Death of soprano Gianna Rolandi

[Frank Berger]

Not that I have heard of her, and all deaths are sad, but what motivates me to start a thread is how Labrecht reports it:

"Sir Andrew Davis Mourns His Outstanding Soprano Wife."

https://slippedisc.com/2021/06/sir-andrew-davis-mourns-his-famed-soprano-wife/

As if her existence was only for Andrew Davis' sake. I would have thought such a headline would be impossible nowadays.

[Peter]

I saw her in The Cunning Little Vixen in NYC, with sets by Maurice Sendak. I thought Rolandi was magnificent and handled the demanding physical part of the role quite well.

[Paul]

I am afraid Mr Lebrecht (or whoever writes his blog for him) tends to define the lesser-known artist in terms of the more famous one, so we get "a Joan Sutherland tenor" (= a tenor who sang with Sutherland) etc. As you say, offensive in these times, but Lebrecht is 75, and belongs to a past era.

[Frank Berger]

I'm 73 and certainly not "woke," but even I see the inappropriateness. My instinct is to not cutt him much slack here, except to admit it's possible the headline wasn't really sexist, and that a lesser-known male spouse of a well-known female artist would have been handled the same way.

[Owen]

Not for me to defend Mr. Lebrecht, but it is common in publications (not
sure of it in this case) that headlines for articles are written by
others. The text of the article itself, though short, had nothing that
would be considered offensive, as far as I can see.

-Owen

[Frank Berger]

Agree.

[Frank Berger]

CNN does it as well. Headline: "Amber Heard, Johnny Depp's ex-wife, has had a baby girl"