Quem se casou com Maria Callas?

Maria Callas (born Maria Anna Cecilia Sophia Kalogeropoulou; December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American and Greek soprano. Critics praised her bel canto technique, wide-ranging voice and dramatic interpretations. Her repertoire ranged from classical opera seria to the bel canto operas of Donizetti, Bellini, and Rossini, and further to the works of Verdi and Puccini, and in her early career to the music dramas of Wagner. Her musical and dramatic talents led to her being hailed as La Divina ("The Divine One").

Born in Manhattan and raised in Astoria, Queens, New York City, to Greek immigrant parents, she was raised by an overbearing mother who had wanted a son. Maria received her musical education in Greece at age 13 and later established her career in Italy. Forced to deal with the exigencies of 1940s wartime poverty and with near-sightedness that left her nearly blind on stage, she endured struggles and scandal over the course of her career. She underwent a mid-career weight loss, which might have contributed to her vocal decline and the premature end of her career.

The press exulted in publicizing Callas's temperamental behavior, the alleged Callas–Tebaldi rivalry, and her love affair with Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis. Onassis's wife, Athina "Tina" Onassis Niarchos, divorced him when she discovered that he was having an affair with Callas.

Although her dramatic life and personal tragedy have often overshadowed Callas the artist in the popular press, her artistic achievements were such that Leonard Bernstein called her "the Bible of opera", and her influence so enduring that, in 2006, Opera News wrote of her: "Nearly thirty years after her death, she's still the definition of the diva as artist—and still one of classical music's best-selling vocalists."

Her ashes were scattered over the Aegean Sea on 3 June 1979, fulfilling one of her last wishes.

Maria Callas est une cantatrice grecque née le 2 décembre 1923 à New York et morte le 16 septembre 1977 à Paris.

Surnommée « la Bible de l'opéra » par Leonard Bernstein, « la Callas », comme on l'appelle couramment, a bouleversé l'art lyrique du XX^e siècle en valorisant l'approche du jeu d'acteur, jusqu'alors relégué au second plan. Entourée des meilleurs artistes de son époque (Boris Christoff, Giulietta Simionato, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Mario Del Monaco, Tito Gobbi, etc.), elle se produit sur les principales scènes d'opéra du monde (Venise, Rome, Paris, New York, Milan, Mexico, Londres, Buenos Aires, etc.). Maria Callas demeure encore au XXI^e siècle l'une des cantatrices les plus célèbres, à la fois grâce à son timbre de voix très particulier, à son registre étendu de près de trois octaves, à sa grande virtuosité alliée à un phrasé unique, et à son talent de tragédienne lui permettant d'incarner ses personnages avec une grande intensité dramatique (Lucia, Médée, Norma, Tosca, Violetta).

Adulée et décriée, Maria Callas a suscité les passions. Elle reste l'icône même de la « diva », tant par la réussite exceptionnelle de sa vie professionnelle que par sa vie privée mouvementée.