# Books on Maria Callas



## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

the following was posted on Opera-L by member Max De Winter on January 21st, 2021. I though it might be of interest in this forum as well. Please note that I did not transcribe it, but copied and pasted the content, unedited. 



Books on Callas generally fall into three categories: (1) biographies, (2) memoirs (the “I Was Callas’ Mother/Husband/Sister/Friend/Secretary/Accompanist/Hairdresser/Next-Door-Neighbor/Childhood Friend/Favorite Paris Hanger-On/Third Cousin Twice Removed," etc.), and (3) artistic assessments. Sometimes a single book will combine all three. Obviously I have not read them all, but of those I have read, here, for what they are worth, are my assessments of the relative merits. (Obviously I included only books written in or translated into English). From best to worst:

Essential Must-Haves

Ardoin/Fitzgerald, “Callas.” If I could have only one book on Callas, this would be it. It contains an excellent (and accurate) account of her life and extensive quotations from Ardoin’s personal “Callas Tapes,” recorded as she poured her heart and thoughts out to him during a visit to Dallas shortly after Onassis’ marriage to Jackie. Best of all, it has detailed accounts of her most important productions with magnificent photos and extensive commentary by those involved - Bernstein, Zeffirelli, Visconti, Rescigno, etc. Many subsequent books on Callas have drawn on this one (in Arianna Huffington’s case, to the point of actionable plagiarism). 

Ardoin, “The Callas Legacy.” This is the definitive study of Callas’ recorded legacy, by the critic who knew her art (and the woman) as well as anyone and better than most. The revised (2003) edition is available only in paperback.

Gage, “Greek Fire.” This is one of the most accurate and meticulously researched books on Callas ever written. The author is a journalist, and it shows. The book deals almost exclusively with the Callas/Onassis relationship but miraculously manages to avoid soap opera (other than that inherent in the relationship itself). Callas' relationship with Onassis was pivotal in her life and directly affected her work as an artist (and not in a good way). The narrative manages to be detailed without getting bogged down in minutiae, and it makes for compelling reading. The day-by-day account of that fateful first cruise on Onassis' yacht is fascinating and it shows that most accounts of the cruise and what went on, are wrong. The most important piece of new information is the author’s contention (well-documented) that rather than having an abortion, as she told friends Onassis forced her to do, Callas actually had a premature child (male) in Rome in 1960, who died shortly after birth. 

Petsalis-Diomidis, “The Unknown Callas: The Greek Years.” This book covers, in meticulous detail, an important period in Callas' life - her early years in Greece - that has hitherto been something of a "black hole" in Callas bios. Like Gage in “Greek Fire,” Petsalis-Diomidis has gone back to original sources rather than relying on previously-written accounts. The book is exemplary in its thoroughness, scholarship and scrupulous documentation. IMO it is one of the truly essential books on Callas and will no doubt remain the definitive study of Callas' early years.

Excellent

Scott, “Maria Meneghini Callas.” This biography is concerned primarily with Callas the Artist. It is specific, concise, and refreshingly lacking in maudlin sentimentality about its subject. The title reflects the fact that the author considers Callas’ greatest years to have been those before and immediately following her drastic weight loss in 1953-54, which Scott says slimmed away Callas’ voice along with her waistline. Scott claims that as Callas’ vocal problems increased, “artifice replaced artistry.” His assessment of her recordings and performances will not be shared by many - for example, he does not have high regard for the “Berlin Lucia” - but his specific observations are hard to argue with, even if one disagrees with the final assessments. But Scott constantly challenges one’s opinions, even if he does not always persuade one to revise them. Still, I think Scott’s mostly negative view of Callas post weight loss will turn off a lot of her admirers.

Ardoin, “Callas at Juilliard.” This is a detailed account of Callas’ master classes at Juilliard, based on the tapes and on what she told the students. It provides a lot of insights into how Callas worked on a role, although she is not always illuminating in communicating her insights to the students, at least verbally. My impression of the Callas Juilliard classes has always been that she was not a particularly effective teacher, because so much of what she did was instinctive and therefore non-transferable. She is a stickler for detail and insists that the students do everything that is in the score. My personal favorite moment from the master classes is Callas singing “Cortigiani, vil razza dannata!” from "Rigoletto." It is hair-raising.

