A castrato (Italian, plural: ''castrati'') is a
type of
classical male
singing
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...
equivalent to that of a
soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...
,
mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...
, or
contralto
A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type.
The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...
. The voice is produced by
castration
Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical castration uses pharmaceut ...
of the singer before
puberty
Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy. ...
, or it occurs in one who, due to an
endocrinological
The endocrine system is a messenger system comprising feedback loops of the hormones released by internal glands of an organism directly into the circulatory system, regulating distant target organs. In vertebrates, the hypothalamus is the neur ...
condition, never reaches
sexual maturity
Sexual maturity is the capability of an organism to reproduce. In humans it might be considered synonymous with adulthood, but here puberty is the name for the process of biological sexual maturation, while adulthood is based on cultural definitio ...
.
Castration before puberty (or in its early stages) prevents the
larynx
The larynx (), commonly called the voice box, is an organ in the top of the neck involved in breathing, producing sound and protecting the trachea against food aspiration. The opening of larynx into pharynx known as the laryngeal inlet is about ...
from being transformed by the
normal physiological events of puberty. As a result, the
vocal range
Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of stud ...
of prepubescence (shared by both sexes) is largely retained, and the voice develops into adulthood in a unique way. Prepubescent castration for this purpose diminished greatly in the late 18th century.
Methods of castration used to terminate on the onset of puberty varied. Methods involved using opium to medically induce a coma, then submerging the boy into an ice or milk bath where the procedure of either severing the vas deferens (similar to a vasectomy), twisting the testicles until they atrophied, or complete removal via surgical cutting was performed (however the complete removal of the testicles was not a popularly used technique). The procedure was usually done to boys around the age of 8-10, recovery time from the procedure took around two weeks. The means by which future singers were prepared could lead to premature death. To prevent the child from experiencing the intense pain of castration, many were inadvertently administered lethal doses of
opium
Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...
or some other narcotic, or were killed by overlong compression of the
carotid artery Carotid artery may refer to:
* Common carotid artery, often "carotids" or "carotid", an artery on each side of the neck which divides into the external carotid artery and internal carotid artery
* External carotid artery, an artery on each side of t ...
in the neck (intended to render them unconscious during the castration procedure).
The geographical locations of where these procedures took place is not known specifically. During the 18th century itself, the music historian
Charles Burney
Charles Burney (7 April 1726 – 12 April 1814) was an English music historian, composer and musician. He was the father of the writers Frances Burney and Sarah Burney, of the explorer James Burney, and of Charles Burney, a classicist a ...
was sent from pillar to post in search of places where ''the operation'' was carried out:
I enquired throughout Italy at what place boys were chiefly qualified for singing by castration, but could get no certain intelligence. I was told at Milan that it was at Venice; at Venice that it was at Bologna; but at Bologna the fact was denied, and I was referred to Florence; from Florence to Rome, and from Rome I was sent to Naples ... it is said that there are shops in Naples with this inscription: 'QUI SI CASTRANO RAGAZZI' ("Here boys are castrated"); but I was utterly unable to see or hear of any such shops during my residence in that city.
As the castrato's body grew, his lack of testosterone meant that his
epiphyses
The epiphysis () is the rounded end of a long bone, at its joint with adjacent bone(s). Between the epiphysis and diaphysis (the long midsection of the long bone) lies the metaphysis, including the epiphyseal plate (growth plate). At the join ...
(bone-joints) did not harden in the normal manner. Thus the
limbs of the castrati often grew unusually long, as did their
ribs. This, combined with intensive training, gave them unrivalled
lung-power and breath capacity. Operating through small, child-sized
vocal cords
In humans, vocal cords, also known as vocal folds or voice reeds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through vocalization. The size of vocal cords affects the pitch of voice. Open when breathing and vibrating for speech ...
, their voices were also extraordinarily flexible, and quite different from the equivalent adult female voice. Their vocal range was higher than that of the uncastrated adult male. Listening to the only surviving recordings of a castrato (see below), one can hear that the lower part of the voice sounds like a "super-high" tenor, with a more
falsetto
''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave.
It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...
-like upper register above that.
Castrati were rarely referred to as such: in the 18th century, the
euphemism
A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes ...
''
musico The Italian term musico (plural ''musici'') has a number of meanings:
* Originally, the term referred to any trained, as opposed to amateur, musician.
* In the 18th century, the polite term was used for the voice-type known today as castrato, whi ...
