home » State » Maria callas short biography. From divas to recluses. Why did Maria Callas die alone. Relations with Aristotle Onassis

Maria callas short biography. From divas to recluses. Why did Maria Callas die alone. Relations with Aristotle Onassis

All ones life Maria Callas tried to earn someone's love. First, a mother who was indifferent to her from birth. Then - an influential husband who idolized the artist Callas, but not a woman. And closed this chain Aristotle Onassiswho betrayed the singer for his own selfish interests. She died at 53 in an empty apartment, never becoming truly happy. For the anniversary of the opera diva, AiF.ru talks about the main events and people in the fate of Maria Callas.

Unloved daughter

Nobody was glad about the birth of Mary. Parents dreamed of a son and were sure that all nine months Gospels of Dimitriadi was bearing a boy. But on December 2, 1923 an unpleasant surprise awaited them. For the first four days, the mother even refused to look at the newborn. It is not surprising that the girl grew up disliked and terribly notorious. All the attention and care went to her older sister, against which the future star looked like a gray mouse. When people saw the full and shy Mary next to the spectacular Jackie, they could hardly believe in their kinship.

The singer's parents divorced when she was 13 years old. The father of the family stayed in America, and the mother and two daughters returned to their historical homeland: to Greece. They lived poorly, but it was not so much upsetting little Maria as separation from her dad, which she was terribly lacking. Despite the fact that the Gospel could hardly be called a sensitive and caring mother, the opera diva owed her career to her. The woman insisted that the youngest daughter enter the conservatory. From the first days of study, Kallas impressed teachers, she grabbed everything on the fly. She always came first to the class and left last. By the end of the third trimester, she could already fluently speak Italian and French. In 1941, the girl made her debut on the stage of the Athenian opera in the part of Tosca in the Puccini opera of the same name, but the world learned about it a little later: six years later. At 24, the singer performed on the stage of the Arena di Verona in the opera Gioconda. Here in Italy, she met Giovanni Battista Meneghini, a famous industrialist and a passionate admirer of opera. It is not surprising that he was fascinated by Kallas from the first minutes and was ready to throw the whole world at her feet.

Husband and producer

Giovanni Battista Meneghini was 27 years older than Maria, but this did not stop him from marrying a young singer. Down the aisle, the couple went less than a year after they met. The businessman became for Kallas the spouse and manager in one person. The next ten years, the opera diva and the wealthy industrialist walked through life hand in hand. Of course, Meneghini provided his wife with strong financial support, which contributed to the already brilliant career of Mary. But the main secret of her demand was not in her husband’s money, but in perfect ownership of equipment. Our famous opera singer Elena Obraztsova once said about this: “Kallas did not have a beautiful voice. She possessed a fantastic technique of singing and, most importantly, she sang heart and soul. She was like a guide from God. " After Verona, the doors of all the famous opera houses began to open before the girl. In 1953, the artist signed a contract with a major record company EMI. It was this company that released opera recordings performed by the singer.

From the very beginning of her career, Maria was quite large. Some detractors and envious people called it fat. Weight problems arose due to a great love of food. Secretary of the artist Nadia Stanschafttold about her: “We laid the table, she came up and innocently asked:“ Nadia, what is it? Can I try a little piece? ”Another and another followed. So she practically ate everything that was on the plate. And then I tried from each plate at everyone sitting at the table. It drove me crazy. ” Mary's favorite treat was ice cream. It was this dessert that absolutely any meal of the singer should have ended. With such an appetite, Callas had every chance not only to become famous as an opera performer, but also to become the fattest woman in the world, but, fortunately, she stopped on time. Working on the role of Violetta in her beloved La Traviata, the girl lost a lot of weight and became a real beauty that the famous womanizer could not miss Aristotle Onassis.

Aristotle Onassis and Maria Callas. A photo: Frame youtube.com

Traitor

For the first time, Maria met a billionaire in the late fifties in Italy, at a party after the performance of Norma. Six months later, the billionaire invited the singer and her husband to ride on his famous yacht “Christina”. Towards the end of this journey, Callas and Meneghini were in full bloom. And this despite the fact that Onassis himself at that time was also in a relationship with Tina Levanos. It was she who caught the newly made lovers and made their romance public. To get a divorce, the singer refused American citizenship, adopting Greek. “I did this for one reason: I want to be a free woman. According to Greek law, one who did not marry in the church after 1946 is not considered a married person, ”Maria told one of the journalists who became more active than ever in that period of her life.

