In the second installment of our blog, we check in with TOI Apprentice Artist Matré Grant as she examines the gender complexities that surround everyone's favorite girl-dressed-as-a-boy-dressed-as-a-girl, Cherubino!
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Above, our resident Cherubini Suzanne Oberdorfer and Sara Crigger
Becoming Cherubin-hoe: Gender Roles in Opera
By Matreé Grant
As I sit on the cusp of my next classical music venture, I'm thinking about something that I'm sure has crossed the mind of every twenty-year-old in America: gender roles in opera.
Okay. Maybe most people my age don't think about that. Actually, a significant portion of people my age probably don't think about gender roles much at all (or opera for that matter). Furthermore, many people who are reading, perhaps of the older crowd, are asking: what is a gender role??
Okay. Maybe most people my age don't think about that. Actually, a significant portion of people my age probably don't think about gender roles much at all (or opera for that matter). Furthermore, many people who are reading, perhaps of the older crowd, are asking: what is a gender role??
Do you relate to this random Internet lady as much as I do? Then keep on reading.
“Gender roles are sets of societal norms dictating what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable, appropriate,[1] or desirable for a person based on their actual or perceived sex.”
Thanks, Wikipedia. Now, what does this mean for the average citizen? Basically that society tells us weird (read: oppressive) things like 'men can't wear pink' and 'women absolutely must shave their body hair.'
comic by Rob DenBleyker
Now that we've learned about gender roles, we can move on to what we've all been waiting for. The proverbial fat lady has sung [5] and it's now time to talk about opera. How do gender roles relate to opera, you ask? Well, first of all, since many often-performed operas are over two hundred years old, it's not a leap to assume that some of them might be a little bit sexist. [6] However, sexism in opera is a subject for another day. Gender roles are today's issue.
When I say gender roles, I'm not referring to the period in which the pieces were written. Yes, the only place for women in many of these works was as maids or wards, but that's an issue with the time periods themselves and not necessarily with the operas.
What I am talking about is how people in opera portray gender, and specifically how they portray it when they are playing a role that is not their own gender. I'm literally talking about gender roles.
What?
It's now time to explain pants roles. You may skip a few paragraphs if you feel sufficiently well-versed on the matter, but if not, read on:
At some point in your life you probably saw Phantom of the Opera [7] live on Broadway or in theaters in 2004.[8] Think about the moment when Christine and Carlotta have their diva-off. Mr. Phantom is pretty clear that he thinks that Christine should play the lead in his opera and that Carlotta should play the pageboy. However, no one listens, so Mr. Phantom gets angry and people subsequently die.
The role of the pageboy in Phantom of the Opera is based upon the tradition of females playing young male roles in theater. Although the term 'pants role' is most often used when discussing opera, other terms such as 'trouser role' or 'breeches role' are used in other geographic locations. In Phantom of the Opera, the pageboy is a silent role, but in most operas pants roles usually sing. Often, they are sung by mezzo-sopranos, but sopranos can (and do) sing them as well.
Pre-pubescent and early-pubescent roles used to be played by male singers called castrati.[9] These singers were a huge fad for a while, but it didn't take long for people to realize that castrating young boys before puberty and making them sing opera when they were older was kind of wrong. Let's just say that it became illegal quickly, and composers needed youthful sounding voices for their younger roles. I'm sure that somewhere women were playing male roles before operatic pants roles became popular, but basically history shows that when people started saying no to castrato, they started saying yes to the pants role.
One of the most popular operatic pants roles is Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) by Mozart. He's a young teenage (you guessed it!) pageboy, who basically causes all of the drama in the opera although he somehow spends most of it (including basically all of act three) hiding because he's a horny troublemaker.
Gasp! What? (If you skipped the section on pants roles and are skimming through, you can rejoin us here.)
Yes, people might try to pass Cherubino off as a charming boy who is experiencing love for the first time, but if he were a modern-day figure, we'd have other names for him (namely man-whore or future frat bro). Why is that?
When I say gender roles, I'm not referring to the period in which the pieces were written. Yes, the only place for women in many of these works was as maids or wards, but that's an issue with the time periods themselves and not necessarily with the operas.
What I am talking about is how people in opera portray gender, and specifically how they portray it when they are playing a role that is not their own gender. I'm literally talking about gender roles.
What?
