Word: koestenbaum
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Opera's newfound place in the American home necessarily meant that it was supposed to reinforce a larger and vastly more successful cultural institution: Family Values. Koestenbaum's recollection of a recording of Carmen designed for little children strikes a humorous chord in anyone who has wondered how the lithe, scantily clad, and sexually uninhibited gypsy girl of Merimee's novel came to be transformed in the opera houses of mid-twentieth century America into the postured prima donna in the floor-lenght dress whose idea of sexual flirtation is to glue her chin to her chest and to peep...
...group that undoubtedly profits from the liberation of society It is this underlying sense of morality in opera (upon reflection, Carmen's violent death at the hands of her jilted lover makes her more palatable to society in general?) that so closely ties in with a central theme of Koestenbaum's book; opera's appeal to the "other" of society, to those who deviate from the "norm." As the surrogate voice of those who feared exposure and openness, such as closeted gays, opera liberated them, but also ultimately betrayed them, condemning the heroines with which they identified to tragic ends...
However, while Koestenbaum contends that the opera queen is an increasingly rare species in the post Stonewall world, that the tragic campiness of the opera "addict" is dated, he in no way gives the impression that opera serves little function in a sexually open world. Instead, the relationship between song and the listener is put forth as a vastly complex set of responses that touch on all sorts of unexplored ambiguities in the human psyche...
Another important aspect of the opera queen's personal identity is, according to Koestenbaum, his choice of one diva, "to reign in the opera queen's heart." Koestenbaum's particular choice, Anna Moffo, is an interesting one, and reflects the sort of unquestioning love that characterizes the opera queen. The fact that Moffo is not uniformly respected as a great artist in all opera circles merely contributes to his sense on loyalty. It is the fallibility of the diva, the tension between her polished star exterior and the human being beneath, that ensures her appeal. Divas are subject as well...
...diva in particular, Maria Callas, is given an entire chapter. "The Callas Cult" discusses what Koestenbaum admits is a gay phenomenon much larger than that of the opera queen. Her life (more, specifically, her affair with Aristotle Onassis) assumed tabloid proportions; she was mainstream enough to be mentioned in Marilyn Monroe movies; and her personality, both bitchy and warm in practically the same instant, is well reputed. He life, in short, was an opera unto itself. In the interview, Koestenbaum agrees that the dead Callas seems even more of a cultural power than she did while she was alive...