Why are opera singers usually overweight?

Answer 1

There is no correlation between weight and singing ability. The stereotype has arisen because of singers like Pavoratti who have an overwhelming desire to eat. As far as it giving you help in singing, if anything, it actually hinders you. Singers are now being told that they cannot perform unless they slim down. Also there are singers such as Nathan Gunn (watch him in the Met Broadcast of the Magic Flute) who are in high demand in large part because of their looks (he is paid extra to take off his shirt and show his six pack). Opera is no longer about standing and singing (like the fat generation). It is about art and theater. To say that opera singers are usually overweight only goes to show that you have probably never seen an opera.

Answer 2

That's not as true as it used to be. With the growth of television and broadcasting opera, there are many great singers today who are more svelte.

Many singers are short, and seem stouter. Many feel that they can support the tones better with more weight. (Pavorotti is one of those) If you look as pictures, many start out thinner, and as they get successful, they gain weight, so it may have more to do with success than with singing.

The key to singing is support - a tight and controlled diaphragm, to sustain long passages. That can make the center portion of the body look bulkier, but unfortunately, that's more excuse than reality. Opera is also sung without articial amplification, and so larger chests mean better resonance. Wagnerian singers (Wagner had an orchestra twice as large as normal) have to have tremendously strong voices to cut through the orchestra and they usually have very large chests. That also makes them seem larger.

But I don't think they are so much overweight as they are overproportioned.

Answer 3

I don't think that opera singers choose there career do to a weight problem. Nor do I think that there weight had anything to do with them becoming opera singers, I think they are just not as popular on tv and when they get noticed thats one of the 1st things people notice is there weight. Isn't there something else people can pick on?

Answer 4

While not all singers are heavy, they do tend to not have six packs in their stomachs. When you have such a conditioned stomach it makes breathing from the diaphragm slightly more difficult. The diaphragm is like a gigantic inner tube around the waist that a singer needs to fill with air in order to sustain long notes, and sometimes hit the high stuff on a belt. If there is no flexibility in the middle, i.e. too toned, you lose the ability to sustain as long.

Answer 5

Deborah Voigt is a recent example of an opera singer that lost tons of weight to salvage her career, when she was denied a role because she was "too large". Now she looks fantastic, and did Salome at Lyric Opera in Chicago, a role she never would have been regarded for in the past.

It never used to matter (Monterratt Cabale) but now it seems appearance is as important as talent.

Answer 6

It came from a belief that a little girth makes your voice sound better. So thus you don't normally see emaciated opera singers. Plus, now it's probably become a cultural thing.

Answer 7

They arent, this is a completely steryotypical view. Look at sarah brightman. She was the original christine in Phantom of the opera, and while she could stand to lose a few pounds nowadays, she was a stick then!

Answer 8

it's not that they are overweight, but they way we use our bodies necessitates that we have thick strong muscles around the middle. So instead of have the hourglass look, we need to expand the ribcage and support it with the abdominals. It's the opposite of the zipper look that is so popular.

Answer 9

Because they have to breathe in so deep to belt out the long notes that they wind up sucking up and devouring the audience and anything else not nailed down in the theater.

Answer 10

That's your stereotypical opinion........but they are great singers.