The World of the Castrati: The History of an Extraordinary Operatic Phenomenon

by Patrick Barbier

This entertaining and authoritative study of the castrati during the baroque period explores the lives and triumphs of more than 60 singers over three centuries—their social origins, training, and relationship to society and church. Blending history and anecdote, it traces the course of a phenomenon that held Europe in its thrall. People were fascinated by these hybrids—part man, part woman, and part child—who became virile heroes on the operatic stage. The reader will learn of the horrors of castration, the nature of the strange castrato voice, and the conflicts these singers experienced.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Music, 18th Century, Italy, Eunuch, 17th Century

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conservatoires in Naples especially, trained the castrati in “passaggi (meow, head to chest), messa di voce (long note, crescendo & diminuendo), gorgheggi (warbled solfeggio), mordents and appoggiaturas. (p.53)

What of the others, who may have been admitted with good voices, but worsened?
The governors of the Conservatoire, Sept 1763, “Certain eunuchs, possessing good voices when admitted, later become, through adolescence or illness, incapable of singing. Charity demands that they not be abandoned; for this reason we charge the choir masters in the Conservatoire to do everything they can to guide them as singers, directing them to contralto if they cannot succeed as sopranos. If they can not sing as contraltos, the choir masters should ensure that they be taught to play some instrument at which they can succeed and thus and thus supply their own needs”(55).

Physiological disruption. “Feminisation” among some, fattier limbs and maybe face; but also, “Another surprising aspect often observed was the abnormal height of the castrati, a somewhat awkward phenomenon for men who often took women’s roles and stood a head taller than their partners.” Height because the pituitary action was not counterbalanced by testosterone, so sometimes overactivity of growth hormone. (14)

Castrati were the rock-stars of the 17th and 18th Centuries, commanding huge sums, and in England, privately gifted by Lords, Monarchs and Merchants with as much again as their huge fees. France was an exception “which held the record for meanness.” London, Vienna, Lisbon, Moscow and the German courts offered them good money, as they did women singers and instrumentalists. Merely being Italian musicians gained twice the fees. This caused great jealousy, and more than one castrato was ambushed at night and “beaten by rivals” (117).
One castrato invited to sing in Portugal only deferred his/r fee because of the Lisbon earthquake on All Saints, 1755. It is said the earthquake alone kept Brazil solvent from singers’ overcharging.
To show how monarchs’ valued castrati, consider this: the war between Sweden and Poland was stopped for the loan of Ferri by the King of Poland. Queen Christina of Sweden demanded a truce and sent her “royal ship to fetch him, while hostilities ceased provisionally”(120).
In an American addendum a century later, the Jubilee Singers from Fisk University tried to raise money by touring the north, but got nowhere until their Oberlin concert followed by Henry Ward Beecher’s rich church in NYC. Proud he was a grad of my Amherst College, in fact I walked past his statue every day—this before they put up a bad statue to Frost. (My teachers there included Bill Pritchard, T Baird and Archibald MacLeish.)

Barbier concludes his book with the last castrato at the Vatican, in the early 20C, and a film on Farinelli in 1994 where Corbiau tried to replicate the voice by blending a soprano and a counter-tenor. His final sentence, "This adventure lasted for three centuries, defying all the laws of morality and reason to achieve the impossible union of monster and angel"(242).

[James Barker · Rating 4 out of 5]

In much of seventeenth and eighteenth century Europe the castrati were the pop idols of their day. Castrated between the ages of 7 and 12 these men- frequently from impoverished backgrounds in Italy- had a small opportunity to become successful, famous and financially secure. Those who made it caused women in Italy, Vienna, London, Madrid, to swoon; they toured the continent entertaining royalty and the super-rich and were lavished with diamonds and objets fashioned from gold. The most famous (and apparently most humble), Farinelli, became confidante of the Spanish monarchs in his 22-year stay at their side.

There is much to admire in Patrick Barbier's book examining 'the history of an extraordinary operatic phenomenon.' I particularly liked his descriptions of the grand Italian opera houses of the 1700s- the superb set pieces by ingenious designers, the use of perspective, the appearances on stage of elephants, camels. All this versus the squalor of the corridors, the boxes of the wealthy (furnished however they wished as they rented them annually), the rabble in the pit spat on by their betters in the boxes.. The author certainly brings to life the social aspect of attending the opera, the fact that the music was not always the main attraction. Rather it was a chance to gossip, to see and be seen.

