Melismatic Madness and Technology
By the mid nineteenth-century, coloratura had become stylized to the point that it could represent hysterical cries. If we consider technology in its original sense as a “practical art” that extends the body’s abilities, then coloratura—an art that features the extended agility and range of the voice—is perhaps the most striking technology employed to mark and empower the operatic madwoman. This chapter explores mid-century mad scenes and related technologies: Giacomo Meyerbeer’s L’Étoile du nord and Le Pardon de Ploërmel, as well as Ophélie’s mad scene in Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet. These operas also feature sopranos who embody a particular, aestheticized view of femininity at mid-century as stylized, objectified icons of hysteria. Exploring the aural impact of these scenes, the sopranos who originally portrayed the mad heroines, the original staging manuals, and the historical context of emerging psychiatry highlights the importance of the visual in thinking about this phenomenon.