Maria Callas: A Musical Biography
by Robert Levine
(Amadeus Press/Hal Leonard, 240 pp., ISBN 978-1574671834)
I have to admit that when I received this book I almost turned a few cartwheels. My hands were quivering as I ran my fingers across the beautiful photograph of Maria Callas on the front cover and carefully opened the CD pocket in the back of the book which holds three hours’ worth of her landmark performances. I quickly popped the first of two CDs in my system, opened the book and began to relish this remarkably written biography on the music and life of Maria Anna Sofia Cecilia Kalogeropoulus. Robert Levine has truly created a masterpiece. His writing is full of intimate details and stories of Maria’s life and follows her from her birth in 1923 to the end of her musical career and death in 1977.
Levine has divided the book into four sections. The first three—“An Extraordinary Life”; “The Art, The Tradition, The Voice”; and “The Performances of Maria Callas”—take the reader on the journey of a lifetime. Reading about Callas, you gain a sense of the struggle it can be to devote time and passion to a life of performance, but also how fame can shape and mold the direction and outcome of a person’s entire life. Callas was indeed passionate about her chosen life course and was determined to give the best she could throughout her career. This unwavering determination and desire for perfection in her craft weaves itself throughout the book as Levine’s flowing writing style engrosses the reader. The story is often emotional, sometimes humorous, and never dull.
The book is filled with page after page of photographs of Callas and the people she met and associated with during her life and her performances. To have all this information in 240 pages is a gift for any Callas lover.
Callas is believed to have changed the face of opera and singing in the 20th century. “[Callas] opened a door for us, for all the singers in the world, a door that had been closed.” Levine quotes Montserrat Caballé as saying, “Behind it was sleeping not only great music but great ideas of interpretation. She has given us the chance, those who follow her, to do things that were hardly possible before her.”
In the fourth section of the book, Levine offers his analysis of the tracks on the two CDs. Levine’s review of each song includes the name of the character of the opera, the text and translation, composer information, style, and when and where Callas performed the role. Levine then continues with an analysis of the vocal color Callas uses in interpreting each aria. His comments are fascinating to read as one listens to one beautiful aria after another. Levine clearly makes note of where Callas shows her gift of interpretation by notating how many minutes into the song the listener is. For example on track five of the first CD, Puccini’s “Vissi d’arte,” Levine comments, “This passage is followed by a brief outburst when she thinks about her misfortunes, but she stifles herself, realizing that she should be praying, not complaining. From 0:56 to 2:00 she expresses her lifelong faith in ultimately sad, still-penitent tones, beginning to wonder why she is being repaid so cruelly.”
The CDs alone are well worth the price of the book and are a treasure for any music lover’s library. Arias on the two-disc collection include greats such as “Casta Diva,” “Un bel dì,” “Caro nome,” “Addio, del passato,” “Mi chiamano Mimì,” “Una voce poco fa,” “Adieu, notre petite table,” and “Ah! non credea mirarti.”
I literally had to remind myself to breathe as I listened to this legendary voice. How remarkable to have Callas and her life preserved in such a way.