Unlike the ex-wife of the singer, Onassis was indifferent to the opera. He did not understand Maria’s desire to sing and more than once offered her to stop her career. Once she really stopped going on stage, but not for the sake of Aristotle. So there were circumstances: voice problems, general fatigue, severance of relations with the Metropolitan Opera and the departure from La Scala. A new period began in her life: bohemian. But he did not make the artist happy. As Aristotle did not. Callas needed a businessman for his image. The billionaire was not going to marry her and even forced her to have an abortion when she became pregnant. Taking from the singer all that he needed, Onassis safely found himself a new object of desires: Jacqueline Kennedy. He married the widow of the 35th president of the United States in 1968. Maria learned about the incident from the newspapers. Of course, she was desperate, because she herself dreamed of being in the place of Jacqueline. By the way, after the wedding, the businessman did not stop his meetings with Maria, only now they were secret. And during his honeymoon in London, he called the singer every morning, giving hope for a continued relationship.

The only medicine that could save the diva from depression is work. But by that time, the artist’s voice was not the same, so she began to look for new ways of self-realization. First, Maria starred in the film Pasolini "Medea", however, he did not have box office success. Then she directed the production of an opera in Turin, and also taught at the Juilliard School of New York. Unfortunately, the singer did not receive satisfaction from all this. Then Kallas tried to return to the stage with the famous tenor. Giuseppe Di Stefano. The audience greeted the creative tandem very warmly, but during the tour Maria was dissatisfied with herself, her voice cheated on her, and critics wrote unpleasant things. As a result, the attempt to resume her career also did not make her happier and could not help forget Aristotle's betrayal.

At the end of her life, the legendary diva turned into a real recluse and practically did not leave her Paris apartment. The circle of those with whom she spoke was sharply reduced. According to one of Kallas’s close friends, at that time it was impossible to get through to her, as, incidentally, to arrange a meeting, and this repelled even the most devoted people. On September 16, 1977, the famous opera singer died about two in the afternoon from a cardiac arrest in her apartment. According to the last will of Mary, her body was cremated.

Maria Callas is an amazing woman with a unique bright voice that has bewitched the audience of the best concert halls in the world for many years. Strong, beautiful, incredibly refined, she won the hearts of millions of listeners, but could not win the heart of her only loved one. Fate prepared the opera diva many trials and tragic turns, ups and downs, pleasures and disappointments.

Childhood

Singer Maria Callas was born in 1923 in New York, in the family of Greek immigrants who, shortly before the birth of their daughter, moved to America in search of a better life. Before the birth of Mary, the Callas family already had children - a son and a daughter. However, the boy’s life was interrupted so early that his parents did not even have time to enjoy raising his son.

The mother of the future world star during pregnancy went in mourning and asked for higher powers so that a son was born - a replacement for the dead child. But a girl was born - Maria. At first, the woman did not even come to the cradle of the child. And over many years of life, a cold and a certain detachment in relation to each other stood between Maria Callas and her mother. There has never been a good relationship between women. They were connected only by constant claims and unspoken insults to each other. Such was the cruel truth of life.

Maria’s father tried to engage in pharmacy business, but the economic crisis of the 30s of the twentieth century that swept the United States left no chance of fulfilling a rainbow dream. There wasn’t enough money all the time, which was why scandals in the Kallas family were the norm. Maria grew up in such an atmosphere, and this was a difficult test for her. In the end, after much deliberation, unable to bear the impoverished, almost miserable existence, Mary's mother took them with her sister, divorced her husband and returned to their homeland, to Greece. Here, the biography of Maria Callas made a sharp turn, from which it all began. Mary at that time was only 14 years old.

Studying at the conservatory

Maria Callas was a gifted child. From childhood, she showed the ability to music, had an excellent memory, easily remembered all the songs she heard, and immediately gave them to the court of the street environment. The girl’s mother realized that her daughter’s studies in music can be a good investment in the family’s prosperous future. The musical biography of Maria Kallas began her countdown exactly from the moment when her mother gave the future star to the Ethnicon Odeon Athens Conservatory. The first teacher of the girl was Maria Trivella, notorious in musical circles.

Music was for Maria Callas everything. She lived only within the walls of the classroom - she loved, breathed, felt, - outside the school, turning into an unadapted girl, full of fears and contradictions. Outwardly unsightly - fat, with terrible glasses - inside, Maria hid the whole world, bright, vibrant, beautiful, and did not know the true price of her talent.

Advances in musical literacy were gradual, unhurried. Studying was hard work, but it brought great pleasure. It must be said that nature awarded Mary pedantry. Meticulousness and scrupulousness were very obvious features of her character.

