Maria Callas

by Arianna Huffington

  The long months of research, writing and rewriting put much strain on my friends’ love and understanding: Jane Brewster read, and often reread, every draft of the book, spotted mistakes, made suggestions, found books and press clippings, and worked with me through her pregnancy and even on the morning of the day she was admitted to the hospital to give birth to Lily. To her and to Lily, for so patiently waiting until the book was ready for the printers before demanding to be born, go my deepest, loving thanks. Helena Matheopoulos, right from the beginning, steered people and new material my way; Iain Johnstone and Peter Ferguson arranged for me to see the BBC videotapes on Maria; Howard Grossman in New York was always willing to do whatever needed to be done on that side of the Atlantic, whether finding a book out of print, checking records at City Hall or rechecking facts with people I had interviewed. Elizabeth Baekeland, Richard Blackford, Dimitri Coromilas, Barbara Comerford, Halina Szpiro and Warwick Wynschenk checked drafts at various stages when time was short and all help was needed. I am grateful to them all, as well as to Gwen Margrie, who typed the first draft, and to Angela Sen who typed and retyped whole chapters and passages she must now know by heart. I wrote a substantial part of the book in Spain at the home of Fleur Cowles and Tom Meyer. I want to thank them both for their hospitality and for their understanding when I would disappear for long hours under what will forever be known as the Maria Callas tree.

  My father provided the Greek connection from the beginning, sending me clippings from the Greek press and staying in touch with Maria’s family and friends in Athens; from my mother I received not only constant support but many invaluable insights through our talks about Maria that often extended long into the night; and my sister Agapi was a continuous source of encouragement and enthusiasm.

  The book is dedicated to Bernard Levin. Without his unfailing support and understanding and without the long hours he spent reading, criticizing and improving, I wonder sometimes whether there would be a book at all. The dedication is only a small token of my loving gratitude.

  Source Notes

  MY INITIAL RESEARCH INCLUDED ALL the existing literature on Maria Callas—the books (in many languages), reviews, profiles and published interviews. During the course of writing the manuscript, I availed myself of new books as they appeared.

  In the notes that follow, I cite both these published sources and information derived from personal interviews, private conversations, tape recordings and my own correspondence, as well as the letters of Maria Callas to her godfather, her mother and friends.

  John Ardoin and Gerald Fitzgerald, Callas (London: Thames and Hudson, 1974; New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974).

  Evangelia Callas, My Daughter, Maria Callas (New York: Fleet Publishing Corp., (1960).

  Camilla Cederna, Chi e Maria Callas? (Milan: Longanesi and Co., 1968).

  Stelios Galatopoulos, Callas: La Divina (Elmsford, N.Y.: London House and Maxwell, 1970).

  Eugenio Gara, Die Grossen Interpreten: Maria Callas (Frankfurt/Main: Wilhelm Limpert-Verlag, 1959).

  Denis Goise, Maria Callas, la diva, scandale (Paris: Editions Guy Authier, 1978).

  George Jellinek, Callas, Portrait of a Prima Donna (London: Anthony Gibbs and Phillips, 1961).

  Jacques Lorcey, Maria Callas (Paris: Collection Têtes d’Affiche, 1977).

  Pierre-Jean Remy, Maria Callas, A Tribute (London: Macdonald and Jane’s, 1978) .

  Serge Segalini, Images d’une voix (Paris: Editions Francis Van de Welde, 1979).

  Giovanna Tortora e Paolo Barbieri, Per Maria Callas (Bologna: Edizioni Recitar Cantando, 1979).

  Henry Wisneski, Maria Callas, The Art Behind the Legend (New York: Doubleday, 1975).

  John Ardoin, Callas Legacy (London: Duckworth, 1977). This is not only the definitive book on Maria Callas as an artist, but also a remarkable labor of dedication, scholarship and understanding.

  CHAPTER 1

  Most of this chapter is based on my talks with Maria’s mother, Evangelia Kalogeropoulos, in Athens and with Maria’s godfather, Dr. Leonidas Lantzounis, in New York. My talks and correspondence with Nadia Stancioff, Mary Mead and Anastasia Gratsos, to whom Maria had talked at length about her childhood, filled in many of the gaps.

