Opera Redux Reduced: Truncated Tradition and the Female Protagonist Child

 

Opera Redux Reduced: 

Truncated Tradition and the Female Protagonist Child 

 

October 8, 2023

 

by Lara Solnicki

 

 

Recently, a friend sent me this video. 

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9PQ7qPkluM&t=5s

 

It is a performance of the famed (or clichéd) Giacomo Puccini aria O Mio Babbino Caro from the one act opera, Gianni Schicchi (1918). Most of us will recognize this aria, yet this performance is by an 11 year old soprano, the 2013 winner of Holland's Got Talent, Amira Willighagen. The concert took place in Venice, Italy in 2015, and features an unnamed orchestra under the baton of André Rieu.  

 

Few would argue she can sing and is astonishingly self possessed for her age, not to mention very comfortable in front of the large crowd. She integrates hand gestures into her performance. Her face is expressive, yet consider the story and words that she is singing. The English translation of the Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano is as such:

Oh my dear papa
I like him, he is so handsome.
I want to go to Porta Rossa
To buy the ring!
Yes, yes, I want to go there!
And if my love were in vain,
I would go to the Ponte Vecchio
And throw myself in the Arno!
I am pining, I am tormented!
Oh God, I would want to die!
Father, have pity, have pity!
Father, have pity, have pity!

Gianni Schicchi belongs to the verismo (realistic) Romantic opera tradition, where themes of love, betrayal, suicide and murder are the (realistic or otherwise) norm. Verismo opera has its devoted fans, who can be quite opinionated about upholding its traditions. It is not unusual for aficionados to have ten recorded versions of a given opera, and be able to compare interpretations word for word. There are several striking deviations from the score (the written music) in this performance. They include an overall rushed tempo, and the lack of observation of certain notations written for dramatic emphasis, such as the fermate (markings indicated to hold notes or rests)—something Puccini detailed explicitly. Yet, sheet music is a road map for living music, and even still there are performance practices and stylistic conventions that are not notated in sheet music but carried on through oral tradition. Performance practice is a form of cultural ritual, and traditions can only be kept alive through their continued implementation across the generations.

The soprano to be cast for the role of Laureatta in Gianni Schicchi is a lirico- spinto (pushed) voice, capable of being heard over a large Romantic-era sized orchestra. This is to be done without acoustic padding of any kind. We see that a child requires a microphone in order to be heard. One day she may have the right voice type for the role, but that time is not now.

The video is quite self-conscious in the way that it selects to film audience members that are crying. What it is that makes them cry? Is it that a young child can bypass years of training and life experience and be an opera singer? Is she a freak of nature that can replace the trained working professional, and even express the human condition better than those that have lived through experiences? The notion that amateurs can replace professionals is the message behind Holland's Got Talent, The Voice and American Idol. 

 Then there is the reality check: There is in fact an abundance of exceptional opera singers as well as a lack of work. Music professionals have made a lot of sacrifices for their careers. They have also loved and lost, attended funerals and have been through the ups and down of life long enough to be able to present a compelling protagonist to an audience. This video presents a false short cut that breaks all the rules, and not to the improvement of anything. There is also the issue of dressing up and inserting children into the roles of adults, particularly given the subject matter of the aria.

 

"Because communication is the set of practices through which we 'make sense of our world', and build arrangements (simple or complex) for coordinating our behaviour, the communicative dimension of our practices is critical to how the social world becomes constructed." (Couldry & Hepp, 2016)

Is this video mirroring back what simply already exists, or is it changing what we know? What do we owe to the legacy of classical composers? What should be protected, and what can be left open to interpretation? When does interpretation become cultural appropriation? Is it amoral to present a child in this way? 

This video with 83,280,898 views, posted on May 31, 2015, clearly has mass appeal. We could say that this video is simply producing what people want, and is not responsible for its own popularity since the tastes and demand were there to begin with. Yet, this expensive endevour cements its own acceptability as it comes into being, normalizing its defiance of musical tradition as well as other social norms,  in the process.

 

 Reference

Couldry, N., & Hepp, A. (2016). The social world as communicative construct. (Excerpt from class readings, no other details)

O Mio Babbino Caro (2015, May 31). youtube. Retrieved October 7, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9PQ7qPkluM&t=5s