2023-12-02 11:32:01
It didn’t start out very well. When she arrived in Athens in the summer of 1957, Maria Callas did not expect to raise such controversy. Invited by Greece to sing for the audience of the Odeon Theater of Herodes Atticus, the woman who had left her country of origin eight years earlier did not return in a unanimously serene atmosphere.
Fueled by part of the press, the reproaches mixed with curiosity: would it not have been better to devote the money from the event and the $9,000 fee per evening (two planned) to relieving the misery of Exhausted, even hungry, Greeks at the end of the civil war which followed the German and Italian occupation?
Callas, now far from the political and social realities of her country of origin, was surprised and saddened. She thus canceled her first recital… but to better triumph during the second. “The program where Wagner and Beethoven rubbed shoulders with Donizetti, Verdi and Ambroise Thomas, proves his immense vocal possibilities, explains Panaghis Pagoulatos, casting director of the Greek National Opera. When we wanted to “reconstruct” it last September, we had to call on four different sopranos, each interpreting two of the arias that Callas had performed. »
Born on December 2, 1923 in New York to Greek parents, Sophia Cecelia Kalogeropoulos did not set foot in her homeland until 1937. Her parents separated, her mother chose to return to Greece with her two daughters. The family is poor, the teenager is belittled by her mother, Evangelia, who prefers her older sister Jackie.
Maria Callas plays Medea in the ancient theater of Epidaurus, in 1961. / Archives National Opera of Greece
Certainly, the future Maria Callas, distinguished, slim, supremely elegant, is still only an “ugly duckling” with a chubby and frumpy figure, with thick myopic glasses. Alone, her more than promising voice finds favor in the ears of Evangelia who pushes her to cultivate her talent. “Speaking a somewhat borrowed Greek, barely aware of the codes and customs of a country she is discovering, the young girl sometimes offends those around her with her involuntary clumsiness”, adds Stella Angeletou, production director of the Greek National Opera.
Overwhelming roles
Trained by Maria Trivélla at the National Conservatory of Greece and, above all, by Elvira de Hidalgo at that of Athens, the very young artist is as diligent, even relentless, as she is gifted. In front of the beautiful art deco facade of her house, unfortunately abandoned and which was even squatted a few years ago, Stella Angeletou and Vassilis Louras, creator of a very moving documentary on Callas’s Greek years (read the benchmarks below)list the works that the teenager tackled between the ages of 15 and 22. “Overwhelming roles like Fidelio the Beethoven, Tosca by Puccini or Rustic cavalry by Pietro Mascagni but also, without unfortunately having any sound trace, of Bach, Pergolesi, Mozart…”
A chorister contract then binds her to the Opera, even if Maria is not really required to do any service in the choirs. “It is, in reality, a small subterfuge to finance his courses and provide him with a subsidy, while war and occupation are ravaging Athens. A terrible period when people were afraid, hungry, as proven by certain concerts paid not in money, totally devalued by galloping inflation, but in food. »
Supported by Elvira de Hidalgo who serves as her “second mother”, Callas then lives only for music, at the risk of attracting incomprehension, even rivalry, from his comrades. But also those in charge of the Opera whose new management is bullying her – or at least she feels that way. A situation which will undoubtedly hasten his return to the United States in 1945.
Just the return of things
“You have to learn the technique very early, assured the singer. I am proud to say that I can handle all the vocal and technical difficulties because I learned all this at a very young age. This is what studies are made for. » Once famous and wealthy, the soprano will seek to give back to Greece and its Opera what she had received – “They helped me when I needed it most…” –, notably founding a scholarship in her name which she endowed with the fees of her performances at Epidaurus in 1960 and 1961.
Shortly after the stormy episode of the summer of 1957, Callas was indeed invited to play Norma by Bellini then Medea by Cherubini. These will be his last public appearances in Greece, triumphs of which we probably have little idea today.
Set fire to the stone
The clumsy teenager has transformed into a haughty and incandescent beauty, whose dramatic intensity literally melts the ancient remains. « Pour Medeashe repeated the same hand gesture dozens and dozens of times, evokes a witness to the rehearsals in the documentary by Vassilis Louras, until you find the perfect attitude. She wanted to give the impression that the magician, devoured by the desire for revenge, was setting fire to the stone on which she based her despair. »
A museum dedicated to Maria Callas opened in Athens in October 2023. / LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/REUTERS
According to the composer Giorgos Koumendakis, director of the National Opera of Greece, “During these performances in Epidaurus, a highly symbolic setting, Callas was able to make the link between the great myths of Greece and a very modern conception of opera, of which, as an incomparable tragedian, she revolutionized the musical and theatrical interpretation” .
How far we are from the worldly side of an artist who has hit the headlines since she had an affair with the shipowner, also Greek, Aristotle Onassis! From the exhibition dedicated to him by the Opera and the National Library (read below) to the new Callas Museum, recently opened in the center of Athens, through the magnificent documentary already mentioned, the Maria of the tabloids is left in the shadows or barely touched upon. So much seems more exciting, more universal, the Callas musician, demanding and concentrated, arriving first and leaving last during rehearsals, uncompromising with herself and, sometimes, with others.