  CHAPTER 2

  My account of Maria’s life in Athens before World War II is based on my talks with her mother and on Maria’s interview with Oggi (January 10, 1957), on her interview with Kenneth Harris (Observer, February 8 and 15, 1970) and on the transcripts of her televised conversations with Lord Harewood broadcast by the BBC on December 15, 1967, and January 23, 1968. For the first stage of her career I drew on these sources as well as on the Greek newspapers of the period.

  CHAPTER 3

  Apart from my talks with Maria’s mother, Evangelia, and with Nadia Stancioff and Mary Mead, an important source for this chapter was Efi Zaccaria, whose husband, the bass Nicola Zaccaria, was singing at the time with the Athens Opera; Efi Zaccaria’s reminiscences of Maria during that period were an important firsthand account of the war years. For the historical background I relied on C. M. Woodhouse’s Modern Greece (London: Faber, 1968), David Holden’s Greece Without Columns (London: Faber, 1972), and Lord Moran’s Churchill, The Struggle for Survival 1940/65 (London: Constable, 1966). After the Germans occupied Athens in the spring of 1941, the German newspapers began to carry occasional reviews of operatic and concert performances in Greece; Deutsche Nachrichten was the newspaper I consulted, especially when other sources gave conflicting dates for Maria’s performances.

  CHAPTER 4

  With Maria back in New York, Dr. Lantzounis became once again an important source not only for his factual information, but also for his awareness of Maria’s feelings and state of mind at the time. John Ardoin, who had talked with Maria at length about her early struggles in New York, filled many of the gaps.

  CHAPTER 5

  Maria’s televised interview with Lord Harewood provided much of the information on her working technique, her relationship with Serafin and her feeling for the different roles she sang during her first years in Italy. I also drew on Serafin’s article, “A Triptych of Singers” in Opera Annual (London: John Calder, 1962), on Roland Mancini’s “Tullio Serafin” (Opéra, March 1, 1968) and on Jan Maguire’s “Callas, Serafin, and the Art of Bel Canto” (Saturday Review, March 30, 1968). Other important sources were her interview with Il Gazzettino (July 22, 1947) and accounts of her first performances in Il Gazzettino (August 1, 1947), Il Secolo XIX (May 12, 1948), Il Messaggero (July 4, 1948) and in La Stampa (September 18, 1948). Maria’s letters to her mother and her godfather described her feelings during the Verona period, and together with Zeffirelli’s reminiscences of Verona they helped me evoke the world she encountered as she began her career alone in a new country.

  In considering Maria’s critical and historical position in the operatic tradition, I had the help of, among others, John Ardoin, Peter Diamand, Lord Harewood and Harold Rosenthal. Among the books I consulted, the most useful were Robert Rushmore’s The Singing Voice (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1971), J. B. Steane’s The Grand Tradition (London: Duckworth, 1974), Harold Rosenthal’s Great Singers of Today (London: Calder and Boyars, 1966) and Olivier Merlin’s Le Bel Canto (Paris: René Julliard, 1961). Among articles evaluating Maria’s contribution to the world of music I found particularly valuable Edward Downes’s “Bel Canto in 1956” in Opera Annual (London: John Calder, 1956), Teodoro Celli’s “A Song from Another Century” in Opera Annual (London: John Calder, 1959) and Robert Skidelsky’s “Fact and Fiction About Callas” (Spectator, October 1, 1977).

  CHAPTER 6

  From this chapter on the reports and reviews of Maria’s performances begin to proliferate. Too numerous to cite individually, collectively they are an important indication of the growing excitement surrounding Maria’s career.

  It is at this point in her life that Maria and her mother part forever; their last days together in Mexico are etched in Evangelia’s memory, and she is the main source
of the personal details of Maria’s Mexican visit. John Ardoin’s detailed and vivid account in The Callas Legacy of Maria’s performances in Mexico was especially useful.

  From 1950 onward, Maria wrote regularly and with increasing intimacy to her godfather; her letters reflect her real state of mind behind the headlines and interviews in the popular press. For my account of Maria’s Veronese lifestyle, her first home and her role as Signora Meneghini, I have drawn on Zeffirelli’s recollections as well as on Maria’s letters.

  From this chapter on I drew on the reporting of Maria’s performances in Opera magazine. Harold Rosenthal provided clarification and detail during our talks, and Lord Harewood’s tribute to Maria at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on April 10, 1978, and his insights during our conversations, proved invaluable.

