Maria Callas: The Woman behind the Legend

by Arianna Huffington

Book Overview

For millions of people, the great soprano Maria Callas (1923-1977) remains the focus of such unparalleled fascination that there is still no higher praise for singers than "...the best since Callas." In this biography, Callas' career is brought brilliantly to life, from her transformation from a chubby, painfully shy girl into a magnificent, celebrated soprano, to her conflict with her larger-than-life image. Huffington makes this struggle, which...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0815412282
• ISBN13: 9780815412281
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Cooper Square Press
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A Legendary, Operatic Life!

Maria Callas~~ she gave everything for her art, and then, everything for love. This fascinating, thoroughly researched biography feels like a novel, it is riveting, and beautifully written. You hear her voice and fall in love with it, you see her face in photos and you are captivated. When you read her story you will begin to understand how much she gave to us, with such great love and sacrifice, for her beautiful art. She was a powerful spirit who lived every moment to the fullest. A fabulous book by Arianna Huffington! Grazie Mille!

Excellent biography. Read it when it first "came out!"

The number one recall I have about this book still haunts me to this day... her abortion. Onasis giving her the choice, him or the child. Haunting. Horrible. Above all, this book was a major "undertaking" for the author which she executed superbly! What a story! What a book!

a page-turner

(To the reviewer before me: Now we're two.) I have not read any other biography on Callas, but I listen to her avidly (her La Wally aria is particularly addictive) and have her Tosca performance on DVD as well as the documentary Maria Callas: Life and Art. But Callas's music alone has always made me wonder about her. Such deeply mined emotions in her singing, such ferocity, such purity, such power. How does she get all these in her performances? Where does she mine them? Zefirelli has compared her to Michelangelo, Bernstein has called her the greatest artist in the world. This book answers these questions and explains why. I have to say that it is a compulsive page-turner, even now in the twenty-first century where opera is no longer mainstream. There's always something interesting in each page. At the same time the biographer doesn't belabor a particular episode or detail in Maria's life as to make it boring or overly dramatized. And Arianna Stassinopoulos is no Kitty Kelly: everything seems very well-researched and reliable.

The Best Biography I've Ever Read

I can't believe no one has reviewed this book...so although I have never written one before here goes.... Critics say that this is the best book on the intensely private yet captivating Maria Callas. I'll go farther than that and say that it is the best biography I have personally EVER read and I am a huge fan of biographies. Yet, I can't quite put my finger on why its so good. Maybe its because Arianna Stassinopoulos shows a profound empathy for the diva or perhaps it's because she interviewed practically every living person who knew her. Maria Callas, the love interest of Aristotle Onassis who later dropped her for Jacqueline Kennedy, and of course the greatest dramatic opera singer who ever lived, is brought to life right in front of you in this fantastic, well ..... just read this book. You'll love it as much as I do.