Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly good, April 1, 2002
The pictures are famous, and rather painful: the glamorous, overly thin, overdressed Callas, giggling with Onassis on a yacht, while the paunchy, out-of-sorts Meneghini looks on. Meneghini in Callas biographies is usually the comic relief: the dorky, somewhat greedy businessman, clueless about everything, and finally, the world's most famous cuckolded husband, losing his wife to a billionaire. It's a sad story, and it must have caused Meneghini a lot of pain, for before he died he tried to 'set the record straight' with this biography.
Biographies like these are always bound to be rather biased affairs, with more self-justification than actual facts. But Meneghini's biography was actually very good. It gives a fascinating account of the ruthless, take-no-prisoners world of opera management. Meneghini has his own 'take' on the Callas/Tebaldi 'feud', suggesting that it was a cynical ploy invented to sell more records, with both divas playing along. The traditional view is that Callas goaded Tebaldi, but in Meneghini's eyes Tebaldi gave as good as she got. It's a rather detailed account of the hectic 50s, and Callas's temperamental personality is well-defined. Whether it's all 'true' is not known, but it's the way Meneghini saw it, and it has some value.
The book is often quite funny. I love his take on Callas's family: he said he could never figure it out, as he was a mama's boy! There are some letters from Callas in the early years which suggest a happy, if not exactly passionate marriage.
The book breaks off rather abruptly in 1959, when Callas left Meneghini and ran off with Onassis. The last chapter is still seething with bitterness, which belies the traditional take that Meneghini was simply a greedy businessman who cared nothing for Callas.
In recent years the biographers have been kinder about Meneghini. Many of Callas's friends, like Giulietta Simionato, have admitted that whatever his faults, he adored her and tried his best to make her happy. I always felt that in Callas's life, the saddest chapter was meneghini. True Callas died lonely and unhappy, but her fans still loved her, her records still sold, and she will always be remembered. Meneghini got nothing for his pains except heartache and ridicule. This is why 'his side' of the story still has value.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A remarkable woman and soprano, April 6, 2002
There has been many people writing the story of Maria Callas, but few pay tribute to her. This book written by her husband of 10 years covers 12 years of her life. It transcribes many of Maria's letters to him with her most personal feelings and some accounts of interaction with other singers, empresarios and conductors. It is interspersed with Mengehini's own recollections of events, both about their marriage life and dealings with opera theatre managers. It is factual, unbiased and filled with love. As you read it you realize how much Maria suffered and was exploited by La Scala and the Metropolitan. What is most important in this book is that it dispels all the unfounded rumors and stories created by the media just to sell newspapers. It explains and gives the reasons as to cancellations and withdrawals that the media vilified and attributed to her temperament, when in fact it was either for reasons of health or intransigence by the own theatre managers. This book is a true vindication of this superhuman singer. You will also learn about some of her key performances and trips around the world.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good, albeit biased, source of information,, February 17, 2002
I like this book - it's easy to read and it's quite unpretentious. It is amazing how poor Battista claimed that he was the only person who knew his wife the best. I am wondering whether he recalled about her leaving him and him being completely caught by surprise when she had done that - did he really believe that he knew her so well? The book is full of such passages that inspire such questions. I think that his reputation of being a money monger and being ruinous to her career are somewhat justified, but I also trust now that without his help we would not have La Callas. All in all, the book is a valuable source for those who are trying to understand Callas as a person and an artist. I also feel that Meneghini truly worshipped his wife, and he can be forgiven for many things because of that. I just think that if he wasn't so much on the money and if his attitude wasn't so mercenary, perhaps he would have influenced her to be less money conscious and she would have been in a better position to take Onassis for what he truly was (that is, a cynical money making machine who couldn't careless for her art and her needs as an artist) maybe her life would be happier. Her life story is incredible and I can't stop thinking of why there isn't a movie about her since she remains the greatest opera artist of at least the times of sound recoding and she had achieved the status of a legend.
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