A second group of intriguing comments comes from a professional singer based in Austria or Germany. Her remarks were made in German, translated for us by a friend. I’ll call her Alma. She writes:

“In your blog post, you wrote: ‘Kaufmann’s  voice, unlike Netrebko’s, remains entirely functional. There’s no sign of fragmentation, of wobble, or other symptoms of breakdown. His immediate future seems more secure than hers.’ If JK’s voice is entirely functional, why can’t he sing any bigger interval than a third without pushing and adding an extra note (as spring-board)? Is this really what one might expect from an ‘entirely functional” voice?

“Each voice needs to travel the registers without cracks. Simply said, if JK isn’t capable of humming (‘uhummm’) through the entire range of his voice, the tones are forced, no matter which ‘texture’ and ‘color’ they might have. But this is where he falls short; otherwise he would not need to isolate any ‘jumps” from the phrases. I never got what’s the use of singing with an extra appoggio, with a wide opened mouth, the tongue positioned far in the back, and the larynx pushed even more down (except muscular tensions and turning the volume knob)? I hear an unsteady voice. It is not wobble; but it’s no legato either.

“If a phrase ascends, it needs to be sung decrescendo, meaning to soften the support with the muscles for regulation. Otherwise, high notes will become too loud and (mostly) unsteady. The middle and upper range sound loud only. ‘Fat’ and yelled. JK has become inept to work with the tone in a normal fraseggio. (He almost always uses falsetto instead of piano, and this is not OK. Falsetto means a tone without body resonance; there is no room for falsetto in opera (except as a ‘special effect,’ on rare occasions).

“If one compares AN and JK, there is one component which must not be neglected: the will to take risks. AN does it, JK not. And you can hear it. AN’s voice might show ‘holes,’ but her singing sounds more relaxed than his. (Relaxed in her loudness, one might want to add. But that’s in her nature.) JK sounds tense.

“In my opinion, the worst thing on stage is—fear. AN doesn’t seem to know it. JK does.”

Following this, Alma’s friend and translator, a highly informed listener, appends some thoughts of his own. But to respond first to Alma, and taking her observations in sequence:

First, Alma, I wish we weren’t talking about different performances of different roles, with neither of us having heard the event the other is writing about. You weren’t at the Tristan Act 2 or Netrebko’s Tosca, and I was not present at whichever recent performances you heard. So we’re talking across something of a No-Man’s Land. Second, I wonder if it’s clear what I mean by “functional.” I don’t mean that it’s necessarily to my aesthetic taste, or that the singer can execute all the niceties we want to hear from a technical master. I mean that despite whatever shortcomings may be present, the basic health of the voice, its presence and reach, remain intact. That’s what I was pleased to be able to affirm at the Tristan concert. I’m aware that Kaufmann has had vocal surgery, though I’m unsure about the specifics. But then, Caruso had several throat operations with the procedures then available, and bounced right back each time with undiminished exuberance.