Opera just loves the singing voice but habitually places it in all kinds of dramatic situations that in other contexts would seem wildly inappropriate. Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor is a case in point. It tells the story of Lucia, who’s in love with Edgardo but whose brother Enrico bullies her into an arranged marriage with the moneyed Arturo.
On her wedding day, Lucia breaks under the pressure and, offstage, she murders Arturo before joining what should be the marriage celebrations. What follows is 20 minutes of the most exquisite bel canto (“beautiful singing”) as we watch and hear her lose her mind. Her so-called Mad Scene is hardly an act of redemption. Torture, perhaps? It’s certainly a trial for the singer who takes the role. Is it a form of resistance or simply another objectification, Woman as Other? Whatever, it is utterly convincing even while we know it’s unseemly to represent madness this way.
