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Maria Callas’s Waistline and the Organology of Voice

2017; Oxford University Press; Volume: 33; Issue: 3-4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/oq/kbx008

1476-2870

Nina Sun Eidsheim,

Diverse Musicological Studies

During my first few weeks at music conservatory, my voice teacher asked who my favorite opera singer was. "Maria Callas," I replied. My teacher was surprised, but commented only that Callas had an "unusual voice." At that time, Callas existed for me simply as a wonderful artist, a singer whose recordings I played on endless repeat. But as I began to learn about the Callas legend, I came to understand what my teacher had meant. Callas's voice gives rise to highly polarized reactions, from devotion to disgust. As an artist, Callas was judged as "temperamental," "out of control," unreliable due to her walkouts; while Callas-the-voice was considered "mesmerizing," "terrible," ruined through "ferocious dieting," and also "out of control."1 During my decade and a half of work on voice, body, and materiality, I have been continually reminded of Callas's case and its resonance with how we listen to female operatic voices today.