Clearly the castrati were the most vivid representation of the artifice popular in Italian opera during the late seventieth century into the nineteenth. But this meant a sacrifice that involved much more than two pieces of their anatomy. Rigorous training that could last up to 10 years meant that the boys that entered conservatoires as brand new eunuchs usually lost touch with their family (very often they resented their family, in any case, as often hard-up fathers pushed for the operation in the hope that it would bring financial stability). They often lived isolated lives, attacked by a variety of enemies, although their relationship with the church depended on the proclivities of individual popes. I found it particularly interesting that castrati in Papal-run conservatoires were dressed as cherubs and rented out to families grieving lost babes. The cherub-castrato would watch over the body until it was buried. The castrati most certainly did not have an easy time of it.

There is simply not enough documentation regarding the castrati, so Barbier has to rely often on anecdotes and asides. These are entertaining enough but, just as with the castrati themselves, there is something missing.

I'm not a great fan of opera but as an insight into what I would consider a dark and barbaric chapter of musical history this is a fascinating read. Castrati were known as 'sacred monsters' and this alone indicates how they were considered something of a third sex, diabolically bodied but with voices suggestive of angels.

[Jonathan Vasquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5
fascinante.

[Sebastian Nothwell]

Not just a thorough examination of individual castrati lives but also the operatic world that created them. Highly recommended, even (or especially) if you know nothing of opera.

[The Idle Woman · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. For my full review, please see my blog:
http://theidlewoman.blogspot.co.uk/20...

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

On a low-stakes topic like this, French cultural history is best cultural history: arch, romantic, heedlessly speculative.

“The sincere love felt by certain castrati for a woman sometimes led them into marriage and if this occasionally ended in failure it was never the fault of the couple themselves but of the society in which they lived.”

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book appeared to be very well researched and thorough, but it was surprisingly slow reading for me. Mostly, I just found it sad and rather depressing. The beginning of the book described the practice of castrating little boys as young as seven and the desperation that drove their parents to allow it. Children in general had such hard lives, especially poor children. Even the castrati boys, who were supposed to have such wonderful opportunities had shockingly hard lives in their prison-like schools. The unbelievably strict discipline and long hours of practice produced unheard of lung capacity and vocal ability but couldn't make up for a genuine lack of talent in many of the boys. Of course, the Catholic church played a major part in this phenomenon. Their church choirs and cardinals benefitted financially and in other ways. Some castrati spent their lives in churches and a few gifted & talented ones became opera stars. The most interesting part of the book to me concerned opera, composers, singers, actors, and the lives of the few castrati who became rich and famous. They had their share of scandals and drama, much like our "jet setters" and rock stars.

[DW Rowlands · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was interesting, but at the same time disappointing. Perhaps it would be less so to someone reading it from a history-of-music standpoint, but I was reading it in the hope of learning more about gender roles in early modern Europe. As a nonbinary, somewhat-neutrois-identified reader, I found the book pretty disappointing for both the lack of information it covered, and the author's superficial and not-always-accurate understanding of the medical consequences of castration.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super interesting topic and has been on my list for years thanks to Anne Rice. We hard to find but I finally broke down and bought it. Took me a while to slog through it though.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was originally written in French, using material that was mostly in Italian ... and the reader is still expected to know French, Italian and Latin. The reader is also supposed to know French history, opera and musical terminology. The translator to English must not have been a native speaker, since English names for some phrases are never translated. For example, in English, you refer to Maria Callas by her name -- not "La Callas." And what was going on with the random exclamation points?

I have no idea why I persevered with this. Perhaps its my fascination with the strange and bizarre. This fascination was apparently amped to the "nth" degree for the European musical audiences and upper classes for about 300 years. Castrati were Goddamned rock stars, long before there were rock stars.

There was a lot of speculation about what a castrati's voice was actually like. Only one castrati survived to have his voice recorded. You can find it on YouTube ... and I highly recommend that you don't listen to it. It's absolutely AWFUL. It's generally acknowledged that this last castrati didn't in any way sound like a great castrati like Farenelli ... but the author disagrees and actually likes it. There is no effort to compare what a castrati's voice might have sounded like compared to a 20th century singer.

Farinelli was supposed to've had a vocal range of three octives. Freddie Mercury had a vocal range of FOUR octives (depending on who you read.) So -- the greatest of the castrati sounded like a bad Freddie Mercury impersonator?

On the whole, I'm not altogether sure if the author wrote this book in part to revive castrati in opera. I know biographers or historians tend to fall in love with their subjects, but Jesus. Unfortunately, getting gelded before puberty was no insurance against voices breaking, or worse.