Certain of her talent while doubting, again and again. “Callas was the most disciplined creature that ever fell into my hands,” declared Luchino Visconti who notably offered him a now legendary staging of The Traviata also Verdi.
A fuzzy memory
However, in 2023, his memory in Greece does not seem to match his aura. In the streets of Athens, many know her “by name” but remain little concerned by her art and confide that they will perhaps discover her during the many centenary events. Manolis Papachristou, a 26-year-old graphic designer, admits: “If I remember correctly, she is a very famous Greek singer who had an international career. That’s all I know. I admit to being ignorant, but I would go see the new museum dedicated to him. » As for Anna, a secretary in her sixties, she associates him, like many of her fellow citizens, with her tumultuous love affair with the wealthy Onassis…
Another controversy overshadowing his glory in current Greek opinion, his Athenian youth is, moreover, associated with the sentimental relations of his mother with an Italian officer while, at the same time, she helped opponents. Some criticize Maria for having sung in front of the Nazis, which, for the singer Vassiliki Papantoniou, is a matter of “pure bad faith!” How do you expect a conservatory student to be able to oppose the management’s decision to go and perform in front of the occupier? What could she do? It’s despicable to blame him for that. »
Maria Callas during the presentation of Norma in 1960 in Epidaurus. / Archives National Opera of Greece
Having never met Callas, she worships him and has fought for decades to transform the house where young Maria lived into a lyric art academy: “It is a debt that we owe and that I want to settle, in the form of’a school where the best teachers will teach. So we will truly honor Maria Callas. » Former Athens mayor Pavlos Bakoyannis had promised that the academy would see the light of day in the coming years. “Perhaps the new mayor will do it, hopes Stella Angeletou, but the project is mired in administrative problems that have not yet been resolved. »
Rekindle the flame
Resolutely educational, benefiting from an attractive but never touted scenography, the Callas Museum, a brand new municipal structure, rich in a thousand documents acquired through purchases or donations, also aims to rekindle the Callas flame in present-day Greece. To this end, the places very intelligently play the trump card of the artist, his voice with its recognizable timbre among all others.
The journey begins with an immersion in three of its flagship roles: Norma, Tosca et Traviata. It is then only necessary to listen to a vocalization quivering with sadness, a note held like a prayer, a color here sunny, there twilight, to feel the Callas exception. On the lower floor, objects, theater and street clothes (sublime!), scores, photos, sound clips… unfold the singer’s journey. Until this year 1964 when, after a final Tosca at Covent Garden in London, overworked and feeling her voice betraying her, she ended her career. She is only 42 years old.
New start
Twenty years earlier, with her solid Athenian training, Maria Callas had left Greece for New York. It was time for her to emerge from her chrysalis, to take a new step which would open the doors to international lyric art. She then successfully auditioned for the Metropolitan Opera. However, upon reading the three-year contract that the prestigious American theater offered her, while initially confining her to subordinate roles, she had the guts to refuse. A star Is Born.
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“Invite creators to be inspired by Callas”
Vassilis Zidianakis, curator of the exhibition “Unboxing Callas”
“Like many Greeks, I had my image of Callas, more diva and mistress of Onassis than artist. But as soon as I listen to it, everything changes. Our exhibition, designed as the revelation of archives offered to view and research, is based on the incredible collection donated by Dimitris Pyromallis to the Greek National Opera. Records and photos, models and programs, letters and objects…
Based on these pieces, we wanted a journey likely to attract a neophyte audience for whom opera often means the world of yesterday. Hence the idea of inviting contemporary creators to draw inspiration from this or that document to give their own interpretation, anchored in our time. Thus, a video evokes the fire devouring Medea’s clothes, in connection with words from Callas who confided having burned stage costumes. A silk hanging displays the alternation of its colors, a visual translation of the notes taken from a sentence in PirateBellini’s opera…”
Comments collected by Emmanuelle Giuliani
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A centenary celebrated in Greece and France
► In Athens:
Exposition « Unboxing Callas » at the National Library of Greece, proposed by the National Opera of Greece. Contemporary creation dialogues with a vast archive fund.
At the Opera, screening on December 2 of the documentary Mairi, Mariana, Maria. The Unknown Greek Years of Callas.
Maria Callas Museuman educational journey rich in sound and visual ambiances.
► In France:
December 2, Gala Live artat the Palais Garnier, under the direction of Eun Sun Kim, in a production by Robert Carsen. With Sondra Radvanovsky, Pretty Yende, Eve-Maud Hubeaux, Carole Bouquet, Marie-Agnès Gillot.
December 3, special day on Arte and December 8, Callas evening on France 5 with, in particular, the documentary Mairi, Mariana, Maria. The Unknown Greek Years of Callas.
On December 2 and 3, broadcast in cinemas of the recital of Maria Callas at the Palais Garnier, on December 19, 1958.
Warner Classics releases a splendid box set La Divina: Maria Callas in All Her Rolesenriched with bonuses, interviews…
#search #lost #memory #singer