And I wonder: exactly how is it that even a radical loss of weight would erode support? The diaphragm is muscle (especially lean, fibrous muscle, in constant exercise mode), as is all the surrounding tissue that creates stability for its excursion at the lower end of the “support” co-ordination. At the upper end, the vocal cords themselves and their attachments responsible for phonation and for control of air flow are also muscle. Perhaps we can take as a general point of reference that the fat content of muscle hovers around 1.5%, and in obese persons might run as high as 5%, and that we can then take the leaps of applying these averages to the human vocal tract and then to the musculature of a particular person. To that tenuous line of reasoning we could add the observation that a loss of some part of that proportion of fat could indeed reduce the mass of flesh being asked to vibrate at the frequencies required of the voice’s pitch range, and thereby affect the handling characteristics of the voice to a degree perceptible (and possibly disorienting) to the singer herself, if not yet her listeners. In the absence of even a scrap of clinical evidence with respect to effects on the singing of a given individual, though, we would be in the realm of assumptions and suspicions, not fact. It is a fact that the entire human vocal complex is muscle, and when a seriously overweight person loses pounds, they are pounds of fat, at least until the “correct” weight for the person’s body size and type, generally measured nowadays by the Body-Mass Index (BMI) is reached. Excess fat (as opposed to a large body frame of the sturdy, big-boned sort) does not contribute to vocal strength, resonance, or any other positive attribute. It detracts from those—to say nothing of its overall health demerits. And although for a woman of her height (5′ 8″) and frame, a target weight of somewhere in the 140s sounds and looks reasonable to me, common sense tells me that she didn’t need to lose as much as she did, or as quickly, or perhaps on as extended a no-carb, no-sugar regimen. But that’s just my somewhat informed layman’s opinion. Why not call in an expert, at least on the vocal implications?

Dr. Anthony Jahn is a highly credentialed clinical otolaryngologist based in New York City, with long experience in the treatment of singers at the highest professional level. He’s the author of several books and many articles, medically authoritative and clearly written. (You may need to look up a Medspeak term here and there, as did I, but he writes mainstream English.) With respect to the common effects of weight loss on vocal function, he makes several interesting observations. First noting that it is important to determine the given individual’s “ideal” weight, based on height and genetic makeup (this last a factor I haven’t seen remarked on elsewhere), he distinguishes between excess weight in childhood, which involves an abnormally high proportion of fat cells, and weight gained in adulthood, in which each cell becomes fatter. The second type seems relevant in Callas’ case, and would, evidently, be the easier to work with in a weight-reduction program. He goes on to hypothesize on the possible alterations in vocal timbre owing to loss of some of the padding (“cushioning”) in the acoustical complex (pharynx, tongue, palate), which could incline the sound in a brighter, “leaner” direction (“not necessarily negative,” he points out, and not a reduction of “volume” per se). In regard to the posited loss of support, he suggests that since singing “involves pushing the abdominal contents up,” each reduction of abdominal tissue necessitates a new resting position for the diaphragm and other muscles involved, and some time is needed for the voice to readjust to this altered situation. I might have some questions about both of these propositions, ^(I)but they are at the least worth pondering—and, please note, Jahn does not speak of a weakening of the diaphragm or any other muscles of the vocal dynamism. He does emphasize the advisability of a “gradual” loss of a “reasonable” amount of weight, and while those are to some extent subjective goals, I think we may safely conclude that Callas far exceeded them.