(Cross-)Gendering the German Voice

Abstract

Imagine a calm, really feminine form, fully formed, about 30 years old; with beautiful arms, white, gentle, German, reliable, unspoilt; whose lips are open so wide that a lightly expressive, rich, full voice can comfortably flow through: then you will see Madame Milder, who performed in Gluck's Armida yesterday. If in your mind you add to such a figure an inner life of pure naivety that, in its innocence, reminds you of Pallas von Velletri (if I have the correct name), then you will have Armida.That such a creature, who is inhibited by no rules or acquired knowledge of the art, flows along like a fine stream, who doesn't come and go and stand as if an audience were present, but is rather like a blacksmith [who stands] before a forge in order to pull out hot what was placed in cold; that such a creature causes confusion and conflict for the connoisseurs of our art will become very evident perhaps because one says: a pretty woman -but colossal; a beautiful voicebut not what one calls singing; gentle and feminine -but cold and so on -and yet such sensational applause, as if they were really enthralled, moved and touched.So one sees with joy how the appearance of sheer talent turns to water the ideas of an entire generation, who had become so accustomed to suspending the natural. 1 Carl Friedrich Zelter, to Goethe, in 1815Madame Milder was Pauline Anna Milder (1785-1838), in 1815 one of the most celebrated singers in German lands, courted by Spontini for Paris, and well on the way to securing an advantageous appointment in Berlin. Madame Milder (sometimes Milder-Hauptmann) was also, most famously, the first Fidelio, or rather, the first three Fidelios, persistently premiering the crossdressing, pistol-toting, husband-devoted Leonore to the Viennese in 1805, 1806 and 1814. 2 In what follows, I shall pursue the ways in which her cross-