Castrato
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"of the nineteenth century , Schopenhauer could write in his diary , after hearing Girolamo Crescentini (1762 - 1846) in Vienna , " His supernaturally beautiful ..."--The Gendering of Men, 1600-1750 “His supernaturally beautiful voice cannot be compared with that of any woman: there can be no fuller and more beautiful tone, and in its silver purity he yet achieves indescribable power.” —On Crescentini, from the diary of Arthur Schopenhauer, Vienna 1805 “supernaturally beautiful,” “silver purity” “indescribable power.”--Arthur Schopenhauer |
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A castrato is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto voice produced either by castration of the singer before puberty or one who, because of an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity. Castrati should not be confused with eunuchs, who are castrated after puberty and do not share the physical characteristics of someone castrated before puberty.
In Europe, when women were not permitted to sing in church or cathedral choirs in the Roman Catholic Church, boys were sometimes castrated to prevent their voices breaking at puberty and to develop a special high voice. The first documents mentioning castrati are Italian church records from the 1550s. In the baroque music era these singers were highly appreciated by Opera composers as well. Famous castrati include Farinelli, Senesino, Carestini, and Caffarelli. Joseph Haydn was almost castrated. The last castrato was Alessandro Moreschi (1858-1922) who served in the Sistine Chapel Choir. However, in the late 1800s, the Roman Catholic Church, which had always considered castration to be mutilation of the body and therefore a severe sin, officially condemned the production of castrati; their castrations had been performed clandestinely in contravention of Church law.
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