| dc.description.abstract | Opera divas are stereotypically temperamental, but many singers learn diva behaviors through Euro-classical vocal pedagogy. Two conditions of opera vocal training contribute to performances of diva identity. First, opera singers are intimately tied to their characters through the music; they develop their voices in order to perform that music. Secondly, characters, thus opera divas, exist forever in their most excessive, vulnerable states. Consequently, the diva persona is not innate, but a Butlerian performativity. In this thesis, I explore how Euro-classical vocal practice marks and teaches heteronormativity in female opera singers. In addition, I survey how Euro-classical vocal training informs current opera divas’ relationships to the institution of Euro-classical opera throughout their singing career.
In my critique, I use contemporary events in opera, vocal pedagogical texts, ethnography, and my own embodied knowledge informed by my Euro-classical vocal training. I will first detail the many facets that challenge a unified “diva” persona by considering past methods used to theorize “diva” and the legacy of the diva in the Euro-classical music tradition. I continue by analyzing vocal pedagogical texts, detailing the many ways teachers, composers, and singers trained and train the voice, and thus train the diva persona. Finally, I consider how three singers’ rhetorically construct themselves using the diva image as reference. I do this in order to explain the many ways in which Euro-classical vocal pedagogy problematically relegates the female body and voice. | en |
