03 / At the heart of the book
At heart of the book
The work opens with a letter written by Tom Volf to Maria Callas — “Dear Mrs. Callas, dear Maria” — which explains the approach: stand as close as possible to the woman, let the voice be heard behind the voice.
The letters are organized chronologically, from childhood in New York to the last years in Paris, and interspersed with these unfinished memoirs that Maria Callas had begun to dictate without ever concluding them. The edition also reproduces previously inaccessible documents: pages from school albums, telegrams, contracts, private photographs.
The epilogue, which briefly relates the funeral at the Orthodox church on rue Georges-Bizet — “that day, there was no crowd” — closes the book with an article by music critic Teodoro Celli which followed the “Rome scandal” of 1958, a text that the diva often quoted.
Six hundred and eight pages in which Maria's face is outlined, clearer than in all the biographies that preceded it.
Credits
- Original texts by :Maria Callas
- Texts compiled, translated and introduced by : Tom Volf (preface)
- Editor : Editions Albin Michel
- Publication : October 30, 2019
- Format : paperback, 240 × 155 mm · 608 pages · €25 (paperback) · €16.99 (ePub)
- ISBN : 978-2-226-43714-3 (paperback) · 978-2-226-43142-4 (ePub)
- Content : more than 350 unpublished letters (1946–1977) + unfinished memoirs — fruit of 5 years of research
- Foreign editions : Italian (“Callas, Lettere e Memorie”) · English (“Letters & Memoirs”)
Buy : Albin Michel · FNAC · Amazon
Two attempts at memoirs
Beyond the 350+ unpublished letters covering three decades (1946–1977), the work reveals for the first time two unfinished attempts at autobiography :
- Memoirs dictated in Italian to Anita Pensotti in 1956–1957
- The text entrusted in English to Stelios Galatopoulos in 1977 — a few months before her death
“Tom Volf gives us a glimpse of the Maria behind the Callas, the human behind the icon – from combat to detachment, from demonstration to confession. »
L’Avant-Scène Opéra · 30 October 2019
Foreign editions
- Italy —Rizzoli, Io, Maria. Unpublished letter and memory, December 3, 2019 (anniversary of Callas's 96th birthday), translation by Gustavo Visentini · ISBN 978-88-17-14404-9 · pocket reissue BUR ISBN 978-88-17-18402-1
- Greece — Patakis, translation by Andreas Pappas
- Spanish and Russian editions also published
Foreign editions
Translated into 4 languages
Originally edited by Albin Michel in 30 October 2019, Maria Callas — Letters & Memoirs has since been translated into Italian, Spanish, Greek and Russian — by the largest publishing houses in each country.
Italy · Rizzoli · December 2019
“io, Maria — Lettere e memorie inedite”, edited by Tom Volf — Rizzoli (Mondadori Libri). Sober cream cover with Callas signature in script + portrait in baroque frame. Translation by Gustavo Visentini. ISBN 978-88-17-14404-9 · pocket reissue BUR ISBN 978-88-17-18402-1.
Spain · Akal · May 2022
“Cartas y memorias”, edited by Tom Volf — Akal Biografías. Cover illustrated by the artist Fernando Vicente : painted portrait of Callas in a black dress in front of a crimson red stage curtain. Publication synchronized with the representation at Festival Castell de Peralada with Monica Bellucci (July 15, 2022).
Greece · Patakis · November 2020
“Μαρία Κάλλας: Γράμματα και αναμνήσεις” —Ekdoseis Patakis. French → Greek translation by Andreas Pappas. Dark cover: B&W Callas portrait pencil in hand, letters in background. Official presentation to Megaron Athens Concert Hall on November 4, 2020, in connection with the screening of the film Maria by Callas at the Danaos cinema.
Russia · AST · 2021
“Maria Callas: Дневники. Письма » — Издательство AST. Burgundy hardcover: studio portrait in warm lights, bright pink title. Unpublished preface by Sergey Nikolaevich. Distributed throughout the CIS.
