The Passion of Opera

Versatility At War with Categorization: An Analysis of Singers Known for Singing in Multiple Fächer Introduction [1] Throughout human history categorization has been an incessant endeavor in such diverse disciplines as taxonomy, literature, and art. It has led to great advances, such as the mapping of the human genome, and to atrocities, such as the horrors committed in the name of race or religion. Inevitably tension underlays the process of categorization, as marginal data threatens to undermine the entire schematic. Categorization of singers’ voices, whether in the German system of Fächer or by less formal systems borne out of other nations, is essential to the vocal world. Repertory opera houses use the system to contract singers, singers themselves rely on guidelines for their own Fach in the selection of repertoire, and opera enthusiasts employ the categorizations to assess the attractiveness of performances and to review them. Nevertheless,...