Life and Arias of María Callas

By Lázaro Droznes

Life and arias from María Callas

María Callas was probably the greatest soprano of “bel canto”. Her life, filled with many ups and downs, can only be compared to the lives of the tragic heroines she used to represent in her scenes.

Her trajectory largely exceeded the theatre lyric limits when she became a diva that attracted the interest of the masses, and an international “jet set” star.

The play, narrated in first-person by the Diva, portrays the main instances of her tumultuous life, alternated with her most famous arias, which serve to illustrate and foreshadow her tragic fate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Unitexto. Digital Publishing
• Release date: Apr 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9781507139288

Book preview

DIVINE DIVA

Life and arias of Maria Callas

Maria Callas appears on the scene, seated in an antique Louis XV style chair, at a small desk with a vintage lamp. A 70's band is playing, and many pills are spread across the desk. She starts to speak directly at the audience, petting a poodle throughout the entire show, and occasionally addressing the dog as if it was part of the public.

MARIA CALLAS

Here I am. It's me, Callas... I spend my time remembering; reliving the scenes of my life, stroking my poodle, and listening to my old recordings. This is what's left of my wonderful life. I'm without energy or desire to live. My friends, fed up with too much rejection, have ceased to call me. I need to cut all ties, with everyone. The pills, who've always been there for me, are now the focus of my life - pills to go to bed, pills to get out of bed, pills for depression, pills for angst - pills, pills, and more pills! I go back to feeling like the little overweight girl in the streets, with a face full of pimples, which, at one point in my life, I was. I should not give myself false hopes; happiness isn't for me. There are people born to be happy, and others to be heartbroken. I was unfortunate. What did I do wrong? Why did it have to be this way? Every time something happened, where I was betrayed, I asked myself: Oh God, what did I do to deserve this? I'm gaining weight, always wearing loose pants and black robes. I became an old woman, with my jewelry always in its case; I never use it. Little by little, I'm getting further away from this life I find unbearable.

Callas presses a key from the sound device and listens to the first chords of a recording of what was her own voice, at its highest splendor, singing VISSI D'ARTE. She turns the volume down and sings the aria; likewise, in the rest of the show in the English version. The original version is included as a reference. If the original phrases are understandable in English, they