Maria Callas "Ocean! Thou Mighty Monster" (1962) STUDIO

Litza accompanied her daughter to the audition at the Athens Conservatory with Elvira de Hidalgo. Maria chose a seat in the corner of the audition room and waited her turn with several other young hopefuls. Litza was not pleased. 'Why hide yourself?' she asked. Maria did not reply.
“I did notice this girl” de Hidalgo told an interviewer twenty years later. “She was fat, pimpled and nervously biting her fingernails. The idea of her wanting to be an opera Singer seemed ridiculous to me.” Maria was the last applicant to sing. Her head was bowed as she walked to the piano and handed the accompanisl her music: 'Ocean, thou mighty monster' from Weber's Oberon, which she had sung previously at two concerts at the National. This was an odd, bombastic choice for so young a woman. De Hidalgo's original pessimism about this applicant was nearly confirmed. Before starting, Maria turned her face away. Then, as the accompanist played the opening chords, she pivoted, head high, facing front, eyes wide, hands slowly rising from her sides. There was an electric moment in the room when Maria began to sing. De Hidalgo was caught completely off guard. She sat bolt upright in her chair. This was not that insecure girl nibbling at her fingers. This young woman commanded attention. And the voice “Well of course her vocal technique was by no means perfect,” de Hidalgo remembered, “but there was innate drama, musicianship and a certain individuality in her voice that moved me deeply. In fact, I shed a tear or two and turned away so that she could not see me. I immediately knew I would be her teacher and when I looked into her most expressive eyes, I also knew that in spite of everything else [her weight, skin condition etc.], she was a beautiful girl.
De Hidalgo informed Maria that what she had sung was not right for her age or her voice. She also assured her of her acceptance at the Athens Conservatory and that she would be on a total scholarship.
From the book "Maria Callas: An Intimate Biography" by Anne Edwars