Editing Maria Callas (section)

===The actress===
[[File:Maria Callas as Guilia.jpg|thumb|Callas as Giulia in the Opera "La Vestale", by Gaspare Spontini, 1954]]
Regarding Callas's acting ability, vocal coach and music critic Ira Siff remarked, "When I saw the final two ''Tosca''s she did in the old [Met], I felt like I was watching the actual story on which the opera had later been based."<ref>Ira Siff, in his interview with [[Walter Taussig]], "The Associate", ''[[Opera News]]'', April 2001</ref> Callas was not, however, a realistic or [[verismo]] style actress:<ref name="scott"/> her physical acting was merely "subsidiary to the heavy ''[[Art|Kunst]]'' of developing the psychology of the roles under the supervision of the music, of singing the acting&nbsp;... Suffering, delight, humility, hubris, despair, rhapsody—all this was musically appointed, through her use of the voice flying the text upon the notes."<ref name="mordden"/> Seconding this opinion, verismo specialist soprano Augusta Oltrabella said, "Despite what everyone says, [Callas] was an actress in the expression of the music, and not vice versa."<ref name="rasponi">{{cite book|last=Rasponi|first=Lanfranco|title=The Last Prima Donnas|publisher=Limelight Editions|date=June 1985|isbn=978-0-87910-040-7}}</ref><ref>Schneider, Magnus Tessing, 'The Violettas of Patti, Muzio and Callas: Style, interpretation, and the question of legacy', from ''The Legacy of Opera: Reading Music Theatre as Experience and Performance'' (Dominic Symonds and Pamela Karantonis, eds.). Rodopi (Amsterdam), {{ISBN|978-90-420-3691-8}}, pp. 112–113 (2013).</ref>

Matthew Gurewitsch adds,
<blockquote>In fact the essence of her art was refinement. The term seems odd for a performer whose imagination and means of expression were so prodigious. She was eminently capable of the grand gesture; still, judging strictly from the evidence of her recordings, we know (and her few existing film clips confirm) that her power flowed not from excess but from unbroken concentration, unfaltering truth in the moment. It flowed also from irreproachable musicianship. People say that Callas would not hesitate to distort a vocal line for dramatic effect. In the throes of operatic passion plenty of singers snarl, growl, whine, and shriek. Callas was not one of them. She found all she needed in the notes.<ref name="ReferenceB">Gurewitsch, Matthew, "Forget the Callas Legend," ''The Atlantic Monthly'', April 1999</ref></blockquote>

Ewa Podleś likewise stated that "It's enough to hear her, I'm positive! Because she could say everything only with her voice! I can imagine everything, I can see everything in front of my eye."<ref name="whitson"/> Opera director Sandro Sequi, who witnessed many Callas performances close-up, states, "For me, she was extremely stylized and classic, yet at the same time, human—but humanity on a higher plane of existence, almost sublime. Realism was foreign to her, and that is why she was the greatest of opera singers. After all, opera is the least realistic of theater forms&nbsp;... She was wasted in verismo roles, even ''Tosca'', no matter how brilliantly she could act such roles."<ref name="artandlife" />{{page needed|date=May 2021}} Scott adds, "Early nineteenth-century opera&nbsp;... is not merely the antithesis of reality, it also requires highly stylized acting. Callas had the perfect face for it. Her big features matched its grandiloquence and spoke volumes from a distance."<ref name="scott"/>

In regard to Callas's physical acting style, [[Nicola Rescigno]] states, "Maria had a way of even transforming her body for the exigencies of a role, which is a great triumph. In ''La traviata'', everything would slope down; everything indicated sickness, fatigue, softness. Her arms would move as if they had no bones, like the great ballerinas. In ''Medea'', everything was angular. She'd never make a soft gesture; even the walk she used was like a tiger's walk."<ref name="Callas, A Documentary 1978">''Callas, A Documentary'' (1978), Extra Features, by [[John Ardoin]], Bel Canto Society DVD, BCS-D0194</ref> Sandro Sequi recalls, "She was never in a hurry. Everything was very paced, proportioned, classical, precise&nbsp;... She was extremely powerful but extremely stylized. Her gestures were not many&nbsp;... I don't think she did more than 20 gestures in a performance. But she was capable of standing 10 minutes without moving a hand or finger, compelling everyone to look at her."<ref name="artandlife" />{{page needed|date=May 2021}} Edward Downes recalled Callas watching and observing her colleagues with such intensity and concentration as to make it seem that the drama was all unfolding in her head.<ref name="downes" /> Sir Rudolf Bing similarly recalled that in ''Il trovatore'' in Chicago, "it was Callas' quiet listening, rather than [[Jussi Björling|Björling]]'s singing that made the dramatic impact&nbsp;... He didn't know what he was singing, but she knew."<ref name="bing">{{cite book|last=Bing|first=Rudolf|author-link=Rudolf Bing|title=5000 Nights at the Opera|publisher=Doubleday & Co.|location=Garden City, New York|year=1972|isbn=978-0-385-09259-3|url=https://archive.org/details/5000nightsatoper00bing}}</ref>

Callas stated that, in opera, acting must be based on the music, quoting Serafin's advice to her:
<blockquote>When one wants to find a gesture, when you want to find how to act onstage, 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.<ref name="harewoodlondon" /></blockquote>