Maria Anna Sophia Kaillia Kalogeropoulou or Maria Callas, honors Google today with a doodle devoted to it. OR Maria Callas (Maria Anna Sophia Kikilias Kalogeropoulou) was born in New York on 2 December 1923 and died in Paris on 16 September 1977. Maria Callas has been a top speaker and is now known worldwide as diva of the opera.
Shortly after the liberation of Greece from the Axis powers, Callas, due to her degradation at the Lyric Stage and in the midst of the polemics of her colleagues who accused her of cooperation with the conquerors, decides to return to the US. In order to secure her tickets she gives a farewell performance in Athens. In September 1945, he is in New York and starts trying to find a job initially at the Metropolitan Opera, but fails to sign a contract.
However, her audition by Edward Johnson, the director of the Opera, offers two roles in Beethoven's "Fidelio" and Puccini's Madame Butterfly. Callas rejects the roles. She does not want to sing "Fidelio" in English, while she feels too big to interpret the ethereal "Butterfly".
On December 7, 1951, Callas opens the season at La Scala in Milan with the "Sicilian Vespers", a show that offers her great recognition. Over the next seven years, Skala will be the scene of her greatest triumphs in a wide range of roles. In 1955 he staged the historical performance of Verdi's "Traviata" directed by Lucino Visconti.
On October 27, 1956, he first appeared at the New York Metropolitan Opera as "Norma" in Bellini's play of the same name. On August 5, 1957 he returned to Athens and appeared at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus as part of the Athens Festival. Two months ago he had met the shipowner Aristotle Onassis at a reception of the cosmographer Elsa Maxwell. Their acquaintance will develop into one of the most discussed relationships in history.
In 1960 he sang at the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus "Norma" and the following year "Medea" directed by Alexis Minotis. In 1962 he returned to La Scala in Milan and was deified as Medea, directed by Alexis Minotis and costumes by Giannis Tsarouchis. In January 1964, he was persuaded by Franco Cefirelli to participate in a new production of "Tosca" on the stage of Covent Garden. The show is praised by critics and follows the same year a new artistic triumph at the Paris Opera with "Norma". Despite the vocal problems she has begun to face, the Parisian public welcomes her warmly.
On July 5, 1965 he appeared for the last time in an opera performance at Covent Garden with "Tosca" directed by Franco Cefireli. In 1966 he renounced his American citizenship and received a Greek one. With this energy, her marriage with Meneghini is formally dissolved. She now hopes that Aristotle Onassis will ask her to marry something that does not happen, since on July 8, 1968, the Greek tycoon marries the widow of US President Kennedy, Jackie. This act plunges the top speaker into depression.
Last scenes before the end
In 1969, he made a film of "Medea" by Euripides, directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. The film is not doing well in cinemas. On May 25, 1970 it is transferred to hospital and it is known that he attempted suicide by taking a large dose of barbiturates.
In 1973 he co-directed "I Vespri Siciliani" in Turin with Giuseppe di Stefano and on the same year embarked on a world artistic tour with him. On December 8, Callas sang at the Paris Opera, where the audience invited her on stage 10 times to applaud her. Her last appearance was in Sapporo, Japan on December 11, 1974.
Maria Callas spent the eternity at 16 September 1977 in Paris. Her funeral took place on September 20 and, after her body was cremated as she wished, in the spring of 1979 her ashes scattered in the Aegean Sea.
2010, a new light in the mystery surrounding the death of Maria Callas, is throwing up Italian research, which overturns the belief that the popular soprano died of a high dose of barbiturates (because of her painful relationship with Aristotle Onassis).
According to Italian phonologists Franco Fucci and Nico Paolillo, who presented the results of their study at the University of Bologna, the singer suffered from dermatomyositis, a degenerative disease that wears away muscles and tissues, including the larynx. Thus, it seems to explain the continuous decline in the greatness of her voice, which had begun to be felt since the early 60s.[citation needed]
According to the official medicine έκθεση, ο θάνατος της Κάλλας στις 16 Σεπτεμβρίου του 1977 οφειλόταν σε καρδιακή ανακοπή. Όπως εξηγούν οι δύο Ιταλοί επιστήμονες, η θεραπεία για τη δερματομυοσίτιδα βασίζεται σε κορτιζονούχα και ανοσοκατασταλτικά σκευάσματα, τα οποία είναι πιθανό να επιφέρουν σταδιακά καρδιακή ανεπάρκεια. Επομένως, ο Φούσι και ο Παολίλο συμφωνούν με την επίσημη ιατρική έκθεση, μόνο που διευκρινίζουν ότι η ανακοπή δεν ήταν τυχαίο γεγονός, αλλά το αποτέλεσμα της εκφυλιστικής μυασθένειας. Αφετηρία για τις ιταλικές έρευνες αποτέλεσαν οι ηχογραφήσεις της διάσημης σοπράνο, τόσο από το στούντιο όσο και από ζωντανές εμφανίσεις της. Με τη μέθοδο της φασματογραφικής ανάλυσης οι επιστήμονες εξέτασαν τις ηχογραφήσεις ίδιων κομματιών από διαφορετικές χρονικές περιόδους και διαπίστωσαν τις αλλοιώσεις στη φωνή της καλλιτέχνιδας, η οποία έφτασε τα τέλη της δεκαετίας του '70 να γίνει μέτζο σοπράνο. Οι δύο φωνίατροι ανέλυσαν επίσης και τα τελευταία βίντεο της Κάλλας, στα οποία ήταν εμφανής και η μυϊκή χαλάρωση που είχε υποστεί, αφού ο θώρακας της δεν διατεινόταν κατά τη διάρκεια των αναπνοών. Η μελέτη αυτή έρχεται να ρίξει νέο και πιθανότατα καθοριστικό φως στη διάγνωση της δερματομυοσίτιδας, που είχε σχηματίσει ο physician Mario Dzakovacso, who had visited the singer in 1975, but had kept hidden his diagnosis until 2002.
Information from wikipedia.org
