Maria callas cause of death
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Maria Callas
American and Greek soprano (1923–1977)
"Callas" redirects here. For other uses, see Callas (disambiguation).
Maria Callas[a]Commendatore OMRI (born Maria Anna Cecilia Sofia Kalogeropoulos;[b] December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American and Greek soprano[2] and one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her bel canto technique, wide-ranging voice and dramatic interpretations. Her repertoire ranged from classical opera seria to the bel canto operas of Donizetti, Bellini, and Rossini, and further to the works of Verdi and Puccini, and in her early career to the music dramas of Wagner. Her musical and dramatic talents led to her being hailed as La Divina ("The Divine One").
Born in Manhattan and raised in Astoria, Queens, New York City, to Greek immigrant parents, she was raised by an overbearing mother who had wanted a son. Maria received her musical education in Greece at age 13 and later established her career in Italy. Forced to deal with the exigenci
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Maria Callas at the Met
On the centennial of her birth, a look at her Met career, what it was, and what it might have been.
Introduction
No opera singer of the 20th century, with the possible exception of tenor Enrico Caruso, has been the subject of so many articles, books, documentaries, speculations, and general interest outside the narrow world of classical music as Greek American soprano Maria Callas (pictured above in the title role of Bellini’s Norma, 1956). Within that circumscribed, often conservative, and intensely opinionated body of devotees to lyrical art, it is generally acknowledged that Callas changed what we listen for and expect of an operatic performer. There were, of course, many great singers both before and after her, but it is impossible to point to one with a similar combination of attributes. The timbre of her voice was decidedly unconventional, with a very identifiable, haunting quality that often defied standard critical analysis. But Callas the artist was an undeniable phenomenon. Her intense musicality and expressive abilities revealed
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Drugged, sexually abused, swindled… Maria Callas’s tormented life revealed
Her mother blackmailed her, her husband Giovanni Battista Meneghini stole from her, and shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis was violent and abandoned her for Jackie Kennedy. Soprano Maria Callas was adored by audiences worldwide but she never knew real love offstage, and her life was even more tragic than previously realised, according to research.
In writing a new biography, Lyndsy Spence was given access to Callas’s previously unpublished correspondence and other material, which casts light on the torment of her marriage, the abuse to which Onassis subjected her and her claims of sexual harassment by the director of one of the world’s foremost conservatoires.
Spence said that the letters relating to Onassis reveal the terrifying ordeal she suffered, especially when, in 1966, his physical violence threatened her life: “There is also disturbing information from the diary of one of her close friends detailing how Onassis drugged her, mostly for sexual reasons – today we would class that as date rape.”
Wri
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