Wisneski, "Maria Callas" The Art Behind the Legend." This large book contains many unusual photos of Callas in a variety of roles and text that is informative and well-balanced. Wisneski traces the course of Callas' career through her performances based on reviews and her live recordings, and he has many insightful and pertinent things to say. I purchased this book shortly after it came out in 1975, a couple of years before Ardoin's "The Callas Legacy" was first published (1977). It was Wisneski's accounts of Callas' live recordings, only a few of which I was familiar with at the time, that spurred my interest in those recordings. IMO Wiskeski's assessments (not all favorable) are just as good as Ardoin's. It contains an invaluable performance chronology that takes up nearly half of the book. 

Sutherland, “Maria Callas: Diaries of a Friendship.” Robert Sutherland was the accompanist for most of the Callas/Di Stefano tour in 1973-74. This is a detailed, behind-the-scenes account of that tour. Frankly, the book is a bit depressing, because the tour itself was depressing. Still, one learns how hard Callas worked, before and during the tour, trying to get her voice back in shape. Di Stefano comes off as an abusive pig, although it is clear that Sutherland basically likes him. The book provides an interesting perspective on Callas from the point of view of an accompanist and fellow musician.

Worth Having

Meneghini, “My Wife, Maria Callas.” Some might be surprised that I have included this much-maligned, self-serving biography among the Callas books “worth having.” Much of this book has to be treated with profound skepticism (for example, as Gage has demonstrated, much of what Meneghini writes about the Fateful Cruise is melodramatic fiction), and much of it has a grating, whining, “Poor Me!” feel to it. But the fact remains that Meneghini was a very important person in Callas’ life and career, much more so than she and her admirers want to acknowledge. He knew Callas intimately long before she became famous, and there are many insights to be gleaned from this book even while one is sorting out the wheat from the chaff. Among other things, we learn that Meneghini and Callas deliberately pushed Bing into canceling her contract with the Met, so that she could pursue a lucrative concert tour during the period she had contracted to do the Met Spring tour, without getting in trouble with AGMA. (What they did not bargain on, I think, was Bing firing her so unceremoniously and spectacularly.) This book also quotes extensively from Callas’ letters to Meneghini, which show that she really was in love with him in the early years of her marriage. 

Stancioff, “Maria: Callas Remembered.” Nadia Stancioff was Maria’s secretary and companion for several years in the late 60s-early 70s, specifically during the period she was making the “Medea” film with Pasolini. She came to know Callas well. This book gives an honest, straightforward and well-written account of Callas the woman (very little on Callas the singer) during this time. There are lots of interesting little details about her that one does not get elsewhere. Much to her credit, Stancioff does not try to make herself out to be more than she was – a good friend of Callas during a specific time in her life and career. 

Lowe, “Callas As They Saw Her.” This is a collection of very interesting Callas materials: reviews over the course of her entire career, interviews by Callas, essays and appreciations by critics and artists (including Gobbi, Domingo, Sutherland and Bonynge, George London, Noel Coward and Yves Saint-Laurent). It includes the transcript of a fascinating discussion on French TV about Callas with Fedele D’Amico, Rodolfo Celletti, Eugenio Gara, Luchino Visconti and Gianandrea Gavazzeni.

Jellinek, “Callas: Portrait of a Prima Donna.” The original of this book was written in 1960 and so did not cover many important events in Callas’ life after 1960. The 1986 edition contained a brief supplement covering Callas’ life after 1960 but not in any great detail. The value of this book is that it is a basically contemporaneous account of Callas’ life and career as they were happening, written when no one knew what lay ahead - Onassis, vocal collapse, etc. - and so it has an immediacy other bios lack. And much of it holds up very well. I have a nostalgic affection for this book because I checked out a copy from my High School library and it started my life-long affair and fascination with Maria Callas.

