News on the Callas Museum
Meneghini and Callas backstage after her 1956 Met début.
The first paragraph reads:
The projected museum devoted to Maria Callas will become a permanent exhibit, pending construction of a true exhibit space in Villa Meneghini and provided that the local parish agrees to it. [The parish are] owners of the building, inherited from Giuseppina, the mother of the entrepreneur Giovanni Battista Meneghini, ex-husband of the celebrated soprano.
This sounds to me like the now-typical Italian modus operandi of delay, deferral, and paralysis. (It wasn’t always so!) In any event, the article also offers details about the items to be displayed:
The development was announced… as part of the ceremony during which the Kalos Association turned over to the city the Callas relics acquired with funding from the province at the December 2007 Sotheby’s auction. They include correspondence, notes, personal documents, bills, photographs, newspaper articles, and two dresses worn by the operatic superstar: a pink kaftan and a chocolate-colored day dress crafted by Biki, the soprano’s favorite Milanese couturière.
Ciao, Marion!
I saw this yesterday, but I’m a little confused: when they say ‘Villa Meneghini’, they mean the one in Zevio, which has nothing to do with the one in Sirmione, right? I’m looking for ward to it. According to the British Times,the Royal Opera House will be holding an exhibition to celebrate sixty years since the Callas London debut in the autumn. Yay! Hope you are well and my very long response will be on its way soon, once I’ve finished it! Abbraccioni xxx
Ciao cara: I think they mean the Meneghini family home in Zevio, not the villa in Sirmione. (Didn’t you tell me, or haven’t I read, that the Sirmione villa has been divided up into separate apartments?)
Very exciting news about the ROH show. Inshallah, maybe I will get to see it!
RE: The photo, I don’t know the provenance. In the Eurovision video, her hair is styled differently. Also, in the photo here, she seems to be standing next to a piano. (Maybe the photo is from a rehearsal for the Eurovision telecast? Uncropped, though, it looks to be from a concert.)
Yes, they have become separate apartments. I just don’t know why they’re calling it ‘Villa Meneghini’ when the real one is the one in Sirmione. Are you coming to London, then? I noticed that too, but I think the dress is the same. You must be right in thinking that it’s a rehearsal, since she wouldn’t have done a concert with a piano before 1973. It’s not in the Csampai book, is it? Did you find it in Google images? xxx
Carissima, I could just as well have translated “Villa Meneghini” as “the Meneghini family home.” I don’t think they’re trying to fool or confuse people; “Villa X” is simply standard shorthand in Italian.
I’ll send you the uncropped image, which I grabbed from a Tumblr blog.
Baci!
P.S. I see you’ve changed the main picture on your blog page (the one on the left) again. It’s gorgeous, and I don’t recognise it. Is it the ’57 Eurovision Casta diva? xxx
Sorry, I meant on the right!
The picture is from her performance in “Chelsea’s at Eight”, 1958 (the exactly date was July’s 17), where she sang “Vissi d’arte’ & “Una voce poco fa”, I think.
Thank you, Carlos! Looking at the full photo, I thought it might be a television studio, but I have never seen any “Chelsea’s at Eight” shots.
You’re very welcome. I was the one who first posted on the tumblr, and I found the picture, along with others, in this site:
https://sites.google.com/a/callas-international-archive.com/www/cerchiamo—wanted
Thank you also, Carlos, for forgiving me for being a grubby-fingered thief. LOL (Do fingers get grubby in cyberspace?)
As soon as I get a few other things under control, I will credit the Callas International Archive.
Then I’m thief too, ’cause I “stole” it from the Callas International Archive, too. LOL. Let’s say thanks to the one that posted there. That’s the easier thing to do!