MARIA CALLAS MADE HER OPERATIC DEBUT IN ATHENS PLAYING TOSCA IN 1941 SHE WOULD GO ON TO STAR IN PRACTICALLY EVERY MAJOR ROLE FINALLY ENDING WHERE SHE BEGAN IN TOSCA IN 1965 AT COVENT GARDEN. BETWEEN THESE YEARS SHE ALMOST SINGLE HANDEDLY REVIVED THE BEL CANTO STYLE AND EARNED THE TITLE LA DIVINA. HER STYLE DIVIDED OPERA LOVERS THEY EITHER LOVED OR HATED HER (MANY CO-STARS FELT THE SAME!) WHAT SHE LACKED IN TECHNIQUE SHE MORE THAN MADE UP FOR IN PASSION IN HER PERFORMANCES, DELIGHTING THE FANS BUT HORRIFYING THE PURISTS.
AS A YOUNG GIRL SHE WAS PLUMP SHY AND AWKWARD BUT WOULD LATER BLOSSOM INTO ONE OF THE MOST STYLISH WOMEN OF HER GENERATION. MANY WERE AMAZED BY HER TRANSFORMATION AND RUMOURS PERSISTED THAT HER NEW FIGURE WAS THE RESULT OF A SWALLOWED TAPE WORM. UNDERNEATH THE STYLISHLY DRESSED WOMAN WHO WOULD BECOME THE DARLING OF SOCIETY THERE STILL LURKED THE SHY AKWARD INSECURE GIRL. WHICH MAY HAVE ACCOUNTED FOR HER LEGENDARY TEMPER TANTRUMS. CONSIDERED AS VOLATILE OFF STAGE AS ON SHE HAD A SOMEWHAT FORMIDABBLE REPUTATION AND MANY OF HER COLLEAGUES WOULD BECOME LIFELONG ENEMIES!
AFTER LEAVING THE STAGE SHE RETIRED ELEGANTLY TO PARIS EMERGING TO RUN HER MASTERCLASSES. FOR MAY YEARS SHE WAS THE LOVER OF ARISTOTLE ONASSIS AND THEY WERE CONSIDERED THE MOST FAMOUS GREEK MAN, WOMAN AND COUPLE IN THE WORLD ( THOUGH CALLAS WAS IN FACT AMERICAN) SHE NEVER RECOVERED WHEN ONASSIS MARRIED JACKIE KENNEDY AND DIED SHORTLY AFTER, A RECLUSE, MANY SAID SHE DIED OF A BROKEN HEART.
MARIA DIVA OF ALL DIVAS WE WELCOME YOU HOME TO THE QUEENS OF CAMP!
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