Paris, the Ritz Hotel, 16 December 1958

     Callas: Last year, I passed by here. I received many honors, and I promised to myself to come back here, to Paris.

     Reporter: In general, do you get along well with conductors?

     Callas: In general – with good or excellent conductors, certainly; because music is universal for everyone.

     Reporter: Do you experience stage fright?

     Callas: I do, because, as you know, my name bears considerable responsibility, and I feel frightened at times. Also, sometimes we wish to do so well, yet feel so small because we are human. We can catch a cold… I am a woman, something that one forgets very often. Being woman means all the good things there are, and all bad things as well.
     You have shown so much love and respect for me, a singer who has never sung for you, that I feel, as I said before, very small and human. One cannot know for sure how the evening of the 19^th will go, and I am therefore asking you to understand the way I feel – you understand that – and to wish me to sing as I never sang before, for your sake as well as mine, because you deserve it. This is the only wish I have now.

     Reporter: Thank you, Maria Callas.