La Divina

"Masterclass", an HBO film that will be directed by Mike Nichols tells the story of opera singer Maria Callas. The story of her life, her love affaire with Arisotle, her career and the voice master class she holds.
In honor of Callas, here this post, entirely dedicated to the wonderful soprano.


I, being a huge fan and admirer of La Divina, jumped off my seat, did a little dance of joy, there must have escaped a little scream from my lips, was in a state of shock when I heard that my all time favourite actress Meryl Streep would be playing the divine opera singer Callas. The woman who could make you shiver with one tone, one sound of her voice. A song sung by Maria makes you drop everything in order to listen carefully to her, it's like an attraction, addiction, you're hypnotised. If God had a voice, then it would be Callas'.

Callas performing "Casta Diva"

When I first "discovered" Callas, I was obsessed with her. Surprised much? No. So I, of course, googled her - thank God for Google - and read her whole Wikipedia page, which took me eternity. Callas' Wikipedia page isn't in any way comparable to Meryl's, which is four times smaller. Unfortunately, I have the memory of my great grandmother (I think that even she has a better memory than I do) and the only thing I remember from the whole article is that she had a love romance with Aristotle, who then left her for Jackie Kennedy after JFK's death, blablabla. Her lovelife has no importance when talked about her career and voice.

Callas performing "Carmen Habanera"

Maria Anna Sofia Cecilia Kalogeropoulos (Callas), born in 1923, was and is one of the world's most famous opera singers. Her voice was different, she wasn't the strongest technical singer, she did have something dramatic and emotional in her voice, which made her become La Divina - divine. Meryl hasn't hidden her admiration for the opera singer at all and during the interview on the French journal this year, has said how much she loved that woman. It was, by the way, a horrible interview; the questions were bad and sometimes made it very uncomfortable for Meryl to answer. Anyway, when the reporter played "Casta Diva", sung by the amazing Maria Callas, Streep immediately started singing along, knowing the lyrics. Emotional and on the verge of crying, she gasped and said: "she's the greatest artist of the twentieth century... to me.", when asked what she felt hearing Callas' voice. "She's in tune with something divine. But because.. because it's also: music. Because music brings something...." "Takes you away", the interviewer finished. "Exactly!" And yet again, Streep is right on it.