Opera fans: no snowflakes us, we're red in tooth & claw

[MAB]

Fascinating to read the thread on unfair criticism of dancers, but what a difference with us opera goers.  Booing at Covent Garden is a regular occurrence, though usually for the production team rather than the singers, though I did once hear a tenor booed off stage when he cracked in the middle of Di Quella Pira.    I imagine if ballet goers were forced to endure some of the things the RO currently force feeds us with they might (timidly) start booing too.

 

Then there are the fans.  I once innocently mentioned I loved to listen to recordings of Joan Sutherland without realizing I was talking to a rabid callas fan - I'll spare you the details.  Seems my taste in female singers is particularly bad as my (expensive) habit of following Cecilia Bartoli round Europe elicits scorn from quite a few.  Of course I don't mention the fact that the difficulty in getting tickets for her at all rather indicates such views are in the minority.  And it isn't just who you like, it's what you like too that can give you flack.  I am particularly fond of early music and not long ago made a trip to Paris to hear Cavalli's Eliogabalo, when I mentioned this in passing to an acquaintance he responded "Why?  Cavalli never wrote tunes".

 

So there you have it, to avoid a verbal punch up, keep your views and tastes to yourself and only engage with opera fans when you generally agree with them.

 

[ninamargaret]

i worked at HMV, then a posh record shop, when the Callas/Tebaldi war flourished. There were two particularly partisan gents there, one on each side, and we all learnt to take cover when they started their discussions!

[LinMM]

Some time back there used to be a bit of a war between those who mostly attended ballet and those who (dared to admit) attended any kind of contemporary dance. This seems to have softened in recent years but I knew some people who genuinely didn't recognise contemporary dancers as dancers at all.

[Geoff]

Having been brought up with opera, working for a while at the opera and certainly being a lifelong opera fan (yes to both Callas and Sutherland, btw!) I must admit to noticing a difference when I came, late (over the age of 50 anyway), to a deeper appreciation of ballet. The nature of ballet discussion, writing and general responses, whether by amateur fans or professionals, does seem notably different.

 

I suspect there could be a simple explanation, at least for some of the difference. Not many children dream of becoming opera singers, whereas every year sees another generation of aspiring dancers take their first ballet classes, supported by their families. Of course most eventually fall by the wayside, sooner or later, sometimes not until adulthood, but for so many of those in the audience to be either aspiring, active or former dancers (or their family) must inevitably change the demographic nature of the ballet-going community. 

[Lizbie1]

1 hour ago, Geoff said:

I suspect there could be a simple explanation, at least for some of the difference. Not many children dream of becoming opera singers, whereas every year sees another generation of aspiring dancers take their first ballet classes, supported by their families. Of course most eventually fall by the wayside, sooner or later, sometimes not until adulthood, but for so many of those in the audience to be either aspiring, active or former dancers (or their family) must inevitably change the demographic nature of the ballet-going community. 

 

I don't know... while there may not be hundreds of aspiring opera singers in the audience, a lot of the people I speak to at the opera have sung at at least an amateur level.  I don't want to be gratuitously sexist, but I wonder if part of the explanation isn't that the ballet attracts a higher proportion of women: there's been a lot of talk recently about how women are brought up, above all, to be "nice", and maybe this makes for an environment where strong views are less likely to be volunteered.

 

FWIW, I find the Sutherland/Callas thing pretty baffling after all this time.  They were both astonishing in very different ways.  On the other hand there are some singers performing today, including at least one Very Big Name, whose popularity I find inexplicable.