It's now time to explain pants roles. You may skip a few paragraphs if you feel sufficiently well-versed on the matter, but if not, read on:
At some point in your life you probably saw Phantom of the Opera [7] live on Broadway or in theaters in 2004.[8] Think about the moment when Christine and Carlotta have their diva-off. Mr. Phantom is pretty clear that he thinks that Christine should play the lead in his opera and that Carlotta should play the pageboy. However, no one listens, so Mr. Phantom gets angry and people subsequently die.
The role of the pageboy in Phantom of the Opera is based upon the tradition of females playing young male roles in theater. Although the term 'pants role' is most often used when discussing opera, other terms such as 'trouser role' or 'breeches role' are used in other geographic locations. In Phantom of the Opera, the pageboy is a silent role, but in most operas pants roles usually sing. Often, they are sung by mezzo-sopranos, but sopranos can (and do) sing them as well.
Pre-pubescent and early-pubescent roles used to be played by male singers called castrati.[9] These singers were a huge fad for a while, but it didn't take long for people to realize that castrating young boys before puberty and making them sing opera when they were older was kind of wrong. Let's just say that it became illegal quickly, and composers needed youthful sounding voices for their younger roles. I'm sure that somewhere women were playing male roles before operatic pants roles became popular, but basically history shows that when people started saying no to castrato, they started saying yes to the pants role.
One of the most popular operatic pants roles is Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) by Mozart. He's a young teenage (you guessed it!) pageboy, who basically causes all of the drama in the opera although he somehow spends most of it (including basically all of act three) hiding because he's a horny troublemaker.
Gasp! What? (If you skipped the section on pants roles and are skimming through, you can rejoin us here.)
Yes, people might try to pass Cherubino off as a charming boy who is experiencing love for the first time, but if he were a modern-day figure, we'd have other names for him (namely man-whore or future frat bro). Why is that?
mezzo-soprano, Joyce DiDonato as Cherubino, Metropolitan Opera, 2005; photo by Marty Sohl
During the whole opera (minus the last three minutes) the Count is being unfaithful to his wife, the Countess. But he's also the weird jealous type that accuses her of cheating even though he is cheating himself. The Countess and her maid, Susanna, decide to use his jealousy against him by switching places. However, at the end of the opera it turns out that Countess wasn't cheating so it ends up being a big oops on the Count's part.
Cherubino is like a young version of the Count. Cherubino sings two arias about how he doesn't know what to do with his body now that it's attracted to women. Sounds a lot like someone we know (cough, cough, The Count).
If you've never seen the opera, Cherubino is referred to, both within the opera and amongst opera fans, as a fun, charming character. However, even if you're unaware of what's to befall our little hero in the next opera/play, the events of Le nozze di Figaro are enough to convince me that he's not as adorable as people think he is. This leads me to my next question: Why on Earth do people think Cherubino is an adorable character?
I think it might be because a woman plays him. Usually in life, men call women negative slurs if they 'get around' while at the same slapping high-fives with their male friends for doing the very same thing. This is a clear double standard which at first seems to contradict what I've just said about Cherubino. To reiterate, I said that people forgive and sugar-coat Cherubino's character because he is played by a woman. By society's usual traditions, though, it seems like seeing a woman do these things would make us hate Cherubino more. If a man played him, we might think of him more like we think of the Count or like the title character in Mozart's Don Giovanni (Don Juan). So why does a woman playing him change how the way we see him? It somehow makes Cherubino endearing when he absolutely should not be.
People often associate words like adorable, cute, and charming with children, but they are also often associated with women. Cherubino exists in a gray gender area where he gets to enjoy the privilege of being pretty like a woman while also getting his problems swept under the rug like a man. I think that people think of Cherubino as endearing because women find playing pants roles so fun and entertaining. When we put on the costume and the makeup and pretend to be the opposite sex for three hours, we sometimes unintentionally make the mistake that all the pants roles are the same-exact lovable character.
For example, one time I was singing Stephano's aria from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette for a recital. My voice teacher's husband more or less told me that Stephano is a conniving, manipulative jerk of a character, and that I shouldn't sing him like I would Cherubino. This was good advice since I was doing exactly that. However, after considering his words, I now think that perhaps I should be singing Cherubino more like I sing Stephano.
Stephano is a blatantly terrible dude—he publicly sings an aria about how Juliet is a little white turtledove who's doomed to be trapped by vultures. How sweet.
It's clear that Cherubino doesn't necessarily have malicious intentions, so he's not blatantly terrible, but I think we can consider him a 'closet' terrible character. He follows in the footsteps of the noblest and shadiest male figure in his life, the Count. I'm not saying we shouldn't pity Cherubino. It's not his fault that he looks up to the wrong character. Figaro's a champ and would be a better role model, but he's a servant. Although Cherubino appears to be quite close to Figaro, due to societal norms he's more likely to be more closely watching and imitating the behavior of the Count instead. Darn.
