30th Anniversary of Maria Callas' Death

The Callas Legend Lives On by Linh

On September 16, 1977 opera soprano Maria Callas passed away due to heart failure, in her Paris apartment with her maid and butler by her bedside, aged 53.

Thirty years after her death, Maria Callas' influence remains and her albums continue to sell worldwide.

Maria Callas' appeal lies in her enigmatic presence onstage during her opera career, as well as her extraordinary contribution to the dramatic interpretation of opera. Callas was credited with bringing back the numerous roles in neglected operas such as Norma, Medea, Il Pirata, Anna Bolena and La Sonnambula due to her musical influence and artistic capabilites.

We are fortunate to have many of Maria Callas' recordings, where her phenomenal gift of acting with her voice is clearly evident. However, many of the recordings don't do Callas full justice with standards of past audio technology failing to capture the boundless qualities of her voice.

Callas was capable of moving freely from one vocal category to another - coloratura soprano, dramatic, lyric and in her later years, mezzo-soprano.
Her considerable and rapid weight loss and the desire to sing virtually every voice part, may have contributed to her vocal decline. Critics have believed Callas had damaged her voice by stretching it in this manner. Further controversy followed when she began a nine year love affair with Aristotle Onassis, and her alleged diva antics upsetting colleagues.

Love her or loathe her, Callas is unsurpassed as an operatic artist, musician and performer. Maestro Nicola Rescigno, who conducted many of Callas' recitals and operas, best describes her success, "I think the secret of Maria Callas was her willpower. Maria Callas was born with all sorts of disadvantages. Her voice was not of the most beautiful quality, and still, she made this instrument the most expressive, the most telling, the most true to the music that she interpreted."