Did Callas Suicide?
Randy
I have been listening recently to the Callas arias CDs. really like th
Puccini & Bellini stuff. Also read that Callas died of heart failure
in her apartment in mid-50s even though she had not been ill.
Does anyone know if she committed suicide?
Randy
James G. Jorden
A macabre subject to bring up on Callas's birthday (maybe -- others say
December 3).
It seems very unlikely Callas committed suicide. There was no
suggestion of suicide in the death certificate, and there is no
evidence she made none of the classic pre-suicide gestures (sudden
elevation of mood, giving away precious possessions,etc.)
And she had been quite ill on and off for years, suffering from a
number of medical problems including very low blood pressure. Her
final "Norma" in Paris (12 years before Callas's death) was stopped
before the last act when Callas fainted in her dressing room and she
could not be revived.
Callas's maid Bruna reported that Callas had breakfast in bed, then
rose and took a few steps to the bathroom. She complained of a sharp
pain in her left side and fell. Bruna helped Callas into bed and gave
her coffee to drink (apparently this was an attempt to raise her blood
pressure). By the time a doctor arrived, Callas was already dead.
It is true that, according to those close to her, Callas had been very
depressed since the death of Onassis about two years previously, and
had talked some about her death. But none of those who knew her in the
last years of her life have ever suggested she took her own life.
If you need any more proof, I offer Arianna Stassinopoulos's biography
of Callas, which sensationalizes every event of Callas's career and
personal life, sometimes to the point of fiction. But even
Stassinopoulos does not suspect suicide.
Avenging Angel
cry...@brokersys.com (Randy) wrote:
>
>I have been listening recently to the Callas arias CDs. really like th
>Puccini & Bellini stuff. Also read that Callas died of heart failure
>in her apartment in mid-50s even though she had not been ill.
>Does anyone know if she committed suicide?
>
>Randy
>
By mid 50's to mean the 1950's or HER mid 50's?? She died around 1970, I think. Her recording of Carmen was
around 1964. I had always heard she died of natural causes and there was mention of cardiac problems.
BTW, wasn't she married to Aristotle O'NastyAss for a while?
Stefan Pilczek
Randy wrote:
>
> I have been listening recently to the Callas arias CDs. really like th
> Puccini & Bellini stuff. Also read that Callas died of heart failure
> in her apartment in mid-50s even though she had not been ill.
> Does anyone know if she committed suicide?
>
> Randy
In his book about Callas, "My Wife, Maria Callas", her husband Meneghini
had his suspicions about whether or not she committed suicide.
He said that among her papers was a folder marked "Summer 1977" and
underneath were written the opening lines of Gioconda's 'Suicidio' aria,
but without the opening line. It would therefore have read "In questi
fieri momenti, tu sol mi resti e il cor mi tenti!" (In these turbulent
moments, you alone are left to me and you tempt my heart!).
How true this is I cannot say. It could be a romantic fabrication,
because in the same book Meneghini sees a link between himself, Callas
and La Gioconda because it was this opera in which she debuted in Italy
in 1947 in Verona, and where she first met him.
In her book, "Sisters", Callas' sister Jacky has her suspicions about
Callas' death because Callas was cremated and the funeral quickly
arranged as if someone were trying to hide something. Her opinion is
that Callas' addiction to uppers and downers finally killed her. It is
known that Callas asked her sister to get Mandrax pills for her in Greece
and send them to her in Paris, as their sale had become illegal in
France.
Make of this what you will, but also bear in mind that there are so many
biographies of Callas that are very romanticised. It seems that her
death is shrouded in as much mystery as the dath of her birth.
Stefan Pilczek
Prince Myshkin
In article <32a66113...@news.slip.net>, Now...@NowUdont.bye
says...
>BTW, wasn't she married to Aristotle O'NastyAss for a while?
No. I don't believe she was even divorced from her husband, whose name escapes
me at this moment. Indeed, she went under his name for a long time.
diana slivinska
she was never married to Aristotle O'NastyAss (ROTFLASTC at that one!),
but she was his longtime "ladyfriend." he unceremoniously dumped her
when Jackie Kennedy became available. i guess to his way of thinking,
the widow of a slain U.S. President was a better "trophy" than the
greatest diva of her time. sigh...
i don't know whether she was ever divorced from Meneghini. she was
known as Maria Meneghini Callas for a looooong time, though...
according to some, Callas was never the same after being dumped by Ari.
ciao,
--diva
David
Oh dear, the most romantisised death caused by self abuse since Marilyn.