In Cherubino's famous aria “Voi che sapete,” he asks the ladies Susanna (Figaro's fiancée) and the Countess to tell him if what he's feeling is love since they already know what it is. Cherubino has written this song himself, so the ladies find it extra special and amazing. However, although Cherubino has a clear lack of screen time compared to some of the other leads, it strikes me as odd that it never dawns on anyone to tell Cherubino what love is while he is on stage,.
'Hahaha, that was so cute!' Susanna and the Countess basically say after he's done. Cherubino is just left standing there like, 'No, I mean it. This isn't some stupid, metaphorical song. Please actually tell me what love is.' This is Cherubino's second aria in the opera, and his first, “Non so più cosa son, cosa faccio” (AKA: 'I am hitting puberty, I feel weird and aroused, so someone please explain to me what this stuff is') is pretty much about the exact same thing. With this lack of sex education in the opera, it seems like a miracle that Figaro is one of the only male characters in the work that's able to keep it in his tights (at least monogamously). [12]
Like I said earlier, it's not necessarily Cherubino's fault that life ends up like this. I still think that it's okay to pity him and even to pity the Count who should definitely know better. The gender roles of their time period explain their behavior.
However, with all of this to think about, I'm left wondering how I will portray Cherubino myself. I'm covering [13] the role for Tidewater Opera Initiative, and as excited as I am, I'm also extremely confused about the role. First of all, I'll do whatever the director tells me to do. Second, I'll try to imitate pretty closely what the professionals who are actually cast as Cherubino are doing so that if I ever have to go on stage, I don't screw up the staging with my cynical man-whore version of the character.
But I still think it's important for mezzos (and sopranos) everywhere to challenge themselves when they step into genders outside of their own. [14] Challenging gender roles in the outside world is just as important as challenging them in opera. We should never let our eagerness to play a character overshadow the nature of the character. I think that for years, women have played pants roles thinking that they're stepping into these fun, carefree roles when instead they might be about to play a problematic, soon-to-become a baby daddy, entitled-with-18th-century-ideals little snot.
When singers play pants roles, we're excited to finally get the chance to act like a boy, but if we've learned anything about gender roles, we know that we should instead be asking: what does acting like a boy really mean anyway?
Notes
1 Oxford comma added for emphasis.
5 This phrase is probably problematic.
6 For further information see: Così fan tutte (Women Are Like That) by Mozart
7 Phantom of the Opera is a musical, not an opera
8 I've been told that there are adaptations other than this
9 an Italian word; singular form: castrato; There were other types of singers called travesti, who were essentially male tenors who performed often comical roles in drag.
12 Although he may or may not have promised to marry another woman. If you watch the opera, you'll see why we can forgive him for that.
13 Opera slang for understudying
14 Apologies if this article fails to be transgender (or other/non-gender) inclusive
--
Opera for Smarties is a project created by mezzo-soprano Matré Grant. Her goal is to make opera more accessible to newbies while also convincing lifelong fans to challenge their preconceived views and fall in love with the art form all over again.
This article was originally published on MOGUL, and edited here for space and continuity. You can read the full article at their website, www.MOGUL.com.
Cherubino is like a young version of the Count. Cherubino sings two arias about how he doesn't know what to do with his body now that it's attracted to women. Sounds a lot like someone we know (cough, cough, The Count).
If you've never seen the opera, Cherubino is referred to, both within the opera and amongst opera fans, as a fun, charming character. However, even if you're unaware of what's to befall our little hero in the next opera/play, the events of Le nozze di Figaro are enough to convince me that he's not as adorable as people think he is. This leads me to my next question: Why on Earth do people think Cherubino is an adorable character?
I think it might be because a woman plays him. Usually in life, men call women negative slurs if they 'get around' while at the same slapping high-fives with their male friends for doing the very same thing. This is a clear double standard which at first seems to contradict what I've just said about Cherubino. To reiterate, I said that people forgive and sugar-coat Cherubino's character because he is played by a woman. By society's usual traditions, though, it seems like seeing a woman do these things would make us hate Cherubino more. If a man played him, we might think of him more like we think of the Count or like the title character in Mozart's Don Giovanni (Don Juan). So why does a woman playing him change how the way we see him? It somehow makes Cherubino endearing when he absolutely should not be.
