7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7

successful country performer in his own right (like
Williams’s grandson, Hank Williams III), sang Williams’s
songs in the film biography Your Cheatin’ Heart (1964).

Maria Callas

(b. Dec. 2, 1923, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Sept. 16, 1977, Paris, France)

A

merican-born Greek operatic soprano Maria Callas,
originally named Maria Cecilia Sophia Anna
Kalogeropoulos, revived classical coloratura roles in the
mid-20th century with her lyrical and dramatic versatility.
Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants and early
developed an interest in singing. Accompanied by her
mother, she left the United States in 1937 to study at the
Athens Conservatory with soprano Elvira de Hidalgo; in
1966 she became a Greek citizen and relinquished her U.S.
citizenship. She sang locally in Cavalleria rusticana and
Boccaccio and returned to the United States in 1945.
Her career began in earnest in August 1947, when she
appeared in Verona in La gioconda. Soon, under the tutelage
of conductor Tullio Serafin, she made debuts in Venice,
Turin, and Florence. In 1949 she first appeared in Rome,
Buenos Aires, and Naples, and in 1950 in Mexico City. Her
powerful soprano voice, capable of sustaining both lyric
and coloratura roles, was, although not perfect in control,
intensely dramatic; combined with her strong sense of
theatre and her scrupulously high artistic standards, it took
her quickly to the forefront of contemporary opera stars.
Her talents made possible the revival of 19th-century bel
canto works, notably those of Bellini and Donizetti, that
had long been dropped from standard repertoires.
Callas made her debut at the prestigious La Scala in
Milan in 1950, singing in I Vespri siciliani. In 1952 she
appeared at Covent Garden, London. Her American debut