Does it matter what opera singers look like?

[Mary Chambers]

Rupert Christiansen and others have been heavily criticised for commenting adversely on the inappropriate appearance of a particular singer for a role in Der Rosenkavalier. Certainly their reviews were unnecessarily rude and hurtful, and many singers have been quick to assert that appearance isn't important in opera - it's only about the voice, the singing. I'm not sure that I agree entirely. I emphasise that I have not seen either the production or the singer concerned, and I certainly don't think critics should insult the singers in the way they did. I'm making a general point.

Surely, in certain roles, appearance does matter? I don't mean all singers have to be ravishingly beautiful or even good-looking, but surely they need to look suitable for the role they play. Can we really suspend disbelief enough to be convinced by a very fat Violetta or a Billy Budd who isn't at least passably nice-looking, or by a curvaceous female playing a male role? I'm sure I can't, no matter how wonderful the voice. Perhaps there aren't many roles where it matters hugely, but I know I've been put off by singers who seemed badly cast in this way. Perhaps I've watched too much ballet.

If it were really only about good singing, why bother to go to see a performer at all? We could just listen on the radio or elsewhere. Why go to the opera? I believe that opera is, or should be, complete drama. It's theatre, not a concert. The look of it matters as well as the sound, and that includes the look of the singers.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

On TV/streaming/video, where singers are seen in startling close-up, it does make a difference, but in the opera house, distance and make-up can cover all sorts of anomalies.

[Suffolkcoastal]

I agree with your thoughts Mary, having a 20 stone Cio-Cio San or a skinny Falstaff would look ridiculous, which is why I prefer to just listen to opera rather than see it. What I really hate though are productions that set an opera completely in the wrong time, location etc, just so a producer/director can gain some notoriety. I could never have watched the recent production of RVW's The Pilgrims Progress for example, it would have ruined the work for me. With all the drive for authenticity these days opera seems to be going in the other direction.

[Roehre]

I agree with your thoughts Mary, having a 20 stone Cio-Cio San or a skinny Falstaff would look ridiculous, which is why I prefer to just listen to opera rather than see it. What I really hate though are productions that set an opera completely in the wrong time, location etc, just so a producer/director can gain some notoriety. I could never have watched the recent production of RVW's The Pilgrims Progress for example, it would have ruined the work for me. With all the drive for authenticity these days opera seems to be going in the other direction.

I couldn't agree more (and with the last sentence especially)

[Honoured Guest]

Musical authenticity is still a goal of much live opera, isn't it?

[french frank]

With all the drive for authenticity these days opera seems to be going in the other direction.

Doesn't it go both ways? Yes, many productions seem inappropriately set and IN-authentic (to the extent that they seem barely reconcilable with the 'traditional' conceptions; on the other hand, singers do seem physically rather more appropriate for their roles than previously, and acting ability has surely improved?

[Richard Tarleton]

I remember mezzo Susan Graham (whom incidentally I saw as a superb Octavian, opposite Sheri Greenwald), saying in an interview that being 6ft and from Texas she didn't think she would cut it as Suzuki - as she put it, "Here's your coffee. Get you own damn cherry blossom"

[Nick Armstrong]

I remember mezzo Susan Graham (whom incidentally I saw as a superb Octavian, opposite Sheri Greenwald), saying in an interview that being 6ft and from Texas she didn't think she would cut it as Suzuki - as she put it, "Here's your coffee. Get you own damn cherry blossom"

Re: the OP, it's not just Mr Christiansen apparently: http://slippedisc.com/2014/05/singer...-glyndebourne/

[mercia]

the Telegraph man stands by his comments

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/10844053/I-stand-by-every-word.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/10845186/Singers-point-finger-at-critics-in-Glyndebourne-Opera-Festival-sexism-row.html

[Belgrove]

Of course size matters. On these very boards I criticised the Giant Haystacks visage of Parsifal at the ROH which undermined both text and action. But Mr Christiansen is something of a reactionary critic who likes what he likes and often, I think, is insensitive to the subtext that a production presents. He is a useful critic insofar as I have learned that his tastes oppose my own. By contrast Richard Jones is a progressive director who pushes at the boundaries and always uncovers fresh and often startling perspectives in the most familiar of works. Let us not forget that Cherubino is Octavian's prototype, and Ms Erraught certainly looks cherubic! I would not be surprised were Mr Jones to be making a connection here, in which case the casting is inspired. He often peppers his productions with sly references to other works, if one is minded to spot them. I'm looking forward to seeing this in late June and will make my own mind up as to whether this performer is suited to this production.

[amateur51]

the Telegraph man stands by his comments

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/10844053/I-stand-by-every-word.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/m...exism-row.html

Rupert Christiansen ignoring Lord Healey's sage advice ...

" I am distressed to learn that Miss Erraught, who is only 27, has been upset by the hoo-ha around the reception of her performance, though I am sure she understands the value and necessity of disinterested criticism. So let me make myself clear: she is a very pretty girl with a delightful smile and an endearing stage presence. I would love to hear her sing Rossini’s Cenerentola or Rosina. But she cannot visually embody any conventional idea of Octavian, and I feel the production has wilfully, perhaps ironically, cast her against type. I do not think this is fair on her, and the costuming and wigs (not least a frumpy pink dressing gown) she has been assigned are not flattering"

To me, the most interesting words there are 'disinterested criticism'. Mr Christiansen is a gay man and is just as capable of being sexist as any other man brought up in our culture.


I'm sending a copy of Laura Bates' book "Everyday Sexism" to Mr Christiansen c/o the Telegraph.

[gurnemanz]

....But she cannot visually embody any conventional idea of Octavian....

It certainly seems very blinkered of a professional critic to suggest that no staging has the right to defy convention.

[Flosshilde]

I haven't read the Telegraph's review, but I did see the London Evening Standard review, in which the reviewer said that the role of Octavian was 'traditionally played by a woman'!!

[Flosshilde]

What I really hate though are productions that set an opera completely in the wrong time, location etc, just so a producer/director can gain some notoriety. I could never have watched the recent production of RVW's The Pilgrims Progress for example,

What are the correct time & location for The Pilgrim's Progress?

[amateur51]

Would it ever occur to an opera critic to point out the presence or absence of avoirdupois on the frame of Baron Ochs in this production?