Customer Reviews

Maria Meneghini Callas

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Michael Scott's book on the life and career of Maria Callas holds a strong appeal for the musician. Although he orders his study chronologically and includes quite a bit of biographical detail, this is not a book for gossip lovers. Instead, Scott dispassionately evaluates Callas' singing in general and major performances and roles in particular.

Scott's basic thesis is that Callas reached her vocal peak early, in the first part of the 1950s, and her great weight loss was in large part responsible for a general vocal decline thereafter, at first slow, then precipitous after her divorce from Meneghini.
At times his viewpoint provides a useful corrective to stories that have been handed down and repeated that are not exactly true--his take on the infamous Rome Norma of January 1958 is a striking example. His opinion that the root cause of many of the "scandals" that dogged her career was escalating vocal trouble certainly deserves serious consideration.

On the other hand, Scott is too quick to dismiss much of Callas' work from the later 1950s. By then, the early, prodigious vocal endowment had somewhat diminished, true; but for most opera lovers these years were the time when her still responsive voice was matched with her most exquisite musicianship.

Most readers will disagree, perhaps vehemently, with some of Scott's judgements and opinions; yet, by virtue of his firsthand witnessing of many of Callas' performances and determined avoidance of scandalmongering, his book joins a select company of work by Fitzgerald, Ardoin, Jellinek and a few others as one that sheds true light on the art of this much-discussed singer.

Scott's book is certainly important, even indispensable, for anyone interested in Callas as a musician and a singer. Any book on Callas that doesn't focus on her music is, let's face it, ultimately doing her a disservice. Scott's book covers late and early performances, gives a performance chronology, lists notable recordings, includes contemporary reviews and relevant (and fairly reliable) apt quotes from various personages: fellow singers (di Stefano, often), her directors (Visconti, Zeffirelli), and her conductors. He also weaves in an appropriate balance of biographical detail, noting her weight loss and relationships and their affect on her voice and work, but not capitalizing on sensationalism. Most importantly, he provides a commentary on all her important recorded works.

The weakness of this book, however, is that Scott has his own dogma about Callas that he's determined to get across, and his dogma isn't correct. Scott's premises are that Callas, as a singer, peaked in the early 50s and rapidly declined; that Callas, the artist, was best when she acted on instinct and did not intellectualize a role; and that her development as an artist was far from commensurate to her regression as a singer. I take issue to varying degrees with all of these. The first is least disputable, though Scott's assertions lack subtlety. Certain parts of the passagio and vowel sounds ('a' as in the Italian 'va') became easier and clearer immediately after the weight loss. Scott's handling of his second premise is discouraging. He is certainly entitled to his opinions, but as he is masquerading this book as a critical work, he needs to be more objective. A prime example of this is his dismissal of Callas's 1955 Lucia. "In the Mad Scene, her singing is certainly prodigiously accurate, but it lacks spontaneity." What, then, should we make of Desmond Taylor-Shawe's review, written in 1955: "[Callas] has sudden flights, dramatic outbursts of rocketing virtuosity, of which even those more richly endowed singers were hardly capable?" Or of the opinion of opera critics in general, that this performance is a landmark both for Callas and for this opera? That Scott does not even pay lip service to heads and ears better than his is troubling; it makes suspect his judgment of Callas's other performances, especially her Puccini, about which he is particularly derogatory. For all his insight elsewhere, Scott does not realize that verismo opera is perhaps the *least* realistic of opera forms because it makes claims to realism that bel canto does not do; Callas understood this dichotomy and responded to it. Certainly a big voice belting out Puccini makes an effect, but is that art? Callas herself said that she would like to be judged as a singer - and then corrected herself - as an artist, but sadly, her request has often fallen on deaf ears. One devastating example of Scott's distorting subjectivity is his comment on Callas's 1949 Turandot recording, which is actually a forgery, conglomerated from recordings made in 1954 and 1957. Scott writes: "it sounds of ample proportions ... we should not confuse her liberal use of vibrato with her characteristic wobble which developed later." Had he known that it was actually the 1957 recording, I'm sure the "vibrato" would have turned into the "wobble," and the "ample proportions" would have dried to a shriek.

The legacies of all artists are vulnerable after they're dead, but Callas's is especially, it seems, given the art form in which she was involved, the aspects of her life, and the media's involvement. It is particularly unfortunate that Scott is guilty of the same box-fitting as others trying to cram Callas's into their conceived or preconceived notions: Callas the tragedy, Callas the stupid woman, etc. In his case, it is his vision of Callas the dumb but instinctive singer who rapidly lost her voice. However, it must be said that Scott does bring many good things to the table about Callas, and that this book does deserve merit. My recommendation would be to read this book for a general feeling of the course of Callas's voice and career, and then to judge Callas on her and your own terms.

This book can seem rather controversial for some people, since it is highly critical (in the positively objective sense of the word) of Maria Callas, who has been deified by a number of her other biographers.
Maria Callas was a human being, which means that she had a private life as well as a career. For some people her private life seems very interesting and these readers will probably be somewhat disappointed with this book, since the biography of Callas the private person is only of second importance in Michael Scott's book.
But if you are interested in Callas the musician there is no other book that is more accurate, more peercing in its analysis - or simply, more interesting! When I first read the book I worshipped Callas uncritically. I was very offended several times because of Scott's judgement, for instance of her "Madama Butterfly": "Callas' reading of "Un bel dì" may be remarkable for the finish of her phrasing but not for the beauty of her singing...". But yet, this is so much more revealing and again, objective, than when John Ardoin writes in "The Callas Legacy" of the same role: "...Callas' voice seems a vessel which can be filled or drained to various levels of intensity at will".
So to me, this is the best book about Callas available - after all, what gives her importance is her abilities as a musician, NOT a tragedy queen!