Later, Callas moved to another conservatory - Odeon Afion, to the class of singer Elvira de Hidalgo, I must say, an outstanding singer who helped Maria to form not only her own style in performing musical material, but also to bring her voice to perfection.

First successes

Maria tasted her first success after a brilliant debut performance at the Athens Opera House with the party of Santozzi in Mascagni's “Country Honor”. It was an incomparable feeling, so sweet and heady, but it did not turn the girl's head. Callas understood that exhausting work was needed to reach true heights. And work should not only be on the voice. Maria’s external data, or rather, her appearance, at that time didn’t show a single gram in the woman showing signs of the future goddess of opera music - fat, in obscure clothes, looking more like a hoodie than a concert costume, with shiny hair ... Here which at the beginning was the one that, over the years, drove thousands of men crazy and set the movement vector in style and fashion for many women.

Conservative studies ended in the mid-40s, and the musical biography of Maria Callas replenished with tours in Italy. Cities and concert venues changed, but the halls were full everywhere - opera lovers came to enjoy the girl’s magnificent voice, so soulful and sincere, that fascinated and fascinated everyone who heard it.

It is believed that wide popularity came to her only after the part of the Mona Lisa performed on the stage of the Arena di Verona festival in the opera of the same name.

Giovanni Battista Meneghini

Soon, fate presented Maria Callas with a meeting with her future husband - Giovanni Battista Meneghini. An Italian industrialist, an adult male (almost twice as old as Maria), he was very fond of opera and very sympathetic to Callas.

Meneghini was a peculiar person. He lived with his mother, he did not have a family, but not because he was a convinced bachelor. It’s just that for a long time there wasn’t a suitable woman for him, and Giovanni didn’t specifically search for a life partner. By nature, he was quite prudent, enthusiastic about his work, far from handsome, moreover, not tall.

He began to care for Maria, to give her chic bouquets, expensive gifts. To a girl who had hitherto only lived in music, all this was new and unusual, but very pleasant. As a result, the opera singer accepted the courtship of the gentleman. They merried.

Mary was not adapted to life, and Giovanni was in this sense everything for her. He replaced her beloved father, listened to the woman’s spiritual anxieties and worries, was an attorney in her affairs and played the role of an impresario, provided life, peace and comfort.

Family life

Their marriage was not built on feelings and passions, it rather resembled a quiet haven, in which there is no place for unrest and storm.

The newly made family settled in Milan. Their beautiful home - a family nest - was under the supervision and strict control of Mary. In addition to household chores, Kallas studied music, toured the United States, Latin and South American countries, and even never thought about adultery. She herself remained faithful to her husband and she never thought of being jealous or suspecting him of treason. Then Kallas was still that Mary who could do a lot for a man, for example, without hesitation, to leave a career for the family. It was worth just asking her about it ...

In the early 50s, luck turned to face Maria Callas. She was invited to perform on the stage of La Scala in Milan. This was a truly great offer, and it was not the only one. The Covent Garden in London, the Chicago Opera House, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York opened their doors right there. In 1960, Maria Callas became a full-time soloist of La Scala, and her creative biography was replenished with the best opera parties. Maria Callas’s arias are numerous, among them the party of Lucia and Anna Boleyn in “Lucia di Lammermoor” and in “Anna Bolein” by Donizetti; Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata, Puccini's Tosca in Puigini et al.

Transformation

Gradually, with the advent of fame and fame, the appearance of Mary Callas changed. The woman made a real breakthrough and over a period of time turned from an ugly duckling into a truly beautiful swan. She sat on a fierce diet, losing weight to incredible parameters, and became sophisticated, elegant and incredibly well-groomed. Antique facial features began to sparkle with new colors, a light appeared in them that came from within and ignited millions of hearts all over the world.

The singer’s husband was not mistaken in his “calculations”. It was as if he foresaw that Maria Callas, whose photo now did not leave newspapers and magazines, is a diamond that simply requires cutting and beautiful framing. It is worth paying a little attention to him, and he will shine with a magic light.

Mary lived a fast-paced life. Day rehearsal, evening performance. Kallas had a talisman, without which she did not go on stage, a canvas presented by her husband with a biblical image. Success and recognition required constant titanic work. But she was happy, because she knew that she was not alone, she had a house where they were waiting for her.

Giovanni perfectly understood what his wife had to worry about, and tried to somehow make her life simpler and easier, trying to protect her from everything, even from maternal concerns. The couple did not have children - Meneghini simply forbade Mary to give birth.

Maria Callas and Onassis

The marriage of Maria Callas and Giovanni Battista Meneghini lasted 10 years. And then in the life of the opera diva a new man appeared, the only one loved. Only with him she experienced the whole gamut of feelings - love, crazy passion, humiliation and betrayal.

