From Callas to Netrebko: Diva Power, Vocality, and the Mediatisation of the Operatic Voice
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From Callas To Netrebko: diva power, vocality, and the mediatisation of the operatic voice Jenny Wollerman A thesis submitted to Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Victoria University of Wellington 2019 Page ii CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................................... v ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1 PERSONAL VOICE: MY BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................... 5 THE COMMODIFICATION OF VOCALITY ............................................................................................................. 6 STARDOM AND THE DIVA .................................................................................................................................... 9 CONTROL AND AGENCY ..................................................................................................................................... 14 THE TECHNOLOGY OF LIVE OPERA ................................................................................................................. 18 THE INFLUENCE OF RECORDED OPERA .......................................................................................................... 21 THE EMERGENCE OF VOICE .............................................................................................................................. 28 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................................... 31 DISSERTATION OUTLINE ................................................................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER 2: BEWITCHING: THE DRAMATIC VOCALITY OF MARIA CALLAS .................. 39 THE GHOST OF MARIA CALLAS ........................................................................................................................ 43 DIVA RIVALRY: AN AESTHETIC DICHOTOMY ................................................................................................. 49 CALLAS AND AUTHENTICITY............................................................................................................................. 52 A DISCONCERTING VOCALITY: INTERNATIONAL RECEPTION ..................................................................... 54 ‘WITCHCRAFT’: THE POWER OF VOCAL FAILURE ......................................................................................... 60 L’ULTIMA VOCE: CALLAS AND THE BEAUTIFUL VOICE ................................................................................ 67 LA DIVINA AS MEDIUM: AURAL IMMORTALITY............................................................................................. 77 LEGACY AND INFLUENCE: CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................... 82 CHAPTER 3: MAKING BEAUTY: KIRI TE KANAWA AND THE FEMININE IDEAL ............ 89 EXQUISITELY CONSTRUCTED BEAUTY ............................................................................................................ 93 THE EMBODIMENT OF IDEALS .......................................................................................................................... 95 CALLAS OR TEBALDI: INFLUENCES .................................................................................................................. 98 DELECTABLE EMBRACE: THE TEBALDI LINE ............................................................................................. 100 THE FORMATION OF BEAUTY ........................................................................................................................ 104 CONCEPTS OF AGENCY IN BEAUTIFUL SINGING ......................................................................................... 111 AGENCY IN MEDIATISED PERFORMANCES .................................................................................................. 115 VOCAL FASHION: THE MARKETABLE SOUND ............................................................................................. 119 TRACING TE KANAWA’S INFLUENCE ............................................................................................................ 122 THE AUTHORIAL VOICE OF THE ‘NATURAL’ SINGER: CONCLUSIONS...................................................... 126 CHAPTER 4: GLOBALISATION AND THE ‘UN-PRIMA DONNA’: ANNA NETREBKO .....131 THE STAGING OF STARDOM ........................................................................................................................... 135 FASHION MODELS AND FANTASIES: THE CURATED IMAGE ..................................................................... 141 Page iii SHARING BEAUTY: THE ‘AUTHENTIC’ IMAGE ............................................................................................. 147 NATURALNESS AND ARTISTRY: RECEPTION ............................................................................................... 151 FEARLESS INTENSITY: VOCALITY ANALYSIS ............................................................................................... 155 LIVE OR MEDIATISED? NETREBKO’S PERFORMANCES .............................................................................. 166 AUTHORIAL VOICES IN MEDIATISED PRODUCTION ................................................................................... 171 THE NEW TYPE OF DIVA: CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................... 176 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 181 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................ 189 MUSICAL EXAMPLES MUSICAL EXAMPLE 1: 'UN BEL DÌ VEDREMO' - MARIA CALLAS ................................................................ 71 MUSICAL EXAMPLE 2: 'S'ALTRO CHE LAGRIME' - KIRI TE KANAWA ...................................................... 108 MUSICAL EXAMPLE 3: 'NON MI DIR' - ANNA NETREBKO .......................................................................... 162 Page iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My immense thanks are due in the first instance to my wonderful supervisors: Inge van Rij and Kimberly Cannady who guided me with invaluable and insightful feedback through the last half of the doctoral journey; Elizabeth Hudson, who inspired and challenged me, and helped me focus my ideas through to the proposal stage; and Robert Legg who introduced me to constructivism, ontology and all of that, then supported me with thoughtful and stimulating ideas and feedback for the first half of my study. There are many other people to thank who have been there for me through this process. Thank you firstly my exceptionally intelligent and empathetic parents, Margaret and Bill Wollerman; my beloved partner, supporter, intellectual sounding board, and in the end, cuisinier, Tony Rabbit; and other family members and friends, especially Diana, Annie, Peter, Karlene, and Ian. I would like to thank also all my colleagues at New Zealand School of Music – Te Kōkī, in particular Margaret Medlyn, Richard Greager, Mark Dorrell, in the Classical Voice department; New Zealand School of Music Directors Sally Jane Norman, Euan Murdoch and Elizabeth Hudson; and Donald Maurice as mentor and guide. Beyond this, thanks are due to Lynne Wenden for her superb work producing the musical examples; Graduate Women Wellington for the completion grant that made such a difference, and Victoria University of Wellington for study leave, overseas conference leave and associated grants and all the FGR research workshops and seminars. My fellow writers at ‘Shut Up and Write’ sessions over the past years have been a great support network, including in particular Micky, Ha, Corrina, Miranda and Lehyla; and thank you, Lizzie and Sara, for organising and running these, and being mentors and supporters to us all. Last but by no means least: thank you to all those who have inspired and supported me in my long musical journey as my teachers, coaches and collaborators, including: Mary White, Greer Garden, Mikael Eliasen, Marlena Malas, Audrey Langford, Eduardo Asqueth, Paul Farrington, Michael Houstoun and Bruce Greenfield. Page v Page vi ABSTRACT Maria Callas’s fame as an opera star in the 1950s is still recognised today, and, for many, her name is synonymous with the modern concept of the opera ‘diva’. The increasing diversity of mediatised forms of operatic performances since her time has altered the way audiences engage with the art form. This has implications for singers in terms of values around vocality, authorship and power, and, in particular, the agency of singers in creating the meaningful, affective, and distinctively personal vocal tone that opera calls for. I suggest that for “divas” as defined by twentieth- and twenty-first century global stardom, power is amassed at least in part through particular ways in which they make use of their vocality or vocal timbre, and the way they manage their voices’ presentation in the mediatised versions of their performances. The recent turn towards a performative