Geraldine Farrar: The Metropolitan Opera's First Butterfly: "Un bel dì," Rec. 1908
I need to alert listeners to the fact that Geraldine Farrar (1882-1967), who portrayed Cio-Cio-San for the first time at the Met, in 1907, was among the first of the great "singing actors," whose interest in cinema and realistic characterization dictated in large part her vocal presentations, which she considered simply a part—albeit an important part—of her performance. In this old recording, you will notice her white, open phonation, a voice sounding remarkably like that of a relatively untrained child singer. This is almost certainly intentional. She is realistically portraying a 15 year old girl with her voice as well as with her actions. Opera has today become, to a large extent, a purely vocal art; this was not necessarily the case back in the day when audiences were often seeing a stage drama for the first time—words and realistic presentation, especially in verismo opera, were crucial. What you hear in this recording, therefore, is not a typical representation of Farrar's voice.
I need to alert listeners to the fact that Geraldine Farrar (1882-1967), who portrayed Cio-Cio-San for the first time at the Met, in 1907, was among the first of the great "singing actors," whose interest in cinema and realistic characterization dictated in large part her vocal presentations, which she considered simply a part—albeit an important part—of her performance. In this old recording, you will notice her white, open phonation, a voice sounding remarkably like that of a relatively untrained child singer. This is almost certainly intentional. She is realistically portraying a 15 year old girl with her voice as well as with her actions. Opera has today become, to a large extent, a purely vocal art; this was not necessarily the case back in the day when audiences were often seeing a stage drama for the first time—words and realistic presentation, especially in verismo opera, were crucial. What you hear in this recording, therefore, is not a typical representation of Farrar's voice.