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D Henry Hanson Critical Research Paper THEA 230 Benjamin Gillespie 1 December 2016 Mutilation and Musicianship: The Castrati of Italian Opera In their quest for greatness, artists will often subject themselves to intense physical tribulation. Singers will train until they give themselves nodes, actors will live as their character for months or even years, and instrumentalists will practice until their hands bleed. However, these all pale in consideration to Renaissance-era Italian Opera’s controversial use of Castrati , or castrated male singers. Men were castrated at a young age, and rigorously trained for years to become masters of opera theatre. They could reach all the notes of their female counterparts, but do so with the vocal power of men. Looking back, one must consider whether this horrific alteration added more to the drama of opera than normal singers. Though cruel and graphic, the use of castrati greatly influenced opera and added a level of theatrics that can never be recaptured by a modern actor-singer. When examining the castrati, it is important to note the social environment that led to the rise of these singers. The rise of the castrati coincided with the rise of Opera in Italy. Opera rose out of the Florentine Camarata , one of many groups of intellectuals studying the arts and sciences in late-renaissance Italy. These groups were funded by the wealthy noble families of Italy as a way of maintaining power through public opinion. One member of this camarata, Claudio Monteverdi, tried to capture the way in which he though Greek Tragedy was originally performed. This cumulated in what is considered to be the first great opera, L’Orfeo. It premiered
in 1607 at Mantua (Ringer 12-13). At this performance, some auxiliary and all female roles were played by castrati. At this time, Pope Clement VIII, then the ruler over most of Italy and the head of the Church, had enacted a ban on women singing in the church and courts. This view came from 1 Corinthians Ch. 14 V. 34, “let the women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak” (W.D. 82). Opera was considered to be an extension of the religious and court sections of music. Castrati allowed composers to write roles for women without having to cross the Church. Castrati flourished in these feminine roles and soon began to take on the male rolls as well, called primo uomo (Rosselli 147). As attitudes towards females on stage shifted, so did the role of the castrati. They would continue to play the female characters, but now because of their vocal power instead of religious objections. The opportunities for male parts also expanded, as Italy became the forefront of the operatic world in the late 17 th^ and early 18th centuries. The way in which men were given the desired attributes of the castrati seems obvious. It is in the name. Boys were castrated before puberty in order to maintain their high voices. The act of castration was technically illegal in many of the kingdoms that made up the Papal States. Because of this, families who wished to have their children undergo the procedure would have to improvise. Such excuses included, “the child may have sustained an injury such as a fall from a tree, or have suffered from the bite of a swan or a wild pig” (Magee 672). This was usually a mere formality, as the practice went widely unregulated, especially in the castrati capitol of Italy, Naples. The process was described by the Italian scholar d’Ancillon as thus: “The child, often drugged with opium…, was placed in a very hot bath for some time, until he was in a state of virtual insensibility. Then the ducts leading to the testicles were severed, so that the latter in the
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all often languished in despair and poverty for the rest of their lives. They couldn’t have children, and in many places, marrying a castrato was frowned upon or even illegal. They would go through their life, unknown and unloved. For those lucky few who did break into the opera world, their talent stood unparalleled. Because of the delayed hardening of the bones in castrati, their larynx’s didn’t harden until much later in life. Often times, this wouldn’t happen until the age of twenty-five, leaving the singer with a larynx that “was smaller and softer with shorter vocal cords” (Magee 672). This allowed them the access of a full operatic soprano range of up to three and a half octaves. Along with their incredible range, these singers had great vocal flexibility and incredible breath support. The popular castrato Farinelli was believed to possess the ability to sing 200 note long phrases in one breath (Heriot 84). This incredible vocal virtuosity allowed the composers of the day to craft roles grander than ever before. From Monteverdi to Mozart, most classical composers of opera wrote castrati roles. Often times these were the main characters and were given the best arias of the opera. Often times the roles given to the castrati were of heroic tenor types. A hierarchical way of thinking correlated the high voices with power. Suspension of disbelief was required, but some of the most famous male roles in opera for over a century were written for the castrato voice. The heroic tenor stock characters played by the castrati paralleled the use of stock characters in Italy’s other major theatrical tradition of the time, commedia dell’arte. The roles written for the castrati often fell into the Arlecchino and Innamorati (male) types when they were playing men, and the Innamorati (female) and Colombina types when playing women. Another similarity was that both types of theatre often usesed cross-dressing, though commedia dell’arte adopted female players much earlier than opera. Even though it involved singing, commedia did not make use of castrati, and opera stars never appeared in commedia plays. However, both
