Sotheby’s Milan to sell Maria Callas' Treasures

Sunday, 09 September 2007 08:46

MILAN, ITALY - On Wednesday 12 December, Sotheby’s Milan will offer for sale a collection of material - letters, photographs, musical scores and other items – that together paint a comprehensive picture of one of the greatest Divas of the 20th century, Maria Callas. The magnetism, charm and glamour of the woman commonly known as ‘la Divina’ permeates every item in the collection to be sold – a collection that comes to the market direct from the Paris home of the man who played a crucial part in almost every aspect of Maria Callas’s life: her husband G. B. Meneghini.

Callas met Meneghini in 1947, when she was just 23 years old. Then a shy, overweight and insecure young singer, she was immediately attracted to Meneghini – a wealthy, older man (then 51) with a passion for opera and who was ready to devote himself exclusively to supporting and promoting the woman of his dreams. Callas and Meneghini married in 1949 and for the next 10 years were inseparable. Meneghini gave up his brick business and devoted himself entirely to the task of making Callas into the legend that we now know. In 1959, though, Callas abruptly left Meneghini for Aristotle Onassis. Meneghini never recovered from the shock: he retreated into his own private world, was taken ill with heart trouble in 1977 – the year of Callas’ death, and died in 1981 from that same complaint. Ironically, perhaps, Callas’ vocal decline began just at the moment she left her husband. Though she yearned for the glittering high-life of Onassis, she clearly could not survive without the stability, support, and unquestioning adoration that Meneghini had provided. Without him, she soon burned herself out, retiring in the end to a lonely Paris apartment where she died under mysterious circumstances.

The sale reveals much about the public and private sides of Callas’ complex personality. 63 love letters to her husband Giovanni Battista Meneghini, written in Italian before and after the marriage, show both her vulnerability and her deep affection for Meneghini (“Dear Love, the day of our encounter is coming! Do you want me? I am yours!). The letters also show the extent to which Callas shared her professional life with Meneghini (“I want the best in everything but my art comes first.... If I had more time it would be better for Norma’s success as ‘Norma’ is never studied enough.” 1948, from Teatro Comunale di Firenze). And then, from Buenos Aires, 17 June 1949, the day of the premier of Norma: “I am writing today, the day of the crucial test and the day of the great ‘bel canto’ lesson I will give to everyone all over the world”!

The love letters will be offered at auction as a single lot estimated € 50.000?70.000. The more public side of Callas’s life is revealed in letters sent to her by her friends, Bernstein, Visconti and Zeffirelli.

The sale also includes thousands of photographs of the Diva on the stages of the world’s greatest opera houses, among which is a large photo of Callas and Bernstein, with the latter’s dedication “for my beloved Maria from her almost lover, Lenny B.” (Paris, November 1976). Bernstein in his letters to Maria called her ‘my private soprano’ or ‘dear Divina’.

All this will be complemented by furniture, paintings and private belongings, most of which come from Callas’s Paris apartment, and from Meneghini’s villa in Sirmione – on Lake Garda. Among these are gifts from Callas’ admirers around the world: for instance, a silver bowl by Tiffany inscribed: To Maria Callas who fulfils the prophecy of President John Kennedy: “Our generation shall be remembered for its artists” (est. €4.000 – 5.000).

President John F. Kennedy appears with Maria in a photograph taken on the day of the birthday celebration of the President at Madison Square Garden, New York, May 18, 1963.