Fat Ladies Need Not Apply

Fat Ladies Need Not Apply
New York Times Op/Ed Online
Published: March 10, 2004

Great opera singers who are larger than life — literally so — are part of opera tradition. Long before the supersized voice and heft of Luciano Pavarotti — outstanding even in a field of weighty talent — there was Luisa Tetrazzini, an early 20th-century diva who famously filled open space with a huge, electronically unassisted voice from a zaftig body. Her appetite for rich food was such that a pasta, chicken and cream dish was named for her.

If the name of the American soprano Deborah Voigt is attached to any one thing, it is the title character of Richard Strauss's "Ariadne auf Naxos." It is her signature role, the one that shot her to fame when she first performed it 13 years ago in Boston. Her Ariadne at the Metropolitan Opera last year prompted Anthony Tommasini, a critic for The Times, to praise her "arching lyrical beauty" and to add, "She was at once truly grand and amusingly self-deprecating, striking deadpan poses that any Broadway actor would envy."

Little of that seems to have mattered to the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London, which is producing the Strauss opera in June. It replaced Ms. Voigt — a large woman even when her weight fluctuates downward — with a slimmer and lesser-known soprano who not only fit the casting director's vision of Ariadne, but also fit into the little black cocktail dress chosen for the character.

Opera fans are used to extending their senses beyond seeing a body on the stage, which is but one piece in a pageant. It's the musicality that matters.

But as audiences are graying, opera houses are looking for ways to pack in a younger crowd. Casting directors trying to make opera hip may be turned off by "big hips," like those Ms. Voigt admits to owning. In this case, the decision will deny British audiences an opportunity to hear and see a performer who may be at the peak of her powers. Her voice may be perfect, but at least for Covent Garden, she's too big a star.

Comments

[Cyn]

I think Ms.Voight should be judged on the quality of her voice, not the size of her hips.

[Joe]

Hi, I saw this on TV this morning.How do you feel about this? I remember Kat Smith well, I loved her voice. Yes she was big! I listen to our public radio station when I am on line. They are play opera. I don't understand a word, but love the music and mood it puts you in. Later.