  Victor Seroff’s Renata Tebaldi (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1961), Spike Hughes’s “Italian Opera House Traditions” in Opera Annual (London: John Calder, 1957) and my talks with Peter Daimand provided considerable information about La Scala during the period Maria first sang there, as well as about her relationship with Ghiringhelli. Stendhal’s Life of Rossini (London: Calder and Boyars, 1965) still provides the most colorful account of Italian attitudes toward foreign performers; attitudes may differ today but they had changed very little between the time Stendhal was writing and the time Maria made her first appearance at La Scala. Gian Carlo Menotti’s account of Ghiringhelli’s hostility to Maria appeared in a ninety-minute documentary on Maria’s career produced by Peter Weinberg for the Educational Broadcasting Corporation in America, and broadcast on December 2, 1978.

  Sander Gorlinsky provided information on the circumstances of the signing of Maria’s first contract with Covent Garden, as well as on Meneghini’s relationship with Maria at the time.

  CHAPTER 7

  For accounts of Maria’s performances I have drawn, in this and in subsequent chapters, on the Corriere della Sera, Musica e Dischi, Musical America, Opera, Music and Musicians, High Fidelity and Opera News. The beginning of Maria’s long connection with EMI is colorfully described by Walter Legge in an article which appeared in Opera News in November 1977. For the atmosphere prevailing at Covent Garden during Maria’s first appearance and for her relationship with David Webster, I have drawn on Montague Haltrecht’s biography of Webster, The Quiet Showman (London: Collins, 1975), and on Harold Rosenthal’s Two Centuries of Opera at Covent Garden (London: Putnam, 1958). In her interview with Peter Dragadze (Daily Mirror, October 16, 1977), Maria talked about her reaction to the first cutting remarks on her size and her subsequent decision to lose weight. I also drew on her interview with Derek Prouse (The Sunday Times, March 19, 1961) to whom she recounted her frustration at having to sing Medea without the gaunt lines she felt the part demanded, and on my talks with Christian Bischini.

  For Maria’s collaboration with Margherita Wallmann, I have drawn on Wallmann’s Les Balcons du Ciel (Paris: Robert Laffont, 1976). Maria’s own words in her comprehensive interview with Derek Prouse describe her attitude to Medea. For her feelings about Lucia, I have drawn on her broadcast interview with Edward Downes (WQXR, December 30, 1967).

  The tapes of John van Eyssen’s conversations with Francesco Chiarini and with Carla Nanni Mocenigo, whose mother was at the Fenice in Venice when Maria first sang there, were an important source for this chapter. For Maria’s debut in Chicago I have drawn on Claudia Cassidy’s reports in the Chicago Tribune, her interview with Maria (Chicago Tribune, November 21, 1954) and her article in Opera News (November 1977) after Maria’s death.

  CHAPTER 8

  For the beginning of Maria’s collaboration with Visconti, I have relied on interviews with Zeffirelli and Alexis Minotis, on Monica Stirling’s biography of Visconti, A Screen of Time (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979), and on my talks with Peter Diamand. For this period in general, I have also drawn on my talks with Jon Vickers, Efi Zaccaria and John Ardoin, on Dorle Soria’s and Walter Legge’s articles in Opera News (November 1977) and on Carla Nanni Mocenigo’s reminiscences. My quotations from Maria herself come from the above-mentioned interviews with Derek Prouse, Claudia Cassidy and Lord Harewood.

  CHAPTER 9

  Giulio Gatti-Casazza’s memoirs, Memories of the Opera (London: John Calder, 1977), provided some useful background material on the Met. Rudolf Bing’s Memoirs, 5000 Nights at the Opera (New York: Doubleday, 1972), George London’s article, “Prima Donnas I Have Sung Against” in Opera Annual, (London: John Calder, 1959), Dorle Soria’s article in Opera News (November 1977) and Francis Robinson’s reminiscences were important sources for Maria’s debut at the Met. My talks with Dario Soria and with Katy Katsoyanni, who had been a great friend of Dimitri Mitropoulos, provided much additional detail, and Maria’s letters to her godfather as well as my conversations with him give a sense of Maria’s feelings at the time.

  Elsa Maxwell’s autobiography, R.S.V.P. (Boston: Little, Brown, 1954), as well as the reminiscences of Rosemarie Marcie Riviere, Mary Mead and Franco Zeffirelli, helped me understand more fully the part Maxwell played in Maria’s life. Michel Glotz, Dario Soria, Peter Diamand and, of course, Maria’s godfather, provided many of the details behind the headlines at that time. The quotations from Maria come from her already cited interviews with Derek Prouse, Lord Harewood and Kenneth Harris.