'' (pl ''musici'') was much more generally used, although it usually carried derogatory implications; another synonym was ''evirato'', literally meaning "
emasculated
Emasculation is the removal of both the penis and the testicles, the external male sex organs. It differs from castration, which is the removal of the testicles only, although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. The potential medical ...
".
Eunuch
A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.
The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...
is a more general term since, historically, many eunuchs were castrated after puberty and thus the castration had no impact on their voices.
History
![Byzantine castrato](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Byzantine_castrato.jpg)
Castration as a means of subjugation, enslavement or other punishment has a very long history, dating back to ancient
Sumer
Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of c ...
. In a Western context, eunuch singers are known to have existed from the early
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
. In
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
around 400 AD, the empress
Aelia Eudoxia
Aelia Eudoxia (; ; died 6 October 404) was a Roman empress consort by marriage to the Roman emperor Arcadius. The marriage was the source of some controversy, as it was arranged by Eutropius, one of the eunuch court officials, who was attempti ...
had a eunuch choir-master, Brison, who may have established the use of castrati in Byzantine choirs, though whether Brison himself was a singer and whether he had colleagues who were eunuch singers is not certain. By the 9th century, eunuch singers were well-known (not least in the choir of
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...
) and remained so until the sack of Constantinople by the Western forces of the
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...
in 1204. Their fate from then until their reappearance in Italy more than three hundred years later is not clear. It seems likely that the Spanish tradition of soprano falsettists may have hidden castrati. Much of Spain was under
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
rulers during the Middle Ages, and castration had a history going back to the ancient Near East. Stereotypically, eunuchs served as harem guards, but they were also valued as high-level political appointees since they could not start a dynasty which would threaten the ruler.
European classical tradition
Castrati first appeared in Italy in the mid-16th century, though at first the terms describing them were not always clear. The phrase ''soprano maschio'' (male soprano), which could also mean falsettist, occurs in the ''Due Dialoghi della Musica'' (Two dialogues upon music) of Luigi Dentice, an Oratorian priest, published in Rome in 1553. On 9 November 1555 Cardinal
Ippolito II d'Este
Ippolito (II) d'Este (25 August 1509 – 2 December 1572) was an Italian cardinal and statesman. He was a member of the House of Este, and nephew of the other Ippolito d'Este, also a cardinal. He is perhaps best known for his despoliation of the ...
(famed as the builder of the Villa d'Este at Tivoli), wrote to
Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua
Guglielmo Gonzaga (24 April 1538 – 14 August 1587) was Duke of Mantua from 1550 to 1587, and of Montferrat from 1574 to 1587. He was the second son of Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Margaret Palaeologina of Montferrat. In 1574, Montfe ...
(1538–1587), that he has heard that the Duke was interested in his ''cantoretti'' (little singers) and offered to send him two, so that he could choose one for his own service. This is a rare term but probably does equate to ''castrato''.
[Sherr] The Cardinal's nephew,
Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, was another early enthusiast, inquiring about castrati in 1556. There were certainly castrati in the
Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel (; la, Sacellum Sixtinum; it, Cappella Sistina ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the pope in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), the chapel takes its name ...
choir in 1558, although not described as such: on 27 April of that year, Hernando Bustamante, a Spaniard from
Palencia
Palencia () is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Palencia.
Located in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, in the northern half o ...
, was admitted (the first castrati so termed who joined the Sistine choir were Pietro Paolo Folignato and Girolamo Rossini, admitted in 1599).
Surprisingly, considering the later French distaste for castrati, they certainly existed in France at this time also, being known of in Paris,
Orléans
Orléans (;["Orleans"](_blank)
(US) and [Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...]
, though they were not abundant: the King of France himself had difficulty in obtaining them.
By 1574, there were castrati in the Ducal court chapel at
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
, where the
Kapellmeister
(, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...
(music director) was the famous
Orlando di Lasso
Orlande de Lassus ( various other names; probably – 14 June 1594) was a composer of the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school, Lassus stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palest ...
. In 1589, by the bull ''Cum pro nostro pastorali munere'',
Pope Sixtus V
Pope Sixtus V ( it, Sisto V; 13 December 1521 – 27 August 1590), born Felice Piergentile, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 1585 to his death in August 1590. As a youth, he joined the Franciscan order ...
re-organised the choir of
St Peter's, Rome
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...
specifically to include castrati.
