Maria calais as a diva essay

It was not rude or cruel to boo or embarrass such a monstrous woman. The vocal blemishes were physical manifestations of the human flaws within. To half the audience it seemed that Callas the soprano and Callas the woman received precisely the audience and critical drubbing they deserved.

At almost every performance, Callas paid the price for not being a 'perfect' singer. And yet for the rest of the audience (the good people, I want to call them) these human failings were of small importance next to the total accomplishment of Maria Callas herself and a Callas Violetta or Norma in particular.

Callas could have been dubbed Sutherland or Caballe that afternoon and she would have been pelted. Callas, the woman, was as detested as her infamous wobble or 'incorrect' separation between her high, middle and low registers.

Maria was of the stuff great tragedians are made of and she impregnated her interpretations with the archetypal elements of theatric art: periods of silence and fiery glares, wavering between human existence and tragic transcendence.