He was a Greek millionaire, the owner of “newspapers, factories and steamboats” Aristotle Onassis - a prudent man who did nothing without benefit for himself. He skillfully made his fortune during World War II by selling oil to the countries participating in the hostilities. At one time he married (not just because of feelings, but with a financial perspective) on Tina Livanos, daughter of a wealthy shipowner. In marriage, they had two children - a son and a daughter.

Aristotle was not handsome, who immediately brought to the astonishment of women. He was an ordinary man, rather short in stature. Of course, it is difficult to say for sure whether he had real, sincere feelings for Maria Callas. This is known only to himself and God, but the excitement, instinct of the hunter in him leaped - this is undoubted. Such adored by all Maria Callas, a young 35-year-old beautiful woman, well-groomed and beautifully looking. He wanted to become the owners of this trophy, so coveted ...

Divorce

They met in Venice at a ball. Some time later, the couple Marie Callas and Giovanni Meneghini were kindly invited to Onassis's yacht for an exciting cruise trip. The atmosphere that prevailed on the yacht was unfamiliar to the opera diva: the rich and famous people who idly spent their time in bars and at entertainment events; the gentle sun, sea air and the unusual atmosphere in general - all this plunged Maria Callas into the abyss of previously unknown feelings. She realized that, in addition to concerts and regular work and rehearsals, there is another life. She fell in love. She fell in love and started an affair with Onassis in front of his wife and her own husband.

The Greek millionaire did his best to win Mary's heart. He acted like her servant, trying to fulfill every whim.

Giovanni Battista noticed the changes that occurred with his wife, and understood everything. And soon, the whole public was aware of what was happening: Aristotle Onassis and Maria Callas, whose photos appeared on the pages of the secular chronicles, did not even think of hiding from prying eyes.

Battista was ready to forgive his wife for her betrayal and start all over again. He tried to reach Maria’s mind and common sense. But the woman did not need it. She told her husband that she loved another, and informed him of her intention to divorce.

New unhappy life

Parting with her husband did not bring Mary happiness. At first, a decline was outlined in her affairs, because there was no one else to deal with her performances and the organization of her concerts. The opera singer was like a little girl, helpless and abandoned by everyone.

In her personal life, everything was foggy. Kallas was waiting for the moment when the beloved finally divorced his wife and married her, but Aristotle was in no hurry to break the family ties. He satisfied all his desires, amusing male ego and pride; proved to himself that he was able to subdue even the most proud opera goddess, so desired by many. Now there was nothing to try. Mistress gradually began to bore him. He paid less and less attention to her, citing constant employment and work. Maria understood that the man she loved had other women, but she could not resist her feelings.

When Mary was a little over 40, fate gave her the last chance to become a mother. But Aristotle put the woman in front of a painful choice, and Callas could not break herself and abandon her beloved man.

Downturn in work and betrayal of a loved one

Failures accompanied the diva not only in his personal life. The voice of Maria Callas began to sound worse and caused her mistress more and more problems. A woman realized somewhere deep down that higher powers punished her for her unrighteous lifestyle and for the fact that she had once betrayed her husband.

The woman went to see the best world experts, but no one could help her. Doctors shrugged, talking about the absence of any visible pathologies, hinting at the psychological component of the singer's problems. Arias performed by Maria Callas no longer caused a storm of emotions.

In 1960, Aristotle received a divorce, but never married his famous mistress. Maria awaited a marriage proposal from him for a while, and then simply ceased to hope.

Life changed its color and hit a woman in the most ill. Maria’s career did not work out at all, she performed less and less. She gradually began to be perceived not as an opera diva, but as the mistress of the wealthy Aristotle Onassis.

And soon, a loved one hit in the back - he got married. But not Mary, but Jacqueline Kennedy, the widow of the murdered president. It was a very profitable marriage, which opened the way for the ambitious Onassis to the world of the political elite.

Oblivion

A landmark in the fate and musical career of Maria Callas was her performance in La Scala with Paolina's party in Polievkt in 1960, which turned out to be a complete failure. The voice did not listen to the singer, and instead of a stream of bewitching sounds, an opera full of falsehood fell upon the viewer. For the first time, Mary could not control herself. That was the beginning of the end.

Gradually, Kallas left the scene. For a while, having settled in New York, Maria taught at a music school. She later moved to Paris. In France, she had the experience of filming a movie, but he did not bring her either joy or satisfaction. The whole life of singer Maria Callas was forever connected only with music.

