Callas: Images of a Legend - Hardcover

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

The voice, the voice: certainly not perfect but definitely unique in operatic history. In this large-format pictorial biography of the great Maria Callas, it's the face, however, that arrests the viewer: not exactly beautiful but endlessly fascinating, for the diva assoluta could not help but wear on her face every emotion she felt in her heart. Following a sensitive and knowledgeable textual introduction, an album of photographs traces the life of Callas from childhood to her last year (1977), capturing her in formal pose and in dynamic stage performance and relaxing at the seaside or parties. A legend in her lifetime, a cult figure after death, Callas' celebrity spilled well beyond the confines of the operatic community, and although this wonderfully engrossing book will not substitute for reading a standard biography, it nonetheless makes a vastly pleasing, informative adjunct. Brad Hooper