I BECAME WHO I AM

  A  fatherless home and a demented Mother,I was fat ,ugly as a sin ,my sister Jackie was a true beauty,the most beautiful girl of Athens,and jealousy,hatred from my colleagues ,we lived in extreme poverty sharing a bachelor ,sleeping on the floor. In 1937  Mother left Father to return to Greece taking me and Jackie,my sister not the other one.I lived there till 1945, I had the fortune to study with the two greatest voice teachers of Greece, without them there would not have been Maria Callas,the years I spent with them, teaching  me overtime without charging any fees,the years with these two geniuses made really made me, La Callas.Maria Trivella  taught at the National Conservatory ,Elvira de Hidalgo at the Athens Conservatory,they taught me everything they knew  from the goodness of their hearts,the believed in me and helped me to get my first parts at the Greek National Opera.They believed in me,like Mother they  pushed and pulled for me,they believed in me,could become the greatest singer of Greece, I believed in myself would become the greatest soprano in the history of music. Poverty,humiliation,the struggle to survive during the German occupation,and above all our troubled home life,sleeping on the floor,sharing a bachelor with a gorgeous sister who despised me,a mother who hated me and whom I hated in return, gave me  the determination to achieve greatness, I had nothing but despair and agony, they contributed to my madness, dementia,empestuous personality and her ruthless pursuit of her goal. Having interviewed many who knew her, the author constructs a fascinating portrait of an overweight, contentious teenager who alienated nearly everyone she met, but who transformed into a magnetic presence on stage. Leonidas Zoras, conductor for the National Opera, said of Callas at 21, "Whenever she came on stage, so powerful was her personality that everybody's attention was concentrated entirely on her." Her extraordinary acting ability enabled her to use to compensate for the well-known vocal flaws that plagued her throughout her career. Among the recent spate of books on Callas, which tend to concentrate on the sensational aspects of her life, this stands out for its insight into her evolution as an artist. Petsalis-Diomidis's fine book won Greece's National Biography Award in 1999. B&w photos. (Apr.) 

Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Winner of Greece's National Biography Award in 1999 and here translated into English for the first time, this biography of Callas (1923-77) concentrates on a less-explored portion of the soprano's life: what Athenian scholar Petsalis-Diomidis calls "the crucial Greek years" from 1937 to 1945. Built around findings from Athenian archives and interviews with more than 200 colleagues, this work devotes special attention to Callas's vocal studies, opera roles, recital repertoire, and interactions with colleagues. The author also addresses the political situation in Greece during World War II, including Callas's alleged involvement with German and British occupying forces, the Communist threat, and privations suffered by the populace. Setting the stage with Callas's youth in New York and her personal relationships with relatives, he concludes with an exploration of her psychological makeup in later years and historical background on the Athens Conservatory, singing technique, and various operas. Archival photographs and documentation are especially valuable. If readers can get beyond the minutiae of the descriptions, they will be rewarded with a glimpse into a period and situations rarely touched on by other Callas biographers. Recommended as a worthy supplement to standard Callas biographies. (Index not seen.) Barry Zaslow, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A GREATEST NIGHT

LA SONNAMBULA :A HAPPENING

4 july 1957

On America's birthday we were in Germany with La Piccola,the touring Scala .Two  Sonnambulas at the Grosshaus of Cologne,I wanted Bernstein,got Votto, never sang my best with him, however beer,sauerkraut and sausages did something, Antonino was inspired,so was I, we raised to our greatest heights with sublime voice and sounds.The second night was a happening in the history of music, night to remember,the house was sold out, fans refused to go,disciplined as they were, they stayed and blocked the doors,waiting around the blocks, to purchase their tickets. Police came,could not do anything, they were just standing and waiting ,it was not illegal.The management decided to open all doors and windows so they could at least hear,a microphone hung in the hall,a happening ,a night to remember, after the show  the  ecstatic crowd danced and sang till dawn, a celebration as if Germany had won the soccer World Cup.A microphone was hung in the hall,they made million from pirate discs, I didn't see a penny.

LOVE IN ATHENS 1943

It was a dream,a gorgeous Athens spring, and my first love,my" many-splendored thing ".

Fat and sloppy,I attract men,the rich and the famous,women hated me.!

---- What do you do to them, do you pay them, do you do witchcraft  ?

---- Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ignore
--- What ?
--- C'est le coeur qui dicte,le cul qui decide

--- I don't understand Chinese

--- It's Spanish

In the spring of 1943,we met during the rehearsal of Tiefland at the Olympia Theater, I was eighteen ,Vangelis  forty-eight,the most popular tenor of Greece at the time,was married,had another woman in his life,lived with  her and their two children.For me it was Love at first sight,I liked older men,always have, can't help it,Father was in his forties when I was born, he was my idol.

Why did I do it with Vangelis,I could have got much more from Sigaras,twenty-four,good looking,charming with lots,lots of money,his old man who opposed our union died at the right time,when Takis proposed.

I liked him very much,didn't love him,he didn't care for my career,a hobby he said, wanted me to give it up,he wanted to be the first in my life, my career will be second.I retrospect he cared for me, for my departure  for America he married another Maria,another musician,a concert.pianist .

Vangelis and I wanted to shake the world of opera,night after night we sang our hearts out,lived our love on stage  for all to see.There and then I realised that I could color my voice in my own unique way,through the magic of sounds and feelings.Love,despair,hatred,I could change my voice in a thousand ways ,anger was my driving force,my most powerful tool,I cried,yelled,killed on stage,became the bloody Diva.

I was temperamental so what,it's better that than Maria... who?

With the success of Tiefland,my rivals,slandered,intrigued, spat their venom :

---You seduced him to get the part of Marta.
--- User ! You did it to move ahead
--- Go back to your country !

I was born in America of Greek parents,moved back to Athens when I was thirteen," the blood that runs through my veins is Greek",I was no stranger in their land,my land.

 "Never shall I forget their hatred
Never, ever."

VOICE LOSS  

   2 January 1964

The worst time of the year,am lonely,Ari is somewhere in South America,business deals he says,this morning more letters from fans,a singer from Sweden, wants to loose weight without loosing her voice,can I help ?

I lost my voice because I did not get enough sex from Ari nor from Titta, I became a man after a sex change operation,early menopause,andropause,over-use and abuse of drugs,ate tapeworms for breakfast. Another reason I can no longer sing,the real Callas is dead,I am her twin sister separated at birth,my parents were too poor and gave one twin for aoption.

The causes will  be debated till the end of time,whatever the reasons my career was over when I was 40, I could have sung  for another fifteen,twenty years.

I  no longer put my heart into my music,wanted to marry Ari,have twins,a house with a garden,a dog.

To sing I have to be be strong ,healthy,to be in love with music,I sang because I was in love ,obsessed with, possessed by the demons of music, for years, day and night I was haunted by the spirits of Verdi,Bellini and others.In turn they possessed me,I was their Chosen.

VERDI WROTE IT FOR ME... IL TROVATORE

Verdi anyone ? I love Verdi,early Verdi, when I first sang D 'amor sull"ali rose,they dismiss my voice as ugly,I am not a canari,I am a soprano ,my voice the first instrument of the orchestra.

Want to know how I do it ? I act with my voice, it's acting and singing,I put feelings in the words and music. words .

I articulate the trills,bind them with my heart,my soul into the line,they are not ornament,not written for decoration, I use them for intensification.The way I do it is the chiaroscuro through tone,the other side of not singing full out all the way through.And one of the most expressive vocal devices to create the chiaroscuro is the varying rate of vibrato, another is the portamento,the way I connect the voice from note to note, phrase to phrase,lifting and gliding. I don't want to name names,however with most singers it is a sloppy swoop,a free fall, with all the trimmings,screamings,yellings,it's bad,they are frigid,nothing is worse than fake orgasms on stage.Singing  opera should be as musically precise as it is in great string playing.

CALLAS THE MOVIE STAR ! TO SHOW HIM !

THE  GUNS OF NAVARONE
 August 1960

 I want to be a movie star to show him,the man always invites Garbo,Taylor,Davis,the Royals snobbed him,Princess Margret, Princess Grace never set foot on the Christina.

---You are a has been,they are famous, they have their talent, without your voice you are nothing.Something came up,a  war movie in the Aegean sea ,with Gregory Peck,David Niven,Anthony Quinn and Stanley Baker,Carl Foreman the producer wrote the script adapted from Alister Maclean's novel.

We clicked, there and then on the Christina he offered me the only female

part,Maria a resistance fighter,I loved it ,no competition,Ari said " NO "

--- Wait for something better,more lady like ,you have shed enough blood  with  Normas and Medeas
The Guns of Navarone grossed $28,900,000 at the box office ,became the
eighth top-grossing film in 1961,earned a net profit of $18,500,000,a Greek woman no one ever heard of ,got the part of Maria,became an overnight sensation,her name was Irene Papas

 I was very unhappy about it,so was Franco

--- He wants to keep you in a cage,don't want you to become more
famous,it hurts his ego.Don't listen to him,he is not your husband nor
your agent

--- I love the man, without him my life is empty,with Titta and Vangelis it was different,Ari is for eternity. 