She constantly yearned for her beloved. And then one day he confessed to her. The woman forgave her traitor. But the union the second time they did not succeed. Onassis appeared rarely in Mary, from time to time, only when he himself wanted it. The woman knew that this man could not be redone, but she loved him exactly the way he was. In 1975, Aristotle Onassis died. In the same year, the Athens hosted the opening of the International Opera and Piano Music Competition, named after Maria Callas.

After the death of a loved one, the woman lived another two years. The biography of Maria Callas ended in Paris in 1977. Opera diva died at the age of 53 years. The official cause of death is a heart attack, but there is another version of what happened: many believe that it was a murder. The ashes of an opera singer were scattered over the waters of the Aegean.

Since 1977, the International Maria Callas Competition has become an annual competition, and since 1994 it has been awarded the only prize, the Maria Callas Grand Prix.

Great opera singer. Maria Callas (Cecilia Sofia Anna Maria Kalogeropoulos) was born December 2, 1923 in New York into a family of Greek immigrants.

Before Maria’s birth, the family lived in Greece, the family had two children - a girl Jackie (1917) and a boy named Vassilios (1920), who was the mother’s favorite, but fell ill with typhoid fever at the age of three and died suddenly. This tragedy shocked the family, especially Mary’s mother, the gospel. My father decided to sell a pharmacy in Greece and go to America. Callas was born in New York four months after arrival. Her mother longed for another boy and refused to look at her newborn daughter and touch her for several days after her birth. This attitude of rejection and dislike, Mary felt her whole life. Mary's father opened a pharmacy in Manhattan in 1927. His business ultimately fell victim to the Great Depression. The family moved nine times in eight years due to the constant decline in business. Mary was baptized at the age of two in the Greek Orthodox Church and raised in Manhattan, known for its steep mores.

Maria began taking piano lessons at the age of five, and singing lessons from eight. At nine, she was the star of concerts at a public school. A former schoolmate said: "We were fascinated by her voice." At ten, she knew the whole Carmen party. Her mother decided to compensate for her own life failures with the help of the talented Maria and encouraged her to achieve perfection with all her might. At the age of thirteen, the girl took part in the radio show "The Big Sounds of an Amateur Hour", in Chicago she took second place in a children's television show. Kallas later recalled her childhood: “Only when I was singing did I feel that they loved me.” At eleven, she listened to Lily Pans at the New York Metropolitan Opera and predicted: “Someday I myself will become a star, a bigger star than she is.”

Maria was a closed girl, considering herself fat, ugly, shortsighted, awkward. Maria said that her mother stole her childhood. Once Kallas told the reporter in an interview: “My mother ... as soon as she realized my vocal talent, she immediately decided to make me a child’s miracle as soon as possible.” And then she added: "I was forced to rehearse again and again to the point of exhaustion." In 1957, she said in an interview with an Italian journalist: "I had to study, I was forbidden to spend time without any practical sense ... Almost any bright memories of adolescence were deprived of me."

When Mary was thirteen years old, her mother quarreled with her father, took the girls and returned to Athens, where she used all the connections to arrange for Maria to continue her education at the prestigious Royal Music Conservatory. Only sixteen were accepted there, so Mary had to lie about her age, since she was only fourteen at that time. Maria began to study at the conservatory under the guidance of the famous Spanish diva Elvira de Hidalgo. Later, Kallas will remember with great warmth his teacher: “For all my training and for all my artistic education as an actress and person of music, I owe it to Elvira de Hidalgo.” At the age of sixteen, she won first prize in a conservative graduation competition and began making money by singing. She sang in the Athens Lyric Theater during the Second World War, often supporting her family financially in difficult wartime. In 1941, at the age of nineteen, Maria sang her first part in the opera Tosca.

Mother constantly "pushed and pushed Mary." She exploited her daughter's talent. Every month, Maria sent checks to her sister, mother, and father. Relations with the mother escalated. In 1950, after a tour of Mexico, Maria bought her mother a fur coat and said goodbye to her forever. After thirty years, she never saw her again.

Kallas returned to New York in the summer of 1945. She met with her beloved father and realized that he was living with a woman whom she was unable to bear.

The next two years, Kallas spent trying out roles in Chicago, San Francisco and New York. Edward Johnson from the New York Metropolitan Opera Theater offered her leading roles in Madame Butterfly and Fidelio. Kallas recalled that her inner voice advised her to give up her role in the performance of Butterfly. She admitted critically: "I was very fat at that time - 210 pounds." In addition, she considered this role not the best.

