Word: meneghini
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...solo curtain calls. At home the opera star is often no more glamorous than a suburban housewife. In an age of small-scale talent and matching egos, the one diva who truly deserves the proud title of prima donna, with all its overtones of good and evil, is Maria Meneghini Callas...
...Giovanni Battista Meneghini, a millionaire building-materials tycoon and bon vivant more than twice her age. He wooed her in courtly fashion, and in the white-haired Meneghini, fat, unloved Maria found love for the first time. In 1949 they were married...
...Meneghini sold out his business, invested the proceeds in real estate, and became Maria's private impresario and only agent. "Why should I give those damned agencies 10% or 20% of what I make?" she asked. Meneghini coaxed old Conductor Tullio Serafin, now 77, to coach her, and the two went to work. In Turin, before she was to appear as Aida, a curious critic wandered into the theater at 9 a.m. to find her onstage, going over every passage again and again. while Serafin interrupted, corrected, polished tirelessly. They worked until midnight, were at it again early next...
...when Meneghini suggested that she give up singing, her demon drove her on. Success was in sight. La Scala asked her to do a guest performance of Aida. She accepted, but professed to scoff at the honor: "Sure, it's a magnificent theater. But me, I'm myopic. For me, theaters all look alike. La Scala is La Scala, but I'm Callas. and I'm myopic. Ecco...
...Meneghini sleeps. Says Callas: "My best hours are in bed, and my best work too, with my dog cuddling beside me and my husband asleep...