Were opera singers the rock stars of old?

Some rock stars, since the birth of the genre in the middle of the last century, have been known not only for their music, but also for their extravagance.

From the specific furniture requirements in the backstage from Elton John, to Keith Moon’s fondness for destroying rooms, the press has echoed behaviors and attitudes that perpetuate the misunderstood image of the “eccentric genius”. This idea is not exclusive to the union: it is linked to the idea of fama and, more specifically, to the operation of the market in which its protagonists act.

Finding the origin of this vision in the 19th century is not by chance: the Industrial Revolution and the concepts of social interaction y idleness they made possible some dynamics that facilitated access to culture to a broader popular spectrum than it had been before.

Therefore, if we ask ourselves if we can equate the opera divas of the 17th or 18th centuries to the current rock and pop icons, the answer cannot be measured on a black and white scale. We must, therefore, do a brief exercise in historical relativization.

birth of opera

Opera arose at the beginning of the 17th century at the hands of authors such as Claudio Monteverdi or Giulio Caccini, whose role in the vocal education of the first singers dedicated to the genre was key.

However, the first theatrical musical productions differed from the representations of the current imaginary, both in their sound and in their purpose. Musically they developed on simple melodies supported by a continuous bass and never lost sight of the fact that the purpose was the pure entertainment of a privileged elite. This, limited as it was, circumscribed the popularity from singers and songwriters to families or very small circles.

Entering the eighteenth century, we can begin to talk about figures that could resemble, to some extent, the current stars. We find examples of castrated Italian Farinelli or the German soprano Caterina Cavalieri. Gerard Corbiau dedicated a film to the first in 1994. The second, for his part, was the casualty of war of the confrontation between Salieri and Mozart in the Amadeus by Peter Shaffer and Milos Forman from 1984.

If both characters have something in common, it is the imposition of certain (perhaps exaggerated?) gestures typical of the stardom that today is associated with the most famous singers. To the point that we can close our eyes and imagine singers closer to our time in such illustrious eighteenth century.

The difference, beyond the costumes and candles, is found in the settings: they are, of course, the high hierarchies belonging to the Old Regime who surround them…

The revolution of the bourgeoisie

After the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, the rise and empowerment of the bourgeoisie takes place, which automatically contributes to the massification of musical shows that reconsider, in this way, their main purposes.

With this, singers and other musical figures become truly acquaintances. From a 19th century defined by the progress of technology and the democratization of access to music, some will become recognized by a broader audience. We can see in Fiódor Chaliapin or Enrico Caruso two examples, already touching the 20th century.

Let’s note that we are still talking about singers dedicated to music academicwhile the music popular it begins to arrive, essentially, through the nationalist currents that incorporate it.

With the increasingly widespread literacy and the multiplication of the printed media, a prominent place is made for music criticism and the debate is opened to aesthetic preferences, which will gradually place the capricious focus of the public on this or that singer according to tastes or affinities.

And even so, we must continue qualifying: the knowledge of the interpreters and composers that today make up the canon was only beginning to be outlined, while some popular figures were lost in time, waiting to be recovered by the work of musicologists and historians.

recorded music

The first decades of the 20th century brought with it the takeoff of popular music, beginning with the Tin Pan Alley sheet music edition and reaching the commercialization and implantation of the gramophone and the radio, especially popular during the interwar period when the Third Reich he recorded and released his music to the entire civilized world.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the incorporation of jazz into the stage repertoire, with groups like the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, gives rise to the setting in motion of a wheel supported by the already prevailing capitalist system. This makes it possible to recognize singers like Mamie Smith who, from the vantage point of a fame for which man seems not to be prepared, assume behaviors that can be branded as bizarre by others.

Charisma and adolescents

Behind the shock of the Second World War, two essential factors come into play. First, that the world has seen how dangerous it can be to turn a charismatic politician into a divinity. And second, the concept of teenager: an adolescent who lives without uncertainties and with more free time and resources to dedicate to leisure.

As Simon Frith would point out, class lines are blurred when middle-class youth adopt the idiosyncrasies of working-class youth.

Thus, the prevailing economic model west of the Iron Curtain will kill two birds with one stone: the (politically) “harmless” musician will be the new star and his songs, more similar to those of traditional music, the inexhaustible source of resources that feed the capitalist machine.

The law of supply and demand will thus allow the role of diva is reinforced with characters like Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley or The Beatles.

Therefore, the pop and rock star is born from the context in which most of the economic resources are found, as had happened in previous centuries. Only that, at this moment, the bulk of the possible ones belongs to the people and not to the elite (which, for its part, continues to relate to its own stars, as in the case of Maria Callas).

The 21st century arrives

When the followers of Sinatra, Presley or McCartney became grandparents, they already saw in the next decades of the 21st century how their grandchildren will live a new outbreak of popular icons as a commercial product: Britney Spears, the Spice Girls or the Backstreet Boys are good examples.

These, as an essential part of the industry, will coexist with the twist that music will occasionally want to offer. academicwith products such as The Three Tenors or, in other orders, Freddie Mercury or Sarah Brightman (wife, muse and first woman by Andrew Lloyd Webber), who maintain obvious references to classical music in their career even though they are essentially pop icons.

So, are the opera divas of the 17th or 18th centuries comparable to today’s pop and rock icons? If we talk about specially recognized figures within the musical field, taking into account the historical circumstances of each moment, they can be.

If we refer to its role as a sociocultural expression of where economic power resides and the prevailing social model, too.

However, although we may be tempted to equate the profile of 18th or 19th century singers with that of today’s stars, we must not lose sight of the fact that Farinelli was known by Philip V and his court, and by Cavallieri, by Emperor Joseph II and hers… but we know (almost) all of Beyoncé and Bad Bunny.

Eulàlia Febrer Coll, Academic Coordinator of the University Master in Musicology, UNIR – International University of La Rioja and Ernesto Monsalve, Professor and Director of the Music Area of ​​the International University of La Rioja, UNIR – International University of La Rioja

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original.