Ginger Dellenbaugh, "Maria Callas's Lyric and Coloratura Arias" (Bloomsbury, 2021)

About this episode

This episode explores the legacy of Maria Callas through her vocal techniques and cultural significance.

More than 40 years after her death, the legend of Maria Callas, "La Divina Assoluta," remains unsurpassed. Much has been written about her sensational opera career and fraught private life, from her definitive mastery of iconic opera roles to her love affairs and tantrums. The prototype for the 20th century celebrity diva, Callas emblematizes the cliche of tormented talent - genius in the ring with catastrophe. Her extraordinary voice, in particular, has become an object of cult-like adoration and cultural significance almost with a life of its own: as fetish object, as sophisticated sonic signifier, and most recently, as the lifeblood for a Callas hologram. Such adoration is not without consequences. When Callas is transformed into a vessel for such transcendent magic, it overshadows what is perhaps her most superhuman ability - the masterful technique she deployed to shape and craft her astounding instrument. Singing bodies are working bodies, enacting an intimate and complex form of artistic labor and cultural signification. Using one of Callas's first recital recordings from 1954, Maria Callas's Lyric and Coloratura Arias (Bloomsbury, 2021) envisions each aria as a lens to…

Topics covered

• Maria Callas
• opera
• feminized voice
• cultural reception
• vocalization
• celebrity
• artistic labor

Keywords

• Maria Callas
• opera
• vocalization
• celebrity diva
• cultural significance
• feminized voice
• artistic labor

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bloomsbury

More episodes of New Books in Women's History

• Sarah McNamara, "Ybor City: Crucible of the Latina South" (UNC Press, 2023) · June 11, 2026 · 1h 20m
• Michael Staudenmaier, "White, Black, Brown: Becoming Puerto Rican in Chicago" (UNC Press, 2026) · June 10, 2026 · 59 min
• Bruce Dearstyne, "Revolutionary New York: 250 Years of Social Change" (SUNY Press, 2026) · June 8, 2026 · 31 min
• Jane Kanarek, "Beyond Brutality: Reclaiming Female Presence in Bavli Sotah" (Brandeis UP, 2025) · June 6, 2026 · 1h 3m
• Lauren Duval, "The Home Front: Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence" (Omohundro Institute and UNC Press, 2025) · June 3, 2026 · 59 min
• Kenna Neitch, "A Praxis of Persistence: Central American Feminist Testimony and Sustainable Activism" (SUNY Press, 2026) · June 1, 2026 · 46 min