Thus the castrati came to supplant both boys (whose voices broke after only a few years) and falsettists (whose voices were weaker and less reliable) from the top line in such choirs. Women were banned by the Pauline dictum ''mulieres in ecclesiis taceant'' ("let women keep silent in the churches"; see I Corinthians, ch. 14, v. 34).
The Italian castrati were often rumored to have unusually long lives, but a 1993 study found that their lifespans were average.
Opera
Although the castrato (or musico) predates opera, there is some evidence that castrati had parts in the earliest operas. In the first performance of
Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered ...
's ''
Orfeo
Orfeo Classic Schallplatten und Musikfilm GmbH of Munich was a German independent classical record label founded in 1979 by Axel Mehrle and launched in 1980. It has been owned by Naxos since 2015.
History
The Orfeo music label was registered ...
'' (1607), for example, they played subsidiary roles, including Speranza and (possibly) that of Euridice. Although female roles were performed by castrati in some of the papal states, this was increasingly rare; by 1680, they had supplanted "normal" male voices in lead roles, and retained their position as ''primo uomo'' for about a hundred years; an Italian opera not featuring at least one renowned castrato in a lead part would be doomed to fail. Because of the popularity of Italian opera throughout 18th-century Europe (except France), singers such as Ferri,
Farinelli,
Senesino
Francesco Bernardi (; 31 October 1686 – 27 November 1758), known as Senesino ( or traditionally ), was a celebrated Italian contralto castrato, particularly remembered today for his long collaboration with the composer George Frideric Handel ...
and
Pacchierotti became the first operatic superstars, earning enormous fees and hysterical public adulation. The strictly hierarchical organisation of ''
opera seria
''Opera seria'' (; plural: ''opere serie''; usually called ''dramma per musica'' or ''melodramma serio'') is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to abo ...
'' favoured their high voices as symbols of heroic virtue, though they were frequently mocked for their strange appearance and bad acting. In his 1755 ''Reflections upon theatrical expression in tragedy'', Roger Pickering wrote:
Farinelli drew every Body to the Haymarket. What a Pipe! What Modulation! What Extasy to the Ear! But, Heavens! What Clumsiness! What Stupidity! What Offence to the Eye! Reader, if of the City, thou mayest probably have seen in the Fields of Islington or Mile-End or, If thou art in the environs of St James', thou must have observed in the Park with what Ease and Agility a cow, heavy with calf, has rose up at the command of the Milk-woman's foot: thus from the mossy bank sprang the DIVINE FARINELLI.
The training of the boys was rigorous. The regimen of one singing school in Rome (c. 1700) consisted of one hour of singing difficult and awkward pieces, one hour practising trills, one hour practising ornamented passaggi, one hour of singing exercises in their teacher's presence and in front of a mirror so as to avoid unnecessary movement of the body or facial grimaces, and one hour of literary study; all this, moreover, before lunch. After, half an hour would be devoted to musical theory, another to writing counterpoint, an hour copying down the same from dictation, and another hour of literary study. During the remainder of the day, the young castrati had to find time to practice their
harpsichord
A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
playing, and to compose vocal music, either sacred or secular depending on their inclination. This demanding schedule meant that, if sufficiently talented, they were able to make a debut in their mid-teens with a perfect technique and a voice of a flexibility and power no woman or ordinary male singer could match.
![Scalzi by Flipart](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Scalzi_by_Flipart.jpg)
In the 1720s and 1730s, at the height of the craze for these voices, it has been estimated that upwards of 4,000 boys were castrated annually in the service of art. Many came from poor homes and were castrated by their parents in the hope that their child might be successful and lift them from poverty (this was the case with
Senesino
Francesco Bernardi (; 31 October 1686 – 27 November 1758), known as Senesino ( or traditionally ), was a celebrated Italian contralto castrato, particularly remembered today for his long collaboration with the composer George Frideric Handel ...
). There are, though, records of some young boys asking to be operated on to preserve their voices (e.g.
Caffarelli Caffarelli may be
*Caffarelli (castrato), stage name of the castrato Gaetano Majorano (1710-1783)Carmela Cafarelli(1889-1979) was proprietor of Cleveland Ohio's Cafarelli Opera Company
*Luis Caffarelli (born 1948), American-Argentine mathematician
* ...
