Backlash over the proposal for Maria Callas on the new euro is just history repeating itself | Canada Voices

Last month, the European Central Bank announced plans to redesign the euro.

It came as welcome news to anyone who feels that today’s banknotes – featuring a series of fictionalized bridges in various European architectural styles – are in need of a refresh.

More than 1,200 designers applied to take on the task, with 10 making it to the final round. The ECB provided designers with vetted imagery limited to two subject areas: birds/rivers and European culture. An online vote – which ends in September – kicks off the process, with the 10 shortlisted design proposals released last week.

Candidates to represent European culture include Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes, Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, German composer Ludwig van Beethoven and Austrian peace activist Bertha von Suttner. Maria Callas, the Greek-American opera star, is also shortlisted to be the face of the five-euro bill – a revelation that received some flack online from those who felt she was not sufficiently talented.

On Threads, German-Canadian photographer Michael Adair, who is based in Cologne, objected to the soprano. “The idea of putting Maria Callas on a European bank note is totally insane to me. There are far more important woman [sic] or people in classical music that deserve a place over her,” he wrote, suggesting that she be replaced by Pavarotti and linking to her 1962 performance of O don fatale from Verdi’s Don Carlo, calling it “terrible singing.”

Callas fans descended on Adair, calling him “cultureless” and a “woman-hater” who “lacks emotion.”

As a longtime listener and fan of Callas, I was also tempted to engage with the rage. Adair’s take struck me as ill-mannered and ill-informed. Yet his reaction – and those who agreed with him – represents a classic case of history repeating itself.

Callas was no stranger to public scrutiny. Her career highs and lows, weight fluctuations and heavily scrutinized private and professional life dominated headlines. But, pushing aside the gossip, I believe there’s never been a more iconic, stylish or prevailing figure in opera. Callas’s presence is felt in so much contemporary culture, from Madonna’s 1992 Erotica music videos to Beyoncé’s 2008 album I Am… Sasha Fierce. She created the first template of the modern diva – opera, pop or otherwise.

Canadian soprano Simone Osborne explained that Callas did this by appealing to both affluent, hardcore fans as well as more casual opera followers.

“It’s easy to underestimate someone in eyeliner, but she was able to deal with her detractors with such polish,” Osborne said. “What they don’t see is the extraordinary discipline underneath it all … Maria Callas wasn’t great because she was glamorous; she was glamorous because she was great.”

First person: I learned to love opera again

Callas wouldn’t be the first opera star to appear on currency, but she would arguably be the first style icon. The singer was known for her distinctive wardrobe, frequently wearing designs by Milanese couturier Madame Biki, Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior.

Osborne thinks that the bill Callas is up for is also fitting. “Callas didn’t come from great means and built herself up by dedicating herself to the art of singing, which is why she’s perfect for the denomination of five,” the performer said. “She didn’t just move millionaires. Callas was able to hook people who had never been to a theatre and inspire them to scrounge their pennies just to see her in the standing room.”

Others are drawn to Callas as a symbol of perseverance. In 1937, the New York-born singer moved to Athens with her Greek mother, where she lived in poverty. Sophia Lambton chronicles this period of Callas’s life in The Callas Imprint: A Centennial Biography, which explores how she battled circumstances and stigma, opera institutions and her own family to achieve success.

“Her relationship with her mother and money was deeply troubled,” Lambton said. “Despite years of financial support, her mother eventually threatened to blackmail her and spread damaging stories about her if she was not given more. Yet Callas continued supporting her financially for years.”

Lambton believes that Callas’s journey represents a lesson for us all. “People who appear on banknotes are people who impacted a large proportion of society, and Callas fits the bill because she demonstrated that a female artist could become the primary economic engine of a cultural institution.”

As critics such as Adair remind us, there is the question of Callas’s unconventional voice. It remains a polarizing aspect of her legacy. In his 1993 book, The Queen’s Throat, Wayne Koestenbaum noted that Callas’s “unattractive sounds forced audiences to re-evaluate the difference between the beautiful and the grotesque.” He cited a 1950 performance of Aida in which the soprano spontaneously belted out an off-the-books E-flat – as close to a vocal power play as you can get – much to the chagrin of her co-star Kurt Baum.

Lambton’s ideas about Callas mirror Koestenbaum’s theory. “Callas struggled to get opportunities because many people simply did not understand her voice,” she said. “For example, the superintendent of [Milan opera house] La Scala, Antonio Ghiringhelli, found it too unusual. Yet she refused to change. What some initially viewed as a flaw ultimately became the source of her originality and influence. A constant reminder of this message on currency is something I’d get behind.”

Opinion: Canada has become a place to be from – and opera can teach us a lesson

It’s the same quality that inspired Berlin design agency Neue Gestaltung’s proposal. Founded by Pit Stenkhoff and Eva Wendel, the firm’s design features a set of concentric sound waves beside Callas’s portrait. It’s “her voice translated into geometry,” Wendel said. “It’s the only motif in our series that depicts something invisible, which felt right: What remains of Callas is not an object, it is a sound.”

Also among the ten finalists is Spanish studio Rubio and Del Amo. With their design, Julián Garnés and his team wanted to draw people closer to Callas by giving her a renewed sense of presence.

“We changed the point of view, raised her chin, and aimed for a direct, profound gaze that would appeal to the viewer,” said Garnés.

Callas refused to let others determine her worth, ensuring that her art received proper investment. As biographer Lyndsy Spence recounts in Cast a Diva: The Hidden Life of Maria Callas, Callas pushed opera houses to raise their standards – and budgets, for the sake of spectacle.

If the euro is meant to reflect a shared European identity, Callas reminds us that the most enduring currency is the one we create for ourselves.