The above examples are from what we might call the Age of Theatrical Verisimilitude, when it was understood that such transformations were part of the performer’s responsibility, though seldom executed at the level of Chaliapin or the MAT. Nearly all the works of our standard operatic repertory were conceived with such accuracy of representation in mind. That artists will often fall short and achieve only “approximations” of any of the verisimilitudes is no reason to not make the effort; the effort itself will win assent.^(I) This argument is merely an aspect of the one I find myself advancing repeatedly—that it is the interpreter’s ethical imperative to pursue the creator’s vision, to enable a given work to speak its own truth to us. The interpreter’s personal identity, beliefs and opinions, hopes for society, worries about how he or she will be perceived, idiosyncracies of behavior, etc., must be submerged in the world of the work and the subjective experience of the character. That includes skin color and all other signifiers of ethnic identity. Just as authors and composers must be free to write about any world they can imagine, so must interpreters be allowed to play and sing any roles for which they are held to be more qualified than their competitors—provided they agree to the creators’ terms and conditions. The Met and other opera companies should rescind their bans on cross-race makeup, and instead require it. And everyone should simmer down about “blackface” and “minstrelsy.”

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P. S.: A newspaper follow-up this week informs me that James Earle Fraser’s T. R. sculpture group, though condemned to removal, has not yet been transported from its museum-frontage site. (Difficulty in finding takers?) Meanwhile, as the museum prepares to re-open, protective stanchions have been set around a seated figure of T. R. in an inner hallway. I do hope that wherever the group winds up, the “contextualization” will give full value to Teddy’s immense contributions in two areas that could well use some forceful advocacy today: conservation of our natural environment and anti-monopoly “trust-busting.”

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NEXT TIME: It’s like rubato: the time stolen for the writing of the piece above must now be made up. So I will have to set Friday, Oct. 16, as the date for a return to postings on a regular schedule. With live performance still in abeyance, I shall either resume my “Missing in Action” series with consideration of one of the operas we would have seen this fall, or look at some of the historical opera and vocal recordings that have come my way over the summer. Either way, we shall be back safe and sound in our world of classical music and singing. Stay safe, all.

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