sweetnpetite
Intellectual snob
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2003
- Posts
- 9,135
Castrato- painful yet fascinating.
A castrato is a male soprano, mezzo-soprano, or alto voice produced by castration of the singer before puberty.
This practice was begun in the 16th century, and reflected Catholicism's traditional ban on females singing in church. The practice reached its peak in 17th and 18th century opera. It is known as castratism. 70 percent of opera singers of the Baroque period were castrati. The male heroic lead would often be written for a castrato singer (in the operas of Handel for example). When such operas are performed today, a woman or countertenor takes these roles.
Castration before puberty (or in its early stages) prevents the boy's larynx from being fully transformed by the normal physiological effects of puberty. As a result, the vocal range of prepubescence (shared by boys and girls) is largely retained, and the voice develops into adulthood in a unique way. As the castrato's body grows (especially in lung capacity and muscular strength), and as his musical training and maturity increase, his voice develops a range, power and flexibility quite different from the singing voice of the adult female, but also markedly different from the higher vocal ranges of the uncastrated adult male (see soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, sopranista and contralto).
Probably the most famous castrato was the 18th century singer Carlo Broschi, known as Farinelli. In 1994 a film was made about him, Farinelli Il Castrato.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castrato
I was lucky enough to see parts of this movie http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/farinelli/about/ffarinelli.html the other day- which is in French. The movie was riviting. It was an awsome movie. this being from someone who doesn't care to much for subtitles. When I remember it now, I remember it in English, lol. anyway. Wow! I hope to see this again from the begining to end. I think what drew me in was how *explicit* the conversation was when I first clicked onto the channel. I guess you can say anything in french
if it's on an English Language channel.
A castrato is a male soprano, mezzo-soprano, or alto voice produced by castration of the singer before puberty.
This practice was begun in the 16th century, and reflected Catholicism's traditional ban on females singing in church. The practice reached its peak in 17th and 18th century opera. It is known as castratism. 70 percent of opera singers of the Baroque period were castrati. The male heroic lead would often be written for a castrato singer (in the operas of Handel for example). When such operas are performed today, a woman or countertenor takes these roles.
Castration before puberty (or in its early stages) prevents the boy's larynx from being fully transformed by the normal physiological effects of puberty. As a result, the vocal range of prepubescence (shared by boys and girls) is largely retained, and the voice develops into adulthood in a unique way. As the castrato's body grows (especially in lung capacity and muscular strength), and as his musical training and maturity increase, his voice develops a range, power and flexibility quite different from the singing voice of the adult female, but also markedly different from the higher vocal ranges of the uncastrated adult male (see soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, sopranista and contralto).
Probably the most famous castrato was the 18th century singer Carlo Broschi, known as Farinelli. In 1994 a film was made about him, Farinelli Il Castrato.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castrato
I was lucky enough to see parts of this movie http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/farinelli/about/ffarinelli.html the other day- which is in French. The movie was riviting. It was an awsome movie. this being from someone who doesn't care to much for subtitles. When I remember it now, I remember it in English, lol. anyway. Wow! I hope to see this again from the begining to end. I think what drew me in was how *explicit* the conversation was when I first clicked onto the channel. I guess you can say anything in french
if it's on an English Language channel.
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