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captured Italy’s hearts, and today we see many operas with commedia dell’arte influences in the repertoire (Cametti 76). The voice of a castrato was seen as exotic and otherworldly. The fact that the best and most famous roles of the day were played by castrati created a culture of superstars. The Italian castrati became the first opera divas. They traveled all of Europe with both operas and solo shows. Places like London were the pinnacle of a castrato’s career. The English paid the most money, and English composers such as Handel started writing roles for the castrati (Clapton 53). Many castrati became extremely wealthy. They wore elaborate clothing, made grand entrances, got any woman or man they chose for a night, and built grand villas in the hills of Italy. Some, such as Pistocci, Manzuoli, and Farinelli, even purchased the status of a nobleman for themselves (Lucarelli 71). They lived comfortable lives until they were forced to retire due to age. Some were able to live off their earnings in retirement, while others sang in churches or taught new castrati. While there was much to love about their life, the castrati often had to deal with discrimination and prejudice from the public. While people may have adored them onstage, offstage they were seen as freaks. Some even saw them as threats to values, trying to spread homosexuality. The Church also forbade men who were impotent men and eunuchs from marriage. Even protestant sects frowned upon it. Since a child could not be conceived, the act of marriage was seen as selfish and sinful. There are numerous records of castrati being imprisoned for taking a wife, while others had to marry in secret and never fully explore their love (Magee 73). Often, castrati were rejected by their families. The same families who sold their children to the church to become castrati turned their backs on their grown children, seeing them as a disgrace. The only time they would show affection was when the possibility of money came up
the last castrati leaving the choir in 1903 (Frosch 595). Only a few recordings exist of Moreschi, made in 1902. He was past his prime and the vocal gymnastics noted by scholars were not apparent in his voice. Today, the castrati have become something of a myth, but they really existed, and their contributions to opera cannot be denied. Tens of thousands of boys were castrated in pursuit of the perfect voice. They suffered and were treated like celebrities as well as second class citizens. Today, it may be easier to ignore what happened during this time, but the Italian castrati shaped the future of opera, and their influence can still be felt today. The concept of Prima Donna was invented by the castrati. The soprano divas of today owe the almost cult-like fervor that surrounds them, as well as their tempers and flair for the dramatic (or at least the stereotype of them), from the castrati. The castrati introduced generations of people to opera, and helped ensure its place as one of the premier forms of artistic expression. In regards to composition, many of the greatest operatic parts were written for castrati. Today, these parts are sung by incredibly skilled sopranos or counter-tenors. Many of the male roles they played are now played by women in travesti , or in drag, as a man. Some of the greatest modern sopranos got their break from arias written for men in the 17th^ and 18th^ centuries.
If we were to ignore the role the castrati played in the development of opera, many of our greatest works would be un-performable. Unlike other methods of entertainment that we as society have to dismiss, the role of the castrati in opera has easily been transformed so that its artistic heritage remains an integral part of opera history. We celebrate its triumphs, lauding the brilliant singers and composers who created masterpieces, while still remembering the great sacrifices made by the castrati, some not even up to them, but their desperate or greedy families. In regards to composition, just as early opera tried to emulate the Ancient Greeks, much of the opera created after the decline of the castrati was an attempt to recapture the unique and
spectacular voices they had. Perhaps the most well known movement trying to recapture this is the Coloratura Movement. It is characterized by intense passages of vocal gymnastics, often in extremely high ranges. Today, coloratura operas are some of the most well-known to the general public. In Verdi’s La Traviata , the main character of Violetta has a massive aria at the end of Act I, where she launces into nearly ten minutes of vocal runs and flourishes. One has to wonder if when Verdi was writing this aria, the image of Farinelli singing 200 notes in a single breath came to his mind. Artists have always suffered for their craft, and the castrati of Italy were the pinnacle of art through immense pain. They were sold by their families at young ages, forcibly castrated, rigorously trained, and even then only had a one percent change of succeeding in the music world. They were the world’s first superstars, as well as it’s fiercest targets. They were jailed, satirized, bullied, and ostracized by the public and their families. To say they suffered for their art is an understatement. However, they also contributed greatly to the development of modern opera, as their songs live on through sopranos and counter-tenors, and their voices inspired whole musical movements that produced some of the most famous operas of all time. To deny they existed would do them a disservice, and would only contribute of the blind eye turned on them by society all those centuries ago. We can acknowledge the hardships we put them through, whilst celebrating all they gave the world with their voices. Truly, the castrati were the driving force that formed opera into the powerhouse it is today.
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