MARIA CALLAS IN 2013

BY PETER HUDSON

 

2013 marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of The Prima Donna Assoluta, which will possibly mean reissues of her recordings and the inevitable new biography of her life.

 

2013 also marks the 200th anniversary of Italy's greatest opera composer, Giuseppe Verdi born in October 1813. The two anniversaries are very significant as Maria Callas was a great exponent of Verdi's works. In fact, she admired his work very much indeed and performed in many of his most famous operas, including La Traviata, Nabucco, Don Carlo, Macbeth, Rigoletto, Il Travatore, Aida and I Vespri Siciliana, the latter with which she opened the season at La Scala in December 1951, under the baton of Victor de Sabata, which was hailed as a triumph for her.

 

Regarding her involvement with Verdi, on 27th October 1951 she performed as Leonora in Il Travatore at the San Carlo Opera House in Naples to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his death.

 

The great opera singer Jussi Bjorling, who performed with Maria in Il Travatore in 1955, said of her, 

"She was the greatest Leonora of them all."

San Carlo Opera House, Naples

 

I will be available in my capacity as a Lecturer and also available to stage exhibitions and displays about her life. I can be contacted by phone on 07833370191.