Maria Callas's Lyric and Coloratura Arias

More than 40 years after her death, the legend of Maria Callas, "La Divina Assoluta," remains unsurpassed. Much has been written about her sensational opera career and fraught private life, from her definitive mastery of iconic opera roles to her love affairs and tantrums. The prototype for the 20th century celebrity diva, Callas emblematizes the cliche of tormented talent - genius in the ring with catastrophe.
Her extraordinary voice, in particular, has become an object of cult-like adoration and cultural significance almost with a life of its own: as fetish object, as sophisticated sonic signifier, and most recently, as the lifeblood for a Callas hologram. Such adoration is not without consequences. When Callas is transformed into a vessel for such transcendent magic, it overshadows what is perhaps her most superhuman ability - the masterful technique she deployed to shape and craft her astounding instrument. Singing bodies are working bodies, enacting an intimate and complex form of artistic labor and cultural signification.
Using one of Callas's first recital recordings from 1954, this book envisions each aria as a lens to examine various aspects of vocalization and cultural reception of the feminized voice in both classical and pop culture, from Homer's Sirens to Star Trek. With references to works by Marina Abramovic, Charles Baudelaire, Michel Chion, Wayne Koestenbaum, Greil Marcus, and Farah Jasmine Griffin, as well as films by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Jonathan Demme, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, each chapter explores phenomena unique to the singing voice, including the operatic screaming point, the politics of listening, and the singing simulacrum.

Auteur

Ginger Dellenbaugh is a music historian who has taught and written about music and politics, the cultural techniques of the human voice, and vernacular notation systems. She lives in New York City and Vienna, Austria.

Contenu

List of Figures
Author's Note

1. Cilea, Adriana Lecouvreur, Act I: Io son l'umile ancella
   [I am the humble servant of the creative spirit]
2. Cilea, Adriana Lecouvreur, Act IV: Poveri Fiori
   [Poor flowers]
3. Giordano, Andrea Chénier, Act III: La mamma morta
   [Mother is dead]
4. Catalani, La Wally, Act I: Ebben? Ne andrò lontana
   [Well? Then I'll go away]
5. Boito, Mephistophele, Act III: L'altra notte in fondo al mare
   [The other night, in the depths of the ocean]
6. Rossini, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Act I: Una voce poco fa
   [A voice just now]
7. Meyerbeer, Le Pardon de Ploërmel, ou Dinorah, Act II: Ombra leggera
   [The Shadow Song]
8. Delibes, Lakmé, Act II: Dov'è l'indiana bruna
   [The Bell Song]
   Acknowledgments
   Appendix: Aria Texts and Translations
   Bibliography