Maria Callas’ Verdi Interpretations: Book Tour Across Italy & Europe
A traveling book. Like the two great artists who are its characters, the absolute protagonists. “Sempre libera…”, written by Michele Nocera, an author of exhibitions and biographies of lyric singers, will indeed travel across Italy and Europe to be presented during performances and events.
Book Content and Tour Dates
In his volume, Nocera offers a meticulous study of Maria Callas’s interpretations of Verdi’s operas. Photographs, documents, reviews, scores—many of which are unpublished—that he has diligently collected himself, also with contributions from two prominent critics: Giancarlo Landini and Giorgio Gualerzi. All this makes the publication an interesting and significant guide to Maria Callas’s Verdi character.
The first stop of the tour will be the Teatro Regio di Parma, October 1-8, 2000, a tribute to the “Busseto Swan”. Subsequently, the tour will visit Rome and Milan at the Rai Studios, Paris, again Milan, then Sirmione (where Maria Callas lived in her villa during perhaps the most peaceful years of her life with “Titta Meneghini”), Verona, Florence, and Desenzano del Garda.
Finally, on the occasion of the traveling exhibition “Verdi and Traviata”, Nocera’s work will tour major Italian theaters: Novara, Milan, Carpi, Genoa, Naples, Bari, Trapani, and later Lugano and Luino.
Biography and Connection to Sirmione
Sirmione (Bs) – Over twenty years after her death (September 16, 1977, Paris), Maria Callas continues to shine as a star of the highest order in the operatic firmament. Born in New York on December 2, 1923, the celebrated soprano spent, alongside her husband Giovan Battista Meneghini, the years from 1954 to 1959 in the Sirmione villa to rest away from worldly noise.
Although sporadic, her stays in the Peninsular of Catullus were frequent. She once said: “To fully enjoy this earthly paradise, Titta (the affectionate name Maria used for her husband) and I thought we would spend our last days here and be buried.” In reality, human circumstances led the singer away from her husband, who, nonetheless, is buried in the local cemetery.
The villa where she resided, a typical building from the ‘early’ years of the 1900s, located at one of the most panoramic and evocative points of Sirmione, belonged to the mother of Count Nuvoletti, who was later related to the Agnelli family. Immediately after World War II, it was sold to the Mari Noni family of Verona. Col. Meneghini purchased it in 1953, undertaking significant modifications.
Initially, Maria was not particularly captivated by it, but she later fell so in love that she didn’t want to leave. To a friend, a few days before her death, she confided: “I miss Sirmione so much….”
Memories and Maria Callas’s Relationship with Sirmione
Maria Callas and Sirmione: a beautiful union. In the Catullus Peninsula, the renowned soprano, together with her husband, experienced the most carefree moments, shielded from all kinds of disturbances and worldly clamors. The author of the book, Michele Nocera, keeps a very vivid memory of these times.
“She often visited,” – he says – “my family, and with my sister Maddalena in particular, she maintained a warm relationship, to the point that she frequently sent postcards from the places where she performed. When my first niece Angela was born, she came to visit us bringing a large bouquet of white roses for my sister-in-law Lidia (August 8, 1958). She was a very sweet woman – continues Nocera – vulnerable, in need of affection. She left an indelible mark in Sirmione. So much has been written about her, about her relationship with her husband; so much has been distorted.”
When asked why she kept her hair so long, she would respond: “…to get closer to Titta’s age.”.