Mediocre/Of Limited Interest 

Galatopoulos, "Maria Callas: Sacred Monster." Over-long and consisting of dubious accounts of conversations with Callas that in many instances are clearly drawn almost verbatim from interviews Callas herself gave at other times and in other places. Other stuff is just made up. The over-all impression is of complete unreliability. Some pretty pictures.

J. Callas, "Sisters." Jackie Callas tells her side of the story. Not very interesting, as Jackie herself was nowhere near as interesting as her famous sibling.

Allegri, "Callas By Callas: The Secret Writings of La Maria." This is a large, handsome book with some nice photos. But while glossy, it is mainly fluff and filler. The "secret writings" are Callas letters that don't really add anything to what we know about her. Buy it if you want something pretty for the coffee table, but don't expect any substance. 

Trash

E. Callas, “My Daughter, Maria Callas.” This book, by Callas’ estranged and neurotic mother, Evangelia, is a work of fiction masquerading as a biography, written in a desperate attempt to cash in on her famous daughter's celebrity. Evangelia gets off to a bad start by getting Maria's birth date wrong and asserting incorrectly that she was born in a blinding snowstorm (the almanac shows that the weather was clear and cold), and it goes downhill from there. The book has all Meneghini’s self-pity and self-importance without offering any insights into Callas’ life and certainly not her art.

Stassinopoulos, “Maria Callas: The Woman Behind the Legend.” This was the first major biography of Callas to appear after her death. Basically, it is the Soap Opera version of Callas’ life, heavy on melodrama and light on insight. Of Callas the Artist it has nothing to say other than trite banalities. This book was the first to peddle the self-serving fiction Callas spread (which Stassinopoulos simply repeated without verifying or investigating) about Onassis forcing her to have an abortion (a story persuasively debunked by Nicholas Gage). I have always felt that this book should have been published with a lurid cover picture of a bosomy Callas in low decolleté, fainting in the arms of a swarthy Onassis, like the cover of a Barbara Cartland romance. 

Evans, “Maria Callas: An Intimate Biography.” This is probably the nadir of books on Callas. It contains nothing original, being merely an inaccurate regurgitation of previously published accounts of Callas’ life with the sensational aspects emphasized. The author clearly knows nothing about music and has no appreciation of Callas’ importance as an artist. She does, however, inform us when Callas first performed oral sex on Onassis (albeit based on third-hand, unverified gossip). That tells you the level on which this book operates.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I'd strongly dispute the description of the trashy Nicholas Gage novel _Greek Fire_ as "one of the most accurate and meticulously researched books on Callas ever written", especiallly as the myth of the child Callas was supposed to have had now seems to have been completely debunked. For a contrary opiniion, see the article _The Secret Son of Maria Callas_ by Brigitte Pantis, which can be accessed in its entirity on the Divina Records website https://www.divinarecords.com/articles/secret_son.html.

Other than that, I second the recommendation of the Ardoin/Fitzgerald _Callas_, which, though written before she died, is still I think the best of all the photo books since published and has excellent extended essays at the beginning about the life and art.

Also essential I think is Scott's _Maria Meneghini Callas_, which is much more concerned with the artistry than the life. Too many of the so called biographies concentrate on scandals of her later life with absolutely no understanding or appreciation of what it was that made the artist.

I wouldn't be without Ardoin's _The Callas Legacy_, nor his _Callas at Juilliard_, which is virtually a transcription of the various classes and therefore interesting because the words are Callas's own.

She's certainly had more than her fair share of trite, trashy, journalistic "biographies".


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I don't know the Ardoin biography, (I know, it's pretty much the only one I haven't read!) so I will have to try and track it down. I also strongly recommend the book on Callas' early years, it is very detailed and deconstructs some key myths (such as Callas having been an overweight ugly duckling until after she married Meneghini), my one criticism of it is that its speculations on Callas' love life tend to conclude that there was more to them than was likely in some cases and the speculation wasn't necessary.

The Ardoin books are all good and I have a couple of books of her letters (in Italian). I also have a book not mentioned above, the one by Jurgen Kesting, I haven't read it in a while and I should do so again.

