Return of the Turtledove

"Has the tigress become a turtledove?" The gossips in Milan were incredulous. "She must have lost her voice to turn so sweet." The object of this back-scratching was Maria Meneghini Callas, making her comeback at La Scala after a 2 1/2-year exile, self-imposed because of a fight with Impresario Antonio Ghiringhelli. Throughout rehearsals for her return vehicle,

Gaetano Donizetti's little-known Poliuto, Callas kept her fiery temper banked despite numerous production problems, including a threatened backstage strike and the director's walkout. By opening night, scalpers were getting $500 for a $50 seat. Paris Couturier Pierre Balmain provided 6,000 pink carnations to enhance La Scala's refurbished rococo decor. Sitting in a box with Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco was Callas' longtime admirer, the Golden Greek, Shipowner Aristotle Socrates Onassis.

For five minutes after Callas made her entrance, the audience screamed "Brava!" Callas had chosen her role with shrewd showmanship: the opera had not been performed at La Scala in 20 years, and she herself had never sung it before, thus avoiding comparisons with past performances. In her first aria Callas' voice seemed cold and strident as she struggled with the part of Paolina, a Roman patrician who is torn between her pagan lover and her Christian husband (well sung by Tenor Franco Corelli). In the last two acts, though, her edginess disappeared, her voice took on warmth and sweetness, and her acting was as brilliant as ever. After the climactic scene, when Paolina chooses to face the lions with her martyr husband, the audience gave Callas twelve curtain calls. The Italian critics called it a triumph of acting, while Elsa Maxwell headlined her explanation of the thrilling performance "Callas sang for Ari alone."

In her dressing room the singer was ecstatic. "I knew that one mistake would be my last," she said. "But tonight God repaid me for all my suffering, not because I sang particularly well, but by giving me this demonstration of love and affection. This is my Scala and this is my public that loves me."

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