NINA AMIR

One way to gain blog readers involves having your blog featured on another blog so the readers of that blog, which may have more readers than yours, can follow the link over to your site. (The added links going in and out of your blog and the other blog help your blog and the other blog gain some traction in the search engines as well.) If those readers like your blog, they may come back day after day, thus becoming regular readers.

To help you gain some extra readers, or unique visitors, and links to your blogged blook, I wrote a post with a way to add your blogged book to a list. As time goes by, however, that post has become harder to find here on my blog. I do want to give you an opportunity to share your blogged books here on my blog. So, I’ve created this page to simply feature the list and make it easy for book bloggers to add their blogs.

You are welcome to add your blogged book to my list, if you like. There is one rule, however.

To add a blog to this list, you must actually be blogging a book.

What does that mean?

You must be writing your book from scratch post by post on your blog.

If I go to your blog to check it out, I should be able to find some of these things:

1. a table of contents
2. categories that look or read like chapters
3. an “About” page that explains how you are writing a book on your blog
4. some other indication that this is, indeed, a book being written post by post

If I can’t find one or more of these characteristics of a blogged book, I will remove your blog from the list. You can “appeal” via email to namir (at) copywrightcommunications.com.

One way to gain blog readers involves having your blog featured on another blog so the readers of that blog, which may have more readers than yours, can follow the link over to your site. (The added links going in and out of your blog and the other blog help your blog and the other blog gain some traction in the search engines as well.) If those readers like your blog, they may come back day after day, thus becoming regular readers.

To help you gain some extra readers, or unique visitors, and links to your blogged blook, I wrote a post with a way to add your blogged book to a list. As time goes by, however, that post has become harder to find here on my blog. I do want to give you an opportunity to share your blogged books here on my blog. So, I’ve created this page to simply feature the list and make it easy for book bloggers to add their blogs.

You are welcome to add your blogged book to my list, if you like. There is one rule, however.

To add a blog to this list, you must actually be blogging a book.

What does that mean?

You must be writing your book from scratch post by post on your blog.

If I go to your blog to check it out, I should be able to find some of these things:

1. a table of contents
2. categories that look or read like chapters
3. an “About” page that explains how you are writing a book on your blog
4. some other indication that this is, indeed, a book being written post by post

If I can’t find one or more of these characteristics of a blogged book, I will remove your blog from the list. You can “appeal” via email to namir (at) copywrightcommunications.com.

 Audrey Hepburn and Roman Holiday were my motivation,I wanted to be her,slim,beautiful ,had a tapeworm that was the cause of it all,poor digestion ,elimination, chronic fatigue,mental fog and mood swings,in one word blood poisoning .
I met her at the Arena,a psychic and herbalist from Hungary,Fatima

came to Italy after the war,set her business under the bridge where

she read the Tarot and sold her herbal preparations.

--- I want to lose weight,always tired,can you help ,I don't want to
lose my voice,I am a singer
--- I know who you are,the singer from America,you have power and yourvoice is hypnotic, I listen to everyone every night, have the best seat,and it's free.
--- Can you help  ?
--- I sure can,first you need to get rid of your toxins and improve
your blood circulation,you will have more energy,your skin problemswill disappear,,I shall do my best,come back in two weeks.

---My weight, if I loose weight, shall I lose my voice.

--- Yes and no, your voice will be different,your will lose some power but will gain something in exchange,some magic.

Was busy with the new men in my life,Titta Meneghini,Tullio Serafin,Ferrucio Cusinati,did come back to see her after six years,

--- Remember me,we talked some time ago about my problems
--- I remember,you are the demented soprano ,your problems didn't go
away,won't go ago unless you do something about it
--- I was busy
--- They all say that,come back in two weeks
--- I won't forget this timeI was busy,sent Bruna I tried it,loved it,became addicted to it and came back for more

--- It's really good, it works,I love the taste,have it five,six
times every day,what's in it ?
--- I usually don't say,the formula is from my own grandma,fresh
chopped parsley,garlic,ginger and red cayenne pepper marinated in
olive oil and warmed under the sun for ten days.Everything is local
and natural,I grow my own parsley and garlic,the oil come from
Sirmione, the best in the world, they have their own grove,my son
works there,the location  makes the difference,the soil,the sun,the
Lake,the Spa waters and the Spirits of the Dead ,

