The Callas Imprint: A Centennial Biography
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley February 12, 2024
Author Sophie Lambton.
Distributor: Amazon
ISBN: 978-1739286347
Publisher: The Crepuscular Press
Release Date: November 2023
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Maria Callas (Maria Anna Cecilia Sofia Kalogeropoulos) was born into an American Greek family on 2 December 2023. She was meant to be a boy; a replacement child for the son who had died. That it was apparent at an early age that she had a voice that could possibly lead on to great things, saw her mother, a difficult woman, force her into the life of a child prodigy, believing that Maria was a source of funding that would allow her to lead an affluent lifestyle, far from the rage ridden poverty of her early years.
From this challenging and difficult childhood rose the Diva Maria Callas who captivated audiences world-wide, whose talent and fame is that of legends, whose undoubted vocal skill, range and on stage presence redefined the definition of Opera for all times.
Renown art critic Sophia Lambton, has over the twelve years of researching and writing The Callas Imprint; A Centennial Biography, dug deep, far deeper than previous biographers, thanks to the immense data base now available online, to discover caches of personal letters written to many friends, agents and others, along with other documentation fresh to the biographer’s eyes, all of which have added many far more personal layers to a woman who had already confounded those who knew her; many who knew her well.
Callas devoted herself to her art, her gift of vocals one she never really understood; to her it was something that she did and did well. Her devotion, possibly obsession, to perfection leading her to the point of exhaustion many times. Her sight was very poor but she refused to perform with glasses, therefore she memorized the script, the score, every aspect of stage craft requirements before a performance. Once upon the stage she became the character portrayed in song, her charismatic stage presence transforming the work with a rare beauty; once experienced, be it in recorded song or on stage, is never forgotten.
Enigmatic, charismatic, shy, a woman who managed to create seriously bad press, become engaged in ‘scandals’, upset the Italian President and his wife, or so the Press stated, exhausted her compatriots during rehearsals in her search for perfectionism, was the darling of the people, packing out the theatres whenever she performed.
Her until her last performance in Japan in 1974 with Giuseppe Di Stefano. This should have been promotional disaster. Two aging singers with fading voices endeavouring to recreate performances of years past; they gained a standing ovation for what proved to be their final performance together. On the 17 September 1977 Maria Callas died in Paris at the age of 53 years, a woman who lead a colourful life, leaving behind a legacy which will live long.
The Callas Imprint; A Centennial Biography is a very lengthy volume of work. The construction of the book such that it looks at a life of hard work, reward and financial loss and gain over a life journey that simply put, redefined Opera, bringing it into the realms of the everyday person through the beauty of a voice that was God given; that reached out and touch with a rare beauty,