Word: callases
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Diva Callas could scarcely have picked a worse evening to stage a walkout. Rome had not heard her for two years, while rumors floated about that her voice was going; for her return, she had chosen one of her outstanding roles, and one of the most challenging in the repertory...
At intermission she locked herself in her dressing room with her friend, Gossipist Elsa Maxwell, and sobbingly told opera officials outside her door that she could not go on. Because Callas herself had refused to have an understudy at rehearsal, the management had no choice but to cancel the rest...
Maria Callas' husband, wealthy retired Manufacturer Giovanni Battista Meneghini, announced that "she is very, very, very sick." Callas herself apologized to President Gronchi, spoke to the press of a "lowering of the voice" ("It has happened to many singers before me, and now it was my turn"). The manager...
None of the explanations satisfied the critics, some of whom were sure that Callas was simply losing her voice. Said the Paese Sera: "Let's be truthful. She started badly and got worse. Her voice appears threatened by changes in timbre and variations in the lower registers. In the...
For the second scheduled performance of Norma, the Rome Opera brought in hefty, promising Italian Soprano Anita Cerquetti. "She sang like a peaceful cow," said one critic, but she won a tumultuous ovation. Meanwhile the Opera management withheld Soprano Callas' fee (rumored close to $2,000). The week'...