singer of all time.
Her voice ranged almost three octaves, and her theatrical flourish, vocal power, and smart sense of drama and style made her popular.
This helped reinvigorate opera in the 1950s and bring bel canto works back to the stage.
These required exacting vocal control—as opposed to the heavy singing that had come into fashion.
Callas was born to Greek immigrants in New York in 1923.
She moved abroad with her mother and began formal training as a 13-year-old, though she’d been singing for money for years before that.
After Callas’s death in 1977, a clearer portrait of her childhood emerged, along with allegations of abuse and neglect by her mother.
Her early years of performing were difficult, plagued by poverty and challenging family relationships.
During World War II she performed as part of a popular group in Thessaloniki that was paid in food, receiving sacks of lentils, potatoes, and rice.
By the time the war ended, her reputation as a singer in Greece was secure.
She traveled to the United States and auditioned for several well-known opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera.
She decided to decline the resulting offers and return to Europe. She made her Italian debut in La Gioconda.
By 1951 she had performed in every major theater in Italy.
She made her celebrated debut in America in 1954.
She was known for her tumultuous and sometimes violent marriage and affairs, which led her to financial problems, and her sometimes fiery personality, which created tension and rivalries both onstage and off.
Health problems brought an early end to her remarkable career as her powerful voice faltered.
No consensus has ever been reached to explain her decline..
… but possibilities include straining her voice by taking on too many different and difficult roles, hormonal changes, weight loss that affected her strength and stamina, and a loss of confidence.
Callas herself attributed it to a loss of strength in her diaphragm, but the true cause is unclear.
UNESCO marked the centennial of her birth in 2023 with many events staged in Greece, as she had become a Greek citizen in 1966.
Her voice ranged almost three octaves, and her theatrical flourish, vocal power, and smart sense of drama and style made her popular.
This helped reinvigorate opera in the 1950s and bring bel canto works back to the stage.
These required exacting vocal control—as opposed to the heavy singing that had come into fashion.
Callas was born to Greek immigrants in New York in 1923.
She moved abroad with her mother and began formal training as a 13-year-old, though she’d been singing for money for years before that.
After Callas’s death in 1977, a clearer portrait of her childhood emerged, along with allegations of abuse and neglect by her mother.
Her early years of performing were difficult, plagued by poverty and challenging family relationships.
During World War II she performed as part of a popular group in Thessaloniki that was paid in food, receiving sacks of lentils, potatoes, and rice.
By the time the war ended, her reputation as a singer in Greece was secure.
She traveled to the United States and auditioned for several well-known opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera.
She decided to decline the resulting offers and return to Europe. She made her Italian debut in La Gioconda.
By 1951 she had performed in every major theater in Italy.
She made her celebrated debut in America in 1954.
She was known for her tumultuous and sometimes violent marriage and affairs, which led her to financial problems, and her sometimes fiery personality, which created tension and rivalries both onstage and off.
Health problems brought an early end to her remarkable career as her powerful voice faltered.
No consensus has ever been reached to explain her decline..
… but possibilities include straining her voice by taking on too many different and difficult roles, hormonal changes, weight loss that affected her strength and stamina, and a loss of confidence.
Callas herself attributed it to a loss of strength in her diaphragm, but the true cause is unclear.
UNESCO marked the centennial of her birth in 2023 with many events staged in Greece, as she had become a Greek citizen in 1966.