Castrato Music
By the 20th Century, the practice of castrating vocally talented young boys to preserve their singing voice had been abandoned. For which reason, the solo singing of only one "castrato" was ever recorded. These were the recordings of Alessandro Moreschi, made in 1902 and 1904 when he was already in his 40s, and some say past his prime. Wikipedia notes, "The dated aesthetic of Moreschi's singing, involving extreme passion and a perpetual type of sob, often sounds bizarre to the modern listener, and can be misinterpreted as technical weakness or symptomatic of an aging voice."
Comments
BASSO PROFUNDO HELP! HELP! THERE'S
FALSETTO SHARKS OUT HERE!
FALSETTO SHARKS OUT HERE!
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 03/22/16 at 10:04 AM
I had heard OF these recordings, but I had never heard them before.
These mutilations for the "glory" of the church were horrific, of course. But even worse, the majority of the castrations did not achieve the desired result of preserving the victims prepubescent vocal range. Most of them had enough testosterone from the adrenal glands to make their voices crack.
"The bad news is, we're cutting off your balls so you can sing soprano forever."
"The worse news is, you can't sing soprano properly any more, either."
These mutilations for the "glory" of the church were horrific, of course. But even worse, the majority of the castrations did not achieve the desired result of preserving the victims prepubescent vocal range. Most of them had enough testosterone from the adrenal glands to make their voices crack.
"The bad news is, we're cutting off your balls so you can sing soprano forever."
"The worse news is, you can't sing soprano properly any more, either."
Posted by Frank on 03/22/16 at 04:04 PM
The Vienna Boys choir comes to mind, although their official procedure was not to castrate and to retire the boys when they matured.
Posted by KDP on 03/22/16 at 04:45 PM
Oh MY. Now I know what a child of Florence Foster Jenkins would have sounded like.
Posted by Anastasia Beaverhausen on 03/22/16 at 09:06 PM
Now THAT mutilation is comparable to what they do to girls in Africa.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 03/22/16 at 10:31 PM
They were castrating the wrong guys. Perhaps doing it on the priests would have reduced sexual assaults on kids.
And Patty is right.
And Patty is right.
Posted by Gator Guy on 03/22/16 at 11:36 PM
Apparently, one of the results of the castration was that the castrato had an unusually barrelled chest, so he could sustain the long notes for much longer. Also, since they could get an erection, but, obviously, not get a woman pregnant, they were in demand as lovers. And, since it could be claimed that they were neither male nor female, they were a prized target for the predator priests, too.
Posted by TheCannyScot in Atlanta, GA on 03/23/16 at 09:43 AM
There was a young sailor named Bates
Who danced the fandango on skates
but a fall on his cutlass
rendered him nutless
and practically useless on dates
Who danced the fandango on skates
but a fall on his cutlass
rendered him nutless
and practically useless on dates
Posted by Harvey on 03/27/16 at 11:11 PM
Thanks, Harvey, that's #260 in my Limerick file.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 03/28/16 at 01:12 AM
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Category: Music | 1900s