Isabelle wrote: 'For someone who wants the type of
career that involves
contracts signed years in advance, all over the globe,
is it practical to have children? I realize that this
question is more pressing for women than for men. Can
you afford to take the time out of a career to have
children and recover from the physical stress of
childbearing and breastfeeding, especially if you
have, say, La Scala and Met contracts that you signed
before becoming pregnant?'
Dear lsabelle and list,
it is never practical to have children. But is it
practical to have sex? Is it practical to sing?
Nevertheless, I think there is a very simple
compromise: wait untill you're over 35 and then decide
whether you want to get pregnant or not.
If you have contracts with La Scala, and the Met by
then, I think you can afford to say no now and then.
And I don't think a contract that punishes you for
getting pregnant, is legal. Besides: singing too much
can be much worse for your career than to sing a bit
less for a couple of years. Like a soprano who'se name
I forgot for the moment, told Fritz Wunderlich: 'What
if God counted all your high c's? I would be careful
with them.' Look at La Bartoli: she says no very, very
often, although she did not even have a friend for a
long time, and it was only good for her career, and
certainly for her (rather small) voice. But it is a
compromise on the children's side: your chances to get
pregnant are a bit smaller (although this also
correlates highly with the fact that people have less
sex when they're forty-ish because of worn out
relationships and thinks like that). And I also agree
with, I think it was Reg: if your partner is not
willing to sacrifice at least something for you, your
career and your children, what good is he anyway?
One last thing: the biggest risk of getting children
is hormonal: A few weeks ago we discussed the pill:
well, the hormonal effects of the anti bay pills of
the last years, are about 1000x smaller the the
hormonal effects of getting pregnant. On the other
side: many diva's had children, so maybe it does not
matter that much.
Best greetings, Dre.
(who sacrified parts of his journalistic career for
his daughter and now ex-wife, and never regretted it
for a second)
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