Editing Maria Callas (section)

===''I puritani'' and path to ''bel canto''===
The great turning point in Callas's career occurred in [[Venice]] in 1949.<ref name="ownwords">''Callas in her Own Words''. Audio documentary. 3 CDs. Eklipse Records. EKR P-14.</ref> She was engaged to sing the role of Brünnhilde in ''[[Die Walküre]]'' at the [[Teatro la Fenice]], when [[Margherita Carosio]], who was engaged to sing Elvira in ''[[I puritani]]'' in the same theatre, fell ill. Unable to find a replacement for Carosio, Serafin told Callas that she would be singing Elvira in six days; when Callas protested that she not only did not know the role, but also had three more Brünnhildes to sing, he told her "I guarantee that you can".<ref name="harewoodlondon"/> [[Michael Scott (artistic director)|Michael Scott's]] words, "the notion of any one singer embracing music as divergent in its vocal demands as Wagner's Brünnhilde and Bellini's Elvira in the same career would have been cause enough for surprise; but to attempt to essay them both in the same season seemed like ''folie de grandeur''".<ref name="scott"/>

Before the performance actually took place, one incredulous critic snorted, "We hear that Serafin has agreed to conduct ''I puritani'' with a dramatic soprano&nbsp;... When can we expect a new edition of ''La traviata'' with [male baritone] [[Gino Bechi]]'s Violetta?"<ref name="scott"/> After the performance, one critic wrote, "Even the most sceptical had to acknowledge the miracle that Maria Callas accomplished&nbsp;... the flexibility of her limpid, beautifully poised voice, and her splendid high notes. Her interpretation also has a humanity, warmth and expressiveness that one would search for in vain in the fragile, pellucid coldness of other Elviras."<ref name="lowe">{{cite book|editor-first=David A.|editor-last=Lowe|title=Callas: As They Saw Her|publisher=Ungar Publishing Company|location=New York|year=1986|isbn=978-0-8044-5636-4|url=https://archive.org/details/callasastheysawh00lowe}}</ref> [[Franco Zeffirelli]] recalled, "What she did in Venice was really incredible. You need to be familiar with opera to realize the size of her achievement. It was as if someone asked [[Birgit Nilsson]], who is famous for her great [[Richard Wagner|Wagnerian]] voice, to substitute overnight for [[Beverly Sills]], who is one of the great [[coloratura soprano]]s of our time."<ref name="documentary" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Levine|first=Robert|title=Maria Callas: A Musical Biography|page=46|publisher=Black Dog & Leventhal|year=2003|isbn=978-1-57912-283-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|first=Arianna|last=Huffington|author-link=Arianna Huffington|title=Maria Callas: The Woman behind the Legend|page=79|publisher=Cooper Square Press|year=2002|isbn=978-1-4616-2429-5}}</ref>

Scott asserts that "Of all the many roles Callas undertook, it is doubtful if any had a more far-reaching effect."<ref name="scott"/> This initial foray into the bel canto repertoire changed the course of Callas's career and set her on a path leading to ''[[Lucia di Lammermoor]]'', ''[[La traviata]]'', ''[[Armida (Rossini)|Armida]]'', ''[[La sonnambula]]'', ''[[Il pirata]]'', ''[[Il turco in Italia]]'', ''[[Médée (Cherubini)|Medea]]'', and ''[[Anna Bolena]]'', and reawakened interest in the long-neglected operas of [[Luigi Cherubini|Cherubini]], [[Vincenzo Bellini|Bellini]], [[Gaetano Donizetti|Donizetti]] and [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]].<ref name="documentary"/><ref name="artandlife" />{{page needed|date=May 2021}}

In the words of soprano [[Montserrat Caballé]]:
<blockquote>She opened a new door for us, for all the singers in the world, a door that had been closed. Behind it was sleeping not only great music but great idea of interpretation. She has given us the chance, those who follow her, to do things that were hardly possible before her. That I am compared with Callas is something I never dared to dream. It is not right. I am much smaller than Callas.<ref name="artandlife" />{{page needed|date=May 2021}}</blockquote>

As with ''I puritani'', Callas learned and performed Cherubini's ''Medea'', [[Umberto Giordano|Giordano]]'s ''[[Andrea Chénier]]'' and Rossini's ''Armida'' on a few days' notice.<ref name="artandlife" />{{page needed|date=May 2021}}<ref name="ardoin"/> Throughout her career, Callas displayed her vocal versatility in recitals that juxtaposed dramatic soprano arias alongside coloratura pieces, including in a 1952 RAI recital in which she opened with "[[Macbeth (Verdi)|Lady Macbeth's]]" letter scene, followed by the "Mad Scene" from ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', then Abigaille's treacherous recitative and aria from ''[[Nabucco]]'', finishing with the "Bell Song" from ''[[Lakmé]]'' capped by a ringing high E ''[[in alt]]'' (E6).<ref name="ardoin"/>