Maria Callas was an opera diva or as Leonard Bernstein once called her “the Bible of opera”. She was born Maria Kalogeropoulos in New York City in 1923 to Greek immigrants. Her mother, Litza, had firmly believed that she had been expecting a boy. Thus, after giving birth to Maria, she refused to even look at the newborn. The doctors had to persuade Litza to finally embrace the baby on the Day 4 after delivery.
Maria Callas, the Primadonna
”My sister was slim and beautiful and friendly, and my mother always preferred her. I was the ugly duckling, fat and clumsy and unpopular. It is a cruel thing to make a child feel ugly and unwanted… I’ll never forgive her for taking my childhood away. During all the years I should have been playing and growing up, I was singing or making money. Everything I did for them was mostly good and everything they did to me was mostly bad.”
Maria Callas who had a protruding nose, 1.73 m talls with large arms and at one point overweight, was under constant attacks from her mother. George Callas, Maria’s father, was not happy with how his wife treated their youngest daughter. His often absence from the family home only added up to Litza’s anger and so in 1937 she moved back to Athens, Greece with the girls. By that time, she had already caught a glimpse of Maria’s talent and pushed her into an intensive classical voice training.
Embed from Getty ImagesIn 1942 Maria made her debut in Puccini’s Tosca at the Greek National Opera. In the 1950’s she performed numerous times at La Scala in Milan, Italy. Following was her American tour. Despite her rising fame and success, she endured struggles. Her voice had started failing her which led to frequent show cancellations while the press heavily criticized her for her ‘’temperamental behavior’’.
Throughout this time, she was married to Giovanni Battista, an Italian industrialist who was 31 years her senior. The couple married in 1949 when she was only 23 years old, still an insecure young woman, weighing over 91 kilos. Little did she know that she would soon become one of the most iconic opera singers of all time. Surely with the help and extensive control of Battista. In Maria Callas’ biography book Arianna Stassinopoulos called him ”an efficient manager with more than his share of vanity and self-importance.” After 4 years into the marriage Callas had lost 36 kilograms, transforming herself into an Audrey Hepburn look-alike.
Embed from Getty ImagesWhile still married to Battista, Maria Callas met what would be the heartbreak of her life – Aristotle Onassis, one of the wealthiest shipping tycoons of the 20th century and probably one of the most successful businessman in history. Onassis enjoyed being in the company of celebrities, especially that of prominent women. Therefore, in 1957 he invited Maria and Battista for a Mediterranean cruise on his yacht “Christina”. First, she declined but eventually the pair both joined. By the end of the journey Callas fell head over heels for Onassis.
Blindsided by Onassis’ charm, she left her husband in 1959. By 1966 she had given up her American passport to become a Greek citizen. For her that was the only way to divorce from her husband and be with Aristotle Onassis. He was also married when their love affair first started and in 1960 he divorced from his wife, Athina. However, Onassis never married Callas. Among all, he liked Maria’s celebrity status. She, on the other hand, was utterly in love and described him as “the first person to truly understand and accept her, warts and all”. Maria neglected her opera career to be by his side at lavish parties and had hoped to start a family with him. Rumour has it that the two welcomed a baby boy in 1960, but the child died only a few hours later.
During the tumultuous relationship, Onassis set his eyes on Jackie Kennedy, America’s widowed First Lady. In 1968, Onassis announced his marriage to Jackie. According to some sources, this was considered to be an attempt of his to become more prominent in the USA. The marriage was catastrophic, the former First Lady liked living an extravagant lifestyle, spending $1.5m on home decoration. Onassis once famously said:
”I never met anyone who could spend money like Jackie,”
ARISTOTLE ONASSIS
At first Maria Callas was absolutely heartbroken over his actions, therefore she strongly refused to see him. Then he threatened he would crash the front of her apartment building with his Mercedes so she gave up. The two reunited and began seeing each other in Paris, where she was living at that time. His driver, Yaikinto Rossa would later comment on the relationship:
“They met every month until his death,…The truth is that Maria Callas was Onassis’s one true love. She was his true wife, though they never married.”
Yaikinto Rossa
On January 23, 1973, 24-year-old Alexander Onassis, Aristotle’s first-born child and only son, died in a plane crash. Aristotle was unable to recover from this tragic loss. He then suffered from myasthenia gravis, a muscular debility and only 2 years later, Onassis fell sick and when realizing that it was death-threating. He immediately tried to fill in for divorce from Jackie. However, his disease did not allow him to proceed further. Following, he entered a hospital in France. Despite his serious illness, Jackie did not pay a visit to him in the hospital – she was on a ski vacation in Aspen. Nevertheless, she instructed the hospital to not let Maria Callas by his bedside.
Maria managed to snuck in the hospital through a service elevator and say her final goodbye while Onassis was lying lifelessly in a coma. Jackie eventually flew to Paris too. On March 15th 1975 Aristotle Onassis died, leaving his fortune to wife, Jackie Kennedy Onassis and daughter, Christina. Maria was once again heartbroken and was left with nothing. With her voice failing her, she was unable to continue with her opera career.
Embed from Getty ImagesMaria spent the last years of her life living in memories and developing a painkiller addiction while her character was getting more bitter than ever. Similar to Aristotle, she couldn’t bear with the thought that her beloved one was gone forever. On September 16th 1977 Maria Callas was discovered dead by her servant. Her death was ruled a heart attack. Her mother was still alive at that time but she did not attend Maria’s funeral.
After her death, ex-husband Giovanni Battista Meneghini reported that their Greek divorce was not recognized in Italy. Thus, he claimed his part of Maria’s estate. However, Vasso Devetzi, a Greek pianist and a close friend who was greatly present in the last few years of Callas’ life, requested to claim her own part of the opera diva’s estate. After a long lasting legal dispute, the two agreed to split Callas’s fortune. Devetzi argued that she was going to invest her half in the so-called ”Maria Callas Foundation”, which was established only after hundreds of dollars had already disappeared. Some believed that Devetzi was in fact, a very poisonous figure in Maria’s life, controlling her while prescribing her painkillers. Franco Zeffirelli, opera director and friend of Maria, believed that she was poised by Devetzi for financial gain. She had asked for cremation of the body which is not typical in the Greek Orthodox Church. Therefore, the doctors couldn’t perform an autopsy and rule anything out.
Sources: Edna, Chapala, Independent, Culturacolectiva, NYTimes, Unseen-Influences, Biography