N.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

The Conte said:


> I don't know the Ardoin biography, (I know, it's pretty much the only one I haven't read!) so I will have to try and track it down. I also strongly recommend the book on Callas' early years, it is very detailed and deconstructs some key myths (such as Callas having been an overweight ugly duckling until after she married Meneghini), my one criticism of it is that its speculations on Callas' love life tend to conclude that there was more to them than was likely in some cases and the speculation wasn't necessary.
> 
> The Ardoin books are all good and I have a couple of books of her letters (in Italian). I also have a book not mentioned above, the one by Jurgen Kesting, I haven't read it in a while and I should do so again.
> 
> N.


I have the Kesting too. It's quite good, if I remember correctly, though the translation is a bit stilted.


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## Andante Cantabile (Feb 26, 2020)

Here's a review of Michael Scott's _*Maria Meneghini Callas*_ and Jürgen Kesting's _*Maria Callas*_ in the Nov/Dec 1995 issue of _Fanfare_ by Marc Mandel:



> The review in Fanfare 17:5 of Michael Scott's The Record of Singing reminded me that I somehow never got around to writing about Scott's Maria Meneghini Callas, or, for that matter, a second Callas book that appeared a year later, Jürgen Kesting's Maria Callas. Both were printed by Northeastern University Press. At this point I'd rather not specify how long ago, but thoroughness compels me to include the publication dates at the head of this review. In any event, both books are still available and well worth the attention of Callas fans, particularly given the vastly different approaches to their very fascinating subject.
> 
> The title of Scott's book reflects his perspective on the soprano's career. Callas's husband, Giovanni Battista Meneghini, managed her professional activities throughout the 1950s, until she left him for Aristotle Onassis. During their marriage her professional name, even as it appeared on record labels, was "Maria Meneghini Callas." Scott heads his first chapter "Before Callas";chapters 2 through 16 cover the years 1947-1959; the final chapter is "Post Meneghini." Given how drastically Callas reduced the number of her appearances in the years coinciding with, and subsequent to, her rift with Meneghini, Scott views her career as essentially finished by 1960, with the soprano's subsequent professional activities mainly reflecting her inability to cope with the decline in her vocal powers. To support this view he concisely but pointedly analyzes the important available recordings and draws upon virtually the entire Callas bibliography that preceded him. Along the way he touches on just about every pertinent to the Callas "myth": her artistic sensibility, her relationships with her colleagues, her choice of repertoire, the "weight loss theory" of her vocal decline (to which Scott apparently subscribes: "after she had slimmed" becomes a persistent refrain, though it's not always clear that a causal relationship is necessarily implied with respect to the changes in her singing), the reasons behind the cancellations that drew so much press coverage, etc.
> 
> ...


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I concur with De Winters' choices with the exception of Gage's _Greek Fire_, which made me feel unclean. As did her sister's and her mother's books.









My favorites are the Ardoin/Fitzgerald _Callas_ (The Art And The Life - The Great Years) - they actually knew Callas well and the book is sumptuously produced in large format with full page photographs and posters of the operas discussed. I only object to their use of a still from the film of Pasolini's _Medea_ for the cover.

The others are John Ardoin's _The Callas Legacy_, Henry Wisneski's _Maria Callas, The Art Behind The Legend_, Michael Scott's _Maria Meneghini Callas_, despite his homophobic remarks, and George Jellinek's _Portait of a Prima Donna_, the first book on Callas that I read, very levelheaded. Of course Ptsalis-Diomidis's _The Unknown Callas_, with its almost too much information basis.

Meneghini's _My Wife Maria Callas_, despite his whining, is valuable for his insights into Maria's life with him, especially information about her early-onset menopause, in 1957, which might have adversely affected her voice.

Though I appreciated the Kesting book, I noted the sometimes impenetrable prose, and the poor translation, especially when quoting Ardoin: translated from English into German and the German retranslated into English instead of going back to the original.

I also have some French and German books, inherited from a collector. The most important are Réal La Rochelle's _La Diva Et Le Vinyle_ which is about recordings, a German photo book _Aufführungen_ with fabulous photographs, and Attila Csampai's _Images of a Legend_ also with great photographs, well reproduced.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I've also rather enjoyed _Maria Callas - A Tribute_ by Pierre-Jean Rémy, which is more of a fan's personal reminiscence than anything else, but is quite touching.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I've also rather enjoyed _Maria Callas - A Tribute_ by Pierre-Jean Rémy, which is more of a fan's personal reminiscence than anything else, but is quite touching.