People often associate words like adorable, cute, and charming with children, but they are also often associated with women. Cherubino exists in a gray gender area where he gets to enjoy the privilege of being pretty like a woman while also getting his problems swept under the rug like a man. I think that people think of Cherubino as endearing because women find playing pants roles so fun and entertaining. When we put on the costume and the makeup and pretend to be the opposite sex for three hours, we sometimes unintentionally make the mistake that all the pants roles are the same-exact lovable character.
For example, one time I was singing Stephano's aria from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette for a recital. My voice teacher's husband more or less told me that Stephano is a conniving, manipulative jerk of a character, and that I shouldn't sing him like I would Cherubino. This was good advice since I was doing exactly that. However, after considering his words, I now think that perhaps I should be singing Cherubino more like I sing Stephano.
Stephano is a blatantly terrible dude—he publicly sings an aria about how Juliet is a little white turtledove who's doomed to be trapped by vultures. How sweet.
It's clear that Cherubino doesn't necessarily have malicious intentions, so he's not blatantly terrible, but I think we can consider him a 'closet' terrible character. He follows in the footsteps of the noblest and shadiest male figure in his life, the Count. I'm not saying we shouldn't pity Cherubino. It's not his fault that he looks up to the wrong character. Figaro's a champ and would be a better role model, but he's a servant. Although Cherubino appears to be quite close to Figaro, due to societal norms he's more likely to be more closely watching and imitating the behavior of the Count instead. Darn.
In Cherubino's famous aria “Voi che sapete,” he asks the ladies Susanna (Figaro's fiancée) and the Countess to tell him if what he's feeling is love since they already know what it is. Cherubino has written this song himself, so the ladies find it extra special and amazing. However, although Cherubino has a clear lack of screen time compared to some of the other leads, it strikes me as odd that it never dawns on anyone to tell Cherubino what love is while he is on stage,.
'Hahaha, that was so cute!' Susanna and the Countess basically say after he's done. Cherubino is just left standing there like, 'No, I mean it. This isn't some stupid, metaphorical song. Please actually tell me what love is.' This is Cherubino's second aria in the opera, and his first, “Non so più cosa son, cosa faccio” (AKA: 'I am hitting puberty, I feel weird and aroused, so someone please explain to me what this stuff is') is pretty much about the exact same thing. With this lack of sex education in the opera, it seems like a miracle that Figaro is one of the only male characters in the work that's able to keep it in his tights (at least monogamously). [12]
Like I said earlier, it's not necessarily Cherubino's fault that life ends up like this. I still think that it's okay to pity him and even to pity the Count who should definitely know better. The gender roles of their time period explain their behavior.
However, with all of this to think about, I'm left wondering how I will portray Cherubino myself. I'm covering [13] the role for Tidewater Opera Initiative, and as excited as I am, I'm also extremely confused about the role. First of all, I'll do whatever the director tells me to do. Second, I'll try to imitate pretty closely what the professionals who are actually cast as Cherubino are doing so that if I ever have to go on stage, I don't screw up the staging with my cynical man-whore version of the character.
But I still think it's important for mezzos (and sopranos) everywhere to challenge themselves when they step into genders outside of their own. [14] Challenging gender roles in the outside world is just as important as challenging them in opera. We should never let our eagerness to play a character overshadow the nature of the character. I think that for years, women have played pants roles thinking that they're stepping into these fun, carefree roles when instead they might be about to play a problematic, soon-to-become a baby daddy, entitled-with-18th-century-ideals little snot.
When singers play pants roles, we're excited to finally get the chance to act like a boy, but if we've learned anything about gender roles, we know that we should instead be asking: what does acting like a boy really mean anyway?
Notes
1 Oxford comma added for emphasis.
5 This phrase is probably problematic.
6 For further information see: Così fan tutte (Women Are Like That) by Mozart
7 Phantom of the Opera is a musical, not an opera
8 I've been told that there are adaptations other than this
9 an Italian word; singular form: castrato; There were other types of singers called travesti, who were essentially male tenors who performed often comical roles in drag.
12 Although he may or may not have promised to marry another woman. If you watch the opera, you'll see why we can forgive him for that.
13 Opera slang for understudying
14 Apologies if this article fails to be transgender (or other/non-gender) inclusive
--
Opera for Smarties is a project created by mezzo-soprano Matré Grant. Her goal is to make opera more accessible to newbies while also convincing lifelong fans to challenge their preconceived views and fall in love with the art form all over again.
This article was originally published on MOGUL, and edited here for space and continuity. You can read the full article at their website, www.MOGUL.com.
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