Within its original context - as a kind of labour relations device - I
suppose it was useful: the _fach_ system (vs. the generic idea of "vocal
categorisation") was originally intended to ensure singers under contracts
in German opera houses that they would not be expected to sing any roles
beyond those defined as belonging to the _fach_ which the singer was hired
to sing. So, as a kind of contractual specification, I suppose it's as
good a tool as any.
Unfortunately, I think there's been a trend OUTSIDE German houses (and the
German type of "house singer" contract) towards trying to "slot" singers
too rigidly. This goes along with some other trends in modern opera that I
find rather sad, if not outright reprehensible. One is the broad taste for
vocal uniformity: audiences (or critics, or both) seem very intolerant of
"idiosyncratic" voices. They want all singers to have the same type of
vibrato, and all singers in a given category to have the same basic timbre
and colour to their voice. I have very strong doubts that a singer today
with a voice as distinctive as, say, Maria Callas' or Conchita Supervia's
or even Placido Domingo's would be able to make it today.
Along with this is the desire to box singers in to a certain vocal
category - and then to strictly define and limit the repertoire "allowed"
to that vocal category. Now, I'm certainly not one to promote the idea of
a singer truly over-parting (or, for that matter, under-parting) himself
or herself. But I find it quite interesting just how much negative
commentary is aroused by Domingo's refusal to allow himself to be
_fach_-cast in this way - given Caruso did exactly the same thing, and
no-one even raised an eyebrow. It was what singers used to do. The
expectations of the type of voice that would sing a role seemed to be much
less poured in concrete. I don't know if the establishment of the _fach_
system is the culprit, or if the wide availability of recorded opera is
the problem - so that listeners come to associate a certain voice with a
role, and are unwilling to tolerate any other voice that deviates to
widely from that "touchstone" recorded performer's in the same role.
Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
________________________________
I want to know God's thoughts...
the rest are details.
- Albert Einstein
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