Battle Fatigue

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Why indeed? Singers, especially sopranos and tenors, are notoriously insecure. They are the only musicians who wake up every morning not knowing whether their instrument is going to be there. "A singer is really a human container for the vulnerable, invisible instrument -- the voice. Because they can't touch their instrument, they can't see it, that makes for sensitive and fragile people," says Elma Kanefield, a psychotherapist at the Juilliard School in Manhattan with a private practice exclusively devoted to performing artists. "This instrument is vulnerable to weather or biochemical changes or other people's colds. I think they play out this vulnerability in other areas of life. Instead of their voices being vulnerable, they feel vulnerable."

"I think she's frightened to death," says former diva Beverly Sills, now chairwoman of Lincoln Center. "She's obviously an insecure girl, with a perfectly beautiful voice. You can't do an opera all by yourself. No matter how big a superstar you are, if you don't have a collaboration with your colleagues, you're in a lot of trouble. I think it's wiser to concentrate on singing like a prima donna than on acting like one."

Battle's handful of defenders agree she can be difficult but argue that her artistry makes her worth the trouble, and obliquely criticize the Met for not defusing the situation diplomatically. "Many great artists are difficult in their search for perfection in their craft," says Peter Gelb, president of Sony Classical Film and Video and Wilford's former deputy at Columbia Artists. Gelb has made nine TV programs with Battle. "The role of the Met is to support great talents. Nothing a producer does comes close to the challenge and difficulty great artists face when they go onstage."

Volpe says he is keeping the door open for Battle to return to the Met, provided she cleans up her act. "If the time should come that Kathleen has been successful in working with other organizations," he says, "then of course I would consider it." Abandoned, scorned and vilified, Battle is at last appearing in the kind of role she is not accustomed to singing: tragic heroine. It's not a part that suits her. She would do far better to rediscover the wholesome, appealing qualities that made her a star in the first place and leave the prima donna business to someone else.