, who was from a wealthy family: his grandmother gave him the income from two vineyards to pay for his studies). Caffarelli was also typical of many castrati in being famous for tantrums on and off-stage, and for amorous adventures with noble ladies. Some, as described by Casanova, preferred gentlemen (noble or otherwise). Only a small percentage of boys castrated to preserve their voices had successful careers on the operatic stage; the better "also-rans" sang in cathedral or church choirs, but because of their marked appearance and the ban on their marrying, there was little room for them in society outside a musical context.
The castrati came in for a great amount of scurrilous and unkind abuse, and as their fame increased, so did the hatred of them. They were often castigated as malign creatures who lured men into homosexuality. There were homosexual castrati, as
Casanova
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...
's accounts of 18th-century
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
bear witness. He mentions meeting an abbé whom he took for a girl in disguise, only later discovering that "she" was a famous castrato. In Rome in 1762 he attended a performance at which the
prima donna
In opera or commedia dell'arte, a prima donna (; Italian for "first lady"; plural: ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given.
''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage pers ...
was a castrato, "the favourite
pathic" of
Cardinal Borghese
Pope Paul V ( la, Paulus V; it, Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death in January 1621. In 1611, he honored ...
, who dined every evening with his protector. From his behaviour on stage "it was obvious that he hoped to inspire the love of those who liked him as a man, and probably would not have done so as a woman".
Decline
![Moreschi giovane](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Moreschi_giovane.jpg)
By the late 18th century, changes in operatic taste and social attitudes spelled the end for castrati. They lingered on past the end of the ''
ancien régime
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word for "ancient, old"
** Société des anciens textes français
* the French for "former, senior"
** Virelai ancien
** Ancien Régime
** Ancien Régime in France
{{disambig ...
'' (which their style of opera parallels), and two of their number,
Pacchierotti and
Crescentini, performed before Napoleon. The last great operatic castrato was
Giovanni Battista Velluti (1781–1861), who performed the last operatic castrato role ever written: Armando in ''
Il crociato in Egitto'' by
Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner". With his 1831 opera ''Robert le d ...
(Venice, 1824). Soon after this they were replaced definitively as the first men of the operatic stage by a new breed of heroic tenor, as first incarnated by the Frenchman
Gilbert-Louis Duprez, the earliest so-called "king of the high Cs". His successors have included such singers as
Enrico Tamberlik
Enrico Tamberlik (16 March 1820 – 13 March 1889) was an Italian tenor who sang to great acclaim at Europe and America's leading opera venues. He excelled in the heroic roles of the Italian and French repertories and was renowned for his po ...
,
Jean de Reszke
Jean de Reszke (14 January 18503 April 1925) was a Polish tenor and opera star. Reszke came from a musically inclined family. His mother gave him his first singing lessons and provided a home that was a recognized music centre. His sister Josep ...
,
Francesco Tamagno
Francesco Tamagno (28 December 1850 – 31 August 1905) was an Italian operatic tenor who sang with enormous success throughout Europe and America.Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', 782 pages, On 5 February ...
,
Enrico Caruso
Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...
,
Giovanni Martinelli
Giovanni Martinelli (22 October 1885 – 2 February 1969) was an Italian operatic tenor. He was associated with the Italian lyric-dramatic repertory, although he performed French operatic roles to great acclaim as well. Martinelli was one of t ...
,
Beniamino Gigli
Beniamino Gigli ( , ; 20 March 1890 – 30 November 1957) was an Italian opera singer (lyric tenor). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tenors of his generation.
Early life
Gigli was born in Recanati, in the Marche, the son of a shoem ...
,
Jussi Björling
Johan Jonatan "Jussi" Björling ( , ; 5 February 19119 September 1960) was a Swedish tenor. One of the leading operatic singers of the 20th century, Björling appeared for many years at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and less frequentl ...
,
Franco Corelli
Franco Corelli (8 April 1921 – 29 October 2003) was an Italian tenor who had a major international opera career between 1951 and 1976. Associated in particular with the spinto and dramatic tenor roles of the Italian repertory, he was cel ...
and
Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...
, among others.
After the unification of Italy in 1861, "eviration" was officially made illegal (the new Italian state had adopted the previous penal code of the
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...
which expressly forbade the practice). In 1878,
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...
prohibited the hiring of new castrati by the church: only in the Sistine Chapel and in other papal basilicas in Rome did a few castrati linger. A group photo of the Sistine Choir taken in 1898 shows that by then only six remained (plus the ''Direttore Perpetuo'', the fine soprano castrato
Domenico Mustafà
Domenico Mustafà (16 April 1829 – 17 March 1912) was an Italian castrato singer, composer and choir director.
