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For well over a decade, soprano Maria Callas--b.
Maria Kalogeropoulos to Greek parents in New York City, Dec.
2, 1923, d. Sept. 16, 1977--dominated the opera stage, setting
new standards with the dramatic power of her voice, the force
of her acting, and the intelligence and knowledge that fortified
her musicianship. At age 14, Callas became a pupil of soprano
Elvira de Hidalgo at the Athens Conservatory, and she made
her Athens debut at age 18, as Tosca. Her triumphant performance
(1947) in Ponchielli's La Gioconda at the Verona Arena led
to appearances throughout Italy, where she sang an astounding
range of roles--from Wagner's Isolde and Brunnhilde to Gluck
and Haydn operas and more standard works by Verdi and Rossini.
Callas won her greatest acclaim, however, for her revival
of the extraordinarily difficult bel canto operas by Donizetti
(Lucia di Lammermoor, Anna Bolena) and Bellini (Norma, I Puritani).
Norma was her most impressive bel canto role; she sang it
at her debuts at London's Covent Garden (1952), the Chicago
Lyric Opera (1954), and the Metropolitan Opera House in New
York City (1956).
A singer of rare authority, Callas always conveyed a sense
of artistic rightness, even when her voice grew noticeably
flawed in the last years of her public career. She was notorious
for her "temperament." Her private life attracted
constant attention--and this, as well as her voice's increasing
deficiencies, may have persuaded her to retire early, in 1965.
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