Editing Maria Callas (section)

===Important debuts===
Although by 1951, Callas had sung at all the major theatres in Italy, she had not yet made her official debut at Italy's most prestigious opera house, [[Teatro alla Scala]] in Milan. According to composer [[Gian Carlo Menotti]], Callas had substituted for [[Renata Tebaldi]] in the role of ''[[Aida]]'' in 1950, and La Scala's general manager, Antonio Ghiringhelli, had taken an immediate dislike to Callas.<ref name="documentary" />

Menotti recalls that Ghiringhelli had promised him any singer he wanted for the premiere of ''[[The Consul]]'', but when he suggested Callas, Ghiringhelli said that he would never have Callas at La Scala except as a guest artist. However, as Callas's fame grew, and especially after her great success in ''[[I vespri siciliani]]'' in Florence, Ghiringhelli had to relent: Callas made her official debut at La Scala in [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi's]] ''I vespri siciliani'' on opening night in December 1951, and this theatre became her artistic home throughout the 1950s.<ref name="documentary" /> La Scala mounted many new productions specially for Callas by directors including [[Herbert von Karajan]], [[Margarete Wallmann|Margherita Wallmann]], [[Franco Zeffirelli]] and, most importantly, [[Luchino Visconti]].<ref name="artandlife" />{{page needed|date=May 2021}} Visconti stated later that he began directing opera only because of Callas,<ref>''The Callas Conversations, Vol. 2'', EMI DVD</ref> and he directed her in lavish new productions of ''[[La vestale]]'', ''La traviata'', ''La sonnambula'', ''Anna Bolena'' and ''[[Iphigénie en Tauride]]''. Callas was instrumental in arranging [[Franco Corelli]]'s debut at La Scala in 1954, where he sang Licinio in [[Gaspare Spontini|Spontini's]] ''La vestale'' opposite Callas's Julia. The two had sung together for the first time the year previously in Rome in a production of ''[[Norma (opera)|Norma]]''. [[Anthony Tommasini]] wrote that Corelli had "earned great respect from the fearsomely demanding Callas, who, in Mr Corelli, finally had someone with whom she could act."<ref name="NYT">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/30/arts/franco-corelli-italian-tenor-power-charisma-pillar-met-dies-82.html?scp=4&sq=Franco%20Corelli&st=cse|title=Franco Corelli, Italian Tenor of Power and Charisma, and Pillar of the Met, Dies at 82|work=The New York Times|first=Anthony|last=Tommasini|author-link=Anthony Tommasini|date=October 30, 2003|access-date=May 16, 2009}}</ref> The two collaborated several more times at La Scala, singing opposite each other in productions of ''[[Fedora (opera)|Fedora]]'' (1956), ''Il pirata'' (1958) and ''[[Poliuto]]'' (1960). Their partnership continued throughout the rest of Callas's career.<ref name="Opera News">{{cite news|url=http://www.metoperafamily.org/operanews/issue/article.aspx?id=99&issueID=5&archive=true|title=Obituaries: Franco Corelli|work=[[Opera News]]|first=Ira|last=Siff|date=January 2004|access-date=May 16, 2009}}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

[[File:Callas Sirmione.jpg|thumb|left|The Villa in [[Sirmione]] where Callas lived with Giovanni Battista Meneghini between 1950 and 1959]]
The night of the day she married Meneghini in Verona, she sailed for Argentina to sing at the [[Teatro Colón]] in Buenos Aires. Callas made her South American debut in Buenos Aires on May 20, 1949, during the European summer opera recess. ''Aida'', ''Turandot'' and ''Norma'' roles were directed by Serafin, supported by [[Mario Del Monaco]], [[Fedora Barbieri]] and Nicola Rossi-Lemeni. These were her only appearances on this world-renowned stage. Her debut in the United States was five years later in Chicago in 1954, and "with the Callas ''Norma'', [[Lyric Opera of Chicago]] was born."<ref name="vonrhein">{{cite journal|last=von Rhein|first=John|title=The Company That Works|journal=[[Opera News]]|date=August 2004|volume=69|issue=2}}</ref>

