Stelios Galatopoulos first met Maria Callas as a fan, at a performance of La Giocononda in 1947. Aged 24, she was still a large woman, hiding the gaunt dramatic figure she was to become. Galatopoulos was there at her debut at Covent Garden in 1952, and by 1957 had become a friend. By 1959, Callas's first marriage had broken down and her affair with Onassis began. Until her retirement in 1965 the performances were few. Her friendship with the author grew during this period and they became very close by 1977, the year of her shockingly early death. Early that year Galatopoulos had asked her if she planned to write an autobiography. She replied My memoirs are in the music I interpret...don't you think I am too young to write my memoirs. I am not eighty yet, you know. In 1998 she would have been 75, and this text is possibly the closest we shall get to her autobiography.