In 1947, Callas signed a contract for performances in Italy, in Verona. She was admired by maestro Tullio Serafin, who became her leader for the next two years. He invited her to sing in Venice, Florence and Turin. The Italian Opera Society accepted her, and she decided to make Italy her home, a place where she was finally needed and desired. Maria met an Italian industrialist, a millionaire, a man who was fanatically in love with opera, Giovanni Batista Managerini. He was twenty-seven years older than her. Always impetuous, Kallas married him. He became her manager, leader and companion over the next ten years. He fought desperately with his family, who believed that a greedy young American was flattered by his money. He left his firm, which consisted of twenty-seven factories: "Take everything, I stay with Mary." He was a devoted husband, promoted her career and tried to protect her from slanderers. She did not take his name, she was always known as Callas, although Giovanni Batista Managerini was her adoptive father, manager, leader, lover and healer. Maria told reporters: “I could not sing without him. If I am the voice, he is the soul. "

In 1950, Callas made her debut in La Scala, singing Aida. It was here that she was finally recognized as an indisputable talent. By 1952, the vocal genius Kallas reached a peak. She sang Norma at the Royal Opera Covent Garden in London. Just at that time, the press began to criticize its enormous size and weight. One of the critics wrote that she has legs like an elephant. She was shocked, immediately went on a strict diet and lost more than thirty kilograms in eighteen months.

In 1953, Callas sang Medea for the first time in La Scala, and her reverent performance brought this relatively little-known opera a huge success. Conducted by Leonard Bernstein. Callas was brilliant.

Kallas often said: "I am obsessed with cultivation" and "I do not like the middle way", "All or nothing." She was a workaholic and used to say: "I work, so I exist."

Attacks of depression intensified. They were facilitated by attempts to lose weight, overwork, nervous tension. She continuously sought remedies for illness and nervous exhaustion. Her doctor assured her that she was healthy, that she had no abnormalities and that she did not need treatment. But her well-being worsened, she refused performances. This provoked scandals and discontent in the theater world.
After the performance of the Norma opera in Rome in 1958, Maria was introduced to shipbuilding magnate Aristotle Onassis. Callas and her husband were invited to Aristotle's yacht. After she met Onassis, nothing else mattered. She said: "When I met Aristo, who was so full of life, I became another woman." Between Onassis and Kallos on board the yacht, a stormy romance ensued, which crushed both of their marriages. When Batista reproached her with a scandalous affair, she asked: “When you saw that my legs were buckling, why didn’t you do anything?” They were in love, dancing after midnight every night, and making love. Onassis arranged an evening in honor of Kallas at the famous Dorchester hotel in London and covered the hotel with red roses. Kallas was literally defeated by international womanizer. Soon she moved to a Paris apartment to be near Onassis. He divorced his wife, promising to marry Callas. She actually stopped singing and devoted her life to her love. However, the Italian Catholic marriage with Batista interfered with her divorce plans. Batista used his influence on church circles to delay divorce. And Onassis met Jacqueline Kennedy and married her. Kallas sacrificed a career and marriage for Onassis, receiving in return nothing but a long-standing romance before and after his marriage to Jackie. She became pregnant from him in 1966, when she was forty-three. Onassis's answer was: "Abortion." It was an order. He explained: “I do not want a child from you. What will I do with one more child? I already have two. ” Friend and biographer Kallas asked her why she did this. "I was afraid to lose Aristo." When she found out about Onassis's wedding with Jacqueline, she said prophetically: “Pay attention to my words. Gods will be fair. There is justice in the world. ” Soon, Onassis's only son died tragically in a car accident, and his daughter Christina died shortly after Onassis's death. But he always promised that he would divorce Jackie and marry her, and she believed.

In 1970, film director Pierre Pasolini invited her to play Medea in his movie. The film was recognized as a work of art of the highest art level. Onassis was dying at that time: she played a role, showing, as in a mirror, the image of agony and torment of a rejected woman. Pasolini wrote in his memoirs in 1987: "Here is a woman, in a sense, the most modern of women, but an ancient woman lives in her - strange, mystical, magical, with terrible internal conflicts."

When Onassis died in March 1975, she said: "Nothing matters anymore, because nothing will ever be the way it was ... Without it." This talented woman sacrificed her career, marriage, child - just like her heroine Medea. Like Medea, Callas lost everything. She ended her days on September 16, 1977 in a Paris apartment alone.

Fans called Maria Callas not otherwise La divina, which means “divine”. Her wrong soprano gave people love - the very feeling that the singer always lacked.

