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SPEECH MADE BY M. JEAN TIBERI
MAYOR OF PARIS
To mark the dedication Of a Paris thoroughfare
To the Memory Of Maria Callas.
Hotel de Ville. Paris.
December 1st, 2000.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are all gathered here today in the Avenue Georges
Mandel, where Maria Callas once lived, to celebrate through
the same shared recollections and emotions evoked by the
memory of that immensely important singer and to carve
her name onto the heart of our capital.
Thus, do we pay homage to one of the greatest protagonists
in the world of opera. Pierre-Jean Remy aptly wrote :
"Nothing will replace the incandescent visions of a singer,
unique in the world, who at the same time became one of
the greatest tragedians of her age."
In fact, few singers have left such a legacy in the world
of opera as Maria Callas did. Already as a young child
she displayed an extraordinary gift for music and singing.
Thus it was, that in Athens she was to study under the
disciplined eye of Elvira De Hidalgo, one of the top light-sopranos
of her generation, and then to sing the role of Santuzza
in Cavalleria Rusticana at the age of fifteen, and was
soon to be seen singing leading roles at the Athens Opera
House.
In the immediate post-war period, thanks to the benevolent
and enthusiastic support of Maestro Tulio Serafin, her
international career was to take off when she sang Ponchielli's
'Giocoma' under his direction at the Arena in Verona-her
Italian debut. This was followed by a series of triumphs
in the most diverse of repertoires, ranging from Wagner
to Puccini, from Bellini to Verdi. From then on, Callas
created a voice which in its entirety, notwithstanding
certain gulteral sounds which some of her detractors saw
fit to criticize, became an instrument of unique ability,
able to sweep in range from the most exquisite tenderness
to the most terrifying anger. Her career was to reach
its greatest heights in 1951 when she performed "La Traviata"
at La Scala, Milan, under the direction of Giulini and
staged by Visconti, and which bore her to the absolute
climax of beauty and pain.
Alas, "This extraordinary tension", in Callas's own words,
"that opera requires", has, little by little, to take
its toll on an exceptional voice.
The success of "La Callas", however, never waned. Indeed,
she was able to transcend and transfigure any shortcomings
in her voice by virtue of her amazing dramatic range and
peerless force of interpretation. Every role that she
breathed life into assumed a veritable theatrical hallmark:
the apparition of a veiled Medea and her cursing of the
infernal gods; the distraught death of Violetta; the aggressive
and menacing finale of Norma; the despair of Tosca when
she kills Scarpia-all reveal the fullness of a dramatic
temperament that is unique. Obviously, these are characters
moulded by the music of Verdi, Bellini and Puccini, and
which lend themselves perfectly to her interpretative
genius and allow her to achieve a perfect fusion of singing
and dramatic representation-a fusion which no one else
has reached in the history of Belcanto in our age. But
with courage and intelligence she was equally able to
broaden the repertoire, taking on more than fifty roles:
alongside the works of Ponchielli, Giordano and Mascagni,
she literally rediscovered rare and long-forgotten operas
such as Medea, Alceste and Anna Bolena, introducing them
to opera houses throughout the world.
In 1958, Callas, exhausted, walked out on a production
of Norma in Rome after the first act. And again it was
with "Norma", at the Paris opera in June 1965, that she
bade farewell to the opera stage and to her public. Paris,
where her voice fell silent forever on a September day
in 1977.
Through the miracle of her voice, Maria Callas turned
the whole tradition and presentation of opera upside-down.
With her genius, she left her mark upon the history of
music, unveiling the enchantment of a primordial beauty,
moments of revelation, brilliant flashes of truth-the
sublime force of a work of art. Yes, Callas made us see
and hear the extraordinary. With Callas, we rediscovered
arias that we felt we already knew-and as a Tragédienne
without equal, she transported us back to the very source
of tragedy.
But the genius of Callas was also the fruit of hard work
and tireless research. In a famous interview which took
place in 1959, she explained the criteria that dictated
her decisions and her approach to work: "The single aim
of an artist is art itself, and I have dedicated my life
to music, forcing myself to renew and to ennoble opera.
For me, music is a thing of exquisite spendour, and I
can not bear to see it treated shabbily..."
This is why she studied her characters assiduously, attending
every rehearsal, even those held for the orchestra only.
She required directors who were demanding and original,
like Luchino Visconti or Franco Zeffirelli-and always
sought the top conductors. As Simone Benmussa rightly
commented, "Without this supreme obstinacy, every creator,
whatever the discipline, remains on the periphery of a
work." In this way, Maria Callas reaffirms that only total
devotion enables us to penetrate the essence of a work
of art-and that such an undertaking requires a total commitment.
The gestures, the expression, the voice of Callas somehow
combined to create this tragedy without reservations;
and these fits of dramatic intensity and musical beauty
were, little by little, destined to consume her, because
she achieved them with her own life's force.
Under the trees in the Avenue Georges Madel, in this
"Rue"" which now bears her name, the fragile shadow still
lingers-cautiously drawing back the curtain to peer out
as she does in one of the last photographs that were taken
of her. Here, in this "Rue" Maria Callas, we can be sure
that from this day forth, those flowers of Paris that
she loved so much, those flowers that fell at her feet
at the final curtain of her nights of triumph, will continue
to arrive beneath her windows, to keep her memory alive.
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