Life
Domenico Mustafà was born in the comune of Sellano,motu proprio
In law, ''motu proprio'' (Latin for "on his own impulse") describes an official act taken without a formal request from another party. Some jurisdictions use the term ''sua sponte'' for the same concept.
In Catholic canon law, it refers to a do ...
'', ''
Tra le Sollecitudini
''Tra le sollecitudini'' (Italian for "among the concerns") was a motu proprio issued 22 November 1903 by Pope Pius X that detailed regulations for the performance of music in the Roman Catholic Church. The title is taken from the opening phrase ...
'' ('Amongst the Cares'), which contained this instruction: "Whenever ... it is desirable to employ the high voices of sopranos and contraltos, these parts must be taken by boys, according to the most ancient usage of the Church."
The last Sistine castrato to survive was
Alessandro Moreschi
Alessandro Moreschi (11 November 1858 – 21 April 1922) was an Italian chorister of the late 19th century and the only castrato to make solo recordings.
Early life
Alessandro Moreschi was born on 11 November 1858 to Luigi Lorenzo Moreschi (1840 ...
, the only castrato to have made solo recordings. While an interesting historical record, these discs of his give us only a glimpse of the castrato voice – although he had been renowned as "The Angel of Rome" at the beginning of his career, some would say he was past his prime when the recordings were made in 1902 and 1904 and he never attempted to sing opera.
Domenico Salvatori
Domenico Salvatori (27 September 1855 – 11 December 1909) along with Alessandro Moreschi, Domenico Mustafà and Giovanni Cesari, was one of the famous castrati singers of the late 19th century.
Born in Anagni, he first started as a contralt ...
, a castrato who was contemporary with Moreschi, made some ensemble recordings with him but has no surviving solo recordings. The recording technology of the day was not of modern high quality. Salvatori died in 1909; Moreschi retired officially in March 1913, and died in 1922.
The Catholic Church's involvement in the castrato phenomenon has long been controversial, and there have recently been calls for it to issue an official apology for its role. As early as 1748,
Pope Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758.Antipope ...
tried to ban castrati from churches, but such was their popularity at the time that he realised that doing so might result in a drastic decline in church attendance.
The rumours of another castrato sequestered in the Vatican for the personal delectation of the Pontiff until as recently as 1959 have been proven false. The singer in question was a pupil of Moreschi's, Domenico Mancini, such a successful imitator of his teacher's voice that even
Lorenzo Perosi
Monsignor Lorenzo Perosi (21 December 1872 – 12 October 1956) was an Italian composer of sacred music and the only member of the Giovane Scuola who did not write opera. In the late 1890s, while he was still only in his twenties, Perosi was a ...
, Direttore Perpetuo of the Sistine Choir from 1898 to 1956 and a strenuous opponent of the practice of castrato singers, thought he was a castrato. Mancini was in fact a moderately skilful falsettist and professional
double bass
The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...
player.
Modern castrati and similar voices
So-called "natural" or "endocrinological castrati" are born with
hormonal
A hormone (from the Greek participle , "setting in motion") is a class of signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs by complex biological processes to regulate physiology and behavior. Hormones are required fo ...
anomalies, such as
Klinefelter's syndrome
Klinefelter syndrome (KS), also known as 47,XXY, is an aneuploid genetic condition where a male has an additional copy of the X chromosome. The primary features are infertility and small, poorly functioning testicles. Usually, symptoms are s ...
and
Kallmann's syndrome, or have undergone unusual physical or medical events during their early lives that reproduce the vocal effects of castration without being castrated. In simple terms, a male can retain his child voice if it never changes during puberty. The retained voice can be the
treble voice
A treble voice is a voice which takes the treble part. In the absence of a separate descant part, this is normally the highest- pitched part, and otherwise the second highest. The term is most often used today within the context of choral music in ...
shared by both sexes in childhood and is the same as boy soprano voice. But as evidence shows, many castratos, such as Senesino and Caffarelli, were actually
alto
The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...
s (mezzo-soprano) – not sopranos.
Jimmy Scott
James Victor Scott (July 17, 1925 – June 12, 2014), known professionally as Little Jimmy Scott or Jimmy Scott, was an American jazz vocalist known for his high natural contralto voice and his sensitivity on ballads and love songs.
After ...
,
Radu Marian
Radu Marian (; born in 1977) is a Moldavian male soprano or sopranist.
