Maria Callas

American-Greek operatic soprano (1923–1977)

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Lived 1923–1977, aged 54United States

United States

MusiciansSinger / Musician

Wikipedia
78 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1923–1977
Aged 54
Known for
Maria
2024

Summary

Updated 2026-09-07

The soprano who made opera dangerous. Maria Callas didn't just sing roles — she inhabited them with a ferocity that could wreck a voice and wreck a life. Critics called her La Divina; the tabloids called her temperamental. Both were right.

Biography

About

Born in Manhattan in 1923 to Greek immigrants and an overbearing mother who'd wanted a son, Maria Callas was raised in Astoria before moving to Greece at 13 for her musical education. She built her career in Italy through the 1940s, performing nearly blind onstage and navigating wartime poverty, her bel canto technique and dramatic intensity pulling her through classical opera seria to Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, and early Wagner. A mid-career weight loss may have hastened her vocal decline and ended her performing years prematurely. The press feasted on her alleged rivalry wi…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Maria Callas

Maria Callas

said1974

Bel canto does not mean beautiful singing alone. It is, rather, the technique demanded by the composers of this style — Donizetti, Rossini, and Bellini.

— Quotes of Callas from Callas : The Art and the Life (1974) by John Ardoin

Maria Callas

said1974

It takes a little more time to get into the role, but not very much more. In making a record you don't have the sense of projection over a distance as in an opera house.

— On making studio recordings

Maria Callas

said1974

Serafin was] an extraordinary coach, sharp as a vecchio lupo [old wolfe]. He opened a world to me, showed me there was a reason for everything, that even fiorature and trills ...

— Quotes of Callas from Callas : The Art and the Life (1974) by John Ardoin

Maria Callas

said1974

I would not kill my enemies, but I will make them get down on their knees. I will, I can, I must.

— Quotes of Callas from Callas : The Art and the Life (1974) by John Ardoin

Maria Callas

saidApr 1968

What Tullio Serafin] said that impressed me was: "When one wants to find a gesture, when you want to find how to act on stage, all you have to do is listen to the music.

— On advice from Tullio Serafin, in "Harewood Conversations - 1968", an interview in Paris with Lord Harewood for the BBC (April 1968) on

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