If popping copius amounts of anti-depresant, barbituate and hypnotic drugs
to the point of spending you last years in total a total blur and causing
your entire nervous and cardio vascular system to pack up does not
constitute suicide to some degree I don't know what does. DCA
James G. Jorden <jjo...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in article
<585lgo$9...@sjx-ixn10.ix.netcom.com>...
> In <5859dn$p...@news.hal-pc.org> cry...@brokersys.com (Randy) writes:
> >
> >
> >I have been listening recently to the Callas arias CDs. really like th
> >Puccini & Bellini stuff. Also read that Callas died of heart failure
> >in her apartment in mid-50s even though she had not been ill.
> >Does anyone know if she committed suicide?
>
Claud H. Shirley III
David wrote:
>
> Oh dear, the most romantisised death caused by self abuse since Marilyn.
> If popping copius amounts of anti-depresant, barbituate and hypnotic drugs
> to the point of spending you last years in total a total blur and causing
> your entire nervous and cardio vascular system to pack up does not
> constitute suicide to some degree I don't know what does. DCA
>
> >
Understanding and consent. Callas died of abandonment. Her role in the
tragedy was passive.
John Lynch
Prince Myshkin wrote:
>
> No. I don't believe she was even divorced from her husband, whose name escapes
> me at this moment. Indeed, she went under his name for a long time.
His name was Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) Meneghini and his
missus went by Maria Meneghini Callas for a while. According to
Meneghini's book about his wife, it was he who got her into the San
Carlo in Naples and the Arena di Verona. I remember a group of Italians
in Verona discussing her career in 1956 and the concensus was, "È
portata"--i.e. she was helped along, didn't make it on her own.
John Lynch
Avenging Angel
diana slivinska <di...@nb.net> wrote:
>p...@pipeline.com (Prince Myshkin) wrote:
>>In article <32a66113...@news.slip.net>, Now...@NowUdont.bye
>>says...
>>
>>>BTW, wasn't she married to Aristotle O'NastyAss for a while?
>>
>>No. I don't believe she was even divorced from her husband, whose name escapes
>>me at this moment. Indeed, she went under his name for a long time.
>>
>
>she was never married to Aristotle O'NastyAss (ROTFLASTC at that one!),
>but she was his longtime "ladyfriend." he unceremoniously dumped her
>when Jackie Kennedy became available. i guess to his way of thinking,
>the widow of a slain U.S. President was a better "trophy" than the
>greatest diva of her time. sigh...
>
>i don't know whether she was ever divorced from Meneghini. she was
>known as Maria Meneghini Callas for a looooong time, though...
>
>according to some, Callas was never the same after being dumped by Ari.
>
>ciao,
>
>--diva
>
>
Yes, now I remember something about that. Rather despondent, she became. When did she die? Wasn't around
1970 or so?
James G. Jorden
In <01bbe305$31b97540$656e...@dialup.ozemail.com.au> "David"
<du...@novanet.net.au> writes:
>
>Oh dear, the most romantisised death caused by self abuse since
>Marilyn. If popping copius amounts of anti-depresant, barbituate and
>to pack up does not constitute suicide to some degree I don't know
>what does. DCA
I don't think Callas's final years were "in total a total blur", to
quote Dubby's rather Gertrude Stein-like turn of phrase. Certainly she
was overmedicated, as so many wealthy and unhappy people were and still
are. She certainly did not have much social life, outside of a few
friends who visited her at home. But she did meet occasionally with a
number of singers, most particularly Caballe, who received both warm
encouragement and practical advice on singing Norma from La Callas. As
late as 1976 she was still practicing regularly, sometimes with
surprisingly good results (the "Ah, perfido!" fragment that appears on
CD suggests that she still had some measure of control over her voice,
in private, anyway). And there are no reports of Callas ever seeming
vague or under the influence in public.
I would not call feeling sorry for a person who feels alone, unloved
and useless "over romanticized." Callas's last years are not an
example to be followed, but that does not stop one from pitying her.
jj
Crestina Areniello
Now...@NowUdont.bye (Avenging Angel) wrote:
>
>BTW, wasn't she married to Aristotle O'NastyAss for a while?