He possesses a pure soprano voice in the range of C4 to C6, and he is considered an important singer in Baroque music. His repertoire incorporates cantatas written for so ...
and
Javier Medina Javier may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Javier, in video game '' Advance Wars: Dual Strike''
* Javier Rios, a character in the Monsters, Inc. franchise.
* ''Javier'' (album), a 2003 album by the American singer Javier Colon, known ...
are examples of this type of high male voice via endocrinological diseases.
Michael Maniaci
Michael Maniaci (born May 3, 1976) is an American opera singer. Possessing a male soprano voice, Maniaci is noted for his claim to be able to sing into the upper soprano range without resorting to falsetto, an otherwise common phonation for me ...
is somewhat different, in that he has no hormonal or other anomalies, but claims that his voice did not "break" in the usual manner, leaving him still able to sing in the soprano register. Other uncastrated male adults sing soprano, generally using some form of
falsetto
''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave.
It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...
but in a much higher range than most
countertenor
A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a s ...
s. Examples are
Aris Christofellis
Aris Christofellis ( el, Άρης Χριστοφέλλης; born 5 February 1960) is a Greek sopranist (male soprano singer) and musicologist.
Life and career
Aris Christofellis was born in Athens. After studying piano in Athens and Paris with s ...
, Jörg Waschinski, and Ghio Nannini.
However, it is believed the castrati possessed more of a tenorial chest register (the aria "Navigante che non spera" in
Leonardo Vinci
Leonardo Vinci (1690 – 27 May 1730) was an Italian composer known chiefly for his 40 or so operas; comparatively little of his work in other genres survives. A central proponent of the Neapolitan School of opera, his influence on subseque ...
's opera ''Il Medo'', written for
Farinelli, requires notes down to C
3, 131 Hz). Similar low-voiced singing can be heard from the
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
vocalist Jimmy Scott, whose range matches approximately that used by female
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
singers. High-pitched singer
Jordan Smith has demonstrated having more of a tenorial chest register.
Actor
Chris Colfer
Christopher Paul Colfer (born May 27, 1990) is an American actor, singer, and author. He gained international recognition for his portrayal of Kurt Hummel on the television musical '' Glee'' (2009–2015). Colfer's portrayal of Kurt received cr ...
has stated in interviews that when his voice began to change at puberty, he sang in a high voice "constantly" in an effort to retain his range.
Actor and singer
Alex Newell
Alex Eugene Newell (born August 20, 1992) is an American actor and singer. They are known for their role as Unique Adams on the Fox musical series ''Glee'' and Mo on ''Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist''. Newell also starred as Asaka in the Broadway ...
has soprano range. Voice actor
Walter Tetley
Walter Tetley (born Walter Campbell Tetzlaff; June 2, 1915 – September 4, 1975)DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 260. was an ...
may or may not have been a ''castrato'';
Bill Scott, a co-worker of Tetley's during their later work in television, once half-jokingly quipped that Tetley's mother "had him fixed" to protect the child star's voice-acting career. Tetley did never personally divulge the exact reason for his condition, which left him with the voice of a preteen boy for his entire adult life.
Botanist
George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver ( 1864 – January 5, 1943) was an American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was one of the most prominent black scientists of the ea ...
was noted for his high voice, believed to be the result of
pertussis
Whooping cough, also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious bacterial disease. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common cold with a runny nose, fever, and mild cough, but these are followed by two or t ...
and
croup
Croup, also known as laryngotracheobronchitis, is a type of respiratory infection that is usually caused by a virus. The infection leads to swelling inside the trachea, which interferes with normal breathing and produces the classic symptoms o ...
infections in his childhood that stunted his growth.
Notable castrati
![Senesino](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Senesino.jpg)
*
Loreto Vittori Loreto Vittori (5 September 1600 (baptized) – 23 April 1670) was an Italian castrato and composer. From 1622 until his death, he was a mezzo-soprano singer in the papal chapel in Rome.
Life
Vittori was born in Spoleto and educated in Rome. H ...
(1604–1670)
*
Baldassare Ferri
Baldassare Ferri (9 December 1610 – 10 September 1680) was an Italian ''castrato'' singer. He is said to have possessed "extraordinary endurance of breath, flexibility of voice and depth of emotion".
History
He was born in Perugia, and at the ...
