December 2 - Maria Callas (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for December 2nd are here: Maria Callas; Britney Spears (2019), Harvey Phillips (2020), Adolph Green (2021), and Peter Carl Goldmark; Sylvia Syms (2022)

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Maria Callas (2 December 1923 – 16 September 1977) was one of the most admired sopranos of 

the mid twentieth century.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Toast

Let’s raise a centennial chalice,

And drop any sneering or malice,

Let bravas and cheers

Fill the musical spheres

For the one hundredth birthday of Callas.

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Panegyrick Verse on the Late Lamented Maria Callas

Oh Callas! Can it be One Hundred Years?

We conjure now thine image through our Tears,

And see thy Form upon the Lighted Stage,

The operatic Wonder of your Age!

Alas, oh Goddess! Thou hadst some detractors

Who plaudits gave to other singing Actors,

Who criticize, Divina, thine intensity. —

We leave them, unrepentant, to their density!

Unjust! That thou didst die at fifty-four,

The gods, in fairness, should have granted more, –

Immortal Gods! How more than cruel to skimp us,

By raising Callas up to Mount Olympus!

 

 

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