Childhood

The future opera star was born into a Greek family who emigrated to America and settled in New York. The year before her birth, her brother died of a serious illness, so her parents wanted a boy. They even called astrologers for help: they calculated the most suitable day for conception.

But instead of the boy, the Lord gave them a daughter, and after such a “catastrophe" the mother did not want to see the baby for a week. Already being an adult, Kallas recalled that all parental love and care went to Jackie - her older sister. She was slender and beautiful, and the plump younger looked next to her a real ugly duckling.

Maria's parents divorced when she was 13 years old. The daughters remained with their mother, and after the divorce, the three of them left for Greece. Mom wanted Maria to become an opera singer, made a career in this field, and from an early age forced her to perform on stage. At first, the girl resisted, accumulated resentment, and quite rightly believed that her childhood had been taken away.

Education and the path to fame

She could not enter the conservatory, but her mother insisted on her own and even persuaded one of the teachers to study separately with Mary. As time passed, and the student turned into a hardworking perfectionist who devoted herself entirely to singing. So she remained until the end of her days.

In 1947, after performing on the Arena di Verona open stage, Callas first tasted fame. The beautifully performed Gioconda's party instantly made her popular, and from that moment many famous personalities in theatrical circles began to invite the singer.

Including the famous conductor Tullio Serafin. In the 50s, she conquered all the best world opera scenes, but continued to strive for excellence. And not only in music. For example, she tortured herself with different diets for a long time: she performed the weight of 92 kg, Norma already 80 kg, and for the party Elizabeth lost to 64. And this is with a height of 171 cm!

Personal life

Back in 47, Maria met a major Italian industrialist, Giovanni Meneghini, who became for her both a manager and friend and husband at the same time. 2 years after the first meeting, they got married, but long-standing love did not give her rest.

It was a wealthy shipowner Aristotle Onassis, due to which in 1959 the marriage with Meneghini successfully broke up. A rich Greek showered his beloved with flowers, gave fur coats and diamonds, but the relationship did not go well. The couple quarreled, reconciled, then quarreled again, and so endlessly.

She was going to have a baby for him, and he forbade her to even think about it. As a result, for Mary it ended very sadly. In the 63rd Onassis turned his attention to Jackie Kennedy, and 5 years later he married her, leaving Callas with a broken heart. Despite what happened, she continued to sing, in 1973 traveled to Europe and America with concerts.

True, now they applauded not only to her magnificent voice, but to the legend, the dying star, the great and unique Maria Callas!

The unsurpassed Maria Callas is one of the most famous and influential opera performers of the 20th century. Critics praised her for her belcanto virtuoso singing technique, a wide range of voices, and dramatic interpretations. Connoisseurs and connoisseurs of vocal art awarded the singer the title La Divina (divine). The famous American composer and conductor praised the talent of Maria Callas, dubbing her “pure electricity”.

early years

Maria Anna Sophia Kekilia was born on December 2, 1923 in New York, in the family of Greek immigrants Georges (George) and the Gospel of Callas. The marriage of her parents was not happy, the couple did not have anything in common except common children: the daughters of Jackie and Maria, and the son of Vassilis. The gospel was a cheerful and ambitious girl, as a child she dreamed of doing art, but her parents did not support her aspirations. Georges paid little attention to his wife and did not share her love of music. Relations between spouses worsened after the death of their son Vassilis in the summer of 1922 from meningitis.
Upon learning that the gospel was pregnant again, George decided to move his family to America, and in July 1923 they went to New York. The gospel was convinced that she would have a son, so the birth of her daughter was a real blow to her. The first four days after giving birth, she refused to even look at her daughter. When Mary was 4 years old, her father opened his own pharmacy and the family moved to Manhattan, where the childhood of the opera diva passed.
When Mary was three years old, her parents discovered her musical talent. The gospel sought to open the daughter’s gift and to do for her what her own parents had denied her at one time. Kallas later recalled: "I was forced to sing when I was only five years old, and I hated it." Georges was unhappy that his wife preferred Jackie's eldest daughter in everything and put a lot of pressure on Maria. Spouses often quarreled, and in 1937 the Gospel decided to return to Athens with her daughters.

