On extraordinary women….”Maria by Callas”

Last week I went to see Tom Volfs documentary Maria by Callas from 2017 about the famous soprano opera singer Maria Callas.

The documentary is a combination of footage of her singing, interviews and restauration of archival clips from the 40’s until the 70’s.  The documentary focuses on telling Callas’ story “in her own words”. This means that the documentary doesn’t have a traditional narrative voice but leaves all the talking to Maria Callas, either through old interview footage or the American mezzosopran Joyce DiDonato’s reading of Callas’ old letters. The movie follows her up’s and down’s, both in her opera career but also in her love life.

Maria Callas was born 1923 in New York by Greek parents and died 16 September 1977 in her Paris apartment. She made her opera debut in Greece in 1941, but later had her real breakthrough in 1949 when she performed in Venice.  When she was very young, she married a much older Italian man Giovanni Battista Meneghini, but later fell in love with famous Aristoteles Onassis, a romance that took a torn when he married Jackie Kennedy instead. A devastated Callas withdrew from public life.

Maria Callas was not per definition an unusual woman (a talented opera singer, yes), but that is what makes her so captivating. Her emotions are those of many women, the struggle between wanting to have a calm family life, have a career, make money and be successful. Many could envy her career, the travel and the somewhat fancy life she had between the most beautiful capitals in the world, but in fact, she seemed to be a very lonely woman.

It was said that she continued to rehearse in her Paris apartment in the hope of one day returning to the stage. And in a way, this movie made sure she did.  The documentary beautifully puts forward the extraordinary career of a great singer full of melancholy and elegance,  and I was fascinated by the old restoration of old footage from Paris, Rome, New York, … and of course by the captivating singing of Callas.

The melancholic emotions of a woman who sacrificed everything to the music stayed with me even after the movie ended.