It occurred to me the other day that the nature of performance art has changed drastically in the last century. In 1887, if you saw a performance of Otello, it was a unique experience, never to be duplicated. You wouldn't get to hear the same music again for years, unless you bought another ticket for the next night. Even then, the performance would be slightly different. On a larger scale: as an individual artist, your creations died with you. Farinelli was an incredible singer, but only his contemporaries got to appreciate it.
Compare this with the other, documentary arts like writing, composition, painting or sculpture. By their very nature, the creations of these arts are appreciated and studied long after the act of creation. Da Vinci's creations have been appreciated by generations since his death - and some of his drawings (his flying machines for example) could only be appreciated as genius in this century. Artists who were unknown in their own time became great masters post-mortem. Such is the nature of these arts - and until recently, this was their exclusive province over performance artists.
In the 20th Century, we've started recording performances. At first, it was only the best of the best that were recorded. Still, great singers and actors from Caruso to Alastair Sim could join the ranks of documentary artists, having their creations experienced and appreciated long after the act of creation. After Caruso's death, we have all enjoyed his art - something never possible before. I have learned quite a bit about acting from the performances of Mr. Sim, who died before I was born.
Now, in the digital age, and especially in the age of user-created content, we have entered another phase of documentary performance art. Now, most performers have some document of their art, rather than just those who were appreciated during their lifetime. I guarantee that just as in composition, painting and sculpture, some artists will only be discovered as great after their deaths. Already, there are singers who were never appreciated fully during their careers, who are gaining new stature thanks to the documents of their art.
The name Joseph Shore is known by many young singers, thanks to his fantastic collection of mp3 recordings - documents of his art - available for free online. Though he was hailed as a great singer by everyone who heard him, he cut his own career short to take up teaching. Now, the documentary nature of opera performance (and the medium of transmission that is the internet) has spread the word of his fantastic singing, 20 years after the fact. This would have been impossible even 50 years ago, but it is the new reality in our field.
For all you young singers out there - bear in mind that when you create a character, your decisions may be as final as Picasso's paint on canvas. Your art may be heard, admired and criticized for generations to come - and possibly not until then. So create accordingly, and feel fortunate. You are one of the first generations to create documentary performance art!
This means a new freedom - a new ability to create for the sake of creating, whether contemporary audiences understand or not. For the first time, performance art has a chance to take the test of historical hindsight. Perhaps some future generation will see great art where today's critics did not.
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