Customer Reviews

Maria Callas: The Woman behind the Legend

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I can't believe no one has reviewed this book...so although I have never written one before here goes....
Critics say that this is the best book on the intensely private yet captivating Maria Callas. I'll go farther than that and say that it is the best biography I have personally EVER read and I am a huge fan of biographies. Yet, I can't quite put my finger on why its so good. Maybe its because Arianna Stassinopoulos shows a profound empathy for the diva or perhaps it's because she interviewed practically every living person who knew her. Maria Callas, the love interest of Aristotle Onassis who later dropped her for Jacqueline Kennedy, and of course the greatest dramatic opera singer who ever lived, is brought to life right in front of you in this fantastic, well ..... just read this book. You'll love it as much as I do.

(To the reviewer before me: Now we're two.)

I have not read any other biography on Callas, but I listen to her avidly (her La Wally aria is particularly addictive) and have her Tosca performance on DVD as well as the documentary Maria Callas: Life and Art. But Callas's music alone has always made me wonder about her. Such deeply mined emotions in her singing, such ferocity, such purity, such power. How does she get all these in her performances? Where does she mine them? Zefirelli has compared her to Michelangelo, Bernstein has called her the greatest artist in the world. This book answers these questions and explains why. I have to say that it is a compulsive page-turner, even now in the twenty-first century where opera is no longer mainstream. There's always something interesting in each page. At the same time the biographer doesn't belabor a particular episode or detail in Maria's life as to make it boring or overly dramatized. And Arianna Stassinopoulos is no Kitty Kelly: everything seems very well-researched and reliable.

The number one recall I have about this book still haunts me to this day... her abortion. Onasis giving her the choice, him or the child.
Haunting. Horrible.
Above all, this book was a major "undertaking" for the author which she executed superbly! What a story! What a book!

I had never really liked Maria Callas as a singer, until I read Arianna Stassinopoulos/Huffington's' book "Maria Callas - the Woman Behind the Legend." It is a brilliantly researched, beautifully written and very moving book, and totally changed my perceptions of La Callas.
I realised why her voice had sounded hard on the complete recording of "Carmen" I have with her in the title role. She was such a superb stage performer, as well as a wonderful singer, that she played "Carmen" as a hard-bitten, promiscuous woman, and adapted her voice to match. Moreover the book chronicled the massive frustrations, uncertainty and unhappiness that Callas suffered, as a sad counter-balance to her phenomenal success as an opera performer - possibly the greatest dramatic soprano, ever!

The book, which I bought through Amazon, was in great condition, at a very reasonable price, and I will treasure it. It has added a new dimension and enjoyment to this old bloke's understanding of great music.

Maria Callas~~ she gave everything for her art, and then, everything
for love. This fascinating, thoroughly researched biography feels like
a novel, it is riveting, and beautifully written.
You hear her voice and fall in love with it, you see her face in photos
and you are captivated. When you read her story you will begin to understand how much she gave to us, with such great love and sacrifice,
for her beautiful art.
She was a powerful spirit who lived every moment to the fullest.
A fabulous book by Arianna Huffington! Grazie Mille!

Enjoyed reading this book immensely. She was one of a kind. Great transaction. Thank you.

The book is very good, but in some parts can be quite dull if you are not an Opera fan or musician. The beginning up to when she becomes famous is exciting, and the end as she is no longer quite so famous, is interesting. But the middle is redundant. Arianna goes through detail after detail of each and every performance. That to me is not exciting to read. But because I was curious about the whole Onassis/Kennedy/Callas triangle, I waited. It is important though to read everything to understand her personality. This woman was a wonderful person and a great legend, but she definitely suffered I would suspect from Histrionic Personality Disorder. Onassis is definitely a complete dick, not that this is a surprise, he reminded me a lot of Diego Rivera when it came to women as his possessions. They might have been friends had they known each other - although I suspect thier politics were different. I also purchased a CD to hear Maria sing and often played it while reading, quite a beautiful experience. I was not an Opera fan prior to buying this book. I only bought it after seeing the movie from Netflix - Callas Forever - a Historical Fiction. Curiosity got the best of me and now I am a fan - of Maria.

Don't you think it'd be GREAT, if Amazon listed the book's true author as Arianna Stassinopoulos instead of Arianna Huffington? I mean, really. Oy.

Isn't this the same bio written several decades ago under Huffington's maiden name? Has this been expanded?

Although that book had many interesting facts and a lot of rehashing of the same old same old story of Callas, the view of the woman and the career were from a feminists's point of view. I'm not criticizing that at all. Certainly Callas totally screwed up her career and life due to Onasis and I believe it is widely known and understood that the only thing Callas could really do in life was music. Had she been truly self-actualized, she would have lived much longer and had a longer career. Her singing career was essentially over by 41. Everything that followed except for the Juilliard Master Classes was grasping for straws.

If this is the same book, I'm not putting it down and some of the insights are interesting but my god, how many biographies must we have on one single musician?