(1610–1680)
*
Atto Melani
Atto Melani (30 March 1626, in Pistoia – 4 January 1714, in Paris) was a famous Italian castrato opera singer, also employed as a diplomat and a spy.
Life
Melani was born in Pistoia, the third of seven sons of a local bell-ringer. He was cas ...
(1626–1714)
*
Giovanni Grossi ("Siface") (1653–1697)
*
Pier Francesco Tosi (1654–1732)
*
Nicolo Grimaldi ("Nicolini") (1673–1732)
*
Antonio Bernacchi
Antonio Maria Bernacchi (23 June 1685 – 1 March 1756) was an Italian castrato, composer, and teacher of singing. He studied with Francesco Antonio Pistocchi. His pupils included Farinelli, for a brief period during 1727, and the tenor Anton R ...
(1685–1756)
*Francesco Bernardi ("
Senesino
Francesco Bernardi (; 31 October 1686 – 27 November 1758), known as Senesino ( or traditionally ), was a celebrated Italian contralto castrato, particularly remembered today for his long collaboration with the composer George Frideric Handel ...
") (1686–1758)
*
Valentino Urbani
Valentino Urbani (born in Udine; ''fl.'' 1690–1722) was an Italian mezzo-soprano or alto castrato who sang for the composer George Frideric Handel in the 18th century. He was known by the stage name Valentini. He sang the role of Eustazio at t ...
("Valentini") (1690–1722)
*
Giacinto Fontana
Domenico Giacinto Fontana (1692–1739), also known as "Farfallino", was an Italian castrato singer active primarily in Rome from 1712 to 1736. He specialised in singing soprano female roles and earned the name "Farfallino" ("Little Butterfly") ...
("Farfallino") (1692–1739)
*
Giovanni Carestini
Giovanni Carestini (13 December 1700 in Filottrano, near Ancona – 1760 in Filottrano) was an Italian castrato of the 18th century, who sang in the operas and oratorios of George Frideric Handel. He is also remembered as having sung for Johan ...
("Cusanino") (c. 1704–c. 1760)
*Carlo Broschi ("
Farinelli") (1705–1782)
*
Domenico Annibali
Domenico Annibali (c. 1705 – 1779) was an Italian castrato who had an active international career from 1725–1764. He began his career in his native country and was then committed to the Grosses Königliches Opernhaus in Dresden from 1 ...
("Domenichino") (1705–1779)
*Gaetano Majorano ("
Caffarelli Caffarelli may be
*Caffarelli (castrato), stage name of the castrato Gaetano Majorano (1710-1783)Carmela Cafarelli(1889-1979) was proprietor of Cleveland Ohio's Cafarelli Opera Company
*Luis Caffarelli (born 1948), American-Argentine mathematician
* ...
") (1710–1783)
*
Felice Salimbeni
Felice Salimbeni (c. 1712 - 16 October 1755) was an Italian castrato opera singer. Born in Milan, his singing teachers included Nicola Antonio Porpora and Christoph Schaffrath. He sang in venues in Rome, Vienna, Berlin and Dresden, singing the t ...
(1712–1752)
*Giaocchino Conti ("
Gizziello
Gioacchino Conti (28 February 1714 – 25 October 1761), best known as Gizziello or Egizziello, was an Italian soprano castrato opera singer.
Biography
Conti was born in Arpino in 1714, possibly the son of the composer Nicola Conti. After stu ...
") (1714–1761)
*
Giovanni Manzuoli
Giovanni Manzuoli (Giovanni Manzoli) (1720–1782) was an Italian castrato who sang as a soprano at the beginning of his career, and later as a contralto.
History
Born in Florence, Italy, Manzuoli began singing there in 1731. After performing ...
(1720–1782)
*
Gaetano Guadagni
Gaetano Guadagni (16 February 1728 – 11 November 1792) was an Italian mezzo-soprano castrato singer, most famous for singing the role of Orpheus at the premiere of Gluck's opera '' Orfeo ed Euridice'' in 1762.
Career
Born at Lodi, Guadagni ...
(1725–1792)
*
Giusto Fernando Tenducci
Giusto Fernando Tenducci, sometimes called "il Senesino" (c. 1735 – 25 January 1790), was a soprano (castrato) opera singer and composer, who passed his career partly in Italy but chiefly in Britain.
Biography
Born in Siena in about 1735, Ten ...