--- Spirits of  what ?
--- Spirits of the Dead,Sirmione has the oldest Roman ruins north of Italy
The woman is crazy but I like her
--- I like ten jars ,my husband takes it as well,love it on Italian
bread,have it all day,every day,After two months I got rid of a toenia worm,the
culprit of my ill health,had more energy,clear thinking and complexion
and lost weight naturally,my body fat melted away.
---- The garlic expulsed the tapeworm,it's a cleanser,red cayenne is
good for blood circulation ,and fresh parsley is a powerhouse of
vitamins and minerals.Ginger is a powerful tonic.
I ordered ten jars,asked Titta to take it as wellFatima was another unsung heroine of the Callas legend.

LOOSE WEIGHT, TO BE A WOMAN

AUDREY HEPBURN AND FATIMA. 


 Audrey Hepburn and Roman Holiday were my motivation,I wanted to be her,slim,beautiful ,had a tapeworm that was the cause of it all,poor digestion and elimination, chronic fatigue,mental fog,mood swings,in one word  I had blood poisoning .
I met Fatima at the Arena,a psychic and herbalist from Hungary,Fatima

came to Italy after the war,set her business under the bridge where

she read the Tarot and sold her herbal preparations.

--- I want to lose weight,am always tired,can you help ?.I don't want to
lose my voice,I am a singer
--- I know who you are,the singer from America,you have power and yourvoice is different, I listen to everyone every night, have the best seat,and it's free.
--- Can you help  ?
--- I sure can,first you need to get rid of your toxins and improve
your blood circulation,you will have more energy,you will sleep better,your skin problemswill disappear,I shall do my best,come back in three weeks.

---My weight, if I loose weight, will I lose my voice ?

---Yes and no, your voice will be different,your will lose some volume but will gain something in exchange,some magic.

Was busy with the new men in my life,Titta,Tullio and Ferrucio,did come back to see after six years 
--- Remember me ?. We talked some time ago about my problems
--- I remember,you are the demented soprano ,your problems didn't go
away,won't go away unless you do something about it
--- I was busy
--- They all say that,come back in three weeks
--- I won't forget this timeI was busy,sent Bruna I tried it,loved it,became addicted to it and came back for more

--- It's really good, it works,I love the taste,have it five,six times every day,what was it ?
--- I usually don't say,for you I make an exception,the formula is from my own grandma,fresh
chopped parsley,garlic,ginger and red cayenne pepper,I marinated them in
olive oil and put them under the sun for a few weeks.Everything is local
and natural,I grow my own parsley and garlic,the oil come from
Sirmione, theirs is the best in the world, they have their own grove,my son
works there,the location makes the difference,the soil,the sun,the
Lake,the Spa waters and the Spirits of the Dead.

--- Spirits of  what ?
--- Spirits of the Dead,Sirmione has the oldest Roman ruins north of Italy
The woman is crazy but I like her
--- I want ten jars,my husband takes it as well,loves it on Italian
bread, we have it all day,every day,I got rid of a toenia worm,the culprit of my ill health,had more energy,clear thinking and complexion and lost weight naturally,my body fat melted away naturally, it's was a miracle.
---- The garlic asphyxiated the tapeworm,it's a cleanser,red cayenne is
good for your blood circulation ,fresh parsley is a powerhouse of
vitamins and minerals.Ginger is tonic.
I ordered ten jars,Fatima was another unsung heroine of the Callas legend.

THE MEN IN MY LIFE

There were many on and off stage,my fame  was a magnet that attracted them,the rich and famous and the dreamers,most I can live without ,the others I can't get rid of, the Rich and Famous were like human glue and I didn't know how to tell them FO !
After the 1958  Paris triumph at the Opera, there were about a hundred new  hanger-ons that wanted to be part of my life,the Rich and the Famous and that man.He cast a spell on me, that I became obsessed with him and he with me.I wanted him for himself,the man, he wanted me for my fame, the most famous  Diva on  the planet Earth.Day and night I couldn't think of anything but him, he has cast a spell on me, he had the power, no one can achieve fame and fortune without psychic abilities and he had them in abundance.I was under his spell, was attracted to him,want him body,mind and spirit.desire,it was sexual attraction at first sight I was under his  Emprise.