Callas, Maria. (1923–1977). Original Photograph after the 1958 Rome Walkout. The great soprano is shown being comforted by her longtime friend, Elsa Maxwell, following the famously abbreviated January 1958 Norma performance. Italy's president was in attendance for the opening night of the Rome Opera House, and though Callas had felt ill and warned the house to have a standby ready (they refused, and said "nobody can double Callas"), she agreed to go ahead with the performance. A bootleg recording of Act 1 survives and reveals Callas sounding ill. Feeling she could not complete the performance, she cancelled after the first act and was later visciously accused of walking out on the President. The press jumped all over her and turned the event into a major international news sensation where Callas was depicted as a temperamental and capricious diva. She sued the Rome Opera House and, 13 years later, they were found to be at fault for not providing an understudy.



6 X 7.5 inches. Some white paint highlighting, stamps and press clipping on verso.