My first Callas

This is the story of how I came to meet Maria Callas, how I became a fan, and how I became me.

1996/1997
I was around 12 or 13. Madonna was starring in Evita. I've never heard of musicals or operas before, so I was really surprised when my mom and I sat in the cinema and saw/listened to the movie. I couldn't stand it. Why won't they stop singing!?!?!?

That year we went to New York. Sam Goodys... HUGE record store. I've never seen one this big before. Bought several CDs and singles (particularly loved Barbra Streisand and Brian Adams singing together, and Toni Braxton's Unbreak my heart - in Spanish!). Saw a CD of Andrew Lloyd-Webber songs featuring Sarah Brightman singing Don't cry for me Argentina and The Phantom of the Opera. Bought it - listened to it... loved it! (especially since it also had La Streisand singing As if we never said goodbye)

1998
I met Patrick. He also loved the Phantom of the Opera. He introduced further to the musical. I loved all the high notes. So I did what every 13 year old nerd did (although I would never have admitted to being a nerd back then, I was; still am, a little): trooped to the library and raided the Music Section for books on Opera and Musicals.

I really thought back then that all operas had faced out and turned into Musicals. So I saw operatic singing as dead, old, and really passe. Brightman was my icon. I couldn't find many books on Brightman in the library, but the net was full of her songs.

Then one day, I borrowed An Introduction to Opera. It had a huge full-color photo of a creepy-looking woman with huge eyes, looking shocked and angry. I loved her face. I wanted her face (so I could look at my classmates and they'd cower away in fear). The description read: Maria Callas and Miriam Pirazzini in Luigi Cherubini's Medea, Covent Garden, 1952.

Later that year, Darcy and I (and some other friends) went to the mall after classes, and we went into SM Centerpoint's Odyssey. Some cassettes were on sale - one of them had the label MARIA CALLAS LIVE: Famous Italian Concert Recordings. It was only 100 pesos (around $4 back then), so I bought it, Darcy warning me sternly not to play it in the cab on the ride home.

So I listened to it at home. I was shocked.

At first it was the shabby recording - the songs were poorly recorded and you could hear people coughing and clapping and yelling bravos after each song. Then it was the voice - dark, creepy, and very sharp - so sharp it hurt my ears.

So THIS is opera, I thought. Hmmp... Yuck. A woman half-screaming, half-singing while people coughed and cleared their throats. I hated it! In my mind, I was thinking that I'll stick with the Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys, and Hanson, and the Moffatts.

I hated this entire album. Rossini: Semiramide, Ponchielli: La Gioconda, Verdi: Macbeth, Nabucco, La Traviata, Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor. I hated all of them! Except for one clip, which I found was exciting and beautiful. Bellini: Norma. It was Casta Diva, and I thought I could sing this easily! My voice hadn't changed then, so I still had high notes in there, which were perfect for the song's range. I looked for lyrics, which I found, and then started studying the song, playing and rewinding the cassette over and over and over.

Back in the library, I found another book: The Victor Book of the Opera, which had stories... So operas told stories... That was fun. Different from the Backstreet Boys who just sang under the rain and took their shirts off (which is why I loved them!).

I scoured that book for plots and characters and voice parts. It was really big and heavy, but all the pictures were black-and-white, but that was fine. So learned that Norma was a druid priestess and Casta diva was her song to the moon. Now this is a very important part of my story.

I was raised a Catholic, but I abhorred (and still do, sometimes) all their rituals and all the guilt they laid on you as a child. Witchcraft was my escape. Wicca was my true religion, and the moon was my true Goddess.  A song to the moon was exactly what my spirit needed. And I had found it.

I also discovered Medea. Betrayed, alone, furious, and powerful. I wanted to be that. Plus, in my research, I'd found that she was the Goddess of Unrequited Love - the story of my life. I loved him, he didn't even see me. (But that's a different story!)

So I wanted to be a witch and sing to the moon and cast spells to destroy all my enemies (who have now become my closest friends). But that wasn't the only place Callas' voice was leading me.

When I went back to New York to visit, I bought all the Callas CDs I could (the ones that didn't cost more than $15 - I was on a very tight budget). I went back to the live recordings which I had bought first. I listened to the Traviata clip - Addio del passato, and I found it beautiful and sad and tragic. So I did as I had done with Casta diva, and added that to my repertoire.

Then I turned my attention to the CDs - Callas: Voice of the Century; The Golden Voice of Maria Callas; Callas: LA Divina 2. One by one, I picked out the arias and added them to my repertoire. Of course, I can't sing, I only try. La mamma morta became my next favorite, then In questa reggia (which I loved because it reminded me so of Medea),
then Lucia's mad scene, and slowly I acquired a taste.

Italian Opera. Bel Canto.

Wagner, I can't stand. French, I can't sing. So I had to stick with Callas' standard Italian repertoire.

1999-present
I was secure enough with my arias now to brave full length operas.

My first was, of course, was Cherubini's Medea. Since this was my first opera, and it had cost so much (Php1,030 was a lot for a kid whose allowance was only Php150 a day), I had a lot of time to study the score and the text before I could buy my next opera. It was my 15th birthday and I was delighted when I discovered that box sets contained the libretto and translation of the opera. So I was able to memorize the opera in no time. All parts, not just Medea but Creonte, Neris, Glauce, and even the character I loathed most, Giasone.

My next opera was Puccini's Tosca. I have no idea why. Probably because it was on sale (Php950) and partly because Norma cost P1,250 (3 Cds, the others were only 2 Cds). My next was La Traviata, then Il Trovatore, then Norma, La Sonnambula, then I Puritani and others.

All Callas.

Then Tower Records closed down, and the Callas EMI box sets were put on sale, and then disappeared completely.

So I had to result to buying other artists, or waiting till my mom went to the States and making her buy me some operas. She bought me my first full Lucia and Aida - the 1952 Mexico recording with the gorgeous E-Flat at the end of the triumphal scene.

Locally, I bought Turandot (with Katia Ricciarelli as Turandot), Madama Butterfly (with Mirella Freni as Ciocio-san), and then (since the 1st cd of my Aida had been stolen along with my CD player), Aida (again with Ricciarelli as Aida, Domingo as Radames, and Elena Obraztsova as Amneris, my favorite mezzo role).

But without Callas, I would still be listening to the Backstreet Boys and Hanson, and probably the fallen Britney Spears or Beyonce. Yes, I am a musical snob. All thanks to Maria Callas.

Now, the soundtrack of my life is opera. I have 28 Callas complete recordings (3 Medeas, 3 Normas, 2 Aidas, 2 Toscas, 2 Traviatas, and a whole bunch which I don't listen to: Il Turco in Italia, Un Ballo in Maschera, La Boheme - I know, I know, it's the world's most loved opera after Carmen). Plus around 12 different full operas without Callas, my favorites of which are Aida and Die Walkure both with Birgit Nilsson.

So that is the story of how Maria Callas has shaped me into who I am today.