La Gioconda

Everything begins in Verona. On a summer night in August 1947, an unknown Greek-American soprano of twenty-three stepped onto the immense stage of the Arena di Verona to sing Ponchielli's Gioconda — a street singer of Venice who gives everything for love and dies by her own hand. In the pit stood Tullio Serafin, the conductor who would become the architect of her career.

It was Maria Callas's Italian debut, and the hinge of her life. Italy heard, in that vast Roman amphitheatre, a voice unlike any in living memory — dark, immense, strange, expressive to the point of discomfort. Serafin took her under his direction; within two years, the feats of Venice would make her a legend in the making.

She returned to Gioconda at La Scala in 1952, and recorded the opera twice — her very first complete studio recording (1952) and a remake in 1959. "Suicidio!", Gioconda's great monologue, remained one of the defining documents of her dramatic voice.

In the Foundation's collection

Photographs and documents of the debut years — where the Callas story begins — are preserved in the Foundation's collection. Explore the collection · Licensing

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