Google on Monday marked the 90th birth anniversary of iconic Greek soprano Maria Callas with a doodle.
The doodle features the legendary opera singer performing on stage with the word google carved in the walls of the theatre in the background.
Callas, who was born to Greek parents on December 2, 1923, in New York, started her career with Boccaccio for the Royal Opera of Athens in early 1940s.
She made her Italian opera debut in 1947 at Verona Arena and went on to be considered as the greatest Soprano of all times.
While Callas saw stupendous success in her career, her personal life was a tragic one.
Her unhappy childhood cast a shadow over her relationship with her mother. She had an affair with shipping baron Aristotle Onassis, married him after divorcing her husband Giovanni Meneghini, only to lose him to Jacqueline Kennedy, the widow of John F Kennedy.
Though her vocal talent was not considered classic enough, her persona added another dimension to her performances.
Describing Callas' voice, Maestro Carlo Maria Giulini described said, "It is very difficult to speak of the voice of Callas. Her voice was a very special instrument. Something happens sometimes with string instruments—violin, viola, cello—where the first moment you listen to the sound of this instrument, the first feeling is a bit strange sometimes. But after just a few minutes, when you get used to, when you become friends with this kind of sound, then the sound becomes a magical quality. This was Callas.
Apart from controversies surrounding her singing abilities, her rivalry with the classically-styled soprano Renata Tebaldi was another point that dominated her singing career.
Callas, who spent her last years in isolation in Paris, died at 53 on September 16, 1977, due to a heart attack.
Callas was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.
She was also voted the greatest soprano of all time by BBC Music Magazine in the same year.
