Word: binge
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Onstage in Dallas last week, this exchange took place in Italian between Maria Meneghini Callas and Tenor Jon Vickers in a new production of Medea (see below). But it also summed up Maria Callas' offstage exchange with a far more improbable Jason-the Metropolitan Opera's Rudolf Bing, who last week stunned the Met's public by casting Maria Callas out of his golden opera house...
Callas had broken her contract, Bing explained, by backing out on her agreement (confirmed by her as recently as five weeks ago) to sing in three productions of La Traviata at the Met this season. After lengthy correspondence and, evidently, ample provocation from Callas, Bing wired her an ultimatum that if she did not agree-"by 10 a.m. Thursday"-to sing in Traviata or the substitute roles he offered her, her contract would be canceled...
...Bing also issued a waspish, pettish statement to the press: "Madame Callas' reputation for projecting her undisputed histrionic talents into her business affairs is a matter of common knowledge. This, together with her insistence on a claimed right to alter or abrogate a contract at will or at whim, has finally led to the present situation . . . Let us all be grateful that we have had the experience of her artistry for two seasons; the Metropolitan is also grateful that the association is ended . . . I could name a number of very famous singers who thought they were indispensable and would...
...Pick on Me?" The main trouble, retorted Callas, was that Bing had signed her to sing two performances of Traviata, on Feb. 13 and 17, between two performances of Macbeth on Feb. 5 and 21. "Macbeth is a very heavy opera. I have to build back to my heavy voice, and it takes a month. My voice is not an elevator, going up and down...
Cesare Siepi, 34, bass. Born in Milan, Siepi started out to be a boxer, switched to singing during the war, was brought to the U.S. by the Met's Bing. An excellent actor, he is particularly effective in the roles of such sorrowing old men as Boris and Don Carlo's Philip II, has also won acclaim for his Don Giovanni and The Barber's Basilio. His resonant, warm bass and trim good looks make him the leading contender for Ezio Pizza's place...