Maria Callas

"If the public could understand, as we do, how deeply and utterly musical Callas is, they would be stunned."

"What [Tullio Serafin] said that impressed me was: "When one wants to find a gesture, when you want to find how to act on stage, all you have to do is listen to the music. The composer has already seen to that." If you take the trouble to really listen with your soul and with your ears — and I say soul and ears because the mind must work, but not too much also — you will find every gesture there. And it is all true, you know."

"In all her recordings, one witnesses this incredible technique at work, whether it is Puritani, Sonnambula, Lucia, Norma or Abduction, [or] turning around to sing Gioconda and Kundry. This ability to devour all of vocal music history, and take it into herself and spew out such excellent examples of all these different styles — you just think, “How is a voice able to encompass all of this?” Well, it’s not the voice, it’s the woman behind the voice."

"I would not kill my enemies, but I will make them get down on their knees. I will, I can, I must."

"What a lovely voice, but who cares?"

"Callas? She was pure electricity."

"Callas studied the text, the meaning of the words, and as a result, she became a diva. She became the Great Callas. Because she studied the character, she entered the mind of the character, and she brought the character to life onstage. Today, young singers don’t have this mindset. They don’t have the kind of technique that Callas had. ...Price, Milanov and Tebaldi had stupendous voices and great careers. [But] Callas, as a performer, as someone who expressed the real meaning of the words, was the best. The best. There is no doubt about this — not only for her sound, but because she studied so much. Callas is the diva. She is important to young singers, because she was a serious singer onstage, and she left a great legacy. I don’t know, though, if they can listen and learn from what she left on her recordings."

"Emmylou and I are both Maria Callas fans. We listen to that all the time. Shes the greatest chick singer ever. I learn more about bluegrass singing, more about singing Mexican songs, more about singing rock-and-­roll from listening to Maria Callas records than I ever would from listening to pop music for a month of Sundays."

"Maria, you are a monster; you are not an artist nor a woman nor a human being, but a monster."

"Theres no one in her league. Thats it. Period."

"I admire Tebaldis tone; its beautiful — also some beautiful phrasing. Sometimes, I actually wish I had her voice."

"Some say I have a beautiful voice, some say I have not. It is a matter of opinion. All I can say, those who dont like it shouldnt come to hear me."