Acting with the voice is, imo, is much, much more important than doing a lot of carrying on and running around the stage. Vocal acting is accomplished through the phrasing, vocal color variations, use of dynamics and the articulation the text in a meaningful way. Grunts, groans, breathiness, etc. are also part of the process, but should be used sparingly for the best effect–and depending on the style of the music.
Callas could just stand in one spot and project tons of the drama and emotion—through the voice alone.

Moving around the stage, rolling around on the floor and other silly distractions as Dessay, Trebs and others now do (and it call acting) are not successful, imo, unless the emotion comes across mainly through the singing.
For example, Voigt tried that stuff in the LOC Salome, and it was just kinda amusing at best.

I listened to “Il Tabarro” and “Suor Angelica” last night, and listened very closely to Senza mamma. Racette was in much better control of her voice last night than last week. There was no hint of cracking while I listened and I thought her tone was smooth and lush.

I still think that acting isn’t the same as singing, and that, for me, the great opera singers integrate acting into their performances.

Act II : Track 8: 1:44 before Tosca repeats “Ah, non posso più”. Audible and inelegant breath suggesting desperation.

Act II : Track 13 “Vissi d’arte” : 2:51 to end, sobbing breaths

Act III : Track 21 “E lucevan le stelle” at 2:25 where Cavaradossi sings “…mai tanto la vita,” his voice nearly breaks with emotion

Act III : Track 24 “Senti, l’ora è vicina” at 0:18 where Tosca laughs while singing “prima sarai fucilato”

There were certainly fewer instances than I remembered, but surely you won’t beat me up over a faulty memory.

I am struck by how similar the voices of Stephanie Blythe and Marilyn Horne are. Uncanny!

Cruz–You did indeed say “yes, I think that extramusical effects are necessary to create a fully formed character on the stage.” Not “can be part of” but “necessary.” There’s a difference. In my own opinion, there can be a role for such things in operatic characterization. (I wouldn’t want to do without Leonie’s Sieglinde scream.) But too often, they’re used to signify “acting,” when in fact the harder work is to make the musical line express character and emotion.

And yes, like you I have heard singers “who have simply sung all the notes, followed the musical lines, putting little emotion into the song or aria or character.” Those are bad singers.

I’m quite sure that she did not employ “grunts and growls” in the first Lucia recording, but then again I am willing to be corrected. Assuming she does not, does this mean that she failed to create “a fully formed character”? Or if I am indeed wrong, does she create “a fully formed character” in those moments in which she grunts and growls, while falling short of that goal elsewhere?

I don’t have the Lucia with me at the moment and would like to re-listen to it before giving specific examples.

So, “extramusical effects”: yes, I think that extramusical effects are necessary to create a fully formed character on the stage. You ask if I think “extramusical effects equal ‘acting’.” No, I wouldn’t say “equal,” but instead “a part of.” By many accounts, Racette wasn’t successful in the later sections of Suor Angelica and most of Gianni Schicchi. I listened to the Sirius broadcast and even I could tell that she’d given a better performance when I saw her in SF. Her sobs were too broad, the end of “Senza mamma” got away from her, and her two instances of collapsing to the ground, even if they are in the score’s stage directions, were unsubtle (here, I rely on newspaper accounts of the night).

I do believe that successful acting can come through a sound recording. I’ve no doubt that we all have examples we can cite in our collections. From my own collection, Cotrubas in Traviata, Callas and Gobbi in Tosca , Callas in Lucia, and Neblett in Fanciulla.