Maria Callas, born Cecilia Sofia Anna Maria Kalogeropoulos in New York to Greek immigrants, was "the greatest singer of all time," according to playwright Terrence McNally whose tribute to her came after many years of being a passionate fan. While still a student at Columbia University, McNally camped out for three days outside the Metropolitan Opera House for a ticket to her debut in Bellini's Norma. He also started the "Callas law of applause": as long as a Callas aria lasted, he would applaud just as long. McNally is clearly not alone in his passion for this opera diva. The impact she left on the opera world was enormous. Reviewers threw her such praises as "Soprano Assoluta!" ; "a great singer, an extraordinary figure on the operatic scene" and "An imposing presence, a wealth of gesture and physical expression, and command of the stage rarely found today in any actress." By 1949 Maria Callas had earned international recognition as an original interpreter of the Italian bel-canto repertory and shortly thereafter, "La Callas" was created: opera evolved from a fashionable pastime into a popular obsession.

Master Class gives us a peek inside the public and private world of opera's famous diva. Callas was the leading star of the international opera circuit, performing in such famed houses as La Scala, The Metropolitan Opera House, Covent Garden, Paris Opera and in such starring roles as Norma, Carmen, Lucia, Tosca and Medea. In 1971 (just 6 years before her death), Callas was still one of the most admired opera singers of all time, earning her the invitation to teach a series of master classes at the famed Julliard School of Music. It is this event from which Master Class springs.

"One of my most important objectives is to shape my young singers' thinking - at least plant the right seed - into distinguishing between good and bad tradition," said Callas at the time of the master classes. She reminded the students, "we must never forget that we are musicians. That means we are servants to people who are better than us - the composers." She chose 26 out of 300 students to attend the master classes that were given at Julliard. The chosen few were seated in the front two rows of the auditorium with a packed audience behind them. Each "victim," as Maria jokingly referred to the students, came onto the stage and sang an aria. She would interrupt them to comment on the subtlest issues of style and meaning, appropriate audition dress and insisted on absolute fidelity to the score. She even raised such questions as "Are you after expression or are you after fireworks?" in an attempt to put a young singer's ego in place. "We cannot have our cake and eat it. You must have a direction in life...you must be a devoted musician. Fame will then come automatically."

Master Class received rave reviews from critics and audiences alike across the nation since its debut in 1995. It has earned Terrence McNally a Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and New York Drama Award for Best Play. Now it's your turn to share the award-winning tribute to the great opera diva. Don't be late to your Master Class.

Terrence McNally won his fourth Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for Ragtime (music and lyrics by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens). He won the Tony in 1996 for his play Master Class in which Zoe Caldwell created the role of Maria Callas; the 1995 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Play as well as the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play for Love! Valour! Compassion!; and the 1993 Tony for his book of the musical Kiss of the Spiderwoman (music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb). His play Corpus Christi opened at Manhattan Theatre Club this past fall. His other plays include A Perfect Ganesh; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; The Lisbon Traviata; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; and It's Only A Play, all of which began at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Earlier stage works include Bad Habits, The Ritz, Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone?, And Things That Go Bump In The Night, Next, and the book for the musical The Rink (music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb). For the Central Park Opera trilogy presented at the New York City opera in the fall of 1999 he wrote the libretto for The Food of Love, with music by Robert Beaser. He has written a number of TV scripts including Andre's Mother for which he won an Emmy Award. Mr. McNally has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, a Lucille Lortel Award, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been a member of the Dramatists Guild since 1970.
 
 

1923 Maria Anna Sophia Cecilia Kalogeropoulos is born in New York to Greek immigrants.

1929 George Kalogeropoulos, Maria's father, changes the family name to Callas, and opens a pharmacy in the Greek section of Manhattan.

1937 Maria's parents separate. In March, Maria's mother, Evangelia returns with her daughters to Greece. Maria is soon accepted into the Athens Conservatory where she forms an important relationship with Elvira Hidalgo, her vocal teacher.

1938 In November, Maria obtains her first major operatic role at the Olympia Theatre in Athens, winning the Conservatory prize. This marks the start of a very prolific career for the singer who would later be dubbed "La Divina."

1952 Callas begins a two-year weight-loss program during which she loses 65 pounds.

1959 In July, Maria and her husband are invited by Aristotle Onassis for a cruise on his yacht, the Christina. Shortly thereafter, Maria leaves her husband, Battista Meneghini for Onassis. This liaison made Callas and Onassis the most publicized couple of the 1960s.

1965 Scheduled to give five performances of Norma in Paris, Maria decides not to cancel despite feeling ill. On May 29, she ends the first scene of Act II in a highly weakened condition and the last scene is canceled. The final performance of Callas's operatic career is in Tosca at Covent Garden.

