{"id":21678,"date":"2026-09-16T04:04:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T04:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/16\/the-greek-american-soprano-who-remade-opera-died-in-paris-49-years-ago-today-greek-city-times\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T04:04:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T04:04:22","slug":"the-greek-american-soprano-who-remade-opera-died-in-paris-49-years-ago-today-greek-city-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/16\/the-greek-american-soprano-who-remade-opera-died-in-paris-49-years-ago-today-greek-city-times\/","title":{"rendered":"the Greek American soprano who remade opera died in Paris 49 years ago today \u2013 Greek City Times"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Maria Callas<\/strong> died of a heart attack in her Paris apartment on 16 September 1977<\/strong>. She was 53. Forty-nine years later, she remains the most famous Greek American in opera \u2014 La Divina<\/em> to audiences, \u201cthe Tigress\u201d backstage.<\/p>\n

\"Greek <\/source><\/picture>
diva Maria Callas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Callas was born on 2 December 1923<\/strong> in New York as Maria Anna Sofia Cecilia Kalogeropoulou. Her parents, George and Evangelia, were Greek immigrants; the family name became Callas around her christening. She left Manhattan in 1937<\/strong> with her mother and sister after her parents separated, studied in occupied Athens with Elvira de Hidalgo<\/strong>, and sang to support the household.<\/p>\n

\"diva <\/source><\/picture>
Diva Maria Callas on piano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her Italian breakthrough was La Gioconda<\/strong> at the Arena di Verona on 2 August 1947<\/strong>. She married industrialist Giovanni Battista Meneghini<\/strong> in 1949. He managed her path to La Scala<\/strong>. In the mid-1950s, she lost more than 70 pounds (35 kg) and became the face and voice of postwar opera.<\/p>\n

She opened the Metropolitan Opera<\/strong> season as Norma on 29 October 1956<\/strong>. Rudolf Bing<\/strong> canceled her Met contract in 1958 after a dispute over roles. A public fight with a rival at La Scala and a taste for solo curtain calls fed the diva legend. \u201cOpera is a battlefield,\u201d she said, \u201cand it must be accepted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"diva <\/source><\/picture>
Diva Maria Callas on Stage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her marriage ended as she began an affair with Aristotle Onassis<\/strong>. He married Jacqueline Kennedy in 1968. Callas\u2019s last complete operas were in 1965. She died in Paris on this date in 1977.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n