Ever heard a Castrato sing?

[Dookus]

you can now....

http://www.bassocantante.com/opera/moreschi.ram

He was the last castrato to direct the Sistine Choir, and the only one known to have been recorded.

[Systematic Chaos]

1. Holy crap!

I don't think the vocalist of Yes, Jon Anderson, could have matched this back in the early 70's if you turned him loose in the studio with a helium tank.

[Dookus]

2. it's pretty eerie, isn't it?

Not like a female voice, not like a male falsetto.... altogether different.

Evidently he was rather old when that was recorded, so he wasn't at his peak.

[La_Serpiente]

3. How beautiful

I really liked the beggining and the ending.

[Systematic Chaos]

4. Yeah, I'll give it that much.

It's a very nice piece and the man did have a good voice even if it is mighty high.

[Andy_Stephenson]

5. It's unnatural I tell you

unnatural.


But I am compelled to listen.

[stopbush]

6. The complete recordings of Moreschi were issued on CD

on the Opus label back in about 1990. Beautiful if weird stuff. Of course, it's not really representative of the castrato art. Imagine if no one had ever heard a tenor, there was only one tenor left alive and he made a disc after he was past his prime. We wouldn't know if he had been a good, bad or indifferent artist.

Still, the Moreschi recordings are valuable documents.

[Dookus]

7. wow...

I'd love to hear that. I wonder if the CD's are still available.

[Andy_Stephenson]

12. here

http://www.musical-genre.com/alessandro_moreschi.htm

[Dookus]

13. thanks...

I just found it on amazon and ordered it, along with a book about Castrati.

I'm a real Italophile and this is such an interesting part Italy (and the church's) history.

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. Did you see that movie that came out a few years ago

about the castrati? Wish to hell I could remember the name, but I remember it was in color. :-)

Came out in the mid- to late-90s if memory serves.

I can't even think of who was in it, either.

Damn.

Cool movie, anyway. Perhaps someone else knows what I'm thinking about.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

20. Farinelli. I didn't see it. I just can't. (crosses legs)

Yikes. This is evil.

On edit: I'm OUT of the 700 club. Woo hoo!

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. It was a good movie - you should see it

there's only the one spot in which they take the boy off to get castrated, but otherwise, nothing that makes you need to cross your legs. :-)

And congrats on leaving the 700 Club!

[Systematic Chaos]

8. Apparently, he was NOTHING compared to the best....

http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/cds/opa9823.htm

What a horrible thing to do to a kid just to have him sing different. There's more to life than music, ya know, even for an addict like me. :)

[Interrobang]

9. You can tell he wasn't at his peak...

...if you know anything about classically-trained singers. His voice breaks a couple of times, and you can hear the natural "breaks" between his registers, if you know what to listen for. However, the quality of the voice still comes out. Stunning -- like listening to a piece of the past, and very anachronistic while sitting in front of a computer!

I heard this years ago in music class, and I'm really glad someone put it on the net!

[HEyHEY]

10. maybe I'm not cultured enough

But that perosn can't sing :-)

[La_Serpiente]

11. lol

you're funny. :-)

[Interrobang]

18. Yeah, he *could* sing...

...just not by the time they made that recording. You didn't get to be the director of the Sistine Chapel choir if you couldn't sing -- in those days you sort of came up through the ranks. The technique's all there; just the recording technology was crappy and the voice was going.

[elperromagico]

14. I can sing countertenor,

but I would certainly not have been willing to make the sacrifices necessary to become a castrato. :scared:

Moreschi is, apparently, a pretty poor example of what a really good castrato sounded like. The recording technology of the period didn't help, with that awful acoustic horn, but apparently Moreschi was a poor castrato at any rate.

[Dookus]

16. yes....

so I gather. But it's still haunting. I just try to imagine what a real castrato at his prime sounded like - it must've been unimaginably beautiful.

[MilesColtrane]

15. Why would I want to hear

a Rick Astley MP3? Wait...did you say ball-less, or soul-less?

[elperromagico]

17. Replace "Rick Astley" with "Clay Aiken,"

and you have an updated and far more accurate joke, IMO.

[no_hypocrisy]

22. Maybe 15 years ago, a movie about the most famous castrato was

distributed. It's on video/DVD. It's called Farinelli.

It has a great story (historically based), good acting, and wonderful cinematography.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. It's definitely an aged voice

and therefore unsteady and not always pleasant, but you can hear some of its former power on the high notes.

[alwynsw]

24. Fortunately and unfortunately, yes.

This practice was not limited to only Europe. There were a number of boys castrated here in in the U.S. as well. I know that it was done as late as the 1930's because I have a dear friend who is a castrato who was castrated for this prupose in 1935.

[Johnyawl]

25. What an utterly barbaric thing to do to a child

I can't even bring myself to listen to it.

[NickB79]

26. Holy Crap!

The sheer number of DUer's here commenting on how beautiful a castrato sounds makes me never, ever want to attend a DU get-together without putting a lock on my boxers :-) I've got my eye on you!

[Dookus]

31. hehehe....

Don't worry.... I hardly EVER castrate people I've just met.

Now... about your singing voice...

[brainshrub]

27. Thank you for posting this. (nt)

[brainshrub]

28. Castrati history

http://wa.essortment.com/castratihistory_rzna.htm

[CanuckAmok]

29. Wait, I thought Alvin Chipmunk was the last to be recorded...

When did they stop castration, anyway? I find it fascinating that it was ever done at all--what was the justification?

[geniph]

30. Just Frankie Valli and the Brothers Gibb

never been a fan of the higher range of male voices. Unfortunately, I don't like really high female voices either, and mine makes Joni Mitchell sound like a baritone. Only dogs can hear my singing voice.