Education

Maria Callas received a musical education in Athens. Initially, the mother tried to enroll her in the prestigious National Conservatory of Greece, but the director of the conservatory refused to accept the girl, because she did not have the necessary theoretical knowledge (solfeggio).
In the summer of 1937, the gospel was visited by a talented teacher, Mary Triwell, who taught at one of the Athenian conservatories, and asked her to take Mary as her student for a modest fee. Trivella agreed to become a mentor to Kallas and refused to pay for her training. Trivella later recalled: “Maria Callas was a fanatical and uncompromising student who gave herself to music with all her heart and soul. Her progress was phenomenal. She made music for 5-6 hours a day. ”

Debut stage performance

The debut of Maria Callas took place in 1939 at a student performance in which she played the role of Santozza in the opera "Country Honor". Having successfully completed her studies at the National Conservatory, Callas entered the Athens Conservatory, in the class of the outstanding Spanish singer and talented teacher Elvira de Hidalgo. Kallas came to the conservatory at 10 in the morning and left with the last students. She literally “absorbed” new knowledge and strove to learn all the secrets of the art of opera singing. Maria Callas and opera were inseparable. Music has become the meaning of life for a novice singer.

Opera career in Greece

Kallas made his professional debut in February 1941. She performed a small part of Beatrice in the operetta Bocaccio. The successful performance of the singer caused hostility among colleagues who tried to harm her career. However, nothing could stop Callas from doing what she loved, and in August 1942 she made her debut in the title role, playing the part of Tosca, in Puccini's opera of the same name. Then she was invited to perform Martha’s part in Eugene d Albert’s opera “The Valley.” Maria Callas’s arias aroused audience delight and received rave reviews from critics.
Until 1945, Kallas performed at the Athens Opera and successfully mastered the leading opera parties. After the liberation of Greece from the Nazi invaders, Hidalgo advised her to settle in Italy. Kallas gave a series of concerts throughout Greece, and then returned to America to see her father. She left Greece on September 14, 1945, two months before her 22nd birthday. Career in Greece, Maria Callas called the basis of her musical and dramatic education.

The heyday of creativity

In 1947, Kallas received her first prestigious contract. A talented performer was to perform the part of the Mona Lisa in the opera of the same name by Amilcar Ponchielli. The performance was conducted by Tullio Serafin, on the recommendation of which Callas was invited to perform in Venice, where she performed the main roles in the operas Turandot by Puccini and Tristan and Isold by Wagner. The audience enthusiastically welcomed the arias of Maria Callas from the operas of the two greatest composers. Even people who criticized her work in the past began to recognize the singer’s unique talent.
Upon arrival in Verona, Callas met Giovanni Batista Meneghini, a wealthy industrialist, who began to look after her. They married in 1949 and lived together for 10 years. Thanks to the love and constant support of her husband, Maria Callas was able to build a successful opera career in Italy.

Kallas responsibly approached performances and constantly improved her musical skills. She paid a lot of attention to her appearance. In the early years of her career, with an increase of 173 centimeters, she weighed almost 90 kilograms. Maria began to follow a strict diet and in a short time (1953 - early 1954) lost 36 pounds.

In the La Scala opera house in Milan, Callas first performed in 1951 with the party of Helena in the “Sicilian Vespers” by Giuseppe Verdi. In 1956, she triumphantly performed at the Metropolitan Opera, where she appeared before the public as Norma in the Bellini opera of the same name. Aria of Maria Callas "Casta Diva" (Casta Diva) critics of those years were ranked among the highest achievements of the artist.
Relations with Aristotle Onassis

In 1957, being married to Giovanni Battista Meneghini, Callas met the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis at a party held in her honor. Between them began a passionate romance, about which much was written in the newspapers. In November 1959, Kallas left her husband. She abandoned her career on the big stage to spend more time with her beloved.
The relationship between Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis ended in 1968, when the billionaire left Callas and married Jacqueline Kennedy. The betrayal of the man whom she sincerely loved and was devoted to him was a terrible blow to the opera diva.

last years of life

Kallas spent the last years of her life in solitude in Paris. On September 16, 1977, at the age of 53, she died of myocardial infarction. Until now, the question remains open for the performer’s biographers, which caused the singer to feel worse. Heart failure could develop due to a rare disease diagnosed in her - dermatomyositis. According to an alternative version of doctors, heart problems were caused by side effects of steroids and immunosuppressants, which Kallas took during the illness.
September 20, 1977 in the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Stephen the funeral of Mary Callas took place. The ashes of the greatest opera singer, who left behind a rich creative heritage, was scattered over the Aegean Sea.

Mention in popular culture

The film about Maria Callas was shot in 2002 by the director. The film “Callas Forever” is based on a fictional episode from the singer’s life, the role of which was brilliantly performed by Fanny Ardan.
In 2007, Kallas was posthumously awarded the Grammy Award for "The Musical Achievements of a Lifetime." In the same year, she was recognized as the "Best Soprano of All Time" by the British magazine BBC Music Magazine.
In 2012, Callas became a member of the Hall of Fame, established by the reputable British magazine Gramophone.