Maria Callas

When thirty-year-old Maria Callas performed the role of Medea at the Scala, Franco Zeffirelli was rendered unable to move. Something momentous had happened. ‘The world of opera had changed. Now there was a new way of measuring time: B.C. and A.C. – before Callas and after Callas.’ Maria Callas was particularly successful in tragic roles. She combined an almost uncanny technical perfection with an intensity of expression that moved people deeply. The rifts and contradictions she lent to a Tosca or a Norma, however, also shaped her own life. Eva Gesine Baur explores her difficult family background, the fierce determination that powered her rise to the top, and the years when she was at the height of her fame. She looks at the conflicts that plagued Maria Callas, the scandals that surrounded her, and the men in her life – from her husband to Aristoteles Onassis to Pier Paolo Pasolini. The drama of her life and her tragic art went hand in hand. They are what made her great, but ultimately lonely, and unforgotten to this day.

‘There is a singer there called Maria Callas and she sings and acts as if she had several devils and angels inside her.’ - Ingeborg Bachmann, 1956

*100^th birthday on 2 December 2023

*The dramatic life of Maria Callas

*Captivating from the first page to the last

*A book about one of the greatest singers of her century, and what made her so unique