1968 Although Maria Callas believes Aristotle Onassis intends to marry her, he breaks off their relationship in order to marry Jacqueline Kennedy.

1971-72 Maria gives a series of 24 master classes at Juilliard School of Music, the subject of Terrence McNally's play, Master Class.

1977 Maria Callas dies in Paris on September 17.
 
 

Accompanist: Yesterday we worked on Don Carlo together. Eboli's aria, "O don fatale."

From Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi. In this aria, Eboli has been given the choice of being exiled or becoming a nun as a result of betraying her Queen and friend Elizabeth over her advances toward Carlos, Elizabeth's beloved. Eboli curses the gift of beauty that she has been given, saying that it has been the cause of all her problems. She swears to save Carlos from the imprisonment that has resulted from her betrayal.

Maria: Sophie De Palma as ... what? Sophie De Palma as Frasquita in Carmen. Sophie De Palma as the Third Norn in Gotterdammerung.

Carmen by Georges Bizet, has gained the status of one of the best loved and most frequently performed operas in the repertory today. Frasquita is a gypsy girl who entertains some officers at a country inn with her dancing and singing.

Gotterdammerung by Richard Wagner is one of the most famous tragic operas in which we see the curse which lies on gold and the sacredness of true love. During a prelude three Norns are seen weaving world's fate.

Sophie: Sonnambula? "Ah non credea mirati."

Vincenzo Bellini's opera is a simple village story about a rich farmer named Elvino who has taken a poor orphan, Amina, as his wife. In the above aria, Amina is sleepwalking while praying for Elvino who has taken the engagement ring from her when he believed she was unfaithful to him.

Maria: A twelve-foot Lucia di Lammermoor. Who ever heard of such a thing?

From the Gaetano Donizetti opera of the same title, Lucia has been requested by her brother to marry a man who will save the family from financial ruin. In a series of tragic events, Lucia is at last brought to her death over the unhappy misfortune of unrequited love.

Maria: I sang Norma better than anyone had in years and I interpolated a high F at the end of the first act.

This is the eighth of Vincenzo Bellini's ten operas. It is the story of the clash between Druids and Romans in the first century B.C. Gaul, with emphasis on the human element of a secret love of a Druid priestess for a Roman general.
 
 

Maria: I was cast as a nun in Suor Angelica instead.

This opera by Giacomo Puccini is a sentimental story about a nun who laments over the news of the death of her illegitimate child and shows a happy result of her prayer to be reunited with him in heaven.

Maria: I think we'll stay with Lady Macbeth. The Sleepwalking scene, I suppose.

Sharon: No, "Vieni! t'affretta," I thought.

This opera by Giuseppe Verdi was the first of his Shakespeare operas, known for its bold and imaginative instrumental music. In the aria mentioned by Sharon, Lady Macbeth has just read the letter from Macbeth which tells the news of the prophesies.

Tony: I've done Billy Jackrabbit in Fanciulla del West with Opera Ohio and I'm covering Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi for Opera West.

Giacomo Puccini's Fanciulla del West is set in California during the gold rush. Billy Jackrabbit is a "Red Indian."

Gianni Schicchi is another Puccini opera, this one a comic opera which paints a lively picture of medieval Florence. Rinuccio is a young man in love with Gianni Schicchi's daughter.

Tony: I've chosen Tosca. Cavaradossi's aria, the first act.

Another Puccini opera set in Rome 1800, against the background of oppressive Austrian rule. Cavaradossi is painting a Madonna for the church and he has based the painting on a woman who prays often at the church. In the aria, he sings of the differences between his picture of a fair Madonna and the darker beauty of his love, Tosca.

Maria: I had to know it when I sang Fidelio for the Germans during the Occupation during the war.

This is Ludwig van Beethoven's only complete opera and is a noted example of his ability to match the high moral tone of the libretto with the music of great nobility. The character of Fidelio is actually a disguised woman named Leonore.

Maria: I thought I was losing my mind, not Imogene.

The reference to Imogene here is from the opera Il Pirata by Vincenzo Bellini which is set in Sicily in the mid-13th century. Imogene has been forced to marry a man in order to save her father but she is still in love with another man.
   

Maria: But I think you should work on something more appropriate for your limitations. Mimi or Micaela maybe.

Mimi is a character from La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini and more contemporarily represented in the musical, Rent. She is a seamstress in the original opera. Micaela is a young girl from Don Jose's village in Carmen.

Maria: The sun will not fall down from the sky if there are no more Traviatas.

One of Giuseppe Verdi's most popular operas is an intimate work, dealing with the conflict between the 'real' world of human emotion and the 'false' world of society life.