I remember the first time I read this book I became angry because I thought Scott was trying to make Callas less important than she had always been in my eyes. It is good to see something through another's eyes, particularly when they belong to a very incisive, observant writer. I have have gone back over the ensuing years and re-read chapters. Each time I find an item that makes me stop and think about my position on Callas. I still love Callas above any other singer, but I am much more honest in my admiration for her art. It wouldn't hurt some of her hysterical followers to examine the reasons behind their rabid worship of a person, who was after all, just human. Maria herself disliked being called "Divina" I am very offended by those who hurl epithets at anyone who dares not to worship at the altar of their godesses. To call a work this well researched and thought out "garbage" displays a small mind indeed.

This is the best book on Callas currently available. And do you want to know why?

Because it concentrates on Callas the Musician.

Not Callas the supposedly famous workaholic. Of course she rehearsed all hours of the day and night, what was the alternative? The leering Meneghini? Did she sleep with him often? I bet she did! You can't stay at La Scala rehearsing all day. Mercifully not Santa Maria di Galatopulos either. Nor Callas the cheapskate who has been mugged by her friends with sawdust filled socks,[Stancioff and Robert Sutherland], Still less Little Maria the tiresome daughter, sister, cousin! wife.

Callas the musician, whose voice disintegrated while she was singing. Callas who sang for a short time in Europe and America for about a decade or so after the end of the war. Callas, who, while mouthing platitudes about being faithful to 'the composer' didn't hesitate to take the scissors to score after score. Callas who stopped singing to go on a cruise and didn't see the opera world speed up and got sadly stranded.

Scott clearly loves Callas, and is refreshingly clear sighted about her. He is not blind to her faults, vocal or otherwise, and it's time someone shot down the image of Walter Legge as Callas's recording Svengali. She'd have been better off staying at Cetra almost. There are some strange double standards in opera. For years people carped about Joan Sutherland's choice of her husband as her conductor, but no-one ever thinks to quibble about Rescigno's Charlie McArthur like contribution to Callas' art. Listen to Callas's recordings with Tonini and hear the difference.

There are a few inaccuracies in this book, more editorial than factual, but I can live with them.

It's good to see Callas discussed frankly, and without denigrating her artistic achievements Scott made me aware of how unnecessary Callas's tragedy actually was. Let's face it, she was almost an Upper Class Version Of Judy Garland. Almost.

I've always been able to take or leave Callas, and if it weren't for Scott, and Wisneski, Ardoin and Fitzgerald, and Ardoin's Callas Legacy, I would be increasingly leaving her. But I don't. I'm too fascinated by this woman, as we all are, lets face it, who managed to have a career in spite of herself.

This is the book on Callas that, more than any other, will stand the test of time, because as younger people discover her art for themselves, names like Walter Legge, Onassis, Rudolf Bing, Meneghini et al will be forgotten figures of the past. As Scott cleverly points out: We have her recordings and that's enough.

This book was recommended to me by a friend passionately and professionally involved in opera. I am a beginner and feared the book would be over my head, not understandable. I was pleasantly surprised. Although the book is filled with details that only readers well-versed in opera would understand and/or appreciate, it did not cut me off, but rather educated me. So the book is both a biography and a source of information about opera in general. However, it is written in a style that removes it from feeling like a school textbook. That is a difficult task and the author does it well. He makes the book both informative and fun to read.

This book is best at pointing out individual moments to listen to in Callas's recordings. It does give short shrift to her life, and so isn't for everyone. The ideal reader is one who already knows quite a bit about music and singing. It's also interesting for the author's views on individual recordings. His one glaring fault is that he gives more discussion to performances he himself attended rather than the recorded music the rest of us have access to.

This book can hardly qualify as a biography. If you are looking to learn more about the life and person of Maria Callas, look elsewhere. If, however, you are interested in a chronology of her performances and recordings and some comments regarding the technical qualities of her singing you might want to include this book as a resource. It quotes extensively from contemporaneous reviews of Callas performances. Most valuable feature of the book probably is the chronology of performances and recordings at the back. It includes references to recordings that are available, film available, qualify of recordings and film, etc. If you are looking to fill out your collection of opera recordings and want to make sure you have an ample supply of Callas at her best, this is probably a good place to start.

The one thing that Scott's biography of Callas has going for it is that he mostly sticks to Callas the artist, and avoids the gossip and speculation surrounding her personal life. However, what exists is a choppy, extremely opinionated, narrow minded repetition of all the same facts that are better found in other sources. He mentions that Callas "mistakes artfullness for artistry" about 100 times too. He basically feels that the deepening of her interpretation as her voice grew weaker was not real, and that her lyric and dramatic interpretation became more false as time went on. As the book plods on rehashing the same old information we have read over and over again elsewhere.

I own almost all the Callas biographies that have appeared in English, and I hated this book so much that I pulled out the photo section in the center to keep the pictures, and sent the book to the recycling center the day after I had the misfortune to purchase it.