Do you have lucky audition shoes or a special pre-performance ritual? Well, you are not alone! Did you know that Luciano Pavarotti had to find a bent nail on the stage before a performance and kept it in his pocket for good luck? Most of the time his manager would plant one there for him to find in order to keep the gods of superstition and Luciano satisfied. Pavarotti also refused to be cast in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino since it was widely considered to be a “cursed” opera. The opera is associated with spooky power outages, sudden illness of a soprano that delayed the initial premier by 12 months and the most tragic of all, on-stage death of the principal baritone Leonard Warren who collapsed right after his Act III aria “morir, tremenda cosa” (to die, a momentous thing) during the 1960 Met performance.
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Opera performance is one of the most superstitious professions, comparable to that of professional sports and aviation. This is because a live opera performance is one of the most stressful activities we can engage in. It requires a great deal of coordination of memory, vocal technique, and kinetic awareness as well as courage and confidence essential to a live public performance. The high stakes and lack of control result in development of superstitious behavior. Psychology of superstition expert Dr. Stuart Vyse PhD defines superstition as “a belief or practice that is inconsistent with our understanding of science…an attempt to bring about the good thing or avoid the bad thing in circumstances when we have less than perfect control and yet we do care very much about what happens.”
I spoke to my professional opera colleagues about their personal pre-performance rituals. Surprisingly, most of them reported not to have any besides a good night sleep and an occasional antacid. One reported having a multitude of rituals that included yoga, steaming and special teas, however once her vocal technique improved, her rituals disappeared. Now that she also has two small children, she has no time for any special pre-performance superstitions and her solid technique carries her through performances regardless of how she feels. I have a very similar personal experience with my vocal technique and raising two little boys, but it seems to me that even when we dispense with our personal rituals, we are still aware of the general opera superstitions that have become part of the opera culture.
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So, what are some of these famous opera curses and superstitions? La Forza del Destino, Tristan und Isolde, The Makropulos Case and Tosca – are all considered to be “cursed operas” due to associated singer deaths and injuries as well as deaths in composers’ families around the time of premier. Singers say “toi toi toi” to each other before a performance, which is a shortening of the German word “Teufel” (devil) and in saying that it supposed to keep him away. Purple costumes are avoided in opera because of their association with funeral colors in Italy. Use of live flowers and real mirrors is considered bad luck and no singer will ever agree to occupy a dressing room numbered 13. So, it seems that whether the singers have their personal rituals or not—they will all try to scare the devil by uttering “toi toi toi” to each other and tell their agent not to book that room 13 in the hotel. Spooky and tragic production events have become part of opera performance history and fascinate dark corners of our imagination. So, as you put on that “lucky” audition jacket or necklace or shoes – be proud! You are a part of a dark, spooky, ancient opera tradition and toi toi toi to all our courageous singing colleagues!
