Psychological perspective of the life of Maria Callas (American Opera Singer)

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The Life Span of Maria Callas
Adreena Lind
Psychology 300
October 1st, 2012
Shane Williamson

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Maria Callas, is one of the most influential and world renowned operatic figures of all
time. Maria Callas was an extraordinary woman with an equally extraordinary life. She was
beautiful and was gifted with a voice like no other singer, but she also suffered a very sad and
emotional deprived childhood. Maria’s childhood strongly influenced her passions and life. She
rose from a troubled youth and poverty to become the most influential and powerful woman in
Opera. Maria was born in Manhattan, New York, to Greek parents on December 2, 1923.
Maria’s birth name is Sophia Cecilia Kalos; her last name was shorted by her father to make it
more tolerable and ultimately changes to Callas, but her christened name was Anna Maria Sofia
Cecilia Kalogeropoulou, (Sieglohr, 2012). Maria grew up in Astoria, Queens, New York with her
mother, Evangelia, her father, George, and her older sister, Yakinthi.
Callas’ mother had a preference for Maria’s older sister Jackie, who was also a talented
singer and very attractive. In fact, it is said that Callas’ mother refused to hold or even look at
Maria as an infant because wanted a son. Maria’s mother was the driving force behind her
singing and pursuing a career in music. Callas’ mother pushed her to sing from the early age of
five. After years of strain in her parents’ marriage Maria’s mother and father eventually
divorced. At age 13, her father stayed in the United States, and Callas moved back to Greece
with her mother and older sister. Callas’ mother tried to enroll her into to one’s Greece most
prestige’s music schools, the Athens Conservatoire. Maria’s voice was strong enough, but she
was only 13 at the time and was not allowed to attend the school.
This was the turning point for Maria Callas, after the rejection, her mother decided to
send her to audition for the Greek National Conservatoire. Her instructor, Maria Trivella, at the
Greek National Conservatoire, believed her voice was strong enough to be enrolled in the school,
even though it was still untamed, and wild. Maria Trivella, was so impressed that she Maria

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Callas on as a pupil for free. Callas had a beautiful voice, even at such a young age. Maria was
said to be a dedicated pupil, she spend hours and hours learning techniques to prefect her voice.
After further training Maria’s mother requested an audition at the Athens Conservatoire once
again. The second audition went much better than the first; Maria was accepted into the school
and also began sing for work, at the request of her mother.
The ambition that Maria’s mother and the events of her childhood would eventually tear
their relationship apart; she felt her childhood was taken from her, because she was made to
work and study music at such a young age, (Lambton, 2012). Maria’s mother insisted for her to
continue her studies in music and for her to support the family financially. Her mother’s
influence on her strongly impacted her self-esteem in later years, often thought she was
unwanted or uncared for by her mother, and in her craft she was unsatisfied with her own
abilities. According to Erik Erickson, when children are told they are not good enough by their
parents or care givers, in the stage known as industry versus inferiority, it will often be reflected
as negative feelings later in life, (Kowalski &Westen, 2011).
I think in this way Maria Callas fits both the cognitive-social theory of personality and
the humanistic theory of personality. Maria Callas had a strong work ethic; she self-regulated
every aspect of her vocal ability and physical appearance, (Kowalski &Westen, 2011). Maria
Callas, had an amazing gift, but because she observed her mother’s negative feelings toward her
as a child, she was unable to see her own greatness. Maria needed the applause and approval of
the audience, and the people around her to feel confident and happy after her performances. On
the other hand, Maria’s motivation for singing rose becoming almost parallel to, if not
surpassing, her mother’s goal. Perhaps she did this in an effort to gain the approval of her
mother, which would explain her taking her mother with her on an Opera tour in Mexico, in

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1950, (Sieglohr, 2012). The drive of Maria’s mother, who also wanted to be a famous singer as
well as her negative views toward Maria and forcing her so intensely to be singer could be
applied in the humanistic category, (Kowalski &Westen, 2011).
Callas’ ability to sing, and learn quickly was inherited and paved her way to fame and
fortune, but her emotional environment drove her. Callas also always seemed to be reaching for
perfection; she often commented that she had to learn to accept the sound of her singing voice.
Maria was of acting out; a “Diva” with a fire temperament and overly dramatic personality,
(Sieglohr, 2012). The push of her mother to sing as a children and the strain of that and other
personal relationships reflected on her psychological development. For example, during her teen
years she had spent little time with her father, and in her adult years seems to flock toward much
older men. Her husband, Giovanni Battista Meneghini, was 28 years her senior, and years later
began a courtship with Aristotle Onassis. Both men were also very wealthy, which could have
also been the result of her mother’s influence and desire for wealth and the finer things in life.
Her ability to sing was not the only thing that was affected by her childhood, it also
seemed to cast a dark shadow over her personally life, as well. Maria seemed to a great deal of
herself as well as the people around her. In truth she was probably her biggest critic; going as far
as losing close to 80 pounds in a year, to be better suit for a particular role and because of
comments on her weight, (Lambton, 2012). Maria’s ability to sing was truly a gift, and she
worked diligently to perfect her craft. Maria was influenced in through her childhood; the best
theory to explain her personality would be humanistic. Sadly the pressure to perform eventually
caught up with her in the later years. She began to lose some of her magnificent ability to
perform and sing with the enthusiasm and in 1977 she died in alone in her Paris apartment of a
heart attack, (Sieglohr, 2012).

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References:
Lambton, S. (2012, March/April).The Young Maria Callas.Musical Opinion, Vol. 135 (Issue
1487), p53-55.
Sieglohr, U. (2012, May/June).Rapture.Film Comment, Vol. 48 (Issue 3), p50-55.
Staggs, S. (2012, October). Tropic of Calls. Opera News., Vol. 77(Issue 4), p32-35.
Robin, K., &Westen, D. (2011). Pscychology: The Study of Mental Processes and Behaviors
(6th ed.). Danvers, Massachusetts, John Wiley & Sons Inc.