Her Metropolitan Opera debut, opening the Met's seventy-second season on October 29, 1956, was again with ''Norma'',<ref>[[Ross Parmenter]], "Maria Callas Bows at Opening of 'Met'", ''The New York Times'' (October 30, 1956), p. 1.</ref> but was preceded by an unflattering cover story in ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine, which rehashed all of the Callas clichés, including her temper, her supposed rivalry with Renata Tebaldi, and especially her difficult relationship with her mother.<ref name="stassinopoulos"/><ref name="ownwords"/> As she had done with Lyric Opera of Chicago, on November 21, 1957, Callas gave a concert to inaugurate what then was billed as the [[Dallas Opera|Dallas Civic Opera]], and helped establish that company with her friends from Chicago, Lawrence Kelly and [[Nicola Rescigno]].<ref name="cantrell">{{cite journal|last=Cantrell|first=Scott|title=And that Spells Dallas|journal=[[Opera News]]|date=November 2006|volume=71|issue=5}}</ref> She further consolidated this company's standing when, in 1958, she gave "a towering performance as Violetta in ''La traviata'', and that same year, in her only American performances of ''[[Médée (Cherubini)|Medea]]'', gave an interpretation of the title role worthy of Euripides."<ref>Davis, Ronald L./ Miller, Henry S., Jr., ''La Scala West: The Dallas Opera Under Kelly and Rescigno'', Texas A & M University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-87074-454-9}}</ref>

[[File:Maria Callas, Mirto Picchi (1957) - Archivio storico Ricordi FOTO003114.jpg|thumb|upright|Callas and Italian tenor [[Mirto Picchi]]; performers in [[Luigi Cherubini|Cherubini]]'s ''[[Médée (Cherubini)|Medea]],'' Milan, 1957]]

In 1958, a feud with general manager [[Rudolf Bing]] led to Callas's Metropolitan Opera contract being cancelled. Impresario [[Allen Oxenburg]] realised that this situation provided him with an opportunity for his own company, the [[American Opera Society]], and he accordingly approached her with a contract to perform Imogene in ''Il pirata''. She accepted and sang the role in a January 1959 performance that according to opera critic [[Allan Kozinn]] "quickly became legendary in operatic circles".<ref name="nyt">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/07/arts/allen-sven-oxenburg-64-dead-american-opera-society-founder.html|title=Allen Sven Oxenburg, 64, Dead; American Opera Society Founder|work=[[The New York Times]]|first=Allan|last=Kozinn|author-link=Allan Kozinn|date=July 7, 1992|access-date=August 12, 2009}}</ref> Bing and Callas later reconciled their differences, and she returned to the Met in 1965 to sing the title role in two performances as Tosca opposite Franco Corelli as Cavaradossi for one performance (March 19, 1965) and [[Richard Tucker]] (March 25, 1965) with [[Tito Gobbi]] as Scarpia for her final performances at the Met.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

In 1952, she made her London debut at the [[Royal Opera House]] in ''Norma'' with veteran [[mezzo-soprano]] [[Ebe Stignani]] as Adalgisa, a performance which survives on record and also features the young [[Joan Sutherland]] in the small role of Clotilde.<ref name="ardoin"/> Callas and the London public had what she called "a love affair",<ref name="stassinopoulos"/> and she returned to the Royal Opera House in 1953, 1957, 1958, 1959, and 1964 to 1965.<ref name="artandlife" />{{page needed|date=May 2021}} It was at the Royal Opera House where, on July 5, 1965, Callas ended her stage career in the role of ''Tosca'', in a production designed and mounted for her by [[Franco Zeffirelli]] and featuring her friend and colleague Tito Gobbi.<ref name="artandlife" />{{page needed|date=May 2021}}