(ca. 1736–1790)
*
Giuseppe Millico
Vito Giuseppe Millico, called "''Il Moscovita''" (19 January 1737 – 2 October 1802), was an Italian soprano castrato, composer, and music teacher of the 18th century who is best remembered for his performances in the operas of Christoph Wi ...
("Il Muscovita") (1737–1802)
*
Gasparo Pacchierotti (1740–1821)
*
Venanzio Rauzzini
Venanzio Rauzzini (19 December 1746 – 8 April 1810) was an Italian castrato, composer, pianist, singing teacher and concert impresario. He is said to have first studied singing under a member of the Sistine Chapel Choir. He was a cantante so ...
(1746–1810)
*
Luigi Marchesi
Luigi Marchesi (; 8 August 1754 – 14 December 1829) was an Italian castrato singer, one of the most prominent and charismatic to appear in Europe during the second half of the eighteenth century. His singing was praised by the likes of Mozart ...
("Marchesini") (1754–1829)
*
Vincenzo dal Prato (1756–1828)
*
Girolamo Crescentini (1762–1848)
*
Giovanni Battista "Giambattista" Velluti (1781–1861)
*
Domenico Mustafà
Domenico Mustafà (16 April 1829 – 17 March 1912) was an Italian castrato singer, composer and choir director.
Life
Domenico Mustafà was born in the comune of Sellano,Giovanni Cesari
Giovanni Cesari (25 June 1843 – 10 March 1904) was an Italian singer with a ''soprano acuto'', or high soprano voice.
Together with Alessandro Moreschi, Domenico Salvatori and Domenico Mustafà, Cesari was a famous castrato singer of the late ...
(1843–1904)
*
Domenico Salvatori
Domenico Salvatori (27 September 1855 – 11 December 1909) along with Alessandro Moreschi, Domenico Mustafà and Giovanni Cesari, was one of the famous castrati singers of the late 19th century.
Born in Anagni, he first started as a contralt ...
(1855–1909)
*
Alessandro Moreschi
Alessandro Moreschi (11 November 1858 – 21 April 1922) was an Italian chorister of the late 19th century and the only castrato to make solo recordings.
Early life
Alessandro Moreschi was born on 11 November 1858 to Luigi Lorenzo Moreschi (1840 ...
(1858–1922)
See also
* ''
Cry to Heaven
''Cry to Heaven'' is a novel by American author Anne Rice published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1982. Taking place in eighteenth-century Italy, it follows the paths of two unlikely collaborators: a Venetian noble and a maestro from Calabria, both tryi ...
''
* ''
The Alteration
''The Alteration'' is a 1976 alternative history novel by Kingsley Amis, set in a parallel universe in which the Reformation did not take place. It won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 1977.
Creative origins
In his biography of Kingsl ...
''
*
''Farinelli'' (film)
* ''
Sarrasine
''Sarrasine'' is a novella written by Honoré de Balzac. It was published in 1830, and is part of his '' Comédie Humaine''.
Introduction
Balzac, who began writing in 1819 while living alone in the rue Lesdiguières, undertook the composition ...
''
*
Eunuch
A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.
The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...
*
Comprachicos
Comprachicos is a compound Spanish neologism meaning "child-buyers", which was coined by Victor Hugo in his novel '' The Man Who Laughs''. The words Comprapequeños and Cheylas are also used.
It refers to various groups in folklore who were said ...
References
Bibliography
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External links
All you would like to know about CastratiCastrados por amor al arte* Recordings:
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Antonio Maria Bononcini
Antonio Maria Bononcini (18 June 1677 – 8 July 1726) was an Italian cellist and composer, the younger brother of the better-known Giovanni Bononcini.
Bononcini was born and died at Modena in Italy. Like his brother, he studied with Giovanni Pa ...
'
''Vorrei pupille belle'' sung by
Radu Marian
Radu Marian (; born in 1977) is a Moldavian male soprano or sopranist.
He possesses a pure soprano voice in the range of C4 to C6, and he is considered an important singer in Baroque music. His repertoire incorporates cantatas written for so ...
*
1904 Recording of Alessandro Moreschisinging Bach/Gounod ''
Ave Maria
The Hail Mary ( la, Ave Maria) is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the Gospel of Luke: the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (the Annunciation) and Mary's s ...
''
*
Javier Medina Avila including an audio sample (Riccardo Broschi: ''Ombra fedele anch'io'')
{{Authority control
Voice types
*
Opera history
Italian opera terminology
Obsolete occupations
Androgyny