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On 7 July 1965, Maria Callas gave what was to be her final operatic performance at the Royal Opera House in the title role of Puccini’s Tosca. She had not sung on stage for over two years, but as the curtain fell, the house erupted, giving Callas a standing ovation for more than 40 minutes and 27 curtain calls. Even with a compromised voice and uncertain future, Callas was, it seems, unconditionally loved.

Yet this was the woman who had fruit thrown at her for her "ugly" voice; the woman whose singing was alternately called "dazzling" or "catastrophic"; the "demanding diva", the "difficult artist" who seemed to cause dispute wherever she sang; the "perfectionist" whose private life and appearance were permanent topics of public debate.

But it was Callas's singular voice and artistry that drew huge crowds. Seeing and hearing her perform was never a passive experience; it was like watching human drama unfold for the first time. For those six come-back performances of Tosca, 120,000 people applied for 12,000 tickets. Fans queued for 48 hours.

Imagine the thrill that night as the audience first heard Callas. She would have been off-stage, calling three times for her lover Mario... passion, desperation and neediness encapsulated in just a single name. She would have been seductive, playful and determined as she convinced Mario to meet with her at his villa, chilling as she stabbed Scarpio and proclaimed his death - é morto – and forgave him with a voice that was chesty with vengeance and distain.

Callas walked an emotional tightrope on stage. When her voice wobbled, or when the tone was less then beautiful, it connected you to the fragility of life and performance. Opera, that most unreal and improbable of art forms, felt dangerously close to reality in the body and voice of Maria Callas.

"Mine is a big destiny," she once told an interviewer. Her voice declined fast, and 12 years after that final Tosca she died alone in her Paris home at the age of 53. It was the final tragic episode in the tale, ensuring that she passed swiftly into the realm of myth and legend; a place where she now receives an eternal standing ovation as one of the most unique and complete artists of our time.

This is one of 100 significant musical moments explored by ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 3’s Essential Classics as part of Our Classical Century, a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ season celebrating a momentous 100 years in music from 1918 to 2018. Visit bbc.co.uk/ourclassicalcentury to watch and listen to all programmes in the season.

This is an excerpt from Maria Callas's recording of Vissi d'arte from Tosca, with the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire and conductor Georges Pretre.

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