Agreed, definitely an ardent fan's book. Photos are plentiful but, if I remember correctly are artfully inserted, mixed with the text.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

My #1 is "The Unknown Callas: The Greek Years" by Petsalis-Diomidis


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I have to add one book, which I received from a friend - has its own niche. It's called _Maria Callas: Souvenirs d'Une Légende _. It's the catalogue for the first auction of Callas's possessions in Paris 2-3 December 2000. It's in full color, on glossy paper, with detailed photographs and description of the lots. It's fascinating and yet, depressing. In its way, it's the most accessible book, one to which anybody might relate.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

MAS said:


> Much of this book has to be treated with profound skepticism (for example, as Gage has demonstrated, much of what Meneghini writes about the Fateful Cruise is melodramatic fiction)
> --


I've read the Meneghini book (many years ago and I wasn't that taken with it), perhaps it's time to read it again if I can track it down. For those who have read both this one and the Gage, do you agree that Gage shows that Meneghini makes nonsense up?

N.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

The Conte said:


> I've read the Meneghini book (many years ago and I wasn't that taken with it), perhaps it's time to read it again if I can track it down. For those who have read both this one and the Gage, do you agree that Gage shows that Meneghini makes nonsense up?
> 
> N.


The pot calling the kettle black? 
Much of the Meneghini book reflects his injured pride, and I don't remember details of the cruise nor much of Gage's book, but it didn't make a good impression. Max De Winter of Opera-L thinks much more of _Greek Fire_ than I remember thinking when I read it (I read all of the Callas books as they were published) and I would've probably put it very near the "trash" category.
I'll have to read Memeghini's book again.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Just saw this today. I doubt many would choose to read this instead of any of the others. I append one if its pages for a small sample of the introduction.







.








Also see the following thread

Newly published psychological study on Maria Callas


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

MAS said:


> Just saw this today. I doubt many would choose to read this instead of any of the others. I append one if its pages for a small sample of the introduction.
> 
> View attachment 149584
> .
> ...


I'm already put off by the first sentence describing Callas as self-assured and grandiose, neither of which are adjectives I would use to characterise her public persona. Maybe she became more guarded in her responses to the press but, from everything I've read, she was mostly a hard working professional.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I'm already put off by the first sentence describing Callas as self-assured and grandiose, neither of which are adjectives I would use to characterise her public persona. Maybe she became more guarded in her responses to the press but, from everything I've read, she was mostly a hard working professional.


I, too, object to the use of the word "grandiose" in describing Callas, which seems pejorative to me. The author uses it fairly often in the pages I examined (thanks to the "Look Inside" feature on Amazon).


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

MAS said:


> The pot calling the kettle black?
> Much of the Meneghini book reflects his injured pride, and I don't remember details of the cruise nor much of Gage's book, but it didn't make a good impression. Max De Winter of Opera-L thinks much more of _Greek Fire_ than I remember thinking when I read it (I read all of the Callas books as they were published) and I would've probably put it very near the "trash" category.
> I'll have to read Memeghini's book again.


I haven't read Gage (mainly due to its obvious trashy nature). I agree with you about the Meneghini book, it was the first one I read and it is more about him putting forward the case that he is a wronged victim and that Onassis stole Maria from him. It says more about him than it does about Callas. There are also moments where he shows how greedy and stupid he was. (The whole we wanted Bing to cancel Callas' contract so ha ha, actually we won! Makes him look dishonest and shady and there he is boasting about it.) I think that may have been the moment that confirmed Callas' suspicions that he wasn't as good a manager as she had thought previously.

When it comes to the 1959 cruise Meneghini relates what happened one night when Callas didn't spend the night in their cabin and he supposes that she spent the night with Onassis in his. It's too long ago to remember it now, but Callas' account comes up in the film Maria by Callas.

N.


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