Callas at Juilliard

This is a good book if you're looking for some musical insights from one of the greatest musicians. She talks about technique, expression, and the characters themselves. This book would probably not interest you if you're looking for a biography of Callas. This book is more focused on the music and her insights.


Document of a great musician at work   March 31, 2001
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In 1971-72, several years absent from the operatic and performing stage, Maria Callas appeared in a series of master classes at Juilliard, which attracted attention far beyond the world of the admittedly famed music school at which they were held.

There were several reasons for this. At the time Callas was still the most famous opera singer in the world, as much for her entanglement in the lives of Aristotle Onassis and Jacqueline Kennedy as for her vocal and dramatic artistry. The format of the master class is a peculiar hybrid of individual lesson and public performance, both for the students and the teacher. As Ardoin and others have pointed out, whatever her concern for imparting her knowledge and experience to students, Callas undoubtedly saw the Juilliard classes as an opportunity to test the waters--appearing and even singing, under the guise of demonstrating, in public again to see if she could handle a possible return to her career.

Minus the extramusical baggage that surrounded them, and the excitement Callas' personal presence and vocal illustrations must have created, what remains of these master classes? These faithful transcriptions of many of the sessions give as good an idea as can be had without actually listening to tapes, and show that Callas was a scrupulous, detailed and demanding musical taskmaster. To operatic connoisseurs, there is much interest in the variants, cuts and cadenzas she suggests, illustrated in many musical examples which really need to be compared with published scores in order to obtain the clearest idea of her suggestions. One problem with the original edition was that the excerpts were riddled with printing mistakes--it remains to be seen how much, if any, of this has been rectified.

One is struck by the businesslike tone of much of the instruction, not at all like the embroidered scenarios of McNally's play, and how much Callas invokes her own teachers, such as Tullio Serafin, giving a real sense of the musical traditions of Italian opera. Ultimately, this book is mainly of interest to those who appreciate Callas the musician, not Callas the legendary diva. For such readers it repays careful perusal, though probably not all in one sitting. Amadeus Press is to be thanked for restoring this volume to the print catalogue.