There is one bit in the book that is particularly confusing to me as a horse lover: Farenelli bought "thoroughbred Lichensteinian horses." I don't know that the word "thoroughbred" is incorrectly used as a synonym for "purebred" as seen here. (Thoroughbred only means a particular breed of horse.) I have no idea what horses these animals from Liechtenstein could be, since that country has never been known for producing outstanding horses. I've got a feeling Farenelli was taken in by a horse dealer with a clever tongue.

Now, that would be a book worth reading.

[Leanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is much to admire about this history of the castrati. Some reviewers felt it was a slow read. I think we have gotten so used to wonderfully entertaining books written in the narrative history mode (which can be page-turners like a novel) that it makes it harder to tackle straight expository style history. This was originally written in French so being a translation could have also made it feel bogged down. Interesting, though, that the French were the one people in Europe who were not head over heels over castrati voices, or of Italian opera in general. The French did stand apart in their musical tastes during the Baroque period and in general were not enamored by high voices. And yet not only do we have this wonderful history book, but the popular movie about Farinelli from the 90s was also a French production (Brilliant movie!)

The descriptions of the opera houses were specially dazzling. I really loved the way the author not only described the architecture and history of these opera houses but went to great length to illuminate the way audiences were quite different back then in the days before Mahler (he says Wagner) insisted that audiences sit quietly and face the stage. In trying to describe what things were like in Naples in the 18th century he compares it to attending a religious service in southern Italy today.

His explanations about the history of the castrati in terms of baroque music in general was the best part of the book. This was very well done. Castrati voices and technique certainly fit in with the predilection for artifices, high voices, and ornamentation.

And he was thorough on the role of the Catholic Church. Anne Rice in her novel Cry to Heaven also describes the way castrati boys working in church choirs were sent to as "cherubs" to watch over the bodies of dead children until burial. The book is about the deplorable tradition in terms of opera--but Barbier is very detailed (and even-handed) in his examination of the role of the Catholic church.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was just… dense. I enjoyed it, and I learned a lot, but it was something of a slog to read. I think you would need a grounding in the history of opera for it to go down easy. But I don’t think the author’s overly academic approach helped much. He divided the book up, basically, into the life stages of a castrato: first, castration; then an Italian music school school, singing in the church, singing in the theater, going out in society, etc. and in these he would give myriad examples of how all the major castrati went through these passages. The problem with that, it was very easy to get these singers mixed up so they became a castrati zupa. I’d rather he’d just concentrated on a few to go in-depth on and make anecdotes of all the others.

The book would really be best read before or after seeing a movie like Farinelli or Amadeus, or reading a book like Anne Rice’s Cry to Heaven. In Rice’s case I can see how she went to Barbier’s sources to get her own fictional background right.

As said I did enjoy learning about early opera but boy am I still pissed there’s no way to hear the group of people I’ve learned about.

[Natacha Pavlov · Rating 5 out of 5]

This insightful read figures as a favorite of mine for this year.
In a phenomenon that’s as strange and barbaric to us as it was then (at least in principle), a castrato is an opera singer who’s been castrated before puberty to preserve the soprano or contralto range of his voice.
This authoritative book is the first study of the phenomenon of the castrati in relation to the baroque period, covering the lives and triumphs of more than 60 singers when the fashion for castrati was at its peak. Arguably the most famous of these was Farinelli, who enjoyed a successful career at the Spanish court that included singing to improve the king’s health. There’s also a 1994 film on him that—though highly fictionalized—sheds light on the 18th century craze for these uniquely gifted singers.

[Lauren Patton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting, as I expected it to be. The information was laid out in a readable and digestible way and appeared to be well-researched. For readers of European history, social history, and music/performance history.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful cultural overview. Read this, then listen to recordings of Moreschi.

[JG Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject here is fascinating to me and I do appreciate a book like this existing. For the most part I enjoyed this, but there are large portions of this I found a bit boring.

[Laura L. Van Dam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uno de mis libros favoritos de no ficción.
Es evidente que mi amor por este periodo histórico, por un lado, y por la música de esta era, por otro, me hacen bastante poco objetiva. Pero el libro está tan bien escrito, y las historias son tan bellas, en algunos casos tristes, nunca aburridas, bien documentadas, que lo releo cada tanto y me vuelvo a enganchar.
Una gran adición a la biblioteca de cualquiera que se interese por la música, la historia o este período.