# The Psychology of Maria Callas



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

A review of this new book by Paul Wink, who holds a Ph.D. in personality psychology from the University of California at Berkeley and is currently professor of psychology at Wellesley College.

I can't say this review makes me want to rush out and buy it.

https://news.wosu.org/classical-101/2021-07-22/new-book-explores-the-inner-life-of-a-diva


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

Psychologists who analyze dead people they never met (or living people they never met, for that matter) are entirely unprofessional. Musicologists who've read Freud love to psychoanalyze Puccini too, but it's hard to take any of it seriously, especially since they draw on misunderstandings of his work for evidence. The same seems true here. If the book is anything as trashy as the review, I certainly wouldn't read it. It's sad that Callas seems to be a magnet for this kind of stuff.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

vivalagentenuova said:


> Psychologists who analyze dead people they never met (or living people they never met, for that matter) are entirely unprofessional. Musicologists who've read Freud love to psychoanalyze Puccini too, but it's hard to take any of it seriously, especially since they draw on misunderstandings of his work for evidence. The same seems true here. If the book is anything as trashy as the review, I certainly wouldn't read it. It's sad that Callas seems to be a magnet for this kind of stuff.


Move on over. You've got company. I too was appalled by the entire idea of it ... yet again!! Poor Maria. Can't she finally rest peacefully without the money grabbers?


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

Deleted post - Link was taken down by author.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

The sole interesting thing in the review was the last paragraph, if only because it's always interesting to read great artists' opinions of each other:

_'Mary Garden (1874-1964) was a world-class soprano who Debussy chose to create the role of Melisande. She was no slouch herself in the diva department. At age eighty Garden heard Callas sing Norma in Chicago. "She's magnificent," said the older lady. "Brilliant. But she does everything by guts and instinct. That's very dangerous. She'll never last."'_


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> The sole interesting thing in the review was the last paragraph, if only because it's always interesting to read great artists' opinions of each other:
> 
> _'Mary Garden (1874-1964) was a world-class soprano who Debussy chose to create the role of Melisande. She was no slouch herself in the diva department. At age eighty Garden heard Callas sing Norma in Chicago. "She's magnificent," said the older lady. "Brilliant. But she does everything by guts and instinct. That's very dangerous. She'll never last."'_


that was the only part I remembered.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I shan't be buying this book - would anyone besides psychologists be interested, I wonder. The name Callas will sell the book, I expect, as will the sensationalistic aspect - notice the mention of her kicking someone in the shin for a curtain call, or the cancellation in front of the Italian President. 

Mary Garden was right, her voice didn't last long, but her recordings do, as does her fame and selling power - even for a book like this which seemingly has nothing to do with her music, or her singing.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

I'm pleased at some of the responses here. Trained psychologists writing gossipy tabloids about the "mental illness " of famous or contemporary figures are severely distasteful, generally motivated either by making a political statement or using a cheap trick to grab attention.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> I'm pleased at some of the responses here. Trained psychologists writing gossipy tabloids about the "mental illness " of famous or contemporary figures are severely distasteful, generally motivated either by making a political statement or using a cheap trick to grab attention.


I would have thought any reputable psychologist would tell you it's impossible to psychoanalyse a dead person based on hearsay and the impressions of those who did know the subject.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Leech therapy was a common practice back in the day, but I did not know leeches can get doctoral degrees nowadays.
This about sums up my opinion on the book.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> I'm pleased at some of the responses here. Trained psychologists writing gossipy tabloids about the "mental illness " of famous or contemporary figures are severely distasteful, generally motivated either by making a political statement or using a cheap trick to grab attention.


Come to think of it, the "tasteful" tone of this forum is probably why I stick around. There is a cap on how petty or dramatic people are willing to get during an argument. A sense of "we just don't go there" that most people (at least in the West) could stand to relearn.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> Come to think of it, the "tasteful" tone of this forum is probably why I stick around. There is a cap on how petty or dramatic people are willing to get during an argument. A sense of "we just don't go there" that most people (at least in the West) could stand to relearn.


The civil tone of the opera forum is not always in evidence elsewhere on TC. Finding in this subforum a needed refuge from _Sturm und Drang,_ I haven't ventured much outside it lately. It's especially nice here now that one who shall not be named (by any of his three or four names) is in exile.


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