  CHAPTER 10

  My talks with Lord Harewood, Alexis Minotis, Mary Mead and Jon Vickers provided the basis for the early section of this chapter. Maria herself talked about the events that led to her dismissal from the Met in the Dallas Morning News (November 8, 1958), in Newsweek (April 9, 1959) and at greater length, in Life magazine (April 20, 1959). Of the many accounts of Maria’s concert appearance in Il Pirata at Carnegie Hall, I found Winthrop Sargeant’s report in The New Yorker (February 7, 1959) especially helpful.

  For the reaction to Maria’s first appearance at the Paris Opera I have drawn on Olivier Merlin’s article “La Callas, Monstre Sacré” (Le Monde, December 18, 1958) and on interviews with Maria in Arts (December 10, 1958) and in Le Figaro (December 17, 1958). Maria’s official comments on marriage and Meneghini derive from an interview she gave to John Cruesemann for the Daily Express. For an account of her feelings during the breakup of her marriage, I have relied on my talks with Edith Gorlinsky, Nadia Stancioff, Mary Mead and Anastasia Gratsos, with whom Maria discussed, especially later in her life, those difficult months. The interview that Biki gave to Paris Match a few days after Maria’s death and Maria’s interview with Peter Dragadze for Life magazine further clarified her own and other’s reactions at the time.

  CHAPTER 11

  For this chapter I have drawn on my talks with many of Onassis’ intimates and especially Constantine and Anastasia Gratsos, Harry Kapetanakis, who was director of Olympic Airways in Paris, and Costa Haritakis, a regular companion in Onassis’ nightlife. Of the numerous books written about Onassis, the ones I found most helpful were Aristotle Onassis by Nicholas Fraser, Philip Jacobson, Mark Ottaway and Lewis Chester (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1977) and Onassis, An Extravagant Life by Frank Brady (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1977).

  Maria talked about her desire for a child and a new life in an interview with Marlyse Shaeffer (France Soir, February 13, 1960). Her discussion of her work at this time comes from the interview with Derek Prouse.

  Teddy and Gaby van Zuylen, Sander and Edith Gorlinsky, Princess Grace and François Valéry provided me with details of various aspects of Maria’s life during these early years of her relationship with Onassis. As always, her letters to Dr. Lantzounis were the most important evidence of her feelings at that time. These letters, together with the many long letters Dr. Lantzounis sent to Maria outlining in detail the financial and other arrangements he was making for her mother, were the main documents of this phase of Maria’s relationship with Evangelia. Dr. Lantzounis also gave me access to all the letters and documents from doctors, lawyers, and the Welfare Department regarding Evangelia’s eventful lif
e in New York during this time.

  CHAPTER 12

  Franco Zeffirelli and Tito Gobbi provided me with a great deal of background material for Maria’s performances in Tosca. I also drew on Tito Gobbi’s memoirs, Tito Gobbi: My Life (London: Macdonald & Jane’s, 1979), and Montague Haltrecht’s biography of David Webster. For Maria’s Tosca in New York I found particularly helpful the following articles: Alan Rich’s in the New York Herald Tribune (March 20 and 21, 1965), Harold Schonberg’s in The New York Times (March 21, 1965) and Paul Hume’s in the Washington Post (April 4, 1965). I have also drawn on reports in The New Yorker (March 1965), in Time magazine (March 26, 1965) and in Saturday Review (April 3, 1965). Rudolf Bing, Nicola Rescigno, John Ardoin, John Coveney and Peter Andry provided valuable information about Maria’s attitude to her work as her career drew to a close, and Nicola Rescigno provided me also with much additional detail on Maria’s forays into the recording studios at this time.

  Neville Cardus’ open letter to Maria appeared in the Guardian on January 30, 1964. On the possibility of a new career for Maria as a mezzo, I found particularly helpful Olivier Merlin’s article “Callas Perdue et Retrouvée” (Le Monde, June 7, 1963) and an article by Herbert Weinstock, “Woman of the Week” (Opera News, March 20, 1965).

  Franco Zeffirelli and Sander Gorlinsky were the main sources of information on the doomed attempt to film Tosca with Maria. Edith Gorlinsky and Anastasia Gratsos talked to me about Maria’s abortion, and Nadia Stancioff about Maria’s pain at recollecting it years later.