No she was not married to Onassis, she did have a very torrid affair with
him. In fact she broke up with her husband Meneghini, after a weekend
they spent on Onassis' yacht, due to her overwhelming attraction to him.
Callas believed that Onassis would marry her, but he married Jackie
Kennedy instead.
Stefan Pilczek
diana slivinska wrote:
>
> she was never married to Aristotle O'NastyAss (ROTFLASTC at that one!),
> but she was his longtime "ladyfriend." he unceremoniously dumped her
> when Jackie Kennedy became available. i guess to his way of thinking,
> the widow of a slain U.S. President was a better "trophy" than the
> greatest diva of her time. sigh...
>
> i don't know whether she was ever divorced from Meneghini. she was
> known as Maria Meneghini Callas for a looooong time, though...
>
> according to some, Callas was never the same after being dumped by Ari.
>
> ciao,
>
> --diva
She was legally separated from Meneghini, but because he refused to
divorce her, they were still officially married in Italy, but not
elsewhere. Indeed, in 1960 she took back her Greek citizenship because a
law had recently been passed in that country stating that anyone who had
not been married in church since 1947 was not married (there's a film of
Callas telling this to a newspaper reporter). As she and Meneghini got
married in a registry office (he being Catholic and she Greek Orthodox),
by Greek law they had never been married.
After Onassis dumped her, she apparently did change. What was worse was
that more than anything she wanted a child and she became pregnant by
Onassis. He then made her choose between him and the child. She chose
the former. It was shortly after this that he married Jackie Kennedy!
So sad . . .
Stefan Pilczek
Crestina Areniello
Now...@NowUdont.com (Avenging Angel) wrote:
>Yes, now I remember something about that. Rather despondent, she became. When did she die? Wasn't around
>1970 or so?
She died in 1977, in Paris.
Don Patterson
Randy wrote:
>
> I have been listening recently to the Callas arias CDs. really like th
> Puccini & Bellini stuff. Also read that Callas died of heart failure
> in her apartment in mid-50s even though she had not been ill.
> Does anyone know if she committed suicide?
>
I believe Callas died in the late 60s.
Don Patterson
Jet
Actually, it was August 1977, the same week Elvis died!
--
Theatre is LIfe
Cinema is Art
Television is Furniture...
James G. Jorden
In <jet-081296...@news.loop.com> j...@loop.com (Jet) writes:
>
>Actually, it was August 1977, the same week Elvis died!
That year I officially regarded as the end of my youth. Not only Callas
and Elvis, but Joan Crawford, Charlie Chaplin and Groucho Marx, too.
jj
Stefan Pilczek
Jet wrote:
>
> In article <32A8D7...@erols.com>, don...@erols.com wrote:
>
> >Randy wrote:
> >>
> >> I have been listening recently to the Callas arias CDs. really like th
> >> Puccini & Bellini stuff. Also read that Callas died of heart failure
> >> in her apartment in mid-50s even though she had not been ill.
> >> Does anyone know if she committed suicide?
> >>
> >> Randy
> >
> >I believe Callas died in the late 60s.
> >
> >Don Patterson
>
Stefan Pilczek
Bruce A. Rosenberg
You folks are funny; have a really stupid family Christmas type
holiday discussion/argument going on here. It reminds me of the
following poem, written by Howard Nemerov, former Poet Laureate of the
U.S. and quoted here, in part, to be esoteric and intimidating by
interjecting sourced of unknown information:
I went way back and asked the old
Ones deep in the graves, the youngest dead,
How language began, and who had the credit
of it, gods, men, devils, elves?
And this is the answer I was told:
"We got together one day," they said,
"And talked it over among ourselves."
I just have to be part of this conversation string.
Happy Holidays, and don't be so Callas.
dtreybig
In my opinion, and lacking other than publically available information,
Maria Callas died because of damage to her heart muscle which happened when
she undertook the dramatic diet she underwent years earlier. It was an
amazing and relatively permanent weight loss, but at considerable cost.
The body goes looking for protien, and one of the first places is goes
raiding is... heart muscle.
And yes, I, too, cherish many of her recordings. I wish she hadn't lost
the confidence necessary to do what she did, ...to dare to sing.
-- Dave T.
Stefan Pilczek <stefan....@fc.bilston.ac.uk> wrote in article
<32B1CB...@fc.bilston.ac.uk>...
