Maria Callas

The term diva is tossed around a lot these days, but back when it really meant something, its embodiment was Maria Callas. Her passion, grace, and power made her opera’s ultimate soprano. For most opera aficionados, Puccini’s Tosca brings Callas immediately to mind; she sang it throughout her career, from her debut to her final stage performance, and hearing her bring life to its title role on “Vissi D’Arte” is like watching a fantasy take flesh-and-blood form right in front of you. Puccini’s masterworks suited Callas well, as she proved in the lead role of Madame Butterfly — even with the experience she’d amassed, she was still able to inhabit the character of an innocent 15-year-old with purity and perfection on “Un Bel Di Vedremo.” But Callas was just as comfortable in a French opéra comique like Bizet’s Carmen, delivering a passion-packed “L’amour Est Un Oiseau Rebelle” on record even though she never once played Bizet’s gypsy girl onstage.

Maria Callas skips through the centuries with her timeless gift in Next Steps.

When you’ve got a gift like Maria Callas had, almost any opera is fair game, no matter the era or the style. That’s why Callas could dip into the 18th century for Mozart’s Don Giovanni to offer Donna Anna’s romantic reassurances on “Non Mi Dir” as easily as she could visit the 19th for Verdi’s La traviata, setting the house afire as the doomed Violetta on “Sempre libera.” Of course, 20th-century roles came just as naturally to Callas, whose devastating dramatic skills are brought to bear in Puccini’s Turandot, probing the undying power of love on “Tu Che Di Gel Sei Cinta.”

Get an up-close look at the inner workings of a voice for the ages, in Deep Cuts.

Maria Callas lived a life that was filled with almost as much drama and intensity as her music, but decades after her death, it’s her amazing instrument that cements her legend. Listen to the airy acrobatics she seems to approach so effortlessly in Romeo and Juliet’s “Je veux vivre,” and the rich, radiant tone she achieves on the long, elegant lines of Samson Et Dalila’s “Printemps Qui Commence” — how many sopranos could master either one, let alone both? And when she unveils her natural dramatic gifts as Lady Macbeth on Macbeth’s “Una Macchia E Qui Tuttora,” her sheer vocal presence tempts you to imagine Callas finding success as an actress even if she never sang a note.

Maria Callas was a soprano superhero who packed more emotion into a single line than most singers manage in their entire repertoire. It’s not for nothing that the Greek-American goddess of opera was known as La Divina. Nothing in her life was on a small scale — her personal affairs were full of conflict and controversy, attracting undue attention that sometimes distracted from the giant strides she made as an artist. But nothing could ever truly obscure the achievements of such a virtuoso, and Callas’ legacy continues to cast a long shadow over the opera world. Even those unacquainted with operatic history know her as a grand dame, but the more you understand about opera, the brighter her body of work shines. As hard as it is to encapsulate her legend, we’ve woven together the mightiest moments of Callas’